Aboriginal Youth Left Hanging

(Deszi, 2012)

           In his Executive Director’s Report at the Annual General Meeting of the National Association of Friendship Centres, Jeff Cyr states that on June 12, 2012, thousands of Aboriginal Youth across Canada attended their local Friendship Centre to find their Cultural programs had suddenly ended. The reason was that the Federal Conservative Government had cut funding for the Cultural Connections for Aboriginal Youth (CCAY) program. The CCAY program was funded through the Department of Canadian Heritage. This program focused on re-connecting urban Aboriginal youth with their culture, traditions and heritage. The oversight of the program was moved to the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, where Minister John Duncan had a different agenda than that of re-connecting youth to culture (Cyr, 2012).

Jeff Cyr’s report indicated the CCAY funding was quietly and abruptly cut June 9^th. In addition, the cuts were made retroactive to April 1^st. This meant the cash strapped youth and Friendship Centres were left scrambling to look for money to pay for the program costs incurred since April 1^st on their own as they would not be reimbursed for expenses from the government. The reason given for the cuts was that the CCAY program did not contribute to job creation. Instead, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development established new criteria for funding these programs, new criteria with many changes that lack cultural connections (Cyr, 2012).

The primary focus of the new program to be implemented is designed to meet the conservative agenda of “investing in preparing Aboriginal youth for the labour market”. (Duncan, 2012) The plan amalgamates three programs, the CCAY, Young Canada Works and the Friendship Centre Program, into one (Cyr, 2012). The new program plan fits well with the neo-conservative agenda of creating labourers for the new global economy, as Minister Duncan claims, by equipping youth with skills. These skills are seen by the conservative government as essential to participate more fully in Canada’s economy (Duncan, 2012).

My understanding is that Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development cancelled the funding of this program and has done nothing to replace those cultural connections to language and heritage that are so important to building strong and healthy people.  “From a First Nations perspective, mental wellness has been described as ‘the balance between the social, physical, spiritual, and emotional life of a First Nation’s person’ many factors contribute to high levels of substance misuse, suicide, and other mental health issues within First Nations populations.  Some include recovering from a history of colonization and assimilation, current systemic discrimination, loss of tradition, language and culture, residential schooling and child apprehension”  (Health: Provincial conference,” 2012).  The impact of cuts to the CCAY program was felt immediately. CCAY clients were left out in the cold as youth centres closed their doors due to lack of funding. Workers who delivered programs in cultural awareness, native language and who helped make connections for Aboriginal youth to their heritage were laid off. The youth were left without alternatives in the meantime.

Unfortunately, I have seen the social impacts of the cuts to funding myself. I received a call from the Indian Friendship Centre here in Sault Ste. Marie where my son was attending the CCAY program. The call was to advise me that the program had been abruptly cancelled and the program worker had been laid off. The men who ran the program were much more than paid labour. They provided mentorship, acted as role models, and provided a place for young men to gather. These are intangible qualities, which cannot be measured by neo-conservative ideology. As of today, that program has not been replaced. On a personal level, the impact is more directly felt as my son no longer accesses cultural programming for his age group. Since we are new to this community, we do not possess the same cultural connections as we had previously in our home community. The CCAY had provided an important connection to Aboriginal culture that helped make us, and other urban aboriginal people strong. It’s unfortunate that the neo-conservative ideology of the Harper government doesn’t support these same values.

Lisa

Resources

Aboriginal Health News, First Nations. (2012). Health: Provincial conference targets mental health. Retrieved from National Aboriginal Health Organization website: http://www.naho.ca/blog/2012/01/31/health-provincial-conference-targets-mental-health/

Cyr, Jeff. "Executive Director's Report."41st Annual General Meeting of the National Association of Friendship Centres. 29 2012. 2. Print.

Deszi, A. (Photographer). (2012). Protest against aboriginal youth cultural program cuts. [Print Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.dezsi.ca/2012/07/13/photo-coverage-from-ccay-protest/

Duncan, Honourable John. "Harper Government Investing in Preparing Aboriginal Youth for the Labour Market." National Association of Friendship Centres. Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, 3 2012. Web. 11 Nov 2012. http://nafc.ca/en/news/harper-government-investing-in-preparing-aboriginal-youth-for-the-labour-ma/press-releases/18.