Where is gender equality in the federal election?

When newly minted Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled his new Liberal cabinet on March 14, ministerial positions were slashed from 39 to 24. It had a slight majority of men—13 compared to 11 women—which was also a drift from the gender parity sought by outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

But it was the elimination of the position of a federal minister for Women and Gender Equality (WAGE) that sparked the loudest outcry. Over 400 organizations across the country signed onto a protest letter demanding the position be reinstated. Several Newfoundland and Labrador organizations were part of that effort, including the Community Sector Council of NL, End Sexual Violence NL, the Anti-Racism Coalition of NL, St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival, Corner Brook Status of Women Council, Mokami Status of Women Council and YWCA St. John’s.

While economic issues like tariffs have dominated mainstream news headlines during the federal election, community organizations across the country remain concerned about political parties’ commitment to gender equality. Action Canada on Sexual Health and Rights has coordinated a community-led ‘Demand Better’ campaign, which has been endorsed by dozens of community organizations.

The major political parties’ response to all of this has been mixed. The New Democratic Party is the only party that has committed to restoring the Minister for Women And Gender Equality position. The Conservative Party platform only mentions the word ‘women’ four times, three of those commitments to attack the rights of trans women. The Liberal Party platform, like the Green Party, makes a range of commitments around women and gender equality, without committing to restoring the ministerial portfolio.

Federal decisions with big local impact: what exactly does WAGE funding do?

Maria Gentle is Executive Director of YWCA St. John’s. Her organization signed on to the open letter demanding the reinstatement of a minister for WAGE and has been an active participant in the Demand Better campaign. She says federal developments around gender equality are ones that all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians ought to be paying attention to.

“I think what is really apparent is that the work of gender equity is not done, and that affects the lives of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians,” she said.

“That’s important because when we think about local issues like pay equity, childcare, the sort of crosscutting affordability issues that are really front and centre of these current times, we know that the gendered implications of those issues tend to be overlooked.”

YWCA St. John’s is presently in the midst of a major WAGE-funded project focused on research and advocacy around provincial childcare affordability and accessibility. It’s a two-year project involving regional consultations on the impact of accessible and affordable childcare.

“We know that impacts peoples’ access to employment, we know that impacts peoples’ access to education, and so we often think of these in relation to people’s economic security,” she explained. “We know that economic security is a huge factor around well-being, safety as it pertains to gender-based violence, and those are really important things.”

All policies come with a lens, even if it’s a hidden one, Gentle explained. When there’s no one at the cabinet level ensuring a gender equity lens is applied, the damage of that omission can be significant.

“Policies have a way of serving a population and stating them in broad strokes,” Gentle said. “However, we know that when the lives of women and gender-diverse folks, and when the work of gender equity is really upheld in policy and recognized, then we are really lifting up communities. Because what we know is that what has value both economically or in policy is what talks. Money talks. The economy guides us. So if we are not acknowledging the needs of people who are often most vulnerable and marginalized, and who are most impacted by issues of safety and security, like gender-based violence—it’s important for me to mention the realities of Indigenous women and Two-Spirit folks—it’s vital to make sure those lives have value and have people from multiple angles to champion and to uphold a lens in the highest areas of our country and our policies.

“It’s really important for a community to be able to respond to this deftly,” she continued. “This is not a partisan remark — this is truly what we know about what is needed to make sure that the lives of women and gender-diverse folks remain on the table and remain valuable. Otherwise there are issues that come across that will not get the attention, that will not get the airtime, that is needed. Real lives are at stake and that’s what’s important.”

Gentle emphasized that the department has a value beyond the direct funding it provides. She said its visible presence and role in promoting gender equity, “has really encouraged funding bodies to look at gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) which also really takes into consideration race, age, social location as it pertains to class, disability. That’s really important so as to not underestimate how a gender policy lens really has a broad strokes effect on the well-being and social fabric locally.”

Without a minister at the cabinet table to ensure a gender policy lens is there, Gentle said, a lack of gendered analysis can have significant impacts at the provincial and local levels. “It is important for a voice regarding gender equity to be present. WAGE federally really feeds into local systems of gender-based violence support and advocacy, so the work that is being done provincially is really guided by those funds and those pillars.”

