The word from the federal government is austerity, but in reality it is a case of creating a crisis and solving it by cutting public programs and services. It is an excellent opportunity for the libertarian Harper government to ditch previous public initiatives and scale back the size of government.
Stephen Harper's Conservative government is delivering budget changes by stealth. Little by little the funding is being cut - a program here, a program there. On the eve of Aboriginal Day the government silently cut the funding for the Cultural Connections for Aboriginal Youth program.
This $22 million CCAY program, which was developed in response to the high rates of youth suicide, gang activity and high school dropouts, was widely used by Native friendship centres across Canada. It was a very good program that provided value for money. With the program gone many friendship centres have been hollowed out, and their programming and relevance with youth has suffered.
Funding for CCAY in Saskatchewan was a little more than $1 million a year, shared among the province's 11 friendship centres. According to the centres' website, more than 4,100 youth were helped through the program. Friendship centres are vital institutions that work on the street level for the benefit of aboriginal people. These centres address the day to day issues our people face once they move off the reserves.
There is no alternative source of funds provincially, because Saskatchewan doesn't provide funding to friendship centres.
The Harper government earlier announced the end to the Aboriginal Youth First sports and recreation program that targeted gang and crime prevention, and was a valuable tool for urban youth looking for positive alternatives. Ottawa's response to youth crime has been to lock them up, prevention be damned. This is a dangerous position for a society because it only leads to a rise in the crime rate, thus becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy for the Tories.
The funding changes were not announced publicly, but sent instead by letter to the affected parties. In the end these cuts will have a huge impact on the aboriginal community.
The Aboriginal Business Canada (ABC) program also will shut its doors this fall. The spin is that it will be absorbed by Aboriginal Affairs, but since no funding is attached we can bet that it will disappear. This program was a vital resource for aboriginal people to get into business. I accessed it twice over the years as I upgraded my company's video equipment.
According to the cheerleaders at the provincial government, we are in a period of economic expansion. However, without a workable business support program I don't see our people progressing beyond the role of wage earners.
But it's hardly a case of leadership by example. The Conservative government has a huge cabinet that, when salaries and perks are included, costs $9 million annually - the largest on record. In addition to their salaries, cabinet ministers are provided limousine services that cost taxpayers more than a $500,000 in overtime for the drivers last year.
According to Harper, the reason for the federal budget cutbacks was to eliminate the deficit "by controlling spending and cutting waste." But I don't think that eliminating programs for at-risk youth is prudent.
To rephrase a cliché, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of incarceration. In fact, many of these cutbacks are short-sighted and will do serious damage that will cost more to repair.
When the Conservatives took office, it was readily apparent that they didn't care about aboriginal people - refusing to increase funding for education or remove the two per cent funding cap. They also scrapped the Kelowna Accord that would have provided a much needed funding increase to the First Nations.
So what's happening in Indian Country? Why aren't our leaders raising hell when what we will see is a rise in teen suicides, more high school dropouts and higher youth incarceration rates? We should be doing the Canadian equivalent of storming the Bastille.
The reality is that the government has our leaders scared of the next steps. The FSIN does not have a contract with Ottawa for the coming year. FSIN had its second-quarter funding released, but according to the colonial office they can't agree on the work plan. This is blatant spin, since the FSIN is a political organization and its work plan is an internal matter. But in this new Conservative world consultation is foreign, and insecurity rules the day.
And FSIN isn't alone. Most First Nations have yet to sign contribution agreements for their annual funding. All the national organizations have lost their health funding so far or had it seriously cut back. Our leaders are keeping their heads down, waiting for the next shoe to drop.
It's hardly a good way to do business and it's certainly not a good way to run a country. I fear for the future of our next generation.
Original Article
Source: the star phoenix
Author: Doug Cuthand
Stephen Harper's Conservative government is delivering budget changes by stealth. Little by little the funding is being cut - a program here, a program there. On the eve of Aboriginal Day the government silently cut the funding for the Cultural Connections for Aboriginal Youth program.
This $22 million CCAY program, which was developed in response to the high rates of youth suicide, gang activity and high school dropouts, was widely used by Native friendship centres across Canada. It was a very good program that provided value for money. With the program gone many friendship centres have been hollowed out, and their programming and relevance with youth has suffered.
Funding for CCAY in Saskatchewan was a little more than $1 million a year, shared among the province's 11 friendship centres. According to the centres' website, more than 4,100 youth were helped through the program. Friendship centres are vital institutions that work on the street level for the benefit of aboriginal people. These centres address the day to day issues our people face once they move off the reserves.
There is no alternative source of funds provincially, because Saskatchewan doesn't provide funding to friendship centres.
The Harper government earlier announced the end to the Aboriginal Youth First sports and recreation program that targeted gang and crime prevention, and was a valuable tool for urban youth looking for positive alternatives. Ottawa's response to youth crime has been to lock them up, prevention be damned. This is a dangerous position for a society because it only leads to a rise in the crime rate, thus becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy for the Tories.
The funding changes were not announced publicly, but sent instead by letter to the affected parties. In the end these cuts will have a huge impact on the aboriginal community.
The Aboriginal Business Canada (ABC) program also will shut its doors this fall. The spin is that it will be absorbed by Aboriginal Affairs, but since no funding is attached we can bet that it will disappear. This program was a vital resource for aboriginal people to get into business. I accessed it twice over the years as I upgraded my company's video equipment.
According to the cheerleaders at the provincial government, we are in a period of economic expansion. However, without a workable business support program I don't see our people progressing beyond the role of wage earners.
But it's hardly a case of leadership by example. The Conservative government has a huge cabinet that, when salaries and perks are included, costs $9 million annually - the largest on record. In addition to their salaries, cabinet ministers are provided limousine services that cost taxpayers more than a $500,000 in overtime for the drivers last year.
According to Harper, the reason for the federal budget cutbacks was to eliminate the deficit "by controlling spending and cutting waste." But I don't think that eliminating programs for at-risk youth is prudent.
To rephrase a cliché, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of incarceration. In fact, many of these cutbacks are short-sighted and will do serious damage that will cost more to repair.
When the Conservatives took office, it was readily apparent that they didn't care about aboriginal people - refusing to increase funding for education or remove the two per cent funding cap. They also scrapped the Kelowna Accord that would have provided a much needed funding increase to the First Nations.
So what's happening in Indian Country? Why aren't our leaders raising hell when what we will see is a rise in teen suicides, more high school dropouts and higher youth incarceration rates? We should be doing the Canadian equivalent of storming the Bastille.
The reality is that the government has our leaders scared of the next steps. The FSIN does not have a contract with Ottawa for the coming year. FSIN had its second-quarter funding released, but according to the colonial office they can't agree on the work plan. This is blatant spin, since the FSIN is a political organization and its work plan is an internal matter. But in this new Conservative world consultation is foreign, and insecurity rules the day.
And FSIN isn't alone. Most First Nations have yet to sign contribution agreements for their annual funding. All the national organizations have lost their health funding so far or had it seriously cut back. Our leaders are keeping their heads down, waiting for the next shoe to drop.
It's hardly a good way to do business and it's certainly not a good way to run a country. I fear for the future of our next generation.
Original Article
Source: the star phoenix
Author: Doug Cuthand
Thank you Doug Cuthand for this article. The funding cuts are tearing into the hope and future of native youth. I lived an experience with young Innu on the North Shore in Quebec where, for three days, the group of teenagers ran the native community radio to cover the province's Aboriginal Games. They brought the whole community together !Projects such as these build hope,self-esteem and confidence and I find the federal government decision callous not to mention ignorant of the road that will help the next generation of native youth.
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