Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Nov. 2nd, 2016

[Tanya Davoren]

The biggest challenge with Métis Nation is identifying Métis people and using health statistics for Métis. This was a self-reported, comprehensive survey done with Métis youth. It's very difficult to look at Métis statistics, compared to first nations status statistics. For similar non-status first nations, statistics are hard to find as well. We need to use household surveys and long-form census, for example, to have an understanding. Métis Nation B.C. and the other governing member organizations were funded through the chronic disease surveillance of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

We did a program study where we were able to show that in B.C., of our cohort, which was 1,400 individuals—all with an informed consent procedure—49% of the women were diagnosed clinically with depression. That was information provided by the ministry of health. We know there are similarities throughout the other governing member organizations under Métis National Council through their studies. As for having other statistics, we are not quite there yet. Definitely, the Métis Nation does not yet have the information required to show exactly what our needs are.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

That's why I didn't know the answer.

[Tanya Davoren]

We are hoping that will change. Obviously, with the Daniels decision and the Tom Isaac recommendations, huge things are changing in our country for Métis people.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Eric, you talked about Gathering Our Voices. Can you tell us a little more? It's an annual event.

[Eric Klapatiuk]

Gathering Our Voices is an annual youth conference. It's been running since 2004. The first time I attended was in 2006 in Prince George. I didn't know it was Gathering Our Voices at that time. I just thought I was at a conference with a bunch of youth. At this time, there were probably about 350 attendees. A couple of years ago, when we were in Vancouver, we had a 2,500-delegate registration.

We are in Kelowna this year, in March. It's a smaller venue, and we've had to cut our registration down to 1,000 to accommodate for the size of the conference centre.

Gathering Our Voices is a conference that brings individuals from across B.C. It started in B.C., and it's been opened up into a national conference with national delegates attending. The youth come and sign up for workshops that cater to their wants, aspirations, and needs. They are able to meet like-minded youth who are also registering for these workshops. The workshops range from education to sports, physical fitness, art, and rap dance. It runs over three days.

We have an honouring feast for youth in care. One of the things we have identified is that a lot of times youth in care who are from first nations backgrounds don't have that access to the cultural component of their heritage. This is our way of recognizing, again, “You are a person; you matter.”

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

The next question is from Jenny Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you to all the witnesses for their presentations.

I'm interested in getting a fuller understanding of the service gaps that exist. There is a myriad of them: not being able to get assessments done in a timely manner; not having access to trauma counselling, even by picking up the phone to get crisis-line support; lack of training; and so on. I think there is a difference in the urban context versus the smaller, rural communities context.

What are those service gaps, and what are your recommendations for action?

[Cassidy Caron]

Service gaps for Métis people in British Columbia are absolutely massive. To my knowledge, there are very few to no Métis-specific services for mental health and wellness for our community members, especially our youth.

Sorry, what is the second part to the question?

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

The first part of the question was the service gaps, in the urban context versus the smaller, rural communities context. The second part asked what action needs to be done. If you were to say to the committee and to the government, “here are the top five things that you need to act on today to move this forward,” what would your recommendations be?

[Cassidy Caron]

My very first recommendation is community engagement, beginning with the Métis governing bodies across the nation. We need to have the resources to engage with our communities so that the communities can identify these gaps for themselves, as well as identify the specific resources that they need. No one knows better what they need than the communities themselves.

Tanya, I'm sure, can speak to this further.

[Tanya Davoren]

I certainly agree with Cassidy's recommendation that we need to speak to our communities. We're so under-resourced.

Just so you know what the ministry of health looks like for Métis Nation B.C., there are 70,000 self-identified Métis. I'm the full-time director of health, and I have a three-quarter-time assistant.

Since the Daniels decision, we've logged and tracked over 171 direct inquiries around assistance with MSP, drug and alcohol counselling, auditory needs, visual needs, etc., for people who are really struggling to get by.

That was no different when Nicholas Lang's father called me. We are trying to connect with community services as best we can, trying to make those connections. But, of course, as one person serving an entire province, it's really hard to know what every health authority is up to.

We make a point of sending people to the emergency room to ask what crisis services are available right now in their community because we don't have all the answers. It's impossible for us to know them because we're so under-resourced.

We definitely make linkages with the friendship centres as much as we can, as well. We always figure that they have infrastructure in place and that they have some community programs that are appropriate for Métis people. But in the case described in the RCY report about the loss of a beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed Métis boy, that boy was looking for Métis services and did not find them.

It would be amazing, definitely, for the federal government to commit to the promises made in their platform. Then we could meet some of the needs and outcomes from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission around addressing the jurisdictional dispute concerning aboriginal people who are not on a reserve, and around recognizing, respecting, and addressing the distinct health needs of the Métis people.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Eric, do you have anything to add?

[Eric Klapatiuk]

Friendship centres across B.C., and really across Canada, are one of the largest, strongest social service providers for urban aboriginal people. Across Canada we have 126 friendship centres and provincial and territorial associations that work hard for the people in their communities. One of those things that really adds to that service gap area is there's a lack of multi-year funding. A lot of times what we see is, we'll do this initiative for one year. You can't have sustainable change and impact in a community on a one-year basis. You can't have a lasting impact for that community for a one-time-only payout for one year.

