Proceedings of the Special Senate Committee on Aging
Issue 8 - Evidence
OTTAWA, Monday, May 14, 2007
The Special Senate Committee on Aging met this day at 12:30 p.m. to examine and report upon the implications of an aging society in Canada.
Senator Sharon Carstairs (Chairman) in the chair.
[English]
The Chairman: Good afternoon and welcome to this meeting of the Special Senate Committee on Aging. This committee is examining the implications of an aging society in Canada. Today's meeting will focus on First Nation, Inuit and Metis seniors to help us gain an overview of their issues, understand their challenges and hear about innovative and creative ways of dealing with those challenges.
We will hear from the Assembly of First Nations, in the person of Elder Elmer Courchene, which sounds to me like a very Manitoba name; and Richard Jock, Chief Executive Officer. The Assembly of First Nations is a national organization representing 630 First Nations communities in Canada. The AFN represents all citizens regardless of age, gender or place of residence.
From the Métis National Council, we have with us today Don Fiddler, Senior Policy Advisor. Since 1983, the Métis National Council has represented the Metis nation both nationally and internationally. Overall the MNC's central goal is to secure a healthy space for the Metis nation's ongoing existence within the Canadian federation.
We also have Ms. Okalik Eegeesiak, Director, Socio-Economic Development at the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, accompanied by Jennifer Forsyth, Health Technical Advisor, and Maria Wilson, Project Coordinator. Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is the national Inuit organization representing four Inuit regions in Labrador, Northern Quebec, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
From the Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, we have Jennifer Dickson, Executive Director. Since 1984, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada has been the national voice of Inuit women of Canada. Its major activities focus is on the need for equality for Inuit women in Canada.
To all of you, welcome to the Senate of Canada.
Elmer Courchene, Elder, Assembly of First Nations: Thank you, Madam Chairman. We are pleased to be here today and yes, I am a Manitoban. The First Nations seniors' population is expected to double from 28,000 in 2001 to 59,500 in 2017. By 2010, First Nations life expectancy will increase from 59.2 years to 72 years of age among men and from 69 years to 79 years of age among women. First Nations population is growing at a high rate. Right now, 58 per cent of our population is under the age of 25 years. There is an increased demand on vital resources in First Nations communities.
Over 40 per cent of First Nations seniors suffer from impacts of the residential schools. First Nations seniors are nearly twice as likely to report one or more chronic health conditions; 85 per cent compared to 47 per cent in the general population.
Arthritis affects 45.5 per cent of First Nations seniors. First Nations seniors have a personal income of roughly $12,900. In a household, it comes to roughly $24,600. Nearly 80 per cent of First Nations seniors rely on income from government sources.
Age 55 is a more culturally appropriate definition of aging. It is a time for teaching and understanding life, and showing great respect for the wisdom of elders. There is a strong role for the elders, a vital role, and the recognition of their value and contribution to the well-being of their communities and the world beyond.
Almost one-half of First Nations seniors are in need of one or more home care services, but only one-third, 34 per cent, receive care. Fifty-eight per cent of First Nations seniors live in band-owned housing and over a one-third report mould or mildew in their homes. Only .5 per cent of First Nations communities have long-term care facilities, forcing most First Nations seniors in need of care to leave their homes and communities.
Richard Jock, Chief Executive Officer, Assembly of First Nations: It is the strong view of the Assembly of First Nations that following a holistic community-based model is a key to future success and this, of course, includes how to view the aging and elder population within that model.
There are two elements to that model that I will mention and highlight today. One is that the First Nations holistic model is a bit different from the general Canadian model in that at the core of focus is a real concentration on the community as a collective. In fact, the community as a collective is one of the key elements in terms of approaching health and well-being. From that emanates the other interests and in particular, the focus on the different age groups of which elders are an important and vital part.
The other interests relate to self-government, strong fiscal relationships, and the ability to develop those relationships with both federal and provincial governments. Those effective relationships with governments are key to addressing elders' issues.
In terms of fiscal challenge, the decades-long caps of 2 per cent for INAC and 3 per cent on Health Canada have increased funding pressure and, in some cases, have negatively impacted elders. In addition, a 20-year long moratorium has been in place in terms of the construction and operation of personal care homes. This has the effect of making our elders go outside of the community to receive any kind of residential care. Once they leave, they expect never to come back, except for their funeral. Under our system of supports, our families are also split up, which has a dramatic effect on the personal and collective health of our people.
We have approximately one bed for every 99 individuals in First Nations communities as opposed to one bed for every 22 individuals in the general Canadian population. However, the homes that do exist are mainly in Ontario and Manitoba, so the distribution is uneven.
In terms of challenges, since 1996, inflation has risen by 20 per cent. Our population has grown by 22.2 per cent. INAC's departmental budget has increased by 40 per cent over that period, but calculating adjusted cost per capita reveals that the dollars available for First Nations basic services are down 6 per cent, which creates obvious problems for elder populations in particular.
It is extremely important that the respective 2 per cent and 3 per cent caps on core social programs and health services be removed and replaced with a more fundamental and appropriate cost measure. We must, in turn, develop and support a comprehensive continuing community care program that includes residential elements so that elders have their needs taken care of in a sensible way and as close to the community as possible. Informal and formal caregivers must receive increased support so that people who wish to provide even informal assistance to their elders have training in some of the basic issues. We must also provide better advice for elders in terms of some of the available services. We need an enhanced non-insured health benefits program that is responsive to changing needs versus an artificial cost containment approach. Over the past years, we have seen the elimination of programs related to foot care and other supportive services that most directly effect elders and could be leading to increased levels of disability.
We believe that social security programs need to be adjusted to address the needs of First Nations low-income seniors. There are some aspects of our history that relate to participation in CPP and other programs that have a negative impact on individual seniors and make funding less available to them than people in the general public. Some of those differential and perhaps discriminatory ways of looking at income have the effect of impoverishing our elders. Those matters need to be studied and adjusted.
We must find ways to promote social participation and active living. Expanding the New Horizons for Seniors approach and making it available on reserves would be advantageous and a good investment in the future health of our elders.
