Evidence of meeting #13 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was program.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:45 p.m.
Executive Director, Aboriginal Healing Foundation
That, I don't know. There's certainly no slippage on our end, but....
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Liberal
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
You have about a minute and a half, Ms. Neville, if you want a bit more time. Or to one of your colleagues--
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Conservative
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Larry Bagnell Liberal Yukon, YT
I have just one question, Michael.
The minister, in a speech we just heard from Health Canada--you were here--seemed to imply that in your corporate plan, which you referred to, there's a wind-down strategy, as if we're just acceding to your wishes. I assume that most of your board is made up of aboriginal people. Is it the wish of the board that you wind down by 2012?
4:50 p.m.
Executive Director, Aboriginal Healing Foundation
No, sir, but it's the wish of the Auditor General that you have to deal with the dollars you have on that day and produce a plan five years out. The fact of the matter is that our last corporate plan is a five-year snapshot and we aren't even going to be around in five years. We didn't even anticipate that last year.
So the winding down in the corporate plan is putting the cart before the horse here. We were required to show a wind-down because no other moneys were guaranteed at that time.
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Liberal
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Larry Bagnell Liberal Yukon, YT
--as the will of the board or the people involved that it should be shutting down?
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Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Can you hear me, Mr. DeGagné?
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An hon. member
You speak French.
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Executive Director, Aboriginal Healing Foundation
That's as French as it gets, I think.
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Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Among other things, the Royal Commission called for the creation of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. The federal government acted on that recommendation in 1998 and provided a total of $350 million in funding over an 11-year period. After the budget was allocated, an emergency debate was held to discuss requirements which were not being met by this level of funding. An additional $125 million in funding was approved. However, if I understand what Ms. Langlois from Health Canada was saying, most of the 134 agencies that work in the communities will be forced to suspend their activities.
Regarding Nunavik in particular, in terms of health resources, I see that aside from some support measures for Inuit women, very few members of First Nations act at the community level. The Bloc Québécois believes that a program of this nature should involve securing resources from First Nations who then act at the community level.
I would like to hear what you think about the time that could have been spent on training the necessary resources and on delivering services by the 134 agencies set up under this program.
4:50 p.m.
Executive Director, Aboriginal Healing Foundation
I have a couple of comments.
How long should this program have been to deal with the problems you see in Nunavik, for example? What we were requesting was not how long we thought healing would take; we were requesting a much shorter period. We were requesting something that would coincide with the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Especially in remote parts of the country, with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission under way in the next couple of years, we felt that there would be a lot more attention paid to problems of childhood abuse and institutional abuse. Our wish was not to continue indefinitely; it was to continue for three more years past March 31 and use our network of services as they were, scattered throughout the north and south, to deliver supports to people as they went through the truth and reconciliation process.
That's what we were requesting. We didn't have a 25-year window or anything like that. We were looking for three years. I hope that deals with at least part of your question.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
You had the resource persons who were in a position to deliver services and carry out the projects until the objectives were met.
4:55 p.m.
Executive Director, Aboriginal Healing Foundation
Yes, sir. We had 134 projects that employed probably 900 people, including therapists, already in place and fully implemented across the country. Some of those people had been operating for 10 years in the same community. We were ready.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
In your opinion, does the government want the Aboriginal Healing Foundation to carry on with its mandate? Does the government believe that it has lived up to its obligations and has thus been exonerated of any wrongdoing? By putting its faith entirely in Health Canada to help those who suffered abuse, is the government denying the wrongs that were inflicted upon communities and denying the effects of that abuse on children and grandchildren, as well as on various aboriginal cultures?
I would appreciate an answer to that question in writing.
Mr. Chair, I will now turn the floor over to my colleague.
