It's interesting that you say “Atlantic approach”, because we've really been isolated in Newfoundland. I say Newfoundland as separate from Labrador. Part of the issue is that we're still not status, not considered status, and we're evolving to the point where women are understanding that you don't need to carry your birth certificate to know that you're alive. Nor do you need that status card to know you're aboriginal. That's a really new thing for us.
There is an organization, the Newfoundland Native Women's Association, which is linked to NWAC, but we were finding that it was not reaching out into the communities. I personally wrote two letters to that organization asking to join and didn't get a response. There are lots of stories like that. Without getting too political, we decided, well, let's form our own organization.
We're looking to reach out as much as possible. I think what we're probably going to do is go into Labrador. Patty Pottle, the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, is very familiar with the work we're doing and has asked us personally if we could come. We're getting tremendous financial support from our provincial government. In the current budget, they gave us $100,000 in operating funds, which is unheard of, because that's not project funding; that's money we can operate with.
We are partnering within our own province with women's centres, the RCMP, family resource centres, and so on. We're partnering with Conne River, which is the only reserve on the island part of the province. That is working, but we still have a way to go before we connect with our sisters in the other provinces. We're very much looking forward to that.