Don Fiddler, Senior Policy Advisor, Métis National Council: Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to be here. I bring greetings from our President, Clément Chartier, and our Health Minister, David Chartrand.
As you are aware, the Metis in Canada are a historically disadvantaged group. For 100-plus years, we have fought for recognition with governments. During those 100 years, we have been caught in the jurisdictional wrangling between federal and provincial governments.
Despite this, the Metis population has continued to flourish. There are currently 305,800 Metis in Canada, as determined by Statistics Canada, representing 28.7 per cent of the Aboriginal population. This figure is expected to rise by 2017 to 380,500. The life expectancy of our people is 71.9 years for men and 77.7 years for women, which is six or seven years less than the general non-Aboriginal population.
In our population, women slightly outnumber men. Fifty-two per cent of our senior population are women and 48 per cent are men. The number of seniors within our population aged 65 and over is currently 4.1 per cent. The number of those aged 55 and over is substantially more, and that figure is expected to rise to about 8.1 per cent of our population in 2017.
Our people tend to live in an urban environment. In 2001, 62 per cent of our seniors were living in urban areas, 34 per cent were in the metropolitan areas, and 28 per cent were in smaller urban areas. Our people have been losing their language ability over the years. In 2001, about 13 per cent of our people reported having an Aboriginal mother tongue.
The level of income varies among our people, but Metis seniors had a median income in 2001 of $14,831. As in the First Nations population, reliance upon government assistance is very high among our people. About 73 per cent rely predominantly on government transfers, including the Canada Pension Plan. Employment income represented only 14 per cent of the total income for our people in 2001.
Most Aboriginal seniors are either married or have been widowed. In 2001, 44 per cent of Metis seniors lived with a husband or wife, 4 per cent lived with a common law partner, and 31 per cent lived alone. Our housing situation remains a major concern for our seniors, with 33 per cent of rural and urban seniors reporting homes that were badly in need of repair.
Our people continued to participate in the labour force. In 2001, 10 per cent of our Metis seniors were working. That is largely because the Metis have not had the strong social net to assist them. That compares to 8 per cent of First Nations and 15 per cent of Inuit.
As the Metis cohort grows to 8 per cent in 2017, we can assume that they will continue to contribute to the Canadian economy. As our people live longer and work longer, labour force participation and retraining will have to be a big consideration for governments, particularly as our people continue to work past normal retirement age.
The unemployment rate for Metis seniors, that is, those who are actively seeking work even though they had reached retirement age is about 5 per cent. By gender, 7 per cent of Metis males and 3 per cent of Metis females were unemployed and not looking for work.
The median income for female Metis seniors was 91.4 per cent of female non-Aboriginal groups. The median income came down to $13,615 for males and $13,615 for females.
Only 27 per cent of our Metis seniors indicated that their health status was excellent or very good while 47 per cent reported it as fair or poor. The major chronic diseases were arthritis, rheumatism, heart problems, high blood pressure, and the growing incidence of diabetes with 23 per cent of our people having diabetes, as reported in 2001. I consider that figure low because some of our studies indicate that in the 55-plus age group the rate is as high as 40 per cent.
Our people tend not to be drinkers and that is an important consideration for all Aboriginal people. The Aboriginal Peoples of Canada report shows lower drinking habits than non-Aboriginal populations. One-half of our Metis women were non-drinkers as compared with 40 per cent of the male counterparts. That seems to be a problem that we need to look as a disproportionate number of our males are drinking, in the age group 65 and over, as compared to the women.
Our people, because they have been caught between governments, have tended not to have government services available to them. They have, in particular, had great problems getting proper dental care. They have not had the ability to get the health care coverage, other than what is available in the general population. Culturally specific services have not been available. Because our people live in urban environments, more often than not, they live in rental accommodations. Over 70 per cent of our people rent in urban areas. Because of their low median incomes they tend to live in housing that needs major repair.
In terms future services, we need to have long-term care services available. Across Canada, only Ontario has long- term care services available to some Metis seniors. Throughout the rest of Canada we do not have those services available to us. Our people need residential care as they grow older. The proportion of our seniors will grow to 8 per cent, which means there will be increasing pressures on developing housing accommodations. Chronic health conditions create the need for our seniors to get culturally specific care within populations.
As we move forward, Metis people will continue to contribute to Canada's economy. They will continue to ask for increased services. They will need the support of governments to go beyond just trying to determine who is responsible but actually take some responsibility for our seniors.
Okalik Eegeesiak, Director, Socio-Economic Development, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami:
[The witness spoke in her native language.]
Thank you for the invitation to appear before this committee.
I am Okalik Eegeesiak from the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Jennifer Forsythe and Maria Wilson were acknowledged. I also would like to recognize Mellissa Irwin our information officer from ITK. The ITK president Mary Simon is unable to be here because of a long-standing previous commitment but wishes to acknowledge the importance of your deliberations.
ITK is a national voice for approximately 55,000 Inuit in Canada. There are 53 Inuit communities across the Canadian Arctic that we refer to as Inuit Nunaat. Fifty-one of these communities are located along the Arctic coastline.
There are four Inuit regions within Inuit Nunaat represented by four land claim areas: the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation in Nunaqput, Northwest Territories; Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated in Nunavut; Makivik Corporation, Northern Quebec in Nunavik; and the Government of Nunatsiavut in Newfoundland and Labrador. I want you to visualize Inuit living in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. There are also growing populations in urban centres such as Ottawa which now has approximately 1,000 Inuit.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami works closely with member organizations and others to protect the rights and interests of Inuit and to ensure that our important place in the fabric of Canada is considered in processes affecting the people we represent.
The population of Canada is aging and the number of seniors grows each year. While the Inuit population is not aging as quickly, more and more are reaching their senior years. Mr. Fiddler said that Metis elders' life expectancy is six years less than mainstream Canadians. Inuit seniors have a life span that is 10 years less than mainstream Canadians; that is not a statistic to be proud of.
