The Native Women's Association had different departments.
One, for example, was health. In April 2012 we had word from Health Canada that all our funding was cut. We couldn't do anything in the health sector for aboriginal women. Eight of our staff were laid off, and we never brought them back on because we were not successful in getting any more funds from Health Canada. That was one major cut.
Other cutbacks were, of course, with the Status of Women funding. During the Sisters in Spirit, the Native Women's Association of Canada was receiving about $1 million, which is public information. It has decreased steadily since then. We're getting much less than we had then, than we had last year. We have even less this year than what we had last year. Again, it has to be in relation to our staff. We have fewer staff in that department as well.
Core funding was decreased, as well, for all NAOs and aboriginal regional organizations across the board last year. In order to get funds to do work in various areas, we had to apply to a $20-million pot with the other four NAOs and all the aboriginal regional organizations across Canada. It was a very competitive process.
We entered the process. We submitted our 10 proposals on February 20, or something like that, of last year, which was the due date of each proposal, and we had word only in October, November, that some of our projects had been funded. Right now we're doing work that has to be completed by March 31. It's one year of work that has to be completed by March 31, in three or four months.
It's very difficult for me and for our staff to work under those conditions. Of course, as my colleague was saying here, it is hard to keep a dedicated staff, where they want to work, where they want to be in the workforce, and where they like their job. But we can't offer stability. That's the situation I, along with all the other NAOs and ROs, am in right now in terms of funding.