When we look at what's lacking, it's that sustainable funding. In one year, for the majority of your year you're out trying to make that connection and bring those people in just to turn them away at the end of the year because you can no longer provide that service. That's one of the biggest things when it comes to the service gap, there's no sustainability. At the friendship centre, one of our biggest pushes right now is in regard to the urban aboriginal strategy. There is no sustainability to this strategy. We are in a bit of a crisis. The urban aboriginal strategy came from an amalgamation of the aboriginal friendship centre program, the cultural connections for aboriginal youth program, and the Young Canada Works.

With that amalgamation, that was the cease of cultural connections for aboriginal youth, and the cease of Young Canada Works into the new urban aboriginal strategy. Those Treasury Board authorities for cultural connections for aboriginal youth and Young Canada Works were not for the full length, and now we're looking at these service delivery program dollars not having a life come this new fiscal. That's how the new amalgamation works. This is one of those gaps. This is one of the challenges friendship centres have going forward, that is, how we are going to be able to continue having these program service dollars when the certainty is not for sure.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Thanks for that.

The next question is from Don Rusnak, please.

[Don Rusnak, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

I'm going to continue on that line of questioning, the funding for friendship centres right across the country.

Yesterday we heard from the head of a friendship centre here on the lower east side. He said, for 42 years they had received funding from Heritage, sustainable funding, they knew what was coming and they were able to do all the things that they do. A couple of years ago the funding was transferred to INAC. I've dealt with INAC in my previous life many times when I was executive director of Grand Council Treaty No. 3. They're sometimes cumbersome, they're sometime disorganized, they're sometimes punitive; they're, I think, a problematic organization.

When you have good organizations that had been running well for a while and you now link them to an organization that is most often or sometimes in disarray then it affects the organization that has to deal with them. I don't know the time frame of your involvement with the friendship centre in Prince Rupert, but have you noticed the change in the relationship since you were there, or if you know people who were involved with the organization, have you noticed a big change since the changeover from Heritage funding to INAC funding?

[Eric Klapatiuk]

I could speak to the work I've done with the Quesnel Tillicum Society Native Friendship Centre.

One of the things that has been difficult with this changeover and this new relationship is the uncertainty of knowing if those dollars are going to be there come the new fiscal. I've seen in my work with the Quesnel friendship centre as a board director that come March 31 we don't have the dollars there and we have to start giving notice of layoffs. Then that individual who has made all those connections and has been there for a long time, and has had that long-term relationship, has now been told they won't have a job come March 31 and they need to be finding new employment. Six months later, the dollars come through and that person already has new employment, and now we're having to start back from scratch virtually making those same connections with a new employee.

Like I said, the relationship has been difficult, and that's coming from the uncertainty of whether or not their funding is going to be flowing through.

[Don Rusnak, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

To your knowledge, does the friendship centre receive funding from any other sources within the province or across the country?

[Eric Klapatiuk]

Yes, my program in Prince Rupert is funded by a provincial ministry, and I'll leave it at that.

[Don Rusnak, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Something we heard yesterday was that the friendship centre and organizations that were working there had other not-for-profit businesses they were getting into. They were using a lot of catering services, so they decided to start their own catering company and the profits off some of the not-for-profits go to the operations of the centre. I believe they had some other business operating. Is the centre in Prince Rupert doing anything similar?

[Eric Klapatiuk]

This is an action that a lot of friendship centres across B.C. and across Canada really have been striving toward: social enterprises. Williams Lake has a painting company. They go and get quotes, and they paint across B.C., and locally within Williams Lake. The Prince George Native Friendship Centre has its own catering company. One of the things that a lot of friendship centres are moving into now is social enterprise to help maintain that sustainable level of quality service that we provide within the community.

[Don Rusnak, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

I have a quick question for you.

Gathering Our Voices...I think I understand it. We have a similar thing in Ontario. It's not really one event. It was a series of youth meetings called Feathers of Hope. Are you familiar with Feathers of Hope, and is it equivalent to or similar to Gathering Our Voices?

[Eric Klapatiuk]

From my understanding, they are similar. Gathering Our Voices is a one-time annual event, and I believe the kind of overarching theme is the same. I'm not overly familiar with Feathers of Hope. I've heard it in passing in my conversations with some of the centres within Ontario. Gathering Our Voices is a conference where we bring youth together for youth.

[Don Rusnak, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

The history of the Métis in the B.C....I forget where you mentioned you were from in Saskatchewan. I'm just not familiar with this, so I want to understand the history here. What is the history of Métis in B.C.? Are there established communities?

I worked for the crown prosecutor's office in Alberta, and there are communities, which are almost like reserves, set up in Alberta, I believe, that are funded by the Alberta government, or partially funded by the Alberta government. We have, in Ontario, Métis identified communities, in Manitoba, most definitely, and I'm sure in Saskatchewan. Can you explain to me and help out the committee with B.C.?

[Cassidy Caron]

Métis history in under one minute is impossible.

We, Métis Nation British Columbia, are a governing body for our provincial citizens here in British Columbia, and we are also a governing body under the Métis National Council. There is the Métis National Council and then there's also the provincial government. Our government is composed of an elected board of directors. There are seven regional directors here in British Columbia, and there are 36 or 37 chartered communities throughout British Columbia. The chartered communities are divided into those seven regions in British Columbia. We have a regional director, who sits on the board of directors, we have a provincially elected president, a vice-president, myself as the provincial youth chair, and we have our own Métis youth governing body, as well, with provincial youth representatives. We also have a Métis women's organization with a provincial women's representative and regional women's representatives, as well.

More than a minute, I'm sorry.