MONTREAL -- More than a month after the COVID-19 pandemic began, many shelters for female victims of violence in the province say have not yet seen the money that was promised by Ottawa and Quebec to help them.
The women’s shelters say they have serious needs right now because self-isolation measures are exposing women even more violent situations than usual.
Further, COVID-19 is putting pressure on an already stretched aid system because the virus has created a number of additional expenses. Shelters not only need more employees to welcome and help women, but also to disinfect places where many women live in cramped conditions and therefore are at risk of becoming hotbeds.
Ottawa announced $26 million in emergency assistance for shelters on April 4, asking the umbrella organization Women's Shelters Canada to distribute the funds.
Shelters nationwide have already received money with the exception of those in Quebec.
That’s because the Quebec government instead chose to negotiate with Ottawa in order to receive the money - its share is $6.4 million - and to distribute it itself.
So far, the sums have not yet been paid.
This article was first published by the Canadian Press on April 29, 2020
