Mr. Speaker, I am privileged but very sad to have to participate in this debate this evening. I will be sharing my time with the member for Papineau.
The government has heard the uproar across the country from thousands upon thousands of people about shutting down the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.
When I came into the chamber tonight, I was hoping for a compromise solution. I was hoping the government would listen to those people so in need. I was hoping for a win-win-win compromise situation, a non-partisan win, where all members of the House, on this side for sure, and a majority of the House vastly believe in the importance of carrying on this good work. Even the minister and the parliamentary secretary have said good work has been done. The minister's own evaluation talks about this indispensable work.
Why not? It makes the most common sense to come to a compromise situation. The government could perhaps re-profile some of the $199 million so that we could carry on for another year, and come up with a solution to this incredible problem that is the reason for this very important emergency debate that would not have occurred if these very valuable and important services in people's lives were not going to be shut down across the country in about four hours.
This is particularly devastating to the people in the riding of the Minister of Health, Nunavut. In the Nunavut Legislature there is a motion calling for the reinstatement of this funding.
There is also a logical dissonance in the government's decision to cut this down. It has admitted, by saying it needs $133 million for more payouts for many more survivors, that obviously these people need health and healing services that the Aboriginal Healing Foundation provides. The government is cutting those off. It is only paying for one piece of the puzzle.
The healing is obviously not finished. The government is dreaming in Technicolor if it thinks the serious major impacts on people's lives are over in a year or two. Even with the services that Health Canada provides, which are excellent services, it is one piece of the puzzle. The other huge piece provided by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation is necessary and ongoing.
If the healing was over, why do thousands upon thousands of people still access the 134 projects? Health Canada has made it quite clear that the money in the budget will allow it to continue the services it has always provided. That is its job. It has to. It is a statutory requirement. It will continue doing that.
The budget says that the necessary mental health and emotional support services continue to be provided to former students. It is great that Health Canada continues its small part of the puzzle. However, the big, gaping hole left by closing these 134 healing projects across the country is not being filled by anything.
I am going to give an example of some of these from my own riding. There are only four projects in my riding.
The first one is the Committee on Abuse in Residential Schools Society that provides talking circles, outreach work, educational sessions, et cetera, for $603,000. This one project has thousands of contacts. Out of 134 institutions and projects, imagine how many people that is across the country. This project was for $603,000, and that ends with no replacement in about four hours.
The second project is the Northern Tutchone Tribal Council. The goal is to rebuild the families, homes and communities of the Northern Tutchone Tribal Council. It provides ongoing counselling and traditional land-based activities to assist community members to address the legacy of residential schools on their lives and families. Its $616,200 ends in four hours.
The Kwanlin Dün First Nation's project will provide one-on-one counselling to survivors and their family members to address issues of physical and sexual abuse, shame and addictions. The project develops holistic healing plans for each participant receiving counselling. It provides a series of workshops, which include history and impacts of residential schools, communication skills, traditional medicine, traditional knowledge and culture, resiliency and recovery, and the Virginia Satir model, understanding self within the family structure.
The project provides elders with healing circles, a men's support group, a women's talking circle, a residential school survivor support group, and an elder women's sewing circle. None of this is being replaced. There was no suggestion by anyone in the government that those programs would be replaced. Their $710,748 funding ends in four hours.
The last one, the Liard Aboriginal Women's Society, has done excellent work for years. I will give more detailed feedback as an example of this type of work in a small, remote community that has a number of challenges, and obviously nothing is replacing this. It states:
A more powerful approach to the argument as to why the AHF [the Aboriginal Healing Foundation] should continue is that over the last 10 years we have learned a lot on what the First Nations people want and need to promote a lasting healing environment. In the past many professionals have been dropped into communities to hold workshops and provide counseling. Then they left, sometimes leaving the people feeling open and raw with reawakened memories and also feeling abandoned, once again. These temporary interventions are not sustainable.
We can think how they feel tonight. It goes on to state:
Communities desperately need local individuals to be educated in the helping fields so that there may be a true understanding of the magnitude of cultural and historic issues and how they affect the healing journey. In the last 10 years we have provided counseling and education that is strength based and addressing violence in the context of safety and justice.
We have built these up over 10 years. They are finally working and now we are going to cut them all down. The Women's Society goes on to state:
When we started 10 years ago there was a lot of fear in traditional healing and because of our AHF program providing traditional psychotherapy many members have been more involved and open minded about traditional healing. Our programs have been very diverse, with its foundation rooted in Kaska Culture, we have offered many different programs that helped members heal the scars of residential schools. We have a website that has many pictures of our many paths, www.liardaboriginalwomen.ca. We provide programs that are holistic with Naturopathic medicines for which many members have changed their diets and are more educated on health and taking responsibility for their own wellness. We have offered Traditional knowledge workshops at our camp at Frances Lake and had the camp filled to capacity with family members from grandmothers to great grandmothers and grandfathers teaching the youth and adult about our culture. We have offered counseling to members in Ross River, Yukon with a Doctor visiting them 6 months out of the year. We have offered many other successful programs over the last 10 years and would need to write a book to cover the many stories.
1. LAWS is the only organization in [our town] that offers counseling and culturally based projects to First Nations without a specifically religious or government policy base.
2. Most of our workshops are based on First Nations culture and ideals, however the entire community is always invited to join.
3. Individual counselling is very confidential, client centred and focuses on wellness and abilities, as opposed to illness and barriers.
4. Quote from a client, “I love getting out of the house and being able to do things with other women in a fun way!” “It's nice to be able to get together and laugh and not worry about all the problems”.
From a young woman, “I really like having the chance to learn about our ways from the Elders, this is amazing!”
From an elder to our counsellor, “You are good for our people”.
“We need to do something to help get funding for your Society”
“I am upset to hear that you will be closing”
“Where are we going to go to get counselling”
It goes on to say, “Our therapist is the only therapist in town that goes to our local shelter to provide counselling on a regular basis. Without this program, there will be a huge gap in services that provide counselling support, there will be no education and awareness to the epidemic of violence against the women in our community. There will be no workshops that bring women together in the winter months for a time to sew and share stories of residential schools, validate their courage and strength at the residential schools. We are recognized in our community as a team player and have formed strong networks with all the government agencies, non-profit agencies and first nations organizations in all five Kaska communities. Souga sin la”.
Probably the most shameful comment I heard from the minister was that this was partly based on the current financial situation. How can the government take this away from the most vulnerable in Canada? If anything, money should go to people who are on the verge of suicide, family breakup pt on addictions. It should go to the neediest of the neediest. The government says that the financial situation is one of the reasons it cut this program.
If any of us here had our children taken away and they were told they could not speak English or practise their culture, it would be shattering. That would take years and years of healing and that should not end tonight at midnight.