Mr. Speaker, I am rising again on a question I raised a number of weeks ago with regard to funding cuts to key aboriginal organizations.
I am going to read into the record a letter dated November 22 to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development. It says:
Dear Minister,
We are writing to express our dismay over unprecedentedly deep funding cuts for Canada's Aboriginal Representative Organizations, including the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and tribal councils across the country. This follows the forced closure of the National Aboriginal Health Organization.
As researchers, we work with these organizations and others in research partnerships to tackle some of the most pressing issues Canada faces. Grant funding agencies supported by your government consistently identify Aboriginal research as one of the top priorities for research in Canada. They also make it clear that this research can only be done in partnership with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities.
As minister, you are well aware of the health, education and infrastructure issues that are preventing Canadian First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities from reaching their full potential. Innovative research partnerships between the people affected and the brightest minds at Canadian universities offer hope for resolving these issues in an effective and fiscally responsible way. In many cases, these bright young minds are First Nations citizens themselves.
We partner with the organizations whose funding you have cut on practical issues such as clean drinking water and community planning. We also partner with individual First Nations that rely on these umbrella organizations for training and support that enables them to engage meaningfully in research. Dedicated staff at these larger organizations, with whom we have developed relationships over years, are named as co-applicants and collaborators on our research grants. However, these people may not be able to carry through on their commitments because they may lose their jobs.
The potential loss of expertise is staggering and could take a generation to recover. Canada cannot afford to wait another generation for solid research on urgent issues. We urge you to rethink these ill-advised cuts to organizations that have been doing excellent work in their communities that benefits Canada as a whole.
This letter is signed by 121 different individuals at universities and organizations that are supporting this research.
Concerns are being raised from coast to coast to coast on these cuts. I just need to quote once again the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Canada endorsed in November 2010. Article 19 states:
States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.
These cuts are seriously hampering organizations that are offering support, particularly to some of the smaller bands. The government is actually forcing cuts right at the time we are seeing crises in things like housing, water and education.
The Conservative government has a legislative agenda that actually requires some of the services that were formerly provided by, for example, tribal councils, to help with the implementation of that legislative agenda—for example, Bill C-27, the financial transparency and accountability act.
I am just asking the parliamentary secretary if the government has reviewed the impact of these cuts and what it will mean for these organizations to be able to deliver services that are essential in these communities.