‘It’s heartbreaking’: Sask. NDP calls for more gender based violence protection

Stressed young woman in the bedroom.

The Saskatchewan NDP is calling on the province to provide more support to protect women and girls from gender based violence, calling recent statistics “heartbreaking.”

During legislative assembly on Wednesday, NDP MLA Jacqueline Roy referenced an RCMP report, showing high rates of interpersonal violence in Saskatchewan.

According to the report, officers responded to more than 9,800 victims of family and intimate partner violence in the province in 2025.

“These numbers are staggering, and quite frankly, probably higher due to underreporting, and my heart goes out to all the victims,” Roy said.

Roy said over the past several years, gender based violence has become an epidemic.

She emphasized the importance of sexual assault nurse examiners being present to support victims during the worst moments of their lives and claimed the government did not provide the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) the $1.8 million it asked for to address the matter.

Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said the government has 20 sexual assault nurse examiners serving patients across the province, with two more in training, also pointing to funding in this year’s budget.

“In any budget process, there’s decisions to make, and we’ve made several decisions in this budget to put patients first,” he said. “A significant increase to funding for health care right across the province.”

Cockrill also pointed to several investments that the government has made into women’s health in the province, including reducing wait times for biopsies in the southern half of the province, opening the Regina Breast Health Centre, lowering the screening age for mammograms and rolling out a new mammography bus.

“These are the investments that put Saskatchewan women first and patients first across the province,” he said.

Speaking to reporters after question period on Wednesday, Roy said she was frustrated and discouraged after hearing the government tout the benefits of its budget for women’s health.

“Quite frankly, that doesn’t add up,” she said.

“We just had the RCMP release new data about domestic violence rates and the needs to get sexual assault nurse examiners in place, and what did we see from the health minister? We saw a $1.8 million dollar cut to what the [SHA] was requesting in order to meet the needs of those survivors.”

“Now that’s unconscionable.”

Roy said she was disappointed in Cockrill’s response, considering that Saskatchewan has double the national average of intimate partner violence.

“We have a minister who is willing to stand up and tell me that everything is okay and that he’s investing in mammograms and he’s investing in other areas. So that does it? That’s okay for women?”

“Well, that’s not what women in this province want to hear.”