The Alberta government is to receive $54 million in federal funding to develop and deploy a 10-year plan to end gender-based violence in Alberta.
Alberta Status of Women Minister Tanya Fir says the province is ranked fifth in the number of reports of intimate partner violence in Canada and fourth in reported sexual assaults.
She says the federal money will be given out to community groups and organizations helping women and girls in Alberta.
Over the next month, Alberta’s government plans to gather input through public engagement that will shape the 10-year plan to end gender-based violence.
Camrose MLA Jackie Lovely broke down in tears in talking about the need for support for women and children, pointing to the deaths of Mchale Busch and her 16-month-old in 2021.
The two were murdered by a convicted sexual offender with a violent history who had moved next door to them in Hinton, Alta., west of Edmonton.
“Noah and his mother, Mchale, were from my community … when sadly they were murdered by a convicted sex offender,” she said.
“That’s why I’m so emotional because I think about them.”