By the year 2017, the number of Inuit seniors will have almost doubled. In 2001 there were about 1,500 Inuit seniors, not 50,000 like First Nations and that number is expected to increase to by about 2,500 in 2017. We have similar statistics for Inuit elders as those quoted by Mr. Fiddler and Mr. Jock although we are from different areas of Canada.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is pleased with your recent news release where your work is looking at: ``How public policies can and should support the ability of seniors to live in dignity. There is a role for federal government in helping Canadians age well and we are exploring what that role might be.'' You also recognize and acknowledge that the needs of a 65-year-old, is different from a 75-year-old, which is also different from an 85-year-old senior.
As Inuit we propose to carry these differences a few steps further. Inuit seniors whether 65, 75 or 85 years of age are living in a very different environment than a 65-year-old citizen in Ottawa.
Our message today is for Canadian Inuit seniors to age well and live in dignity, policies, programs and services must be changed or developed or be flexible to reflect our reality.
Most Inuit seniors do not speak English or French. Most Canadian Inuit seniors are not in urban centres. They live in communities as small as 100 and in communities one has to fly in and out of.
Most Inuit seniors are unilingual speaking Inuktitut. Most have never left their home community and all have seen a drastic change from living off the land to permanent communities including the impacts of residential schools.
Except for six or seven administration centres in Inuit communities, Inuit communities do not have resident doctors. They have access to health care through health centres staffed primarily by nurses, when we can get the nurses and when we can keep them. Often, these nurses are on call 24 hours per day/seven days per week. Therefore, Inuit elders and seniors have to leave their home communities for long-term care when they need it. When they remain in their communities, families are stretched to look after them with few resources and, largely, no financial support.
Very few communities have seniors' homes or centres, which mean most Canadian Inuit seniors, live in over crowded homes. Often, three and four generation families live in these homes and in poverty due to limited income. Just like for our First Nations and Metis, the CPP is the main source of income.
Overcrowded homes with poor ventilation pose a number of health risks and health care challenges. Can you imagine that tuberculosis, which was somewhat eradicated here, is still a threat in Inuit communities? That is one example.
As I said, one has to fly in and out of Inuit communities so everything costs three to four times as much as they cost in Ottawa, such as food, clothing and all the staples of everyday life. That makes it difficult for Inuit seniors living in poverty to buy nutritious foods. Thank goodness, we Inuit are able to supplement our basic needs with traditional foods and sources.
Most Inuit communities have aging infrastructure and no fast and easy ways of transportation. Our roads are not paved; we have no sidewalks; and we do not have public transit systems. It is extremely difficult for physically challenged seniors to get out of their homes.
I hope that I have provided some brief insight into the challenges faced by our Inuit seniors. We hope that you agree with us when we say that we see our challenges as opportunities for all politicians and parliamentarians alike, including senators, who are thousands of miles away to make a difference for the betterment of Canadian Inuit seniors. We will leave the committee with a copy of Building Inuit Nunaat: The Inuit Action Plan. The message in this plan is that federal government policies and programs need to be developed with Inuit and for Inuit for a more effective, efficient and transparent investment of taxpayers' money.
Inuit contribute to Canada's economy so, like everyone here, we want to use these scarce resources more wisely. Our president, Mary Simon, and the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Board of Directors are looking forward to the results of the Senate Committee on Aging. We hope that our appearance before the Committee today leads to enhanced and improved programs and services for our seniors. We do not have many seniors but they deserve the same quality of life expected by mainstream Canadian seniors.
Your support and recommendations for an effective, efficient and transparent government policy and program development with and for Inuit will go a long way toward healthy and active Inuit seniors.
Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you today.
[The witness spoke in her native language.]
Jennifer Dickson, Executive Director, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada: I am the Executive Director of the Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, the national organization dedicated to serving Inuit women and their families. Though the Pauktuutit office is in Ottawa, all of our work takes place in Arctic communities across Canada's true North.
I will briefly describe how Pauktuutit and its strengths as a partnering NGO that can help to address critical Inuit social and economic challenges. I will then discuss the circumstances facing elders within Inuit communities, and we can wonder together how this can exist in one of the richest and most socially advanced countries in the world.
Pauktuutit was created in 1984 as the national not-for-profit charitable voice for all Inuit women in Canada. The organization is directed by a highly motivated board of directors comprised of 14 Inuit women elected from 10 Arctic clusters of communities plus two youth and two urban representatives. Our mandate is to address a broad range of social, economic and health issues at the community, regional, national and international levels. Priority issues include gender equity, many forms of abuse, health matters, protection of cultural and traditional knowledge, and economic development. Other important areas of advocacy and program include many files that directly impact Inuit elders, for example: the legacy of residential schools; sexual health, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C; diabetes; tobacco cessation; suicide prevention; and respite for care givers.
I will describe some of the conditions and circumstances of the aged in the North. Over the last 50 years, Inuit have experienced an unparalleled rate of cultural change. It would be difficult to overstate the impact of this change. The shift has been from isolated family-based economic groups that relied on subsistence hunting and fishing and seasonal relocation to populations that now live in permanent settlements and rely, in large part, on a wage economy.
It must be understood that Inuit elders do not necessarily measure wealth in the same way that they measure it in the south. Traditionally, wealth was not viewed as the accumulation of goods but rather as the absence of bad fortune, including illness, strife and injury. Wealth is measured in terms of well-being and good fortune. Today, Inuit constantly hear bad news. Health and social indicators are gathered along with other statistics and are reported back to them. This assault of bad news may not be the best way to instill change. Reporting on the good news and placing less emphasis on the bad news is more the Inuit way.
As my colleague, Ms. Eegeesiak, mentioned a few minutes ago, the majority of Inuit in Canada live in 53 remote Arctic communities extending from the Alaskan border to the eastern shores of Labrador. The communities are accessible only by air, which is an important factor with respect to access to medical services and consumer goods.
