Ronda’s Rant: 25 over 5

September 18, 2014

Ronda Evans, VP (Women) – Yesterday, Kelly Leitch, Conservative MP and Minister for the Status of Women tabled a plan to address violence against Aboriginal women and girl. The $25 million plan, which would run from 2015-20, would include several streams of funding and it appears clear that Aboriginal people were not consulted.  I had to shake my head a few times when I read about the funding proposed:

  • $8.6 million over five years to support aboriginal communities in developing community safety plans.
    • $1.72mil per year! Which communities does this refer to?  The over 600 reserves and countless urban and Northern communities combined?  Why is the initiative not community-driven?  How does the government know that community safety plans are needed?  Sounds like another top-down paternalistic approach.
  • $2.5 million over five years to help aboriginal people create projects and raise awareness “to break intergenerational cycles of violence and abuse.”
    • Really? I’m speechless thinking that the government would need to help Aboriginal people become aware of the 7-generation teachings.  Such small picture thinking and dollars for over 600 reserves and countless urban and Northern communities.
  • $5 million over five years to work with aboriginal communities and stakeholders, as well as aboriginal men and boys, to denounce and prevent violence against aboriginal women.
    • Really? $1mil per year for over 600 reserves and countless urban and Northern communities?  For what?  For doing something they already do?  Has the Minister never attended a Sisters in Spirit vigil, a protest march, monument unveiling, etc.?  Men are there with us, supporting us, and denouncing violence against their mothers, sisters, aunties, daughters, nieces, etc.  $7.5 million over five years to help victims and their families through the Victims Fund and the Policy Centre for Victim Issues.  Maybe funding needs to be targeted, rather than broad brushing all Aboriginal men and boys.
    • $1.5mil per year.
    • http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/fund-fina/gov-gouv/vf-fv.html This is a fund for provincial and territorial governments, not Aboriginal specific and a total drop in the bucket.  I question how much this fund supports on-reserve dwellers?
    • http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/victims-victimes/ I went through the Policy Centre for Victim Issues and only found this funding applicable to victims to assist with travel to get them to parole board hearings (again, not Aboriginal specific and totally related to the “crime”)
  • $1.4 million over five years “to share information and resources with communities and organizations, and report regularly on progress made and results​.”​
    • $.28mil per year. They are going to do all these things to address violence against Aboriginal women and girls, then give themselves funding dollars to share information?  Maybe they should fund themselves to share information with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission instead and do this with their own operations money?
    • This appears to be government administration dollars. Not a cent to communities and I would bet my house that all of the above-noted funds would shave up to 40% off for the government administration and staff dollars to deliver this funding .  I’ve seen it done with Conservative strategies before.  They will have numerous program names for the same fund and will hide it in reports so no one knows how much was really spent, or not spent.  Most of this stuff gets rolled out by November in a good year with the funds having to be spent by the end of March.
    • As an aside, the last time the Family Violence Clearinghouse published anything was May 2012. It was not Aboriginal specific.

Carolyn Bennett is right on when she calls it “Political smoke and mirrors”.

I suppose an election is on the horizon. Sigh!

*Note 1: The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views of and/or official policy of the Aboriginal Peoples’ Commission and/or the Liberal Party of Canada*
*Note 2: The blog was published in the language it was received*