Yesterday, I spent the day engaging with staff from a women's shelter. After more than a decade working in this space, what I heard wasn't new but it is getting worse.
Frontline workers are having to work two jobs, live with roommates, or leave a profession they love because what they get paid doesn't allow them to feed their families.
Gender-based violence has been declared an epidemic in Ontario base funding hasn't increased enough for boards to pay competitive wages in the shelter. Investments were made in 2025 for more shelter beds, and there has been project-based funding to include prevention in what shelters do. But none of these investments have touched wages.
Every shelter, I hear the same refrain: the work is critical, the commitment is unwavering, and the resources are stretched. Burnout has intensified since COVID. But if we’re honest, burnout was always there. The pandemic didn’t create it - it exposed and accelerated it.
Boards are stuck. They want to be fiscally responsible. They also want to pay people what they deserve for work that carries daily risk, secondary trauma, and enormous emotional weight. When base funding doesn't move in step with expectations, something has to give and too often, it's the people.
If we are serious about treating gender-based violence as the crisis it is, we cannot fund only programs and beds. We have to fund the people. Stable, adequate base funding isn’t a luxury, it’s infrastructure.
Because the cost of caring should not be financial instability for those doing the caring.