Status of Women committee  Do we have a specific turnkey-ready program that we could hand to friendship centres or municipal councillors? The short answer is that I'm not aware of that. However, what do have, in the case of Quebec, is not one but two city mayor and friendship centre round tables—very successful—to talk about how they can build those relationships and how they can support service delivery for those who need it in the cities and towns there.

Status of Women committee  There are a variety of factors, to some of which I can speak and for some of which I would encourage you to visit the local friendship centre in your riding or a neighbouring riding to see them in action. It could be—and I'm not saying these suggestions are the full explanation in each friendship centre—that the nature of the work is, as Ms.

Status of Women committee  When we say education, we don't mean delivering education. What we mean is more a question of homework clubs and providing educational supports. Some friendship centres in some areas may have alternative high schools, and they may have direct relationships with the provincial government to run them, but I wouldn't say that it's across the board, because friendship centres seize opportunities where they can and when they can.

Status of Women committee  They're in smaller towns also. Some of our friendship centres make direct connections with first nations as well, because no matter where a first nations person lives, they need services.

Status of Women committee  Do you mean in a particular program area, or just name any?

Status of Women committee  I'll try to keep it very brief. Based on the personal experience of seeing the Brandon Friendship Centre in action, not only do they run two aboriginal head start cohort programs on site, but they also manage the satellite site for Portage la Prairie Friendship Centre's aboriginal head start program.

Status of Women committee  That's a wonderfully broad question, so I'll do my best to focus it in less than a minute. When it comes to women accessing services in cities and towns, particularly indigenous women, I can speak to the impacts that we've heard about and seen. When a specific project or program is offered and indigenous women hear about it, like the Pidaban program or the Odabi program at the Val-d'Or Native Friendship Centre, you may get a cohort of youth or young women coming into this employment and training program and having amazing results.

Status of Women committee  The answer is twofold. They gain that significant experience at the friendship centre, and to be blunt, we often hear of friendship centre staff being poached by the provincial government or by other governments because they've gained those baseline skills. That's one: they are hubs and incubators for those skills.

Status of Women committee  As a broad question, yes, I would. In fact, the friendship centre movement is currently working closely with Employment and Social Development Canada on the indigenous early learning child care approach.

Status of Women committee  Yes, and that's why we've been advocating that the aboriginal head start model is great. It's a half-day program, so it's not full day care, but the pillars of that work because there's flexibility. It can be responsive to local community needs and it can be responsive to culture.

Status of Women committee  What I've heard from various friendship centres across the country is that stability in program funding is the most helpful when considering community-driven research like the Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network—and I should do a shout-out to that—as well as when considering the programs and services that are offered to women, to families, and economic, employment, and training programs.

Status of Women committee  I will try to respect the time of the committee and keep it brief. I should mention that of course we recognize the right of first nations and other indigenous organizations to provide services to those members as well, no matter where they live, and that the federal government should keep in mind that if there are certain outcomes that we're hoping to achieve together, let's be targeted in how we do that.

Status of Women committee  I would suggest not small piecemeal calls for proposals, but perhaps larger calls for proposals. You could do that avenue and have the federal government issues those calls directly, or you could also leverage existing networks like the National Association of Friendship Centres, and friendship centres, and support that type of funding stream with some funding set aside, perhaps, for indigenous people living in urban areas.

Status of Women committee  That's why a partnership approach, which is the space that friendship centres have operated in for over 60 years, is crucial. We recognize, of course, remoteness factors and factors related to specific and unique conditions faced by people living on reserve, which we're certainly not suggesting are not also important.

Status of Women committee  Thank you. Essentially, support the continuation of urban programming for indigenous peoples through friendship centres to facilitate indigenous women's equitable participation in the Canadian economy through this proven wraparound services model.