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Moving Forward Together: Improving Social Conditions

Whether on or off reserves, in rural or urban settings, services designed to diminish poverty and improve the health of Aboriginal communities are a key priority of the government. The following are some examples of this work:

Aboriginal Child Welfare

Ensuring the safety and well-being of all children in the province is essential for the Ontario government. The province is active through programs operating across several ministries. In 2007-08, through the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, First Nations communities received $24.1 million for well-being and prevention services, and six Aboriginal children's aid societies received $99.2 million to provide child protection services.

The government also provides $4.4 million in annual funding for the Aboriginal Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and Child Nutrition Program. These programs are delivered through 18 Aboriginal service providers to Aboriginal communities on and off reserves. Culturally appropriate, community-based support is also being provided to at-risk urban Aboriginal children, youth and their families through a funding increase for the Akwe:go and Wasa-Nabin urban Aboriginal programs. Among other initiatives, more than 300 licensed off-reserve child care spaces for Aboriginal children have been created.

Starting in 2008-09, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services is providing about $194,000 in annual funding to the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres to support Student Nutrition Programs offered when Akwe:go and Wasa-Nabin programs take place. In 2009, an additional $158,000 in one-time funding was provided to assist with program startup and equipment purchases.

Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is investing in community-based and culturally sensitive health programs for Aboriginal people by contributing $26.5 million annually to the Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy. This includes supplemental funding of about $2.4 million per year for physician and nurse practitioner salaries, as well as a 2.25 per cent increase, beginning in 2008-09, for 10 Aboriginal Health Access Centres.

Aboriginal Healthy Babies, Healthy Children

This program is administered by the Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy Secretariat and provides culturally appropriate services to Aboriginal families living on and off reserves. The services are provided by a network of Aboriginal community workers in 162 communities, with a total of 10,000 clients. The program budget is $8.5 million.

Dialysis Clinic Funding

The province, in partnership with the Chronic Kidney Disease Regional Program of St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton and the Six Nations of the Grand River, is investing in a 12-station dialysis satellite program at the White Pines Wellness Centre. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care's contribution of $1.6 million will be used to establish the satellite clinic that will house the stations. The program will initially open with six treatment stations.

Sioux Lookout Hospital

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is working in partnership with the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre, 28 First Nations and the federal and municipal governments to develop a new First Nations Centre of Health Excellence in Sioux Lookout. Together, the provincial and federal governments are contributing almost $133.2 million to this state-of-the-art centre, which is now under construction. This new centre will increase access to health care for residents of Sioux Lookout and its surrounding communities.

Community, Social and Friendship Centres

The Ontario government is improving the lives of Aboriginal people in Ontario through the $14.7-million Aboriginal Community Capital Grants Program (ACCGP) with investments in construction and programming provided by community centres and friendship centres. A recent example of this support is $750,000 in funding provided to the Pikangikum First Nation to build a centre that will support its work in promoting healthy lifestyles and providing skills training.

Provincial support, totalling $176,292, has been provided through the Aboriginal Community Capital Grants Program to the Kapuskasing Indian Friendship Centre resulting in expansion of that facility. The centre now includes a daycare centre, a new program for urban youth, a life-long care program for the elderly and disabled and alternative education counselling services. Neskantaga First Nation received $750,000 from the ACCGP to build the Neskantaga Social Services Centre. This facility now houses social and community organizations once scattered throughout the community, allowing it to offer programs and services in one central location. Services include the Aboriginal Healthy Babies, Healthy Children Program, child and family services and crisis prevention programs.

Long-Term Care Facility

Oneida Nation of the Thames held the grand opening of its new 64-bed Long-Term Care Centre in June 2008 and preparations are underway to have the facility running at full capacity by the end of 2009. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care provided $4.8 million for the construction and operating costs of this centre.

Off-Reserve Aboriginal Housing

Approximately 80 per cent of Aboriginal people in this province live off reserves. Memoranda of Understanding were signed by the Ontario government and a number of Aboriginal partner organizations to administer $80 million in housing programs for more than 800 low income, urban and rural off-reserve Aboriginal households in Ontario. Housing support will be provided through new affordable rental units, home ownership loans and home repairs.

Urban Aboriginal Strategy

As part of a $500,000 investment in the well-being of Aboriginal people living in urban areas, the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs is assisting the Toronto Aboriginal Social Services Association in its research on the needs of Toronto's Aboriginal community with a $100,000 research grant. The results of this research will help identify solutions that will improve the quality of life of Aboriginal people living in Toronto. Recent work by the Urban Aboriginal Task Force in Ontario identified Toronto as an important site for further research that would complement the task force's 2007 study.

