The Public Health Agency of Canada and the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women committed $2.5 million in funding over the next five years for the province-wide expansion of the Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre and Sexual Assault Services Association’s Healthy Relationships for Youth (HRY) program.

The funding is expected to  increase the number of student facilitators and participants; expand program delivery to reach the approximately 80 high schools with grade nine students across the province; engage a youth advisory committee; further enhance the curriculum; and pursue partnerships to achieve program sustainability.

Anita Stewart, executive director, Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre & Sexual Assault Services said the program began in 2006. After the release of the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence and the Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission report, it was noted the HRY aligns with the recommendations found in those two reports.

The program currently is in some schools in the Strait Regional Centre for Education as well as some CSAP schools. The expansion will eventually bring the program from one end of the province to the other. Stewart says they want to reach as many schools and students as possible to teach them about HRY, which she described as a school based, peer facilitated violence prevention program.

The plan for 2024 is to hire five regional coordinators located across the province, and they would like to have those folks in place by the early summer. While they won’t be able to offer the program at all schools, the plan is to try for as many schools as they can and then hire additional coordinators next year to cover off remaining areas.

The  Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women offered $1.25 million in funding while Stewart said the centre applied for funding through the Public Health Agency of Canada.