The federal government has announced an investment of over $3 million for 10 women's organizations and Indigenous organizations in the Greater Montréal Area.
One of the organizations is PINAY, a Canadian Filipino group serving Filipino temporary foreign workers and immigrant women.
PINAY is getting $196,740 from the Capacity-building Fund of the Women’s Program of the Department for Women and Gender Equality.
PINAY’s project is called ‘From the Ground Up: Building Capacity and Building Equality’.
A government news release stated that PINAY is “seeking to improve their organizational capacity”.
“With this investment, they will build service capacity and diversify funding sources in order to support better governance and permit PINAY to build resources while assessing service provisions to enhance sustainability,” according to the release.
“Key activities include planning and implementation of a comprehensive strategic plan, as well as researching and carrying out the application of an improved funding model that reduces PINAY's dependence on erratic funding streams and donations. This funding will also improve PINAY's outreach to the immigrant women population of the city of Montréal and its suburbs.”
The news release recalled that PINAY was founded in 1991.
PINAY chairperson Fiel Salazar said that migrant workers and domestic workers are “often discriminated against or underpaid, and many feel they do not have the same rights as regular citizens”.
“Our focus is helping women who are domestic workers to understand their basic rights and welfare, and to get help when needed,” Salazar said. “The funding provided by this new multi-year model will allow us to work on our growth strategy for becoming more sustainable and increase our organizational capacity for expansion and outreach into the suburbs, an area underserved by organizations such as ours.”
According to Maryam Monsef, Minister for Women and Gender Equality, women’s organizations in Canada have “long been underfunded, and left to fight for gender equality on their own”.
“Our government is changing that,” Monsef said in the news release. “These organizations play a vital role in supporting and advancing gender equality across the Greater Montreal region. I have no doubt that women, and indeed all Quebecers, will benefit from these investments and the vital changes these organizations are fostering.”
In October 2018, Monsef announced a call for proposals under the Capacity-building Fund of the Women's Program.
On March 8, 2019, International Women's Day, Monsef announced that over 250 women's organizations across the country would receive funding from the Capacity-building Fund.
“The objective is to fund proposals that will increase the capacity of eligible women's organizations and Indigenous organizations serving women, whose initiatives contribute to a viable women's movement in Canada that advances gender equality,” the government’s news release explained.
The fund stems from the Budget 2018 announcement of $100 million over five years to support the women's movement in Canada.
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