FW: MISSING JUSTICE PRESS RELEASE
MISSING JUSTICE PRESS RELEASE
From: www.missingjustice.ca
Monday, March 29, 2010
Women peacefully occupy Indian Affairs Minister’s office: pledge to
stay until Conservatives restore funding to Aboriginal Healing
Foundation
OTTAWA – Today at noon six women began a peaceful sit-in in the
Minister of Indian Affairs’ Chuck Strahl’s Ottawa office in the
Confederation Building to protest the Conservatives’ cuts to the
Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF) and to demand restoration of
the funding. Supporters are holding a rally outside. The Aboriginal
Healing Foundation is a non-profit, Aboriginal-managed agency that
supports community-based healing efforts addressing the
intergenerational legacy of abuses from the residential school
system.
“It’s been less than two years since Prime Minister Harper’s
apology to survivors of the residential schools, yet the
Conservative government is ready to shut down programs specifically
aimed at helping the healing the Prime Minister spoke about,” says
Maya Rolbin-Ghanie, a member of Missing Justice, a Montreal-based
grassroots organization.
The Conservative budget did not renew funding to the 134 AHF-
supported healing projects across the country, forcing many
organizations to shut down as of March 31, 2010, when the cuts take
effect.
“Strahl says the government will support residential school
survivors in other ways, but these cuts will jeopardize many vital
programs and interrupt all the progress being made towards health
and well-being,” says Nakuset, the Executive Director of the Native
Women’s Shelter in Montreal, which will lose a third of its funding
and be forced to cut three employees, including a sexual assault
counselor.
An evaluation commissioned by the federal government in December
2009 found that no other existing programs could match the AHF’s
rate of success. They also applauded the organization’s fiscal
management.[1]
“The Conservative government is letting down thousands of survivors
and their children and grandchildren suffering inter-generational
trauma,” says Bianca Mugyenyi, a member of Missing Justice. “The
situation is desperate enough to for a peaceful sit-in, since open
letters, petitions, lobbying and a resolution passed by the Nunavut
government have not succeeded in restoring the funding. ”
The Aboriginal Healing Foundation is prohibited from engaging in
advocacy by its Funding Agreement.
Call-out for Support! Please spread the word!
TAKE ACTION AGAINST THE CUTS AND SUPPORT THE DEMANDS:
1) Phone, email or fax the office of the Minister of Indian Affairs
to demand that Chuck Strahl pledge to reinstate funding to the
Aboriginal Healing Foundation.
Hearing supporters call in during the sit-in boosts the
demonstrators’ morale:
Phone: (604) 847-9711, 1-800-667-2808
Fax: (604) 847-9744
E-mail: riding@chuckstrahl.com, ottawa@chuckstrahl.com
Also phone/fax/e-mail Prime Minister Stephen Harper at:
Phone Number (613) 992-4211
Fax Number (613) 941-6900
Email Address pm@pm.gc.ca
2) Join the supporter rally outside Minister Chuck Strahl’s office
at
607 Confederation Building Northwest corner of Bank and Wellington
Street, Ottawa.
3) Organize your own action at your local elected officials’
office. Write blogs, comments, op-eds and letters to the editor
about the need for the Canadian Government to reinstate funding to the
Aboriginal Healing Foundation.
For More Information: www.missingjustice.ca
CONTACT: justiceformissing@gmail.com
Media contacts:
Maya Rolbin-Ghanie, Missing Justice: (514) 831-6902
The Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal (Lou Ann Stacey): (514) 933-4688
Nelson House Medicine Lodge (Ed Azure): (204) 679-1003
The Aboriginal Healing Foundation: http://www.ahf.ca/contact-us
Notes:
[1] DPRA Canada in association with T.K Gussman Associates,
Evaluation of Community-Based Healing Initiatives :
www.ahf.ca/pages/download/28_13396
SAMPLE LETTER
Honourable Minister Strahl,
We urge you to immediately restore funding to the Aboriginal
Healing Foundation (AHF).
The AHF provides support for community-based healing efforts
addressing the intergenerational legacy of abuses from the residential school
system.
The Federal Government’s decision to cut its funding will terminate
134 critical healing initiatives across the country as of March 31,
2010, interrupting all the progress being made towards health and
well-being.
Prime Minister Harper made an apology to survivors of the
residential schools less than two years ago. Now the Conservative
government seems prepared to shut down programs specifically aimed
at helping the healing the Prime Minister spoke about. Will you let
the apology ring hollow?
A report commissioned by the federal government in December 2009
demonstrated that no other programs could match AHF’s success, and
that the organization’s fiscal management was excellent.
I join the women peacefully occupying your office in demanding that
you pledge to restore funding to the crucial work of the AHF.
yours,
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