Programs get Centennial funds

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Aboriginal people across Saskatchewan should soon be enjoying greater access to sport, recreation and cultural programs, thanks to $5.5 million from the province's centennial funds.

The money will be used for the Aboriginal Participation Initiative (API), which will build on programs already in place aimed at breaking down the barriers that keep Aboriginal people from taking part in sport, recreation and cultural programs. The initiative will promote healthier living through physical activity, build youth leadership and a volunteer base, and promote and protect cultural heritage, and will involve Aboriginal people in developing the programs to be offered.

The initiative is being funded through the province's Community Initiatives Fund (CIF) and is part of the $20 million committed to projects that will create lasting legacies to mark Saskatchewan's centennial in 2005.

Among the organizations partnering with the province on the API are the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan, the Northern Recreation Co-ordinating Committee, SaskCulture Inc, the Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association Inc., and Sask Sport Inc.

Glenn Pratt is the manager of Aboriginal sport development for Sask Sport. He said he was pleased with the funding announcement, and explained that the new dollars will help build upon work Sask Sport began about a year ago to improve Aboriginal access to sport, recreation and culture programs within the province's urban centres.

"We had our own Saskatchewan Lotteries dollars that we implemented a program we call the Urban Aboriginal Community Grant Program. The community grant program is an amount of dollars that's given to every community regardless of their size for sport, culture and recreation development within that community. And it's not a huge amount of money. It's basically what I would call seed money. And then all of a sudden, the province had some new dollars that they were looking at from their CIF fund and they wanted to partner with us because they thought the program was a good program, and it looked at the whole issue of urban Aboriginal people, that there seemed to be a major funding gap. There was funding for on-reserve, there was funding for provincial initiatives, there was funding from INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada) and from different corporations, but there didn't really seem to be a lot of funding for urban Aboriginal people to get involved in sport, culture and recreation," he said.

The new Aboriginal Participation Initiative is divided into three components, one for programs in the far North, one for programs for Aboriginal people living in urban areas, and one for programs with a focus that is province wide.

The northern programs will see expansion of the existing Northern Community School Co-ordinator Program. Nineteen new community school recreation co-ordinators will be hired and trained, and will be responsible for co-ordinating sport, recreation and cultural programs for the entire community. A new Northern Leadership Initiative will also be launched, designed to increase the leadership skills and capacity of volunteers, youth, culture, sport and recreation staff, and organizations to develop and offer programs and services in the north.

The province-wide programs that will be funded will include the Provincial Initiatives Program, which will support the development and provision of Aboriginal programs in sports, culture or recreation on a provincial level, as well as programs that promote Aboriginal heritage and culture. An Aboriginal Arts and Culture Leadership Program will also be funded to increase the leadership capacity of individuals, groups and communities to work with and support arts and cultural programming.

The third component, the one aimed at urban Aboriginal populations, is the one Sask Sport is involved in, building on the groundwork already set.

Thanks to the API, the budgetfor the Urban Aborignal Community Grant Program has more than tripled for the next three years, growing from $200,000 to almost $700,000 annually. Fourteen communities will be targeted by the newly expanded program, including the larger urban centres, as well as some of the province's smaller urban communities, which Glenn Pratt explained don't usually have the same access to funding for Aboriginal initiatives as the larger centres.

"So it was good to give those smaller urban centres the same opportunity. And the challenge of course being that some of these communities don't have organized Aboriginal people, meaning, you know, friendship centres, tribal councils, Metis offices, things like that. So then it gives them an opportunity to begin working and understanding the Aboriginal people that live in their community, and empowering them to be on the adjudication committee to help distribute the funds," he said.

"The whole idea of this program was not only to provide the dollars for programming, but the dollars for actual barriers. An example of barriers are single Aboriginal women with three or four kids, don't have a car, don't have a job, so how can their kids participate in a program? Well, this program can address issues of childcare, of transportation, registration fees, and other things like that, so that some of those barriers are dealt with so that the actual participation of the children and the families can happen."