Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that the Conservatives are so disconnected they actually believe their false talking points.
I am glad to have this opportunity to revisit the issue of chronic underfunding of women's shelters available to aboriginal women, especially those living in more remote first nations communities. This is a critical shortfall that must be addressed so that headway can be made on the grim reality of violence against women.
Any other measures the government will undertake will be incomplete if these shelters are not available to allow a woman to remove herself from a violent environment and begin the process of restoration and healing. If we do not provide long-term adequate funding to aboriginal women's shelters, we are turning our backs on some of the most vulnerable members of our society.
Shelters provide front-line health services to first nations, Inuit and Métis people. Their mandates and responsibilities range from emergency services to transition homes. With that in mind, we must consider the lack of women's shelters on reserves as a public health crisis.
Aboriginal women are not protected by the same legislation that non-aboriginal women enjoy. Matrimonial real property on reserves differs from off reserves. A 1986 Supreme Court ruling states that when the conjugal relationship breaks down, courts cannot apply provincial and territorial law to deal with real property, such as the family home. That job is the responsibility of the federal government.
While there have been motions to modernize this legislation and protect aboriginal women when their marriage dissolves, both the Native Women's Association of Canada and ministerial representatives agree that increasing shelter funding should happen before creating a matrimonial real property regime. However, these shelters remain chronically underfunded, and any funding they do receive is pieced together from a series of limited-term options.
In 2012, on-reserve aboriginal women's shelters received the majority of their funding through the family violence prevention plan, which totalled $12 million for one year. According to the 2013 budget, that program has been extended for two years, with funding totalling $24 million. Given the projections for inflation over the next two years, this actually amounts to a cut to the program. With inflation expected to run at about 2%, the funding should have been increased by $480,000 to maintain the real value of the funding for the program.
Despite the outcry of major stakeholders to increase the funding and make a long-term commitment to aboriginal women, this year's budget offered no help and seems to be acceptance of the de facto cuts due to inflation.
As it cuts funding for aboriginal health facilities, let me remind the government that aboriginal people are the fastest-growing segment of our population. This is an ongoing trend, and that population is expected to grow at more than twice the rate of the general population over the next four years.
Of the aboriginal women living in remote areas, 70% do not have access to shelters. Despite rising populations, essential services are receiving less and less funding, limiting their effectiveness and limiting access to services for this target population. Shelters like the Mississauga Women's Shelter in my riding do their best to meet the needs of their population, but with the government starving them of resources, how can we reasonably expect them to accomplish their ever-growing list of tasks, especially since there is more need now than ever for the work that these shelters do?
Given that we know that violence against aboriginal women is a public health crisis for which women's shelters are a key front-line service and that the budgets for shelters are frozen, which amounts to a cut once inflation and population growth are factored in, will the government reconsider its position and commit to increasing core funding for women's shelters on reserve?