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.
Bloc
Nicole Demers Bloc Laval, QC
So we are talking about a program that will not be a project lasting a couple of years, but that will last for many more years.
Policy Director, National Association of Friendship Centres
Precisely. Continuity is so important. Program funding is important. They need to know that they will be able to provide the services next year, and the next, and so on.
I know Treasury Board does five-year renewals. That's fine.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. Compton, I'd like to give you an opportunity to tell me what kinds of programs you offered when you had access to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation funding.
Manager, Cultural Program, Minwaashin Lodge
We're continuing to offer the same programming; we just had to get more creative about doing it.
We have a sacred child program where we encourage moms to instill confidence and culture in their children. When you raise up the children, and especially the women, when their hearts are not on the ground, the nation does better. So we really work on the women and children.
We have a culture program. We also have an employment readiness program where, once women have gone on their healing journey and they're ready to give back, they can start going to work. However, it does take years for them to get the counselling, the traditional support, and the ceremonies to heal first. They don't come to us job-ready. There's a lot of healing going on before that.
We're leaders in our community on the impacts of violence. We are producing leaders, women leaders who are advocates. A lot of women have picked up the sacred tools--the drum; they're putting things into their medicine bundle. They're building confidence and they're speaking out now. Like myself, they're survivors and they're going on to do great things.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
I wanted to pursue this issue of the continuity in funding, the need for that. We keep hearing over and over, particularly from Status of Women Canada, that little projects are being funded for a year or 18 months and that somehow replaces the more substantive funding. I'm glad to hear your statement on that.
In the last budget, the Government of Canada announced $10 million in response to the Sisters in Spirit and the findings of NWAC in that regard. It seems like a lot of money, but it seems to me that the job that needs to be done is far bigger than what $10 million would cover.
We've got this bundle of money, and we keep hearing from INAC and Health Canada about the bits and pieces that are strewn about. Who should be directing this money? If it were put together, who should be directing this money and how it is used? Should it be first nations organizations themselves, rather than the various bureaucracies that seem to be holding the purse strings?
Policy Director, National Association of Friendship Centres
We have a best practice model already, and that's the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. There were things...the administration and the allocation of funding through the Aboriginal Healing Foundation was incredibly effective. It was aboriginal controlled. It wasn't just first nations; it was first nations, Métis, and Inuit. They decided who would receive the programming and who would receive the funding for the programs.
Sadly, after 10 years of funding, it has dried up. I wish the federal government would make a commitment to continue the program, to continue the commitment, like the commitment that was made on residential schools in the 1800s. There was obviously a very long commitment to fund residential schools, so why can't the federal government make a similar kind of commitment to help the healing of aboriginal people?
Who should control the dollars? Of course, the aboriginal people should control the dollars. There is a best practice model with the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. The commitment has to be there, though, and a continuation of the funding, year after year.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to change the channel a little bit here, if I may.
Mr. Saulis, you told us that 54% of aboriginal people now live in urban centres. Did I hear that correctly?
Policy Director, National Association of Friendship Centres
According to the 2006 census, that is the number.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Presumably, Ms. Compton, you're working with a lot of those women, who are coming into your centre. Many of them have children, I presume. Are those children attending school? Are they getting into educational programs in our urban centres? Are the women then able to develop skill sets that they can take out into the marketplace?
We listened to a number of presentations over the last couple of weeks. Over and over we heard that education was going to be so important in this process of moving on and helping people to become self-sufficient--that was the word we heard. Self-determination was the other phrase we heard.
Are the women getting those skill sets? Perhaps you could tell us what kind of programming is available for that.
Manager, Cultural Program, Minwaashin Lodge
We had a lot of support from the Ontario Women's Directorate. That was the first ministry to step forward and give us funding to train women to be administrative assistants. It's a pilot project, and we hope to continue with that.
It's starting to happen slowly. We need to see more women going to college and university so that they can get jobs to support their families. Most of them are single-parent families, and the women are the heads of these families.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Do you have any statistics on what kinds of educational programs are of interest? Is there a wide variety? Is there any one area that you're finding they are particularly gifted to go forward in?
Manager, Cultural Program, Minwaashin Lodge
Of course, here in Ottawa the labour market demand is for administrative personnel because we are the capital and a government-run city. Certainly, we need more women trained in college to be counsellors, to be the helpers, the healers, and to do research within the Native Women's Association to help the government make policy and move things forward.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
So are you finding women going to university and doing psychology degrees?
Manager, Cultural Program, Minwaashin Lodge
Not at all. It's more upgrading. A big part of it is upgrading for women. The administrative assistant is a college course. There are entry-level positions into these careers.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
And yet what we see in the public service is that 43% of the upper levels are now women, so there's room for movement.
I guess my next question is to Mr. Saulis, and I know this will have to be very quick. Obviously, when we're talking about violence against aboriginal women, there's a perpetrator, and I have to assume that the perpetrator is male. Are there programs for men to help move them beyond this kind of activity and become free of violence?
Policy Director, National Association of Friendship Centres
I don't think there are enough. Whatever is out there, again, is piecemeal and project-oriented.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
But over the last 15 years, have you been providing those programs for men through your centres?
Policy Director, National Association of Friendship Centres
Friendship centres have been trying to help men and families.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
And what has been the response? Have we seen a decrease in the violence?
Policy Director, National Association of Friendship Centres
Unfortunately, no.
