Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on April 29th, 2010

[Aideen Nabigon, Director General, Settlement Agreement Policy and Partnerships, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to come here today to discuss the government's commitment to mental health and emotional support under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

The government is committed to a fair and lasting resolution of the legacy of residential schools and recognizes that bringing closure to the legacy lies at the heart of reconciliation and a renewal of the relationships between aboriginal people who attended these schools, their families and communities, and all Canadians.

This commitment is embodied in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. Implementation of the settlement agreement began on September 19, 2007, following the consensus reached between legal counsel for former students, legal counsel for the churches, the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit organizations, and the Government of Canada.

The Government of Canada is continuing to fulfill its responsibilities and obligations under the settlement agreement by providing mental health and emotional support services to former students and their family members participating in the common experience payment, the independent assessment process, and Truth and Reconciliation Commission activities. Canada will provide these support services throughout the life of the settlement agreement.

The government has provided the following health support services to former students participating in all phases of the settlement agreement: an endowment of $125 million to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation for community-based healing services; health and emotional support services to former students and their family members through Health Canada's resolution health support program; and additional initiatives designed to support survivors, including the national Indian residential school crisis line, at a cost of $5 million per year, and future care awards for treatment or counselling services through the independent assessment process.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Could you please speak a little more slowly, Ms. Nabigon, for the benefit of the interpreters?

[Aideen Nabigon]

Oui, bien sûr.

In addition to the $125 million provided under the settlement agreement, the Government of Canada endowed the Aboriginal Healing Foundation with $350 million in 1998 and a further $40 million in 2005, for a total of $515 million. The last endowment of $125 million was for a five-year period, to 2012, as described in the healing foundation's corporate plan, released in December 2009. The Aboriginal Healing Foundation is currently implementing the wind-down strategy described in that plan.

The Government of Canada commends the Aboriginal Healing Foundation for the work it has done over the last 12 years; however, the foundation's annual report and corporate plan make it clear that it was not intended to be a permanent organization.

It is also important to note that budget 2010 funds for Health Canada have not been reallocated from funds that were previously intended for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. Budget 2010 committed $66 million in additional resources to the resolution health support program over fiscal years 2010-11 and 2011-12. The additional funding is to meet the demand for program services resulting from the increased volume of independent assessment process applications and hearings, and for upcoming Truth and Reconciliation Commission events.

Budget 2010 also committed additional resources of $133 million to INAC. So far, our original projections remain valid with respect to the number of CEP applications received and paid out. To date, $1.5 billion has been paid out.

However, when the agreement was reviewed by the courts in 2006, they added an intermediate step in the appeal process, called “reconsideration”. This is a review, performed by INAC, of the initial research, including any new information provided by the applicant. Approximately 24,500 requests for reconsideration have been received, of which over 95% have been processed.

The reconsideration process was not originally forecast and added to the cost of processing common experience payment applications, especially since more detailed research is required. Originally, the projection established in 2006 for the total number of claims to be submitted under the independent assessment process was 12,500; as of March 31, over 15,000 claims had been received, so the forecast for the remainder of the agreement until September 2012 has been revised upward to 21,000.

Another key component of the settlement agreement is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The commission will hold the first of its seven mandated national events this June at The Forks in Winnipeg. The Government of Canada is committed to accompanying former students and their families at this event. The federal government will participate fully in this and future events and will ensure that emotional and health support services are provided through Health Canada's resolution health support program.

In addition, we will continue to work with the commission on the $20-million commemoration program that is part of the settlement agreement.

At this point, I'll turn the microphone over to my colleague from Heath Canada, who will provide you with more details on the resolution health support program.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you, Ms. Nabigon.

Go ahead, Ms. Langlois.

[Kathy Langlois, Director General, Community Programs Directorate, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Health]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for the invitation to appear before you and for the opportunity to respond to any questions the committee may have.

In follow-up to my colleague's presentation, I will describe Health Canada's Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program to you and the steps we have taken to support former Indian Residential School students and their families, including current action to reach out to clients of Aboriginal Healing Foundation projects.

Through the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the Government of Canada is responsible for providing mental health and emotional support services to former students of Indian residential schools and their family members as they participate in the common experience payments, the independent assessment process, Truth and Reconciliation Commission events, and commemoration activities.

Health Canada provides mental health and emotional supports through the resolution health support program, which includes a range of culturally safe services for eligible former students and their families to address issues related to Indian residential schools, as well as the disclosure of abuse, throughout the settlement agreement process.

The resolution health support program comprises four elements: cultural supports, emotional supports, individual and family counselling, and transportation assistance.

