LGBTQ+, women groups brace for funding cuts as Ottawa looks to trim spending

OTTAWA — LGBTQ+ and women’s groups say they’re bracing for funding cuts in November’s budget.

The federal minister overseeing Ottawa’s gender policy has urged activists to speak out, and LGBTQ+ and women’s organizations are staging an advocacy push this month on Parliament Hill.

“We’re on alert,” Canadian Women’s Foundation president Mitzie Hunter told The Canadian Press.

“If we don’t have announcements that these programs will be continuing, then we know that the pain in the communities is going be on the increase.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney has mentioned gender issues far less frequently than his predecessor Justin Trudeau, whose feminist brand was central to his political identity.

Carney’s government has committed to maintaining the gender-based analysis initiative that examines how all major federal programs affect women and minority groups.

But the government has also warned that an austerity budget is coming on Nov. 4, months after the Women and Gender Equality Canada published a departmental schedule indicating that funding for multiple programs will soon run out.

The schedule forecasts a drop in funding unless more is allocated from $407 million in 2025-26 to $76 million in 2027-28, and a cut to full-time department staff from 444 to 254.

Groups say they have not had a clear statement from the government that these programs will replenished.

Those possible cuts were top of mind at a Sept. 16 reception held in Ottawa by the Canadian Pride Caucus, a cross-partisan grouping of senators and MPs who are LGBTQ+ or allies, and major community organizations.

Gender Equality Minister Rechie Valdez told the reception that she needs their advocacy.

“As Canadians, we need to continue to put the pressure and advocate. Because everyone in the world looks to Canada as leaders in the advocacy of the (LGBTQ+) community, so we cannot stop,” she said.

“I’m here to tell you that I cannot do it alone. Each and every one of you, I need you to help me, and to work together to make a difference and to continue to advocate for the things that matter.”

Fae Johnstone, head of the advocacy group Queer Momentum, told the reception that a right-wing backlash against LGBTQ+ rights is hitting transgender people like herself particularly hard, as provinces seek to restrict access to medical services and youth outreach.

“When you listen to the voices of the kids in Saskatchewan and Alberta, you know that shame is being taught once more,” she said.

“Transgender people in particular have been turned into a boogeyman. We’ve been turned into a problem to be solved — and I am terrified, truly terrified for what solutions will be put on the table to deal with us.”

Johnstone said her group is ramping up lobbying on the Hill “to ensure and safeguard that funding and those supports that our community relies upon.”

The groups say they worry the government will focus only on advancing policies and programming dealing with employment equality, and will pull back on services addressing gender-based violence or safety at Pride festivals.

Brice Field of Fierté Canada Pride, which advocates for Pride festivals, said far-right violence and threats are causing Pride organizers to scale back or cancel their festivals entirely. That’s despite the fact that Ottawa has allocated $1.5 million to Pride festival security over three years.

The Manitoba Pride Alliance announced this month that Steinbach Pride had to cancel its festival “due to credible safety threats connected to far-right extremism” in a conservative part of that province.

“There is a significant amount of Pride festivals in this country that are not going to have access to the funds to keep their communities safe,” Field told the Canadian Pride Caucus event.

“My co-workers are just trying to make sure that the people in the parade aren’t going to — and let’s be honest — are hoping that we don’t get shot.”

Hunter said sexual assault is on the rise and gender-based violence tends to increase at times of economic hardship.

The prospect of cuts has the sector on edge, she said. She pointed out that funding to expand access to childcare allows more women to work and helps to drive the economy.

“We’re not in a situation where Canada has achieved gender parity when it comes to key things like equal pay,” said the former Ontario MPP.

She noted that Carney chose not to appoint a minister for women and gender issues in the temporary cabinet he assembled before the spring election, but did restore the position afterwards.

Hunter said the government has been listening to their concerns, particularly those coming from organizations that rely on funding Ottawa announces in limited-term allotments.

“We would like to see permanent funding for the national action plan on gender-based violence,” she said.

“Our concern is around strengthening the capacity of organizations across the women’s movement, so that we can be ready in these very challenging times that we know we’re all facing as Canadians.”

Earlier this month, Sen. Marilou McPhedran attacked the prospect of cuts to programs for women, and pointed out that the Liberals were re-elected in the spring in part due to support from women.

“We’re seeing a real pattern here with Prime Minister Carney, with the troika of white corporate men who are now at the peak of government,” she said at a press conference on Parliament Hill.

“We are hearing from women who are part of the government who are very concerned about this,” she said, without naming names.

This year’s Pride Caucus event included Conservatives; no Tory senators or MPs attended last year’s event. MPs Scott Aitchison and Greg McLean attended this year’s Pride Caucus, along with various Liberal, NDP and Bloc Québécois MPs who have been present in previous years.

The two Conservative MPs who publicly identify as LGBTQ+ — Melissa Lantsman and Eric Duncan — are not part of the Pride Caucus.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2025.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press