AANO Committee Report

Introduction
            On 25 March 2010, the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development adopted a motion to examine the impact of the federal government’s decision not to extend any new funding to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation in Budget 2010, and in particular, the associated effects of this decision on the Foundation’s network of one hundred and thirty four community-based healing initiatives. The Committee convened three hearings on this matter and agreed to report the following..

Background
            Indian Residential Schools (IRS) operated in Canada from the late 1800s through to the early-1990s. Though the system formally ended in 1969, the last federally-run residential school closed its doors in 1996.^[1] During this period, more than 150,000 Aboriginal children were taken to residential schools, often miles away from their families, to be “civilized,” educated, and converted to Christianity.^[2]Stories of mistreatment at residential schools have been, and continue to be told, by former students. They report incidents of sexual, physical and emotional abuse at the hands of the teachers and administrators who were responsible for their care, as well as from their fellow students.  An estimated 70,000–80,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis people who attended residential schools are still alive in Canada today.

            The legacy of this trauma was highlighted by the 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) which identified the IRS system as a “failed policy” that continues to have adverse effects on Aboriginal communities today. The Commission reported that Canada had much work to do in mending its relationship with Aboriginal peoples and in ending the poverty and violence that continue to affect the communities of many IRS survivors.

            In January 1998, the Government of Canada released its policy response to the RCAP report. The policy, known as Gathering Strength- Canada’s Aboriginal Action Plan, was accompanied by a Statement of Reconciliation formally expressing Canada’s “profound regret” to Aboriginal Canadians who experienced sexual and physical abuse at residential schools.^[3] Together, Gathering Strength and the Statement of Reconciliation outlined the Government of Canada’s strategy to begin the process of reconciliation and renewal with Aboriginal peoples.

            A key component of that strategy was the announcement of a $350 million healing fund to assist those individuals who experienced mistreatment in government-run residential schools. On 31 March 1998, following discussions with Aboriginal organizations, the federal government established the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF) to disburse the money held in the fund and to ensure the proper oversight and management of the healing projects it supported.^[4]

           The AHF was given an eleven-year mandate, ending 31 March 2009, to support culturally-appropriate and community-based healing initiatives which would address the intergenerational impacts of physical and sexual abuse related to residential schools.  Since its inception, the federal government has contributed $515 million in support of this objective, including a $125 million endowment provided under the terms of the 2007 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA).^[5] The endowment extended the Foundation’s mandate a further five years to 2012.  This additional funding was fully committed by the AHF’s Board of Directors to supporting the 134 existing AHF healing projects to 31 March 2010 and 12 healing centres to 31 March 2012. Since it first began operations, the AHF had funded 1,345 community-based healing projects across Canada, and has received more than $1.3 billion in funding requests; far exceeding the Foundation’s overall funding allocation. ^[6]

            The IRSSA also required a government evaluation of the AHF. The objective of that evaluation was to assess the “effectiveness, impacts, cost-effectiveness and continued relevance of the healing initiatives and programs undertaken by the AHF” in order to assist “Government’s decision-making regarding whether and to what extent funding should continue beyond the current end date of March 2010.”^[7] Published in December 2009, the evaluation’s findings were highly favourable, indicating that the AHF “has been very successful at both achieving its objectives and in governance and fiscal management.”^[8]

            The Evaluation also identified a growing demand for community-based healing services, indicating that program enrolments for AHF-supported healing projects had increased by about 40 percent from 2007/08 to 2008/09. It also found that the healing projects are especially relevant during the Settlement Agreement processes -  which include the Common Experience Payments, the Independent Assessment Process and the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission – since, for many former students, these processes are “opening up” for the first time the effects and traumas of residential schools.

            Based on its findings, the evaluation recommended that the Government of Canada consider “continued support for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, at least until the Settlement Agreement compensation processes and commemorative initiatives are completed.”^[9] However, the March 2010 federal budget did not allocate additional monies to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.  Consequently, as of 31 March 2010, the 134 community-based healing initiatives were no longer receiving AHF support.^[10] Health Canada, however, is negotiating new service agreements with many of these organizations to provide health supports in communities that had been receiving AHF-funding.^[11]

            The 2010 federal budget did commit an additional $65.9 million over two years to Health Canada’s Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support (IRSRHS) Program to meet increased demand for services.^[12]  The IRSRHS Program, formerly the Indian Residential Schools Mental Health Program, was established in November 2006 to provide former students of IRS and their families with access to emotional health and wellness support services.^[13]  An initial investment of $94.9 million over six years was allocated for this purpose. This commitment responds to the Government of Canada’s obligation under the IRSSA to provide mental health and emotional support services to former students of IRS, and their family members, as they participate in the Settlement Agreement processes.