Cultural support services are provided by local aboriginal organizations. Through them, elders or traditional healers are available to assist former students and their families. Specific services are determined by the needs of the individual and include dialogue, ceremonies, prayers, and traditional healing.

Emotional support services are also provided by local aboriginal organizations. Through them, an aboriginal community-based worker, who has training and experience working with former students of Indian residential schools, will listen, talk, and support former students and their family members throughout the settlement agreement process. These community-based workers are of aboriginal descent and many speak aboriginal languages.

Access to professional counsellors is available for those who need their services. Professional counsellors are psychologists and other mental health professionals, such as social workers, who are registered with Health Canada and who have experience working with aboriginal people. A professional counsellor will listen, talk, and assist former students to find ways of healing from residential school experiences.

In addition to these services, assistance with the cost of transportation is provided so that an individual can access professional counsellors or traditional healers if they are not available in the individual's home community.

Through this program, Health Canada provides access to over 1,600 service providers, including counsellors, community-based aboriginal workers, elders, and traditional healers, in every province and territory in communities throughout Canada.

As a result of a greater number of common experience payment applications and increased rates of independent assessment process hearings, demand for the resolution health support program has increased significantly in recent years. Program expenditures have steadily increased as we have provided service to more people: from $5.1 million in 2006-07 to approximately $37 million in 2009-10.

Budget 2010 announced an additional $66 million over two years for the resolution health support program. This new money, plus the existing program budget, will result in a total budget of $47.6 million in 2010-11 and $46.8 million in 2011-12, allowing us to meet the demand for services under the settlement agreement, including the commencement of Truth and Reconciliation Commission events.

The resolution health support program is one of several mental health and addictions programs funded by the federal government that provide important community-based services to first nations and Inuit families.

Health Canada provides over $200 million in funds annually for mental health and addictions services to first nations and Inuit communities through a variety of programs, including: the national native alcohol and drug abuse program and the national youth solvent abuse program, which provide both residential treatment services in over 60 facilities and community-based prevention programming in over 550 communities; the Brighter Futures and Building Healthy Communities programs, which address mental wellness issues and crisis intervention programming, with funding provided directly to communities to support action on their own mental health priorities in over 600 communities; and the national aboriginal youth suicide prevention strategy, which provides support for over 200 communities for youth mental health and suicide prevention strategies.

Also, there is the non-insured health benefits program, which supports a short-term mental health crisis counselling benefit to first nations and Inuit clients across Canada.

Health Canada recognizes the important work the Aboriginal Healing Foundation has funded over the past 12 years. Since the budget 2010 decision that no further funding would be provided for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, Health Canada has focused on ensuring that all eligible former students and their families who have received services from the Aboriginal Healing Foundation have access to the health support services provided by Health Canada through the resolution health support program.

Health Canada is proactively responding to the needs of these former students and their families by increasing awareness of the resolution health support program and by ensuring access to this program. With regard to increasing awareness, prior to the end of Aboriginal Healing Foundation projects on March 31, 2010, Health Canada's regional directors wrote to or made direct contact with the managers of AHF projects to make them aware of the process to refer their clients to the services offered by the resolution health support program.

This effort to raise awareness is in addition to other ongoing activities. For instance, since 2007, over 420,000 brochures describing the program have been sent directly to former students, band offices, community health centres, native friendship centres, nursing stations, treatment centres, and many other meeting places across the country.

Health Canada is also working to increase access to underserved communities that were previously served by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation projects. We're doing this by identifying communities with high numbers of eligible former students and low rates of resolution health support program demand, and negotiating new service agreements to provide health supports in communities with former Aboriginal Healing Foundation projects, consistent with the resolution health support program criteria, to build on the staff and services previously funded by the foundation.

In Nunavut, for example, on March 26, 2010, Health Canada officials met with the Pulaarvik Kablu Friendship Centre, the Kivalliq Outreach Program, and Coral Harbour Men's Group in Rankin Inlet regarding the need to ensure continuity of services. As a result of this meeting, the groups are collaborating with Health Canada to develop a viable funding proposal to provide resolution health support program services. Initial contact has also been made with projects in the Kitikmeot region--Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk--and Qikiqtaaluk--Iqaluit--as well as with the Government of Nunavut.

In British Columbia, two of the 17 former AHF projects operating in the province have contacted the department to explore ways to continue to provide services in their communities.

These are some examples of how Health Canada is responding. Our most recent update is that there are in play 60 new or amended contribution agreements to respond to the needs of former students in relation to Aboriginal Healing Foundation projects.

Health Canada's Regional Offices will continue to work with those former Aboriginal Healing Foundation Projects located in areas of high need that have low Resolution Health Support Program uptake, to explore how these local aboriginal organizations can provide services consistent with the Resolution Health Support Program criteria.

