Aboriginal programs hurt by budget cuts

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The budget cuts announced by the federal government at the end of September are having a negative impact on various agencies that serve the Aboriginal community. Literacy organizations are some of the most drastically affected.

Carol Vandale, executive director of the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Literacy Network, said that, thanks to the federal government's plans to cut $17.7 million from the budget of the Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program, the organization may even have to shut its doors.

"The funding cuts prevent organizations like ours from working with the Aboriginal community to tackle the issues of literacy on a local basis, in self-sustainable ways. That's one of the goals of our organization. Most of our funding, 90 per cent, is from the federal government," she said.

"We are shocked and baffled by these sweeping cuts. We want to continue to serve the Aboriginal people of Saskatchewan who are struggling to be involved in society but have difficulty with reading and writing. The reason our advocacy is valuable is because we do try to work with communities, and with leaders and with people to talk about those issues that are barriers to getting at literacy. Our work has predominantly been around raising awareness amongst Aboriginal communities and non-Aboriginal communities and governments and organizations."

Literacy statistics for Saskatchewan's urban Aboriginal people show a disturbing picture, Vandale said. Approximately two-thirds of the population are at a literacy level below what is considered necessary to cope with the increasing skill demands of our knowledge-based society. "We can extrapolate that non-urban Aboriginal literacy levels would be worse," she said.

Debbie Griffith, executive director of the Saskatchewan Literacy Network, said there will be significant effects within the Aboriginal community from the funding cuts.

"The primary impact that these cuts will have is that the support services that are currently available to Aboriginal communities who want to design, develop, and implement their own literacy programs to meet local or community needs will no longer be available, or they will be severely reduced."

Griffith said both the Saskatchewan and the Aboriginal Literacy Networks work with those community groups that provide the actual literacy programs.

"The role of our organization is to support literacy programs as they're being developed and implemented. We're one step away from program delivery. But we provide the necessary support services to those programs. Adult literacy is critical to economic and social prosperity, so by cutting funds for literacy, we are in fact taking a huge step back as a nation.

As with the situation with the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Literacy Network, the funding cuts don't just threaten to affect programming offered by the Saskatchewan Literacy Network, they could mean the beginning of the end.

"We get approximately 85 per cent of our funding from the federal government. With the recent announcements, the majority of our funding is gone. Our organization is now in imminent danger of closing because of these cuts," Griffith said.

"We've been open 17 years and now with this recent funding cut we're not sure if we can continue to keep our doors open," Debbie Griffith said.

"We're working with the provincial government to see if there is any bridge funding available, and are doing everything within our power to encourage the federal government to rescind their decision and reinstate federal funding."

As for the next step, Vandale said the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Literacy Network will do what it can to keep its doors open.

"We are currently doing a mail-out fundraiser to Aboriginal organizations, Metis organizations, bands and tribal councils. We're looking at other ways of sustaining ourselves. We are going to be working with the province in the short term and we are going to be able to keep our doors open until March, bu after that, I'm not sure."

Also receiving reduced funding is the Museums Assistance Program (MAP). On it's Web site, the Museums Association of Saskatchewan states that about 20 per cent of its budget flows from that program. Funding through MAP supports the association's Aboriginal Initiative, which nurtures positive relationships between First Nations and Metis communities and the museums that hold their collections in trust.

"Certainly, justifiably, the First Nations have been upset by the way museums displayed artifacts. Not necessarily with disrespect, but with lack of knowledge of the meaning and the sacred significance of these objects," explained Jan Morier, communications officer with the Museums Association of Saskatchewan. Prior to implementation of the Aboriginal Initiative, there were only sporadic attempts at co-operation. Local committees had tried to bridge the gap, but only when funding became available through the MAP could communication flourish.

The budget cuts will also mean staffing cuts, and could put the entire Aboriginal Initiative program in jeopardy.

According to the Treasury Board Web site, reducing funds to literacy networks will result in improved targeting of adult learning and literacy skills programs. The literacy programs fell into the category of "funding for third parties to further their interests or programs that are not effective, do not achieve results or are being re-focused or targeted for improved effectiveness," the site stated. In other words, from the federal government's standpoint, giving funds to literacy networks did not provide "value for money."

Information on the Web site said MAP funding is being cut because "Canadians want to know their hard-earned tax dollars are invested responsibly in effective programs that meet their priorities. Responsible spending is a cornerstone of accountable government."

The Web site goes on to explain that this funding cut allows "savings from streamlining activities or serices that can be provided or are being provided elsewhere."

Other cost-savings measures announced include elimination of funding for the First Nations and Inuit Tobacco Control Strategy. This was considered a non-core program, which, according to the federal government Web site, includes "programs or activities that do not meet the priorities of the federal government or Canadians."