Thank you.
I'm here representing the Ndinawe and the Red River child and youth care program. I'd like to talk about two programs, so I'm also representing White Wolf Speaking, under the aboriginal community initiatives program, through the Sexuality Education Resource Centre.
Let me talk about the Ndinawe and Red River child and youth care certificate program first.
Previous to this program, it was identified within the community, through a few groups that were doing some healing work with women and transgendered women in the community, mostly aboriginal, who had exited the sex trade, that there weren't a lot of services for women once they did some of the healing work and stuff. Many of the women, knowing what the waters were around sexual exploitation and the sex trade, were wanting to give back within the community. At the same time, they were wanting to get off social assistance, wanting to attain higher education and have a better life outside the sex trade.
So the program was developed in late 2006. Funding was confirmed for the joint pilot training program between Ndinawe and Red River College to recruit and to train former sex trade workers in the field of child and youth care in a community-based and supportive environment. The program was developed as an in-community model, with accredited training consistent with the mainstream child and youth care course at Red River College. They have a diploma program there.
This one-year program that was developed through Ndinawe and Red River is a certificate program that can lead into the diploma program at the college. All of the curriculum is exactly the same as Red River College, so there's no differentiation between what's delivered in terms of curriculum; rather, it's more about the supports and the in-community model.
The program was designed, as I said, to help women who were formerly entrenched, or exploited as children and youth, in the sex trade. About 75% of the participants in the program are aboriginal. To date there have been aboriginal transgendered women graduates and also one aboriginal male graduate.
The program is based out of the north end in Winnipeg. We have a program coordinator, a teaching assistant, a counsellor, and two full-time Red River College instructors. We've been running the program since January 2007.
The program provides cultural and social life skills, along with academic supports, that are designed to promote success and decrease the barriers that a lot of the women face in order that they can successfully graduate from the program and go on to gain meaningful employment. The program's main goal is to support the women to further their education after having exited the trade. All participants are on social assistance at the time of entry into the program.
To our knowledge, there isn't any other program like this in Canada. What's unique about the program is that the participants bring an experiential knowledge base that is so specialized and so important to the field of child and youth care. This is an education that you can't get; you have to have lived it. These participants have lived it. They are the ones who are the experts in this field, knowing what to spot, what to look for, and how to better help children who are at risk of being exploited. In many of the practicums that the students are placed in, they are able to spot the child who is at risk of being exploited. They are able to take some action there and are able to work with them.
For most of the women in the program, they see the program as a way to both educate themselves and work towards eradicating sexual exploitation and human trafficking of women and children. We know that the numbers of aboriginal children in care are high.
To date we have 28 graduates of the program. Most are fully employed and completely off social assistance. We also have a class of 12 today that hopefully will graduate in June.
The program has excellent cultural....
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