Thank you, Madam Chair and honourable members. I thank you for inviting Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada to appear before this committee. My name is Paula Isaak, and I am the assistant deputy minister responsible for education and social development programs and partnerships.
I just want to say at the outset that I would also like to acknowledge that we are gathered today on traditional Algonquin territory.
We are pleased that this committee made the decision to study violence against women and girls. It is, sadly, still a prevalent issue, and more so for indigenous women and girls.
As you heard from colleagues previously during Stats Canada's presentation on April 12, indigenous women and girls in Canada are three times more likely to be victims of violence than are non-indigenous women.
Violence against indigenous women and girls has a devastating impact on individuals, families and communities.
Preventing and addressing violence against indigenous women and girls is complex and requires that all partners work together.
Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada continues to participate in the federal family violence initiative, which gathers 15 federal departments and agencies with the same goal of reducing family violence in Canada. The Government of Canada is deeply concerned about the high level of family violence faced by indigenous people and is fully committed to addressing this issue.
INAC plays a key role in the prevention of family violence. The department's family violence prevention program provides funding to assist first nations in providing access to family violence shelter services and prevention activities to women, children, and families ordinarily resident on reserve.
There are two components to the program. One is operational funding, which covers salaries, direct client costs, and the administration costs for an existing network of 41 shelters in the provinces and Yukon territory. The other is proposal-based prevention projects. Currently the family violence prevention program invests $31.7 million on an ongoing basis to provide support to these 41 shelters and the family violence prevention activities on and off reserve.
Between 2010 and 2014, the department invested a total of $163.6 million in the family violence prevention program, providing shelter services for more than 10,500 children and about 12,300 women, and funded more than 1,100 prevention and awareness activities. These activities include public outreach and awareness, conferences, seminars, workshops, support groups, and community needs assessments.
Through its funding, the family violence prevention program enhances the safety and security of women, children and families living on reserve.
Minister Bennett was mandated to ensure that no one fleeing domestic violence is left without a place to turn by growing and maintaining Canada's network of shelters and transition houses.
To support the renovation and construction of new shelters for victims of family violence in first nation communities, budget 2016 proposes to provide $10.4 million over three years, starting in 2016-17. Budget 2016 also proposes up to $33.6 million over five years, beginning this fiscal year, and up to $8.3 million ongoing in additional funding to better support the shelters serving victims of family violence in first nation communities.
These additional investments will allow the Government of Canada to continue to protect indigenous women, children and families on reserve.
In addition, under the first nations child and family services program, the department supports the delivery of appropriate prevention and protection services for first nations children and families.
Budget 2016 investments of $634.8 million over five years would support critically needed program stability, address key cost drivers, and increase funding for prevention services across the country. Immediate investments would support front-line service providers and ensure continued availability of services to first nation children and families as the government moves to engage with its partners on how to address child welfare issues in first nation communities.
The goal is to ensure that programming emphasizes prevention through supports to families, so INAC provides funding to support the efforts of agencies in early intervention and to create tools such as parenting skills programs to allow parents to better care for their children before a situation becomes a matter of protection. Ultimately, prevention-based programming aims at improving the services that children and families need and deserve.
Budget 2016 investments represent a concrete first step. Much-needed program reform will be developed in partnership with first nations stakeholders.
This government has been clear on its commitment to establish a “new fiscal relationship that provides sufficient, predictable and sustained funding for First Nations communities”. Overall, in March 2016, the Government of Canada proposed investments of $8.4 billion over five years in first nations families, youth, and children as part of budget 2016. Through these investments, Canada will work in partnership with indigenous peoples to improve the socio-economic conditions of indigenous children, families, and communities.
Minister Bennett was also mandated to develop, in collaboration with the Minister of Justice, and supported by the Minister of Status of Women, an approach to and a mandate for an inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women and girls in Canada. In December 2015, Canada launched a national pre-inquiry engagement process to inform the design of a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.
Our minister and the Ministers of Status of Women and Justice met with over 2,100 survivors, families, and loved ones. The ministers also heard from front-line and national organizations. They were told first-hand about the devastating effects of violence against indigenous women and girls and about the negative impacts on the families of victims and their communities.
The importance of involving survivors, families, and loved ones in all stages of the inquiry process was expressed at these sessions, as was the need to examine the origins of violence. Participants also shared their experiences with various institutions, such as child protection and policing, and expressed that they would like to see the inquiry lead to improvements in these areas.
Throughout the pre-inquiry process, the ministers heard from young women who were survivors, family members, or loved ones. They provided many focused suggestions, including a recommendation that the inquiry look at ways to support the children of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Several submissions recommended that youth be represented at all levels of the inquiry.
We also received over 4,100 submissions via an online survey and approximately 300 pieces of correspondence and submissions by email, mail, or phone between December and February. All the input received will help inform the design of the national inquiry. Minister Bennett has publicly expressed the desire to have the inquiry begin its work by this summer.
Recent commitments were made by all participants at the second national roundtable on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, held in Winnipeg in February 2016.
Participants in the 2016 National Roundtable on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls agreed to work with families and local partners to continue to collaborate to address violence, participate in the national inquiry, build on the current iteration and activities of the Aboriginal Affairs Working Group, support indigenous-led anti-racist and anti-sexist training programs for all public servants, create and implement common performance measures, improve liaison with families, and launch a pan-Canadian awareness campaign.
We will continue to collaborate with federal colleagues, provinces, and territories, as well as with national aboriginal organizations to address this important and challenging issue.
Thank you again for making this issue an important part of your work.
I'd be pleased to answer any questions.