Evidence of meeting #14 for Status of Women in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was lot.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desnoyers Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
My first question is for Ms. Compton and deals with the Minwaashin Lodge and the Oshki Kizis shelter. We read about this, and when you talk—
4 p.m.
Manager, Cultural Program, Minwaashin Lodge
Sorry, I can't understand that at all.
4 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desnoyers Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Your organization, the Minwaashin centre, is obviously meant for an urban setting, since you are in Ottawa.
Do those who access your services come from reserves further north, or are they aboriginals from across this country?
4:05 p.m.
Manager, Cultural Program, Minwaashin Lodge
I would say there are women who come from all regions of the country. I come from Manitoba. Because there's a lot of violence in Winnipeg, a lot of women are migrating to Ottawa, because this is a safe place for them to start their healing journeys. We do find a lot of women coming from the reserves. The demographics of Ottawa are going to change: we are going to see a lot aboriginal families migrating to the big cities, and there should be appropriate services for them in place.
4:05 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desnoyers Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
What kind of grants does your centre get? Which organizations is this money coming from? What is the amount you get? Is it enough?
4:05 p.m.
Manager, Cultural Program, Minwaashin Lodge
We're about a $2 million agency, but we have multiple grants. We must have at least 13 grants in place. They are all program funding grants, so it's hard to keep going all the time. But, yes, we're a multi-funded agency, like most agencies.
4:05 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desnoyers Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Why do you say it is difficult to keep going with your operations?
4:05 p.m.
Manager, Cultural Program, Minwaashin Lodge
Recently the Aboriginal Healing Foundation closed, so we're feeling the impacts of all of those programs and services that were set up after the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. We've had to lay off some people, and programs and services have been scaled down. That's the crux of it right now.
4:05 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desnoyers Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
How many people were laid off in your organization and how many people did you use to have?
4:05 p.m.
Manager, Cultural Program, Minwaashin Lodge
At our centre we employ about 40 women.
4:05 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desnoyers Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
You are saying there were cuts in many programs. Are they different kinds of programs? Mr. Saulis told us there were 1,295 programs.
4:05 p.m.
Manager, Cultural Program, Minwaashin Lodge
Our two spirit program is one that's going to be ending in a month. So that's one program.
We've modified our programs and have had to get funding from other places to keep them going. But we do need more counsellors; we absolutely need them, because there are a lot women suffering from trauma and they need the psychological help. Counselling is a big issue for us. We have to....
4:05 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desnoyers Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Mr. Saulis, you said there is $114 million for the 120 friendship centres. Is that correct?
4:05 p.m.
Policy Director, National Association of Friendship Centres
The core funding that we receive from the Department of Canadian Heritage is $16 million. That provides the core funding of approximately 116 of the 120 friendship centres. The rest of the money, the $114 million, is generated by the hard work that the people in friendship centres do to raise money from other sources, including provincial and municipal governments. So the $16 million means that we're able to generate an additional—
4:05 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desnoyers Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
You are getting $16 million from the federal government. Is that right?
4:05 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desnoyers Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
You said also that many people were hired and that 2,438 people worked in friendship centres. There are 1,295 programs, which is a lot, and 2,438 people are working in these centres. From all this committee heard, I would say such an organization should do much for women in an urban setting.
But many witnesses told us things did not change much in the last several years. Could you tell us more about your organization and its contribution?
4:10 p.m.
Policy Director, National Association of Friendship Centres
Sure. The people who work in the friendship centres across the country put in a lot of personal time. They work for very low wages. The amount of money involved and the number of programs that we have and the number of people we employ may give the impression that it's a lot. But given that 54% of the aboriginal population in Canada lives in urban centres across the country, meaning 54% of the 1.12 million aboriginal people counted in the 2006 census, it is quite a population.
Friendship centres do as much as they can to augment the kind of work that Minwaashin Lodge does, but we're glad that Minwaashin Lodge is there to help the women, families, and children they provide services to. Friendship centres don't believe or think they can do it alone; they want to support Minwaashin Lodge to continue providing its important services.
Our services are in the areas I spoke about.
4:10 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desnoyers Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Ms. Mann, you are suggesting prostitution should be decriminalized. Do you think this could happen in the next 10 years, under this government?
4:10 p.m.
Lawyer and Consultant, As an Individual
I'm not proposing decriminalization of prostitution; I'm proposing decriminalization of the prostitute, which is a very different thing.
To be honest, if the political will were there, I see it as a no-brainer, because if one accepts that at least some of these women—avoiding the discussion about choice—are victimized and exploited, criminalizing their conduct just further victimizes them. So I think a very strong case can be made for just decriminalizing the sex trade worker. I could definitely see that being accomplished within the next 10 years, yes.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
April 28th, 2010 / 4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I have a number of questions for each of you. I hope I have enough time to get them in. I think I'll start with Mr. Saulis.
I have only had contact with two friendship centres. I recognize that they work on a very meagre budget. It seems that there is this continual process of grant writing.
If we were looking across all the friendship centres, if we visited all 123, would we see a whole range of programs, depending on how successful they were, or not, in terms of applications?
4:10 p.m.
Policy Director, National Association of Friendship Centres
Yes. That is definitely the case.
What we report in State of the Friendship Centre Movement: 2009 is a compilation of the variety of programs friendship centres have, from St. John's to Port Alberni to Inuvik. Not all friendship centres would provide each one of those programs. They might provide a number of them.
There is definitely a lot of proposal writing. There is a lot of searching out of funding from various sources, whether it is from provincial or municipal governments or even other sources, such as, from time to time, foundations. A lot of work is put into bringing in the extra money that could provide some services within the areas I mentioned in my presentation.
