Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Native leaders issue plea for compassion
Funding for healing foundation about to end
Shawn Atleo: big demand for programs (PAWEL DWULIT / THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES)
OTTAWA -- The executive director of a Manitoba medicine lodge pleaded with Canadians Monday to show the same generosity in the face of aboriginal Canadian suffering as Canadians offer to victims of the Haitian earthquake.
Nelson House Medicine Lodge head Ed Azure broke down in tears during a press conference on Parliament Hill as he pleaded with the government to reinstate funding for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. The money runs out Wednesday.
"I know Canada has a heart," Azure said. "It's shown itself time and time again."
He doesn't begrudge the money donated to help victims of the earthquake or other tragedies. However, he said, Canada has a huge need right here at home that requires a similar response. He asked Canadians to call their members of Parliament, sign petitions and write to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to get him to change his mind about cancelling the funding.
"Canada, look to your own backyard," he said. "Your own people need help."
Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl was unavailable to comment on the issue Monday.
Over the noon hour, six women were arrested after staging a sit-in in Strahl's office on Parliament Hill, demanding the healing foundation funds continue.
High rates of suicide, family breakdown, violence and substance abuse are linked to the legacy of residential schools, aboriginal leaders said Monday. The Aboriginal Healing Foundation has spent the last 12 years trying to help survivors and their families, but 12 years hasn't been long enough to overcome more than 100 years of abuse and cultural genocide, said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo.
He asked Ottawa to commit $125 million over three years to support the foundation.
The Aboriginal Health Foundation was created as a non-profit corporation in 1998 with a $350-million, 11-year mandate from the federal government to fund healing projects for residential school survivors. Funding was extended for one year, but the foundation's federal funds run out on Wednesday. There are 26 projects in Manitoba funded by the foundation, ranging from residential counselling centres to family retreats, youth wilderness camps, community workshops and native language training courses.
Atleo said there is a big demand for most of the programs, particularly in small, remote First Nations where access to health and counselling is otherwise extremely limited.
AFN Manitoba Regional Chief Bill Traverse said since Christmas, the community of Lac Brochet has had 25 attempted suicides.
"That tells us how much we need continued healing," he said.
Traverse said if the foundation's funds are not reinstated, Harper's 2008 apology for residential schools was nothing more than "an empty promise." Manitoba NDP MP Niki Ashton has a petition to present to Parliament with more than 2,000 signatures asking for the funding to be reinstated. On Monday, she also was granted a request for an emergency debate in the House of Commons to take place tonight.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 30, 2010 A5
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