Between 1996-01, Canadian Inuit experienced a population growth rate of 12 per cent, which is four times the rate of growth in Canada's non-Aboriginal population. The growth is due to high fertility rates and an increasing life expectancy. Nonetheless, Inuit can still expect to live about 10 years less than people living in southern Canada. Compared to the rest of the country, Inuit families are younger and larger. Census data indicate that over one-half the Inuit population is less than 25 years of age. In comparison, only 32 per cent of Canada's non-Aboriginal population is under 25 years of age. Inuit now have an average age of just 20 years, as opposed to the rest of Canada where the average age is 38 years.
Inuit women are having children at an early age and tend to have larger families than either First Nations or non- Aboriginal women. In the Baffin region, the age of first birth is falling below 16 years. Teen pregnancy is a real and serious challenge. In 2000 in some Inuit regions, the pregnancy rate for young women aged 15-19 years was over four times the national pregnancy rate.
Soon, the cultural and geographic heritage of Inuit will be in the hands of our precious youth. Think of an inverted diamond with the elders at the top — between 1,500 and 2,000, and the base is a vast majority of children and babies.
It is clear that Inuit families are facing extremely daunting challenges. Not all Inuit have access to nutritious food, adequate and safe shelter or properly equipped and staffed health care facilities — services that are readily available in southern Canada. The costs for these goods and services are extreme because of the distances and the remoteness.
There have been remarkably rapid changes to life in the North during the last 50 years. Each generation has had vastly different life experiences. Elders remember the old days when their parents and grandparents lived in igloos. The residential school generation has its own experiences; they were taught southern ways in southern schools. The tradition from seasonal movements to life in permanent communities brought drastic changes to Inuit culture and their social structure. In the early settlements, Inuit were encouraged to trap for furs, to continue hunting for country food and to participate in seasonal employment. Inuit values and beliefs were suppressed by the dominant influences of the church and the market economy.
At the political level, the transition into settlements altered the role of the nuclear family as the basic unit of governance. This all plays on the position that the Inuit elders find themselves in today. The settlements artificially brought together the extended family into the community. On top of this, unrelated family groups were brought together for the first time with potentially different cultures, dialects and religions.
The wage economy also altered customary relationships. Cash and goods that were brought into the household as a result of the fur trade or wages were considered more and more outside the realm of sharing.
Harvesting of country food largely continued within the sphere of sharing, and thus continued to reinforce the kinship-based network of family solidarity. However, as the wage economy increased, there was a greater burden on hunters who brought food home to share with the entire social network. This obligation was not reciprocated with wage earners, who adopted a more individualistic, market-oriented value system. Consequently, elders and youth alike feel as if their roles are unclear. This uncertainty of purpose and identity is particularly challenging for the youth, who are taught to appreciate the hardships of their parents or grandparents raised on the land but feel weak themselves because they experience social exclusion in both worlds. They are struggling to find a meaningful way to participate within their communities, with few prospects for employment and no apparent need for traditional skills or knowledge. One elder wrote, ``As a result of not knowing what to do, many young people turn to alcohol and drugs to feel good.''
The impact of Canada's residential school experiences created a rift between elders and youth, inhibiting the intergenerational exchange of traditional knowledge, cultural values, parenting skills and language that is crucial to healthy relationships and identity formation. Physical, sexual and mental abuse of pupils was also not uncommon in residential schools. Cultural repression, assimilation and abuse combined to make some Inuit feel ashamed of their identities, alienated and disconnected from their families.
Although the residential school system essentially ended in the mid-1970s, it is often cited as a source of community trauma that continues to affect Inuit seniors' health and mental well-being today.
The Inuit was of knowledge is referred to as Inuit Qaujimajatuqanginnit, IQ. It offers practical teachings and insights about society, human nature and experience. Passed on orally from one generation to the next, it is learned through experience out on the land, with elders serving as role models of proper behaviour. It is knowledge of the country that includes the weather, seasonal cycles, ecology, wildlife and interrelationships. It is practical common sense; it is holistic and interrelated with people, spiritual health, culture and language. IQ is a system of authority, with rules governing the use of resources, respect and an obligation to share.
Today, it is recognized that elders are the only ones who have experienced this knowledge, and that it must be transmitted to Inuit youth in order to revitalize and preserve Inuit culture. There can be a number of seniors in a community, but they may not all be elders. Inuit tend to think of elders as people who have wisdom, experience and good judgement. It is a term that is not accredited to someone just because they hit a certain age. The elders had great authority and continue to be highly respected.
When they thought people were not behaving correctly, they would counsel them. Advice from elders held great weight and no decision was made without their consultation. They were often viewed as community leaders.
A significant health gap exists in Canada between Inuit and non-Inuit Canadians. Inuit suffer much lower life expectancies, comparatively higher rates of infant mortality, the highest suicide rate of any group in Canada and disproportionately higher rates of chronic illnesses and infectious diseases, heart disease, diabetes and respiratory illness.
Existing research suggests that this health gap, in many respects, is a symptom of poor socioeconomic conditions in Inuit communities, which are characterized by high poverty rates, low levels of education, limited employment opportunities and inadequate housing conditions.
Quality food can be very expensive in the North. Junk food is cheaper because it is often lighter and therefore less expensive to ship. Manufactured and processed foods also have a long shelf life. In Paulatuk, a small community in the Western Arctic, food prices have been calculated at 470 per cent higher than in Ottawa. When you get your copy of the document, there are some examples.
A 2005 Statistics Canada survey found that 56 per cent of Nunavut respondents stated that they or someone in their household had lacked the money over the past year to eat the quality or variety of the food they had wanted, and worried about not having enough to eat or had actually not had enough to eat. We all know that insufficient food, either quality or quantity, leads to nutritional deficiencies and to serious chronic health problems for seniors.
Traditional or country food is important to many Inuit households. Not only does it offset the high cost of southern foods, but the harvesting and sharing activities have important cultural implications. Therefore, as a result of isolation, the inability to fully integrate into the modern wage economy, the high cost of food and basic services and the importance of harvesting in the Inuit culture, country food remains important. In the Baffin region, for example, it has been estimated that one-half the food eaten by each person a year is caribou, fish, muktuk or seal.