The Aboriginal Education Strategy

In January 2007, the Ontario government launched the Aboriginal Education Strategy to support learning and achievement for Aboriginal students. In addition, the strategy helps raise awareness about First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures, histories and perspectives in schools. The Ministry of Education invested $25 million in 2008-09 to support implementation of the Aboriginal Education Strategy.

Native Studies and Languages

In 2007, the Ministry of Education introduced a $10.5 million grant: the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Education Supplement. In 2008-09 this amount increased by $5 million to more than $15.5 million. The supplement provides dedicated funding for Native studies and Native languages programs, as well as funding to support other programs that assist Aboriginal students. Since the release of the supplement, enrolment in Native language courses has increased from 1,489 students in 2006-07 to 1,963 students in 2008-09.

Post-Secondary Education

The government is committed to providing accessible, high-quality education and training to Aboriginal people. The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities supports the success of Aboriginal students enrolled in post-secondary institutions through the Aboriginal Education and Training Strategy (AETS) and the Access to Opportunities Strategy and extends support to Aboriginal post-secondary institutions. Approximately 11,000 self-identified Aboriginal post-secondary students are enrolled at colleges and universities that currently receive funding through special purpose grants.

In 2008-09, Ontario provided $24.4 million for Aboriginal postsecondary education and training, of which $15.4 million was invested in post-secondary education and $9 million in training. The funding includes the AETS ($8.1 million); specific Aboriginal professional programs, including teacher education, aviation and nursing ($1.3 million); and the Access to Opportunities Strategy for new initiatives ($6 million). The purpose of this funding is to build and improve access to post-secondary opportunities for Aboriginal students and increase the number of Aboriginal graduates from colleges, universities and Aboriginal institutions.

Community Safety

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services is working with First Nations, through the federal First Nations Policing Policy (FNPP), to fund culturally appropriate policing for First Nations communities. Service is provided by self-administered First Nations police services (94 communities), by First Nations officers administered jointly by the community and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) (19 communities), or directly by the OPP (21 communities). The ministry currently funds approximately 470 First Nations constables and supports operations and minor capital projects, such as modular detachments.

The OPP established the stand-alone Aboriginal Policing Bureau in September 2007 to strengthen relationships with First Nations communities; provide support to First Nations policing; and ensure an appropriate response to Aboriginal issues. The Aboriginal Policing Bureau is making significant efforts to mentor and engage Aboriginal youth and to expand educational initiatives for Native and non-Native students.

Aboriginal Justice Services

Ontario is also working to improve access to, and to address the needs of Aboriginal people within the justice system. An Aboriginal Justice Strategy is being developed by the Ministry of the Attorney General to enable strategic justice and community responses to these challenges. The following are some examples of this work.

The ministry has created a $2-million Aboriginal Victims Support Grant Program to offer one-time funding for community-building projects that will address the needs and issues faced by Aboriginal victims. The Ontario Aboriginal Courtworker Program works to facilitate access to justice by helping Aboriginal people understand rights, responsibilities and options under the law, and how to obtain fair, equitable and culturally sensitive treatment. It is delivered by 38 court workers serving 41 courts across Ontario and administered through the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres and Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto. Ontario contributes $1.6 million of the $2.6 million cost of the program.

Alternatives to Custody programs for Aboriginal youth in conflict with the law are also supported through a $1.6 million investment. These programs are designed, implemented and operated by Aboriginal community agencies to provide meaningful, culturally enriched programming that focuses on prevention, diversion and rehabilitation.

As a result of the Supreme Court of Canada decision in R. v. Gladue, four Gladue Service Programs are being provided to courts in the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton-Brantford, Kitchener-Waterloo-Guelph, London, Thunder Bay and Manitoulin District. These programs include collecting and providing the court with information about the historic and systemic factors experienced by Aboriginal people, so that appropriate sentencing approaches are considered. Community justice programs funding from the Ministry of the Attorney General has increased by $600,000 to more than $1.4 million annually to help support 10 community justice programs delivering services to 23 communities.

Ontario's correctional services continue to develop and expand programming designed specifically for those from Aboriginal communities, as well as expanding spiritual facilities in correctional institutions. Community Elders are available to inmates in all of the province's institutions; seven of Ontario's correctional institutions have sweat lodges; and in 2006, Thunder Bay Correctional Centre opened a Shkode-kaan. Links between correctional institutions and First Nations communities are also being strengthened through Native Inmate Liaison Services, Aboriginal Community Contracts, Elders and Aboriginal Volunteer Recruitment.

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• Stronger Aboriginal Relationships
• Economic Opportunity and Sustainability
• Land Claims and Reconciliation