These steps demonstrate the Government of Canada's commitment to ensuring that former students are aware of and have access to mental health and emotional support services. The government remains dedicated to supporting communities, families, and individuals to recover from trauma to support their full participation in Canadian society.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you, Ms. Langlois.

We will now go to questions from members.

You have seven minutes, Mr. Bagnell.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the committee for agreeing to this important study I have asked for.

Thank you to the witnesses for coming here today. It's a great program, obviously, from the evaluation, and we have to keep that work going.

You gave us some figures from Health Canada on the resolution health support program for the three years of 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12. Can you tell me how many clients you had for each of those three years?

[Kathy Langlois]

I don't have the exact client data with me. I have more financial data with me, so I could tell you how some of the money has been spent according to those--

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Could you get back to the committee?

[Kathy Langlois]

Yes, absolutely.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

You also outlined the great point that $33 million had been added for this year and next year and that $37 million was spent last year. The $33 million of new money added to the $37 million makes $70 million for this year, but you said there is only $47.6 million. Why does it not add up?

[Kathy Langlois]

There was $37 million spent in 2009-10. The $33 million is for 2010-11. When you add that to the $14 million or so that we already have, you get about $47 million that is available. If you take the difference between the $37 million and the $47 million, we have about $10 million additional to spend this year.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Sorry--come again?

You said there was $37 million spent last year...?

[Kathy Langlois]

Yes.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

So if we just carried on with the regular money, there'd be $37 million this year. The budget added $33 million new, so $33 million and $37 million makes $70 million. You added it up to $47 million.

[Kathy Langlois]

Okay. The $37 million was spent last fiscal year, 2009-10. The $66 million we got over two years is for this fiscal year that we're in right now, split between two years. So $33 million and $33 million--

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Yes--new money to add to the $37 million every year.

[Kathy Langlois]

No, to $14 million that we already had in the base, so $14 million plus $33 million is $47 million, and that compares to the $37 million that we spent last year.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

So the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, with 134 organizations, some of them with over 1,000 clients, needed $25 million a year to deal with all those clients. You're increasing it by $10 million, from $37 million to $47 million, basically. How are you going to deal with all those clients with less than half the money?

[Aideen Nabigon]

What we are doing is looking at each individual project. We have reached out to all the Aboriginal Healing Foundation projects. We are going to be serving the clients based on the criteria of our program. We have different criteria. Our program provides counselling with elders, traditional healers, emotional support, and professional counselling.

The Aboriginal Healing Foundation provided things on top of that, which we aren't going to be in a position to fund, so we do not expect to fully replace the $134 million.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

That's very good. Thank you. Because we've been saying all along that there would be a lot of things that won't carry on if this Aboriginal Healing Foundation doesn't go ahead, so I thank you for clarifying that and agreeing with what we've been saying.

I have another question about your speech from INAC. I'm not sure if it says this exactly, but it kind of implies that for the foundation's corporate plan, the money went to 2012, and the corporate plan is leading to that wind-down to 2012, and that's what the Aboriginal Healing Foundation wants.

My colleague, Mr. Russell, has the corporate plan here. Instead of what you said--winding down, with all the money gone like it is right now, and profiled to be nothing after 2012--their corporate plan actually says, and I'll quote: “To this end, we have approached Government for a $125 million funding commitment to help us extend healing projects another three years, to March 31, 2013—closer to the anticipated end of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s mandate”.

That is what's in the corporate plan. Maybe that's what you should be referencing.

[Kathy Langlois]

The healing foundation did request an additional $125 million in budget 2010, but the corporate plan planned for the eventuality that they didn't get it.

They have made a decision--and I understand the healing foundation will be presenting after us--to continue to fund, as I understand it, 12 healing centres until 2012. They've shut down the 134 projects.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

You kind of pre-empted my next question by giving the very good answer that obviously you can't do all the things the healing foundation can do, but let's try it geographically.

Are there areas--for instance, I know I have one in Watson Lake in the Yukon--where Health Canada does not have an office but where some of these 134 projects across Canada may now exist and where people can come in the door? Just for the record, of course, as a lot of committee members have said, some of these healing foundation projects are so local and so comfortable that people go there who wouldn't go to other government programs.

But just geographically...?

[Kathy Langlois]

Well, first, let me start by saying that the resolution health support program is available to all eligible former students and their family members by contacting the 800 number in their region. Once that contact is made, the regional coordinator in the region will ensure that services are provided according to the criteria of the program: elder supports, emotional supports, or para-professional supports. If travel is necessary, that will also be arranged--

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

So you'll go to any community in Canada.