Today, elders are being invited to provide younger women with information on such foods as dried meat and fish stews. Traditional Inuit society once emphasized the importance of sharing to ensure no one went hungry. Even today, when a hunter brings home game, many, if not all households in their community, receive something.
However, this reliance on country food raises concerns about contaminants. Climate change is also affecting the quality and quantity of wild foods. In Nunavut, breast milk has been found to contain contaminants that affect infant neural and motor development. The contaminants from climate change and other contaminants are therefore adding to food insecurity and poor diets. A balance must be struck between promoting the consumption of country foods and ensuring Inuit are informed about the associated risks from contaminants.
The Chairman: We are going to have to get to you highlight what is left.
Ms. Dickson: I will go through each point and talk about it for a moment. On the Inuit housing crisis, others have referred to the general First Nations, Inuit and Metis housing crisis. The conditions are so substandard; I will leave that with you.
Family violence is another major component of the socioeconomic reality of the North. It is very true that there is a family violence component in the elders' communities as well.
Mental wellness and suicide, others have referred to, but they are also true for the Inuit elders. Substance abuse is part of the cause and part of the result of the socioeconomic deprivation in the North.
Smoking is a great problem; 70 per cent of Inuit between ages 18 and 45 smoke and that has huge consequences among the children.
The health status of the Inuit elders raises many additional problems — diabetes, heart disease, respiratory illnesses and unintentional injuries. Medical transportation costs were referred to, and the limited health professionals are a huge problem in the North.
Let me just conclude by saying that Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada would welcome the opportunity to partner with the Senate to put the theoretical and the academic into practice. I am proud of the work we have done on putting policy and principles into practice. It is an important interface between governments, agencies and academic institutions.
Thank you for your interest in the Arctic. I bring greetings from our chair, whose name is Martha Greig, and who lives in Kuujjuaq in northern Quebec.
The Chairman: Before I turn to the other senators, I have a few short questions with respect to your presentations about which I was not exactly clear.
First, a number of you made references to CPP, the Canada Pension Plan. I would have thought there would have been a higher dependence in the North and in Aboriginal communities on Old Age Security pension and the Guaranteed Income Supplement. To my knowledge, the employment rate among many of our Aboriginal peoples has not been sufficient for them to earn great quantities of eligibility under CPP. Have I missed something?
Mr. Fiddler: I think you are correct. Historically, the Metis have tended to have low education levels in the older age groups. They have worked most of their lives and they have continued to work. In order to receive the amount of care they need, the old age supplement has been an important part of it.
Mr. Jock: There is also a confounding element in that some First Nations folks working on reserve were not eligible to participate in CPP. It makes the situation you describe worse for First Nations persons.
The other element, from looking at participation rates, is that there needs to be a conscious effort to be able to provide materials and support to the workers so that eligibility can be clearly explained to elders because our participation rates in OAS and GIS programs are very low.
People are not taking full advantage of those services. Similarly, other kinds of support services need to be better described and training received so that community members can fully take advantage of those services that already exist.
The Chairman: Mr. Jock, you also made reference to foot care being cancelled. How could any government cancel a foot care program with galloping diabetes rates?
Mr. Jock: Good question. Again, it goes with the general principles of cost containment of non-insured programs. Some of the measures being taken are more related to cost containment than good long-term care issues.
Similarly, because of difficulties of providers, what happens is many providers now are making First Nations people put the cash down first, which is a significant barrier as well. They are reimbursed eventually, but if you are low income, laying out $350 or $400 may be impossible.
There are many kinds of barriers that have crept into the non-insured program, which result in real and significant problems for individuals and whole communities.
Access to health care is the other piece. Providing very small supports, I believe in some cases it is six cents a kilometre for people to be taken to health care, really makes it a more of a burden to do that than simple reimbursement. It represents a decreased access to even the basic services we take for granted.
There are many elements of cost containment that have direct and lasting impacts on quality-of-life issues for elders. As complications of diabetes arise, dialysis and other ailments, all of these are exacerbated by the problems associated with non-insured health services.
The Chairman: Ms. Eegeesiak how many federal programs are available in Inuktitut?
Ms. Eegeesiak: Virtually none and Mr. Jock is right about income support. We must keep on top of our seniors who are eligible for these programs and do the paperwork for them. None of the paperwork is in Inuktitut. We have no program officers in our communities, so we must keep on top of those benefits for our elders.
When the programs are there, the training is done by southern instructors and not Inuit in Inuktitut. Virtually none of the paperwork, none of the programming, is delivered in Inuktitut.
The Chairman: You have indicated that the majority of the elders do not speak anything but Inuktitut, yet none of the program materials is available in Inuktitut.
Ms. Eegeesiak: That is right.
Senator Keon: I was about to follow up on that issue.
Are elders literate in Inuktitut? In other words, can they read and write Inuktitut? I understand most of their communications, throughout their lives, have been verbal; is that right?
Ms. Eegeesiak: Yes, most of our elders can read and write in Inuktitut, in syllabics. Very few of our elders are literate in English.
Senator Keon: Would translated documents be practical?
Ms. Eegeesiak: No, because it is not a cultural program; the program is not culturally specific. When the federal government agrees to translate material, we are expected to pay for or find the resources to pay for them.
Senator Keon: You cannot afford the translations anyway.
Ms. Eegeesiak: We cannot afford the translations anyway.
Senator Keon: In your testimony and other testimony, I have heard from our native peoples, the emphasis is always on autonomy at the community level, whether it is self-governance or organization. That came up again today; I think Mr. Jock mentioned it.
It would not be a Herculean task if you had communities organized to have a generalization of some of these documents, such as the old age pension and so forth. Whoever was in charge of that little community would simply say, Mr. So-and-so and Ms. So-and-so are now eligible for this, and get the job done and avoid the complicated hierarchy, filling out forms and sending them to Ottawa. It is not a great number of people; they are not looking at big expenditures here, compared to the oilmen.
Perhaps you could help us address this in our report. This comes up time and again. We talk about housing, for example, which is a huge issue. There is quite a difference between housing conditions for Metis, First Nations and people living in the North. Surely at the community level they can decide what kind of housing is required for elders, if they can get control of community autonomy.