Issues Raised In Testimony

            Representatives from Aboriginal organizations as well as government officials appearing before the Committee were unanimous in their recognition of the significant contribution made by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation in supporting the health and healing needs of former students of residential schools, as well as those of their families and communities. While witnesses acknowledged that the AHF was never intended to be a permanent institution, the decision not to extend the its mandate, at least until the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is completed in 2014, was met with strong criticism from many Aboriginal organizations.^[14]

            A significant concern to witnesses appearing before the Committee relates to the fact that the network of healing projects, which relied heavily on AHF funding, will no longer be in place precisely when they are most likely to be needed by former students and communities affected by the legacy of residential schools.  Government officials confirmed that the Settlement Agreement processes currently underway have substantially increased demands for mental health and emotional support services.^[15] We were told, however, that in the absence of AHF-funding, many of the community-based healing projects which could have provided critical, culturally-appropriate support to those affected by residential schools will be forced to cut back on services or close their doors altogether. For many witnesses, this is an especially troublesome development, citing evidence that these processes may trigger painful memories and renewed trauma.

            Health Canada will, however, continue to make services available to eligible former students and their families through the IRSRHS Program, as well as other mental health and addictions programs delivered by the department.^[16]  Specifically, the IRSRHS Program delivers four key services - available before, during or after the Settlement Agreement processes - to eligible participants. They include: professional counselling either on an individual or family basis, emotional support services provided by Resolution Health Support Workers (RHSW) or Aboriginal service providers, cultural support services provided by Elders, and assistance with cost of transportation to access professional counselling services or Elder supports. Health Canada has eight regional offices across the country to coordinate the provision of these services. In addition, under the Program, Health Canada has concluded 120 contribution agreements with Aboriginal service organizations to help deliver these services.^[17] This network includes approximately 174 Resolution Health Support Workers and 281 Cultural Support Providers in addition to the 1,264 professional counsellors registered with Health Canada.  It is anticipated that the number of contribution agreements will increase as a result of the additional funding provided in the federal budget.^[18] In their submission to the Committee, Health Canada notes that under these agreements services are available to all eligible former students and their family members, regardless of where they reside, and that anticipated new agreements will ensure that all such individuals will have access to services provided by the Department.^[19]

            Through the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the Government of Canada is responsible for providing mental health and emotional support services to former students of the IRS, and their families. As mentioned, Health Canada provides these supports through the IRSRHS program which includes a “range of culturally safe services for eligible former students and their families to address issues related to the Indian Residential Schools, as well as the disclosure of abuse, throughout the Settlement Agreement process.”^[20]  Witnesses were generally supportive of the programming provided by Health Canada, although many suggested that these services should be more appropriately viewed as complementary, rather than as an alternative to the community-based healing initiatives funded by the AHF. The type of integrated approach supported by the AHF, witnesses remarked, has proven to be highly effective in facilitating healing. The two approaches together – government services working in partnership with community-based projects – had been achieving positive results.^[21] 

            Witnesses stressed, however, that there are key differences between the two service delivery models. Above all, they noted that the scope and coverage of the IRSHRS program is more restrictive than the AHF-funded healing projects.  Witnesses indicated that the IRSRHS program offers services exclusively to individuals who attended residential schools, and their families, while the AHF projects allowed for more holistic, culturally-relevant, community-level health and wellness interventions (e.g., healing circles, traditional healing therapy, land based and sweat lodge retreats).^[22] In testimony to the Committee, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation described this difference, stating that: ^[23]

Health Canada’s IRS Residential Health Support program offers only individualized services. AHF projects, by contrast, allowed communities to identify and design projects that met their needs and which broadly engaged families, leaders, youth and elders – the whole community in the healing process in ways that were meaningful to their cultures and traditions.

