Mr. Speaker, it is a huge honour and privilege to table this petition, signed by members of the Port Alberni Friendship Center. They highlight that friendship centres across Canada serve as vital community hubs for indigenous people, offering culturally appropriate services in areas such as health, education, housing, employment and youth programming.
The petitioners also highlight that governments at all levels have increasingly depended on the services of friendship centres to respond to socio-economic conditions, climate events and public health emergencies, such as the toxic drug crisis, but that funding for friendship centres has failed to keep pace with the rate of inflation.
The petitioners are calling on the government to commit to enhanced core funding to ensure friendship centres have sufficient financial resources to maintain and expand their services to meet community needs, as well as to provide multi-year, predictable funding agreements that allow them to plan strategically, recruit and retain qualified staff, develop culturally appropriate resources to support growing responsibilities, and recognize and support the role of friendship centres in reconciliation.