We can bounce self-governance around forever. It is gradually coming, but it certainly will not help someone who is 75 years old in one of those communities today. You would think we could move quickly into some models of community autonomy that would allow the implementation of housing programs that suit the people in that community.
It would allow them to get their pension, which sounds ridiculous to me; someone eligible for the old age pension not getting it. Could you lead us through some of those issues so our committee can be helpful when we try to address this in the report?
Try to lead us through what kind of community-level organization would solve the housing crisis and would get the old age pension for all of your citizens. Who dares?
Mr. Courchene: I will take the housing issue and the conditions our people face. The housing is deplorable; much sickness is out there. Our elders become very sick and must move.
We must really look at the problem. We all love our elders. Every human being loves their elders. There must be a way we can maintain them at home. We should entertain the idea of the addition of a suite to a good home where the elder can be cared for by his or her family. Family members can be trained to care for their elders at home instead of moving them out of the community. That is one way of looking at it.
As you have heard in the reports here today, some elders go away and never return; that is sad. However, if we entertain the idea I am suggesting, there may be a possibility that will not happen. Some elders will be severely sick, and we will have to look at that situation as well.
That is what I wanted to talk about: Housing and the health of elders.
Mr. Jock: In our submission, we talked about a comprehensive community plan that includes a comprehensive continuum of care for the aged and elderly, looking at the whole range of assisted living to supportive living to residential living. If it were done comprehensively and the planning process were supported by resources, then I think some of the elements could be knit together into the kind of approach that you are leading us to. However, the other piece involves filling in some of the gaps that do exist. By simple illustration, describing the effect of the cap as a 6 per cent loss does not really do justice to describing the impact on communities for things like housing, social services and so on.
Calculating it in real terms means communities receive 45 per cent less than they would have had they had a stable rate of growth similar to what provinces have in CHST or other indexed programs. Communities are hamstrung by the fact they have received these funds at a much-reduced level.
I would like to mention food security and the availability of food. If that were within a comprehensive plan, it would be an important measure since social assistance amounts are such that eating a balanced diet is virtually impossible on those resources. Dealing with food security in an organized way would certainly be desirable.
I would say that such an approach is doable and feasible and communities would be interested in that approach. We would be quite prepared to give you models on how to realize that interest.
Senator Keon: Would anyone else want to talk about how you can model your communities so that you receive some of the benefits you are not receiving at the present time?
Ms. Eegeesiak: I think everyone's presentation suggests that government must consult with people affected by the policies they create. When they make Aboriginal policy, more often than not it is meant to address First Nations on reserve, and the Inuit are not on reserve. We live in municipalities across Canada.
We have suggested for years that when the federal government makes Aboriginal policy, it must be based on Inuit, First Nations and Metis realities. Many times, a square is made to fit into a circle. As Inuit communities, it is difficult to be an afterthought to those Aboriginal policies and programming.
With regard to housing, in 1993, without consultation, social housing was cut by the federal government. Inuit communities utilize social housing in 80 per cent to 90 per cent of cases. No new housing has been built in Inuit communities since 1993, and as a result, our overcrowding has compounded that much more.
With regard to NIHB, I am sorry if I am repeating someone's presentation — I was taking notes as people were presenting — but NIHB costs have increased about 14 per cent every year and it is capped at 3 per cent. As governments in Inuit communities, how can we try to deliver a health care system and program for Canadians?
Mr. Fiddler: The issue with respect to housing is certainly just a determinant of a much larger problem. The problem is the poverty that Aboriginal people have existed under over the last number of years. If we want to make some progress in addressing that issue, we need to go back and start working together in order to come up with solutions.
I think that, largely, most of the problems we have come into in the last while have been with respect to governments introducing new policies and/or eliminating other programs without consulting with Aboriginal people and working with them.
I think we should be reminded about what leadership is all about. One quote that I particularly like is that in the final analysis, the essence of leadership is that in the end the people think they have done it for themselves.
I think for far too long government has had the direction of trying to do things for us or do things without speaking to us. Therefore, when we come back to talking to Aboriginal planning councils and Aboriginal governments, giving them the resources to help develop solutions and working with them in terms of seeing those programs and opportunities to fruition, we will then start to address some of those problems.
Senator Keon: The housing situation, from what I am hearing, probably requires a truly major initiative. It seems to be one of the most serious issues confronting your communities, whether it relates to health or education or whatever. Basically, you have to start with food and housing.
The programs as they exist will not solve the housing issue, would they? There will have to be a major initiative planned in concert with your communities. That will be quite a challenge, but I think the only solution will come through that type of initiative.
What can you suggest to us as a modus operandi?
Mr. Fiddler: In the urban environment, there will need to be a hard look at subsidized housing. As I indicated, most of our citizens live in urban and semi-urban areas, and they are relying upon old age pension and in some cases small Canada Pension Plan benefits in order to provide them with income. They are tying to survive on the low income that those pensions represent. They have a median income of $13,000 or $14,000. Try living in an urban environment, with the high cost of housing, and well, it would be readily apparent that $1,000 a month is essentially an average urban rent in not a very nice place; that is $12,000 a year right there.
Seniors have to spend a disproportionate amount of income on urban housing. We need to address some way of providing some sort of subsidized rental ability and/or subsidized home ownership programs for people. As you are well aware, the Metis do not live on reserves in the North, and we know that 50 per cent of First Nations also live off- reserve and the same housing issues affect them. Most issues are related to the high cost of housing disproportionate to the amount of money a person receives per year.
Ms. Eegeesiak: Recently, governments have tried to address Aboriginal housing with announcing programs around market-based housing. That will not work in Inuit communities. We have 10- to 15-year waiting lists for social housing. We do not have the jobs or the economy to support market-based housing in our communities. Whatever housing programs are announced, the programs have to address the housing that we need, not the housing that they want to provide for us. We have to be involved.
