The Department of Justice Canada has committed $752,000 to Atira Women’s Resource Society, the Vancouver non-profit whose chief executive was married to the head of BC Housing when a 2023 forensic investigation found a conflict of interest, Rebel News can reveal.
The contribution appears in the federal government’s proactive disclosure of grants and contributions, published by Justice Canada under its Youth Justice Fund, dated July 15 and running to March 31, 2029. No other outlet has reported it.
The record, titled “Restorative Justice Pathways for Youth”, says the project “adapts Atira’s Early Resolution Program (ERP) into a dedicated youth-focused stream designed to serve Indigenous, Black, and racialized young women (ages 12-17) who are currently involved in the criminal justice system”.
Atira is not an ordinary recipient. On May 8, 2023, the B.C. government released an Ernst & Young forensic investigation of BC Housing, the provincial housing agency. The release states: “A new forensic investigation of BC Housing tabled in the legislature has found mismanagement related to a conflict of interest between the former CEO of BC Housing and his spouse, the CEO of Atira Women’s Resource Society.” The investigation “found no evidence of public funds being dispersed outside of their intended purpose”, but BC Housing responded by “restricting any new funding to AWRS and ADS until the operational review is complete”.
The Tyee reported that Atira’s BC Housing funding rose from $17 million in 2016 to $74 million in 2022, and that former BC Housing CEO Shayne Ramsay “has been married to Janice Abbott, Atira’s CEO, since 2010”. Abbott “resigned effective immediately” a week after the audit, the Globe and Mail reported.
Ottawa kept funding Atira. Women and Gender Equality Canada holds a $1.5 million agreement with Atira begun in July 2024, and Justice Canada agreed to a $250,000 contribution in December 2024. The Atira agreement is one of 16 Youth Justice Fund contributions dated July 15 in the disclosure, worth $8.9 million together.
The fund is the responsibility of Justice Minister Sean Fraser. The deputy minister, Marie-Josée Hogue, a former Quebec Court of Appeal judge, was appointed on February 2. The record does not say who signed the agreement. No political donations by Fraser or Hogue were found in a web search of the Elections Canada contributions database, and none is alleged.
British Columbia announced in 2023 that it was restricting new money to Atira. Ottawa has now committed another $752,000.
