Friendship Centres in British Columbia and across Canada are now facing a dire crisis. The ongoing delay and uncertainty of the Urban Aboriginal Strategy (UAS) funding from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) is now causing financial hardship for all of our member centres.
Without Community Capacity Support (CCS) program funding, as previously approved by the Crown, Friendship Centres in B.C. will be forced to end critical services for Indigenous families and many may need to close their doors completely in the next two months.
Despite the Federal budget stating explicitly that UAS would be renewed in its current form, department officials are now unilaterally and without consultation, changing key elements of the national program after two years of successful delivery by Friendship Centres.
It is our opinion that INAC officials are changing the trajectory of UAS and not honoring the spirit and intent of our historic partnership with the Federal government.
In B.C., Friendship Centres are the largest network of social service organizations supporting the critical needs of urban Indigenous people and they hold key partnerships in every community.
In February 2014, the former Conservative Government of Canada made a decision to eliminate the Aboriginal Friendship Centre Program (AFCP), core capacity funding that Friendship Centres received for over 40 years.
In its place, a new Urban Aboriginal Strategy (UAS) was created with two new programs called Urban Partnerships (UP) and Community Capacity Support (CCS); both with a narrow focus on ‘increased participation in the economy’ for Aboriginal people.
The National Association of Friendship Centres was identified as the key delivery partner of this strategy and was involved with helping design the criteria given its long community experience with the socio-economic needs of urban Aboriginal communities.
In November of 2016 we experienced a series of paternalistic decisions by officials of INAC. Staff began to undermine the stability of Friendship Centres and other organizations across Canada who were delivering UP projects.
Department officials started double administering approved UP projects, claiming ineligibility and withholding key funding releases for those projects. Over several months the NAFC struggled to negotiate a resolution until the Federal Minister intervened directly.
Funding was immediately released for projects that were now stressed as a result of the delays. We are now in a similar situation where INAC has unilaterally implemented new criteria and guidelines for UAS in this current fiscal year. They are attempting to remove all specific elements in the criteria and guidelines that speak to Friendship Centre strengths and are eliminating key ‘capacity’ requirements to effectively deliver the Federal mandate.
The national funding agreement between the NAFC and the Crown for the period 2014-2019 specifically speaks that CCS will “deliver over $23 million annual in CCS core-like funding to Friendship Centres and other Aboriginal organizations as guided by Regional Strategic Plans in order to support a stable base from which to provide programs and services and attract additional investments, that increase the urban Aboriginal participation in the economy.”
It is our belief that INAC is breaching the agreed upon terms and conditions and these proposed changes will have immediate negative impacts on our agencies’ capacity to deliver essential services.
Friendship Centres are a place of refuge for Indigenous women, men and children who do not live in their traditional communities and who are vulnerable when transitioning to larger urban areas where employment opportunities exist.
If Friendship Centres are forced to close their doors or significantly downsize, the necessary community supports for those individuals and families will be severely undermined. This is contrary to the commitments the Federal Liberal Government has made to honour and support true reconciliation and to help create better futures for all our people.
With 25 member agencies in B.C. and over 1,000 employees across the Province, B.C. Friendship Centres provide essential programs and supports to over 7,000 points of service per day in areas such as health, education, ending violence, homelessness, employment, and services for youth and elders.
With our many community partners, our centres are a critical resource for youth in crisis and at risk of suicide.
B.C. Friendship Centres are calling on the Government of Canada to work with the National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC) to immediately stop the paternalistic approach of this federal bureaucracy.
We ask that the Department immediately reverse its course and continue its commitments to the original criteria and guidelines, as was created in a trusted partnership. We need the existing national funding agreement, which supports the long relationship of Friendship Centres with the Government of Canada, to be honoured.