Mr. Jock: Market-like housing covers a small proportion of the overall housing continuum. A recommendation from this committee to address the housing needs across the continuum, which includes social housing, is important. I would think, as well, if social housing were addressed to the appropriate degree, it would also enable the opportunities to deal with some of the collective needs such as elders' assisted living, housing for persons with disabilities, housing for handicapped, both mentally and physically, that are generally seen as needed in other communities.
It would be very important for this committee to say that housing is a key element in addressing the needs of the elderly. Many of the circumstances that contribute to tuberculosis are the result of overcrowding far beyond the normal rates of occupancy. That would be a fundamental and important contribution is this committee could push for this comprehensive approach. As we say, we feel the overall continuum, including the infrastructure and water needs are critical. If you have a house and the water is not safe or sufficient, then it will not address the needs.
The Chairman: If I can just ask one question based on something that Senator Keon said, and then I want to turn to Senator Cordy.
I know of a number of Aboriginal people who have had quality medical care in Winnipeg, which they have turned away from because they were so abysmally lonely, that they went back to their community. I know you can probable only give me anecdotal information about that situation. Mr. Courchene is that a common factor and Ms. Eegeesiak as well, among First Nations and Inuit people; that they do not always take full advantage of the quality health care that may be available because it is not available at home?
Mr. Courchene: Yes, I would have to agree with that, because when you look at the family concept, in our traditional ways family is number one. The interrelationship, the bond is there. Part of healing comes from family. If you isolate a person from the family the person feels, the loneliness, the abandonment, the rejection, the negligence and it takes its toll on the individual. It is very hard. That is why I was suggesting more of a home-environment kind of housing so that the family is there right till the end.
There are so many of our people that have died of loneliness. That has to stop. We are the only ones that can do it; the whole nation. I am not saying only one nation. I said all nations, no matter what colour. We all have a responsibility to one another so that we can accomplish something.
Ms. Eegeesiak: I think we have to look at it from a few steps before that because we have no doctors; we have no facilities to diagnose illnesses and sicknesses and our elders end up dying from preventable illnesses. From the time they are sick, they are so far into the illness that doctors or hospitals are not able to treat them.
As well, when they are here for either hospitalization or long-term care, they are getting care from doctors and nurses. As much as the doctors and nurses care, they do not speak Inuktitut; they are not aware of where these elders are coming from.
I want to make another point about housing because it is such a passion for Aboriginal people. We are not looking for a house as a handout. We want to develop a strategy to start to address our housing crisis with government. We want to build our houses based on long-term sustainability around training and development, so that our communities are able to either maintain or operate them, so that Inuit electricians are trained, Inuit plumbers are trained as close to home as possible. We want to work with government to develop a strategy to address these kinds of infrastructure needs, not just as a handout.
Senator Cordy: That would be a very common-sense approach, would it not, to dealing with housing?
I think what you have done, certainly for me and I would guess for many people listening on television, has allowed us to recognize the diversity that there is within the Aboriginal community. You look at issues like transportation, housing, language, and a number of these things, like housing and poverty, for certain, are determinants of good health. If you do not have access to those things, studies have shown that you are not going to have good health, which is indeed what is happening within the Aboriginal community.
Mr. Courchene, you spoke about the same issue of housing in long-term care facilities and you said only 0.5 per cent of First Nations have long-term care facilities, which is a small percentage. We had a discussion earlier about receiving care in an urban area and people leaving because of isolation and loneliness of being away from home. That problem of isolation and loneliness is compounded by not being unable to tell the caregivers what is wrong with them because they do not speak the language.
Are there any good models of long-term care facilities for Aboriginal peoples?
Mr. Jock: Yes, there are a couple of good examples in Manitoba. In the city of Winnipeg, there are two successful long-term care facilities. The community of Akwesasne has a relatively well-developed chronic care facility, plus an elders' lodge, so there is much more continuum of care. That is unique, and some of the funds for that came from other sources and it is certainly not the common approach. Wikwemikong, on Manitoulin Island has an elders' lodge and has an example of where a chronic care facility provides services to a number of communities in the area.
I would say there are approximately 16 such facilities across the whole country. People have developed some decent models either through loopholes or by innovation or a combination of the two.
Senator Cordy: When looking at the spectrum of needs for seniors we can see that their needs cross a variety of government departments. How well do government departments work together in providing services for the Aboriginal community?
In a previous study on in health care, we heard there were many silos within government departments and that departments do not always know what is happening in other departments. Are government departments, particularly federal government departments, working well together? Are they working together and are they aware of what each department is doing?
Mr. Courchene: From my own experience, they do have a problem in communicating with each other, which complicates many things for those of us who are trying to provide proper health services to the elderly. Because a person must go from here to there, by the time he or she gets through it there is great frustration and the person wonders if there is any point to the effort. It seems more like a game, if I can put it that way, but to us it is serious. That person needs help at that point in time. Someone has to lay out the proper procedures of how to deal with these things.
In respect to long-term care in the community, I am from, Saugeen, Manitoba, where we have a home for the elders. However, people come in from different areas who stay with us and we observe those people. We talk about loneliness; these people are lonely. It would be nice if each community or communities close by had something like that, where the family is close by.
We have so many things to debate or to discuss here in order to try and paint a good picture. Housing is the number one thing. We cannot get away from it. If we had proper housing in our communities, and we found a way, as was mentioned, through training, through employment, we could somehow do it and bring prosperity to the families. Everyone will begin to live in a good way, a peaceful way and have good health. Right now though, everything is so crowded. I have heard stories of where people take shifts in order to sleep. That is not right; that is inhuman.
At our time and age — and we call Canada a rich country — we should be ashamed of ourselves for even calling Canada a rich country. We have to change that picture. Everyone has to look at a win-win situation.
In looking back to when the treaties were signed, our ancestors thought way ahead. They agreed to the spirit and intent of the treaty. My definition of ``spirit and intent'' is that we would sit down together and deal with the resources and the riches of this country so that we would all benefit, so that we could all live in prosperity, so that everyone would have healthy living conditions. Many of the elders I know would define it that way too. However, at this point in time, as the old saying goes, sometimes the answer we are looking for is back there. Maybe we are not going far enough to get to the answer of today. Maybe we need to go back a little bit to find that answer.
