Thank you very much.
I'd like to thank the committee for the opportunity to present this evidence before you today. We have previously submitted our brief, which highlighted a variety of measures that we believe the committee could consider to address areas of early learning, justice, and housing. But with the brief time I have with you today, I'd like to highlight our core recommendation within that briefing, and that's funding provided to the aboriginal friendship centre program.
Of the questions you asked of us, the first one was, what specific federal tax or program spending measures should be implemented in the upcoming budget that will ensure that our citizens are healthy and have the right skills for their own benefit and for the benefit of their employers? I submit to this committee that enhanced funding for the aboriginal friendship centre program is one of those program spending areas you can look at. We know that the urban aboriginal population is rising, and the challenges are becoming more and more complex: 71% of all aboriginal people live off reserve; 50% of all aboriginal people live in urban areas; half of our people are under the age of 25; and half of our people do not graduate from high school.
Within Canada we have an emerging, growing racialized underclass: urban aboriginal youth. Friendship centres are on the front line of providing services to this population. There are currently 116 community agencies across Canada from coast to coast to coast, which are set up to provide services for this emerging population. These community agencies do so in a way we call status blind. We don't give consideration to whether an aboriginal person is a status Indian according to the Indian Act, a non-status Indian, a Métis person, or an Inuit person. You simply want to have and need services in the community for a friendship centre to be there for you.
Last year, through these 116 community agencies, we provided 1,260 programs across the country. We provided 1.1 million client contacts to people in communities requiring desperate services. The total friendship centre program revenue is $115 million. The Department of Canadian Heritage provides us with $16.1 million in core funding. That means for every dollar we receive in core funding, the friendship centre movement leverages $7 from other government and private-source areas to provide services for urban aboriginal people.
The aboriginal friendship centre program, the program I want to talk to you briefly about today, is the program that enables all of this work to happen in communities. If it wasn't for that core funding you provide for local friendship centres to hire their executive director, bookkeepers, and to keep their buildings open, none of these other activities would happen.
Like our museum brothers here, in 1993 we too were cut back after an expenditure review by 25%, and that funding hasn't been reinstated since. These community agencies today are spending 1993 dollars on 2006 problems.
The real question is, if it's an emerging population, the challenges are becoming more and more complex, and if we're able to serve an emerging population, it's time to reinvest in that capacity.
We recently went through an evaluation, which found the program to be effective, cost effective, relevant, with no other federal government overlaps or duplication in services. We are a unique program within the federal and provincial government jurisdictions, and we provide essential services.
More funds need to be reinvested. If we take into account the original 25% reduction in the early nineties, in real terms today that's a 40% reduction in spending power of these local community agencies. These are people in all of your ridings providing the most essential services. We would like the committee to consider recommending funding enhancements to this program.
On April 28 we met with Minister Oda, who is the minister responsible for our program, to discuss the current funding levels, and she has endorsed a joint review of our staff and the departmental staff to look at the appropriate funding levels for the program. We're pleased to say that we're about to bring a report back to the minister for her consideration.
We found a number of areas requiring reinvestment. The amount of money we provide local community agencies to provide their services needs to be increased. We need increased supports for training for local community members, for communication and policy supports, and for translation services of our documents and of our meetings.
We need to expand the friendship centre programs to new locations. There hasn't been a new friendship centre door open within the last decade anywhere across Canada, yet the need continues to grow.
So we believe additional funding of the program is merited. Additional investment will provide greater opportunity for aboriginal youth to access better and more diverse programming. It's going to improve the administration of existing centres and ensure continued federal stewardship of your investment. We're going to have improved service delivery standards with more training and better remuneration.
We're going to meet minimum federal government standards for official languages obligations, and we're going to service the growth of the urban aboriginal client base.
I'm just about done, sir.
The question is about the specific tax or spending program measures that should be contemplated. We believe the ASEP funding will ensure that urban aboriginal citizens have access to programs that will ensure they're healthy and that they have the skills and services they need.
Thank you.