Request for funding rejected

Accusations of "bias" and "wrongdoing" have been thrown at the B.C. civic advisory board and the federal government after the funding proposal from an Aboriginal non-profit organization, aimed to help homeless women and their children, was rejected.
While the Aboriginal Mother's Centre (AMC) in east Vancouver hasn't shut its doors quite yet, Penny Irons, the program's director, thinks it's just a matter of time. "We're just barely hanging in there," she said.
The community-run center was established in 2001 and since then had been relying on municipal, provincial and federal funds. Last year, the federal government allocated $16 million to the Vancouver region for its Homelessness Partnership Strategy.
The plan is a two-year strategy to combat the high incidence of homelessness in the metro Vancouver area.
The Greater Vancouver Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness (RSCH) is a municipal advisory board with the authority to make recommendations to the government on where federal funds should go.
Last October, after three years of receiving Service Canada sponsorship, the RSCH decided to reject the Mother's Centre proposal- a rejection that is conjuring up allegations of political ignorance voiced from those in the Aboriginal social advocacy circles and community.
While Irons admitted her funding proposal wasn't as strong as it could've been, she suggested that a weaker proposal should've been seen as a realization for additional resources and not a blatant refusal of them.
"It really showed how Aboriginal agencies lacked capacity when developing proposals," she said.
Patrick Stewart, chair of Vancouver's Aboriginal Homelessness Steering Committee, also said the proposal review process was flawed and said there seems to be no real consistency in how RSCH reviews proposals.
Stewart said that through the selection process, proposals are generally branded with certain color coding following review ­green meaning a recommendation will be made to pass the proposal, amber meaning the proposal is not rejected but questions must be answered within the context of the request and red meaning funds requested are denied.
Stewart said the proposal for the Mother's Centre was categorized 'amber' and the conflict of interest lies in why no questions were asked and no attempt to allow a restructure of the proposal was granted.
Yet, while the center's administrators and program facilitators are trying to come to grips with the funding refusal, members of the community will feel the biggest blow. Rosalie Tait, 25, has utilized the east AMC for the past three years and said the thought of the building closing its doors is nothing short of heartbreaking.
"It's unbelievable. It's like a second home. I can go there in my pajamas and feel at home," she said.
Like Tait, a lot of community members rely heavily on the centre. Tait, who is a member of the Gitxan First Nation from Morristown, B.C., said the centre was a lifeline for her.
Once homeless and "couch surfing", the now mother of three sadly recalls the struggles she went through finding shelter and food for herself and her 3-year-old son. Turned away from a woman's charity organization because she wasn't drug addicted, she felt desperate and alone until a friend pointed her in the direction of the centre and she was able to find a meal and basic support where there was once hopelessness.
"They've been with me through thick and thin," the young mother said.
For many women the center's potential closure would not only mean lack of resources like internet access, weekly food hampers, drop-in meals, Elder guidance, job-hunting support and parenting programs; would also mean the loss of a social network that mothers and their children rely on.
"It would affect me deeply because of the connections I have with that place," said Tait.
Not only were basic necessities provided to her, but Tait recalls a time when the center went above and beyond to help her through the loss of her own mother. Grieving and frustrated, Tait didn't have the finances to travel to her reserve in northern B.C. to lay her mother to rest last year, so the AMC and the Salvation Army rallied together and provided her with travel expenses needed to go to her reserve and pay her final respects.
"There are not many resources like that," Tait said. "I've been to a lot [of organizations] and none of them are like the Mother's Centre. The refusal to provide funding for the centre is a huge loss to other mother's in the community."
She urged the Regional Homelessness Steering Committee and the federal government to understand the importance of the facility.
"Try being homeless," she said.
"Try having no-where to go, no one to trust."
In a press release urging Service Canada to reconsider the center's proposal, the Aboriginal Homelessness Steering Committee chair expressed the importance of the facility.
"It takes children out of government care and keeps mothers off the street," Stewart said, in reference to the centre. Stewart's comment raises the question, if in fact, the outcome of eradicating these kinds of essential services is having children in government care, the closure of these important centers may be another way to keep Aboriginal families separated and under governmental thumb?
Irons said there was ignorance in the process and Stewart agreed. "That's a flaw in the whole system when the government is making non-profits compete," he said. While the outcome of the centre looks bleak, for now it is running on the generous donations of community organizations and people who believe in its need.
Since October, the centre has continued to thank the generous support of private and corporate donors.
Irons said people have given whatever they have to keep the facility open-from thousands of dollars from concerned organizations to twenty dollars from anonymous supporters and women who once utilized the facility.
"It does show that there is a depth in the community," Stewart said, in regard to the donations. "There is support in the community that the Mother's Centre provides. There has to be a level of support that the government provides," he added.
However, the donations have only provided enough capital to keep administration and some basic services running. Programs have been suspended and resources limited. However, some food hampers are still being given to the hungry and the homeless are still being directed to nearby shelters.
But while the AMC fights to keep its head above water, questions remain concerning the sincerity of political bodies that claim to want an end to the homeless epidemic, yet are willing to let the future of needed social organizations - like the Vancouver Aboriginal Mother's Centre- hang in the balance.
Numerous attempts were made to contact Service Canada: Human Resources and Social Development and the Vancouver Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness, however there wasn't any response before press time.