Ms. Dickson: I agree very much with our colleague. From the perspective of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, we have approximately 32 programs in the northern communities and some of them were mentioned in my presentation.
We are familiar with many government departments and I do not know one that is devoted to elders. It does not matter whether you are talking about abuse or housing or diabetes or all the things we have discussed today. This might be some way that you could try to put some focus on it would be to say that now that all the baby boomers are turning 60 years of age. Maybe the demographics of Canada are allowing the government and opportunity to say what happens to elders matters and perhaps we need to look at it from a broad Canadian perspective of which Aboriginal is a piece that might benefit.
With respect to cooperation, I do not think there is dissension between the departments; it is just that in our experience, the elders do not seem to be visible.
Senator Chaput: I am touched by what I have heard today because it is absolutely true what you have told us. Government has to consult and should consult otherwise programs do not answer specific needs and people do not fit into those programs so it does not work. You are absolutely right.
I believe I have heard today that when government consults and programs are being developed they should be developed according to the three realities. Those three realities are First Nation, Inuit and Metis. Some of you talked about home environment and how important it is for the elders to be able to get older in their home environment and get services in that environment.
You have also spoken about a comprehensive approach and proper health services. How do you define them and what are the priorities? Where do you start to get this in place to answer the needs of First Nations, the Inuit and the Metis?
Ms. Eegeesiak: Educating Inuit on prevention strategies is important. To use the recent example of the tobacco cuts, that program was working for Inuit communities and then it was cut. Those types of prevention strategies work when we have the resources to educate Inuit about preventable illnesses with proper, culturally relevant education.
Often we do not have baseline data about Inuit in our situation, and we all know how baseline data is important for government to initiate any programs or services. We need that type of information at our disposal to convince government to deliver the programs and services that we need.
Mr. Fiddler: The question is important in terms of how we go about starting to deal with the issues facing us. You spoke about the three realities, but there is also an urban reality and a rural reality. Those realities are quite different. Seventy per cent of Aboriginal people live in urban or semi-urban areas, and they face different problems.
We need to look at health holistically. The Public Health Agency of Canada has shown leadership on health and population issues in Canada. Aboriginal peoples have shared with many departments the understanding that when understanding that when one looks at health, one has to look at all aspects of a person. We need to develop a plan of action that deals with all those issues.
The problem with government in silos — and I think they do silo a lot — is they tend to focus on part of one particular issue and forget the other issues. Let us not forget that at one point in time, the government promised to eradicate child poverty by the year 2000. The reality is that poverty among children increased rather than decreased. We cannot look just at poverty; we must look at all the available services.
We need to look seriously at devolution of services within the urban environment. The Aboriginal people have to deliver the programming themselves. There have been movements in some parts of the country in terms of that delivery. In Ontario, for example, there are 10 Aboriginal health access centres and two community health centres under Aboriginal control. That is a start in terms of developing primary care devolution of services. Certainly, there is nothing of note west of Ontario. We need to look at implementing those workable models throughout the country.
Coming back to the main point, when you enter into a partnership with Aboriginal people, respect our expertise, and give us credit for knowing what needs to be done, as well as the resources to be able to implement it, we can begin to change some of the things that have been happening in the last 100 years.
Mr. Jock: I would like to emphasize that looking at a primary care model may be instructive in terms of how to approach this comprehensively, since ideally a primary care model would include a full range of services from assisted living programs through to rehabilitation and other interests.
In relation to First Nations elders, we have a home and community care program that includes home nursing and palliative care; that is one end of the spectrum. There are also services available from DIAND in terms of assisted living. There are gaps in terms of elders' lodges and chronic care. It is important that we knit those services together into a comprehensive approach, and some of those gaps have to be addressed.
I agree with Mr. Fiddler that we need to look at how resources can be integrated from both federal and provincial sources. In our model, integration means that the community would be the focal point. The community would deliver the program, do the planning and, in turn, receive the resources that would enable them to carry out this model. Knitting together these ideas, looking at the issue from a primary care point of view and making services available at the community level would help our elders have access to services in a timely way and would be much more focused on getting the services where and when they are needed.
In my definition of quality care, I would include accessibility of care. If the available care is too far away, to me, it is not quality care. We need to focus on the community, and approaching the issue comprehensively would give us models that would work and would show promise. This is true of urban, reserve and rural circumstances.
The Chairman: I thank you all very much. It has been a privilege to hear from you. Some of the material you have presented has been familiar to senators, but it is always important that it be reinforced. I hope we will reflect well in our final report. Thank you very much for your presentations.
We will now hear from our second panel on the topic of Aboriginal seniors. We will begin with Peter Dinsdale, Executive Director, National Association of Native Friendship Centres. Mr. Alfred Gay, Policy Analyst, joins him. We will also hear from Thelma Meade, Executive Director, Aboriginal Seniors Resource Centre of Winnipeg. She is appearing by video conference. We should have heard from Debbie Dedam-Montour, Executive Director of the National Indian and Inuit Community Health Representative Organization, but, unfortunately, she cannot appear this afternoon. She will present us with a written brief at a later date.
Peter Dinsdale, Executive Director, National Association of Native Friendship Centres: Good afternoon, honourable senators, guests and fellow witnesses.
Today, I wish to provide brief remarks on the following themes that shape our work in Canada's largest cities to its smallest communities. What do the numbers and observation of your work to date say? I am pleased to be joined by my friends, colleagues and members of the committee this afternoon in this important discussion. I have been advised that I should be brief in fairness to all who are here today. As I have tremendous respect for the company I am keeping today, that should be no problem.
The National Association of Native Friendship Centres is Canada's only Aboriginal service delivery infrastructure dedicated to improving the quality of life for Aboriginal peoples in urban environments by supporting self-determining activities and by encouraging equal access to Canadian society.
The first friendship centres began providing services to Aboriginal people migrating to and residing in urban areas in the 1950