In their submission to the Committee, Health Canada indicated that, in addition to individual professional counselling, emotional and cultural support services, the IRSRHS program provides group and family counselling as well.^[24] They further advised that under the IRSRHS program, the majority of spending is for Resolution Health Support Workers employed by local Aboriginal organizations mandated to offer elder supports and traditional healing services, such as ceremonies, prayers and other traditional healing methods.^[25]

            The program’s more narrowly-focused criteria, however, were acknowledged by government officials. In testimony to the Committee, Ms. Kathy Langlois of Health Canada advised that, under the IRSHS program, the department would not “be able to go as far as the community-based types of approaches that the Healing Foundation had.”^[26] Similarly, Ms Aideen Nabigon, Director General, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, stated that: “The Aboriginal Healing Foundation provided things…that we aren’t going to be in a position to fund.”^[27]

            A number of witnesses also indicated that many people who had been receiving services under AHF-supported projects would now be unable to access government services. Ms. Elizabeth Ford of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) told the Committee that the Inuit living in Nunatsiavut, for example, are ineligible for the Common Experience Payment because the seven residential institutions located in Labrador are excluded from the Settlement Agreement.^[28] Others suggested that even for individuals eligible to receive government services, access and uptake may be limited because of the way the program is designed and delivered. In her submission to the Committee, Lisa Haggerty, Program Manager at the Hinton Friendship Centre in Alberta, told us that a number of individuals would have to travel several hours to receive treatment or have someone unfamiliar deliver counselling services in their community. “Many individuals” she noted “would plainly and simply not access therapy.”^[29] Similarly, Mr. Jim Cincotta of the ITK told the Committee that for many former students, leaving the community in order to access counselling services could “re-traumatize” them, since many were taken from their communities to attend residential schools.^[30] Accordingly, enormous importance is placed on being able to receive healing services from trusted individuals in the home community. This ease of access, witnesses suggested, was critical for many survivors, who feel they may now have to submit to a more cumbersome and impersonal administrative process. For many, witnesses suggested, the required steps to access services will be insurmountable. Health Canada officials, however, indicated to the Committee that services provided under the IRSRHS program are delivered across the country through a network of 120 Aboriginal service organizations in the community, by Aboriginal community-based workers who speak the local language and are familiar with the cultural context and traditions of the communities.

            This concern about the application process was shared by many witnesses. Jacob Gearheard, Executive Director of the Ilisaqsivik Society in Clyde River, Nunavut, for example, stated that community members who had been offered a range of culturally-sensitive healing programs must now call a 1-800 number in White Horse, Yukon, three time zones away, they are not given the name of a person to call and there is no guarantee that they can be served in the Inuktitut language. “For Clyde River Members” Mr. Gearheard notes “a help line in White Horse is almost the same as nothing.”^[31] Witnesses also expressed concern that because many of the mental health and emotional support services delivered by Health Canada may not be available in the community, the high transportation costs required to access those services could result in a substantial reduction of other services, such as the emotional and cultural support services, offered under the IRSHS program.^[32] Health Canada has indicated, however, that access to services for all eligible former students and their families will continue to be made available and that it is “working to increase access to underserved communities that were previously served by the Aboriginal Healing Projects.”^[33] In addition, in those circumstances where services may not be located in the home community, the Regional Coordinator of the IRSRHS program will ensure that health supports are available in that community or arrange travel to the nearest appropriate health support provider.^[34]

            The most important difference between the two programs underlined by witnesses, however, was that the healing projects supported by the AHF had been designed, controlled and delivered by Aboriginal peoples. This aspect of the AHF healing projects had been fundamentally empowering to communities, helping them to build and sustain their own health capacity; something witnesses indicated is not achievable through government-delivered programs. The Committee notes that efforts undertaken by Health Canada to work with a network of locally-based Aboriginal service providers is supportive of these objectives. Ultimately, this was the vision of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, where communities affected by the legacy of the residential schools system would have “addressed the effects of unresolved trauma in meaningful terms, have broken the cycle of abuse, and have enhanced their capacity as individuals, families, communities and nations to sustain their well-being and that of future generations.”^[35]

