Indian Affairs targets child welfare

Page 1

Indian Affairs minister Tom Siddon announced a new $160 million dollar program May 5 targeting Native child welfare.

The program which will be community-based and controlled, will be restricted to status Indians on reserve and Inuit communities.

Monies for the five-year project will be divided into $65 million for "culturally sensitive" mental health programs focusing on suicide and family breakdown, $80 million for preschool and after-school care for children up to 13 years and $15 million for substance abuse programs.

Siddon could not say how much of the $160 million will be coming to Alberta Native communities.

Discussion with Native leaders will determine if funds are dispersed on a per-capita or a needs basis, he said.

The community will decide. We want aboriginal leadership to be the architects of how funds will be used."

Native women's groups will play a pivotal role in deciding where and how money will be spent, he said.

"They are on the front lines of many of these tragic situations."

The program is in response to informal requests from Native leaders and statistics showing high mortality rates among Native and Inuit children. It will be preventative and educational, and will focus on "preventing and reducing these statistics."

Access to funds will be made as reserve and community childcare agencies become operational.

Funds are not meant for infrastructures, he said, but for such preventative programs as "nutritional counselling and counselling about the dangers of alcohol use while a mother is pregnant."

No formal discussions have taken place with Native leaders so far, but talks will begin "very quickly."

The project is part of a national $50-million-dollar program for all Canadian children anounced May 4 by Minister of National Health and Welfare, Benoit Bouchard.

Off-reserve and non-status Natives will be covered by the wider program, Siddon said.