Supporting remote and rural communities

Dan Meades is provincial coordinator with the Transition House Association of NL (THANL), which coordinates the work of all 11 provincial publicly-funded transition houses. While WAGE doesn’t provide core funding to either THANL or the transition houses it supports—the sort of money that keeps shelter doors open—the federal department does provide critical funds for training. This has enabled THANL to develop multi-year training programs around issues like board governance, Indigenous cultural sensitivity, gender inclusiveness and more. This, Meades said, has played a key role in improving the quality of services and support offered by transition houses. 

“As we think about the ways that our communities change, we want to be able to change the way we deliver service as well,” he said. “These trainings have been for things like cultural sensitivity training so that we were able to help folks in Indigenous communities teach those of us in settler communities how to do a better job of sheltering women and children fleeing violence who have those backgrounds.

“The way we think about gender has changed in the last 10 years, and as a result the way we think about delivering service to the spectrum of people that identify as different genders has changed fundamentally as well,” Meades continued. “Making sure that our staff feel really comfortable and supported as we start to make those changes has been really important. Without WAGE funding there is just no mechanism for us to think through how folks would have an opportunity to learn about gender diversity in a way that really represents modern feminism as opposed to the type of feminism that existed 30 years ago when our transition houses were first built and started to operate.”

Meads said the type of board governance training THANL has been able to provide through WAGE has been particularly vital in a large rural province like Newfoundland and Labrador.

“Our transition houses are all non-profit organizations and all have volunteer boards of directors. In big communities like St. John’s or Corner Brook, we’ve got large enough populations to draw upon. But in some of our smaller communities, like Rigolet or Nain, it’s really important that we be able to take folks that are interested in being part of governance, but make sure that they’ve got the training and skills necessary to make sure that they’re able to do a great job of stewarding those non-profits. It’s WAGE funding that’s allowed us to do that type of work as well.”

‘Cabinet representation matters’: Meades

Meades is concerned about the long-term impacts of eliminating a ministerial position for gender equality.

“Representation at the cabinet table matters,” he said. “When we have these individualized funding baskets in a budget that go directly to government departments with government ministers, that’s dedicated funds with mandate letters and outcomes that are associated with those funds. If we’re just a part of a larger department, that’s not always the case. Money can flow in and out of different departmental pieces in a different way than they can in a stand-alone ministry.

“When we think about representation at tables like cabinet tables, there’s time allotments that go along with specific ministers. There’s funding allotments. These things aren’t just ceremonial,” he continued. “There’s fundamental decisions that are made in the federal cabinet that a minister can steward along the way. Pieces of legislation can happen differently when you’ve got your own departmental staff. If the department doesn’t have its own minister and is allotted within a larger department, staff can come and go in an easier way. These are all concerns.”

Meades echoed Gentle on the ways gender-based analysis and policy development have a real impact on the lived experiences of people at the local level. He warns that the federal Liberal election platform already reflects the effects of a diminished focus on gender equality.

“When we think about the experiences of women and gender diverse people in Canada today, they’re still overrepresented among victims of violence, victims of crime, poverty,” he said. “These are things we care about and we want to be able to solve, and sometimes the bigger problems of violence, of crime and of poverty, are a little bit difficult to get your head around. One of the ways we do that is we segment out those populations. The first conversation you have when you want to address a social problem like poverty, and you want to segment out a population, is around gender. Because women are overrepresented among people living in poverty in Canada.

“Without that gendered lens, that conversation gets lost. And if you’re not sure of it, look at the Liberal platform that was released last week, and look at Appendix A. At the very back of the document there’s a half page that they call GBA+ analysis — at the back of the document. This is real. If you’re wondering what this new Liberal government is going to care about, read the thing they just told us they’re going to care about — and at the very end of it is gender analysis.”

N.L. benefits more than other provinces from gender-equity funding

Programs like WAGE have particular significance for a province like Newfoundland and Labrador, Meades said. He points out that the province has accessed a significantly higher proportion of federal funding through WAGE than other provinces. Under the WAGE-funded Women’s Capacity Fund, for instance, Newfoundland and Labrador has received more funding per capita than larger Atlantic provinces like Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and more than double per capita what Ontario received. Meades credits that to the strong, collaborative community sector in this province, along with provincial government support for local organizations trying to access federal funds.

“From a Newfoundlander’s or Labradorian’s point of view, we still have all that funding, it’s still flowing, but it is less secure without a stand-alone ministry, and I think that matters.”

The Independent’s federal election coverage is supported by the Covering Canada: Election 2025 Fund.