            Finally, we heard from several witnesses about the costs of abuse and the value of healing, generally; more specifically, we heard about the positive impacts of the AHF projects in mitigating those costs. In her presentation to the Committee, Ms. Yvonne Rigby Jones referred to research conducted by the Tsow-Tun Le Lum Society to this effect. The findings of that research suggest that those who had been through treatment experienced a 35% increase in post-secondary educational attainment, a decrease in incarceration rates from 56% to 13%, a decline in prescription drug use to 11% from 34%, and a decrease in hospitalization rates from 65% to 38%.^[36] Other studies show similar findings and indicate that healing is cost-effective. For example, a groundbreaking study of the Hollow Water Reserve, located in Manitoba, looked at healing in relation to incarceration rates. It found that for every $2 dollars spent on the community’s holistic healing circle program, federal and provincial governments saved $6 to $16 dollars on incarceration fees.^[37] Similarly, in her testimony to the Committee, Ms. Ford told us that Inuit participating in AHF-healing projects say that they “are living healthier, happier lives.”^[38]

Committee Findings and Recommendations

            The Committee recognizes the unique and valuable work undertaken by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation in addressing, in a comprehensive and integrated manner, the healing needs of communities and individuals who continue to struggle with the profound effects of the residential schools system. We also acknowledge that the Foundation’s success in addressing the needs of communities rests, to a large extent, in having communities design, control and deliver the healing programs themselves. Not only does this approach help build the capacity of communities to sustain their own health and wellness systems, but it has proven to have positive outcomes for former students of residential schools and those touched by its legacy. While the Committee is aware that a mid-term evaluation of Health Canada’s Indian Residential School National Resolution Framework was conducted in 2006, and that it showed positive results, that evaluation would have been completed before the IRSRHS Program was formally established in that same year.

            This Committee is mindful, however, that the federal government has not withdrawn its support for providing mental health and emotional support services to eligible former students and has in fact committed additional funds in Budget 2010 to help meet increased demands for such services. We also note, with significant interest, that Health Canada is attempting to negotiate and conclude a number of contribution agreements with organizations that provided healing projects that were initially supported by the AHF. We were told that sixty such agreements are currently being considered. While we strongly encourage Health Canada and the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development to continue their efforts in this regard, we recognize that not all 134 AHF-funded projects will meet the criteria for government funding. While efforts to secure alternate funding are being undertaken, the 2009 evaluation suggests that such funding will be difficult to find as many agencies will not have matching mandates.  For example, Ms. Nakuset, of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal, told the Committee that, under some federal programs, eligibility criteria is restricted to registered or Status Indians, thereby excluding their Innu, Métis and non-Status clients.^[39] We are equally concerned that this may leave several communities without healing supports, at least for a time, with potentially serious and disruptive effects in communities and on those who had been actively participating in treatment.

            We find merit in the view expressed by witnesses that the mandate of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation should have been extended until the Truth and Reconciliation Commission completes its important work.  We believe this would have been considerably less disruptive to affected communities at such a critical juncture in the reconciliation process. We note that a number of these same communities are now negotiating contribution agreements with Health Canada to re-establish healing services that had been in place - pursuant, however - to the criteria established in the IRSRHS program. Even so, we acknowledge that however technically proficient government programs may be, they are not a substitute for what was described as the “real, innovative, transformational work that communities have been developing through their community projects.” ^[40]

            The Committee supports the very real need to continue to provide the appropriate and meaningful supports to all those who have suffered, and continue to suffer, from the immeasurable harms of the residential schools system. Having carefully considered the evidence placed before us, we now recommend as follows:

Recommendation 1:
That the Government of Canada take immediate steps to renew the mandate of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and provide sufficient funding to support its community-based healing projects for another three years.

Recommendation 2:
That Health Canada, in close collaboration with the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, take immediate steps to ensure that the mandate and criteria of the Indian Residential Schools Health Support Program be expanded to include community-based and delivered healing services; and that regular progress reports be provided to this Committee by Health Canada on an annual basis, with the first report to be tabled on 15 June 2011.

Recommendation 3:
That the Government of Canada ensure that funding allocated in Budget 2010 for the mental health and emotional support services to former students of residential schools and their families be fully targeted to supporting the Aboriginal Healing Foundation’s funded community-based healing projects.

Recommendation 4:
That Health Canada ensure that services provided by the IRSRHS program, including services provided by the Resolution Health Support Workers and the 1-800 number, be available to former Inuit students of residential schools in the Inuktitut language.