Open Letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper
March 16, 2010
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER
Rt. Honorable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa K1A 0A2
613-941-6900
Prime Minister:
On this occasion, the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal (NWSM), writes to you as one of the 134 community projects recently informed of the Federal Government’s decision to decline the renewal of funding to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF). The AHF is an Aboriginal-managed national non-profit institution, established in 1998. The AHF mandate is to encourage and support community-based Aboriginal directed healing initiatives. These initiatives aim to address the intergenerational legacy of physical and sexual abuse suffered in Canada’s Indian Residential School System. The AHF and its affiliated projects, rely almost exclusively on Federal government funding to meet their mandates.
The recent Federal budget’s pledge of $199 million to address the legacy of Indian Residential School, and “to ensure that necessary mental health and emotional support services continue to be provided to former students and their families”, however generous, has not been committed to the AHF. Consequently, the aforementioned 134 community-based projects nationwide will be terminated as of March 31st, 2010. This decision will have crippling affects, even devalue the process of reconciliation initiated in June of 2008, when the formal apology was issued for the Federal Government’s role in the Indian Residential School System.
We would like to further call your attention to the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs’ December 2009 report, “Evaluation of Community-Based Healing Initiatives Supported Through the Aboriginal Healing Foundation”. The Evaluation highlights that “there is almost unanimous agreement among those canvassed that the AHF has been very successful at both achieving its objectives and in governance and fiscal management”. Furthermore, it concludes that the positive impacts of these projects are far reaching, affecting individuals, youth, women, as well as whole families and communities.
According to this report and to the data collected quarterly by each community project, “the majority of projects note they are not sustainable without AHF funding.” This same Evaluation made the following recommendations:
- The Government of Canada should consider continued support for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, at least until the Settlement Agreement compensation processes and commemorative initiatives are completed.
- The Government of Canada explore options with the Aboriginal Healing Foundation to determine how best to maximize any additional resources, should they become available, in order to be better able to meet the healing needs of Aboriginal Canadians.
- The Government of Canada undertake a study, in partnership with the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, research organizations, and stakeholders, to determine the healing needs of Aboriginal Canadians post Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement and determine whether funding should be continued and, if so, to what extent, and what role, if any, the Government of Canada should play.
- The Government of Canada implements, in the funding agreement with the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, a requirement to collect data to help determine cost effectiveness of community‐based healing projects supported by the Foundation. They should also examine the possibility of a mandate to conduct strategic research and evaluation activities; however, this enhanced mandate should not detract from funding that would normally flow to community‐based projects.
We would like to note that, despite these recommendations, organizations such as ours will no longer be receiving crucial funding to maintain our healing programs. The NWSM’s mandate is to provide a safe and supportive environment that strengthens cultural identity, self-esteem, and independence for Aboriginal women and their children. As a result of these devastating cuts, three crucial support based jobs will be lost, and NWSM’s ability to provide a culturally appropriate safe space for Aboriginal women and their children to overcome violence, addiction, and homelessness will be compromised. These services have become irreplaceable in the lives of hundreds of Aboriginal women and children every year in the greater Montreal area alone.
The NWSM is well aware of the impact of the recent economic downtown on the country’s finances. The shelter is especially conscious of the disadvantages that Aboriginal women and their children face on a daily basis, as well as the added consequences of tighter family resources. The NWSM is a none political entity, but in this situation the shelter would be remiss in not speaking out about the plight of our clientele. The actions by the Federal government in ceasing funding to the AHF, contradicts their promise in the 2010 Budget of “ensuring that all women in Canada, including Aboriginal women, are safe and secure regardless of the community in which they live.” According to this very same budget, Aboriginal women are a particularly vulnerable population who require additional support and protection.
We therefore ask, Mr. Prime Minister, that you and the Federal government take immediate action, reaffirming your commitment to the 2008 reconciliation process, revisit this decision, and restore funding to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. Your interventions are necessary in order to ensure that Aboriginal people nationwide may continue on their journey towards overcoming the harsh consequences of the Indian Residential School System. The NWSM unequivocally applauds any additional spending promised to alleviate this heritage, but any true commitments will remain unfulfilled without the full restoration of funding to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and its 134 projects nationwide.
In the spirit of healing,
Nakuset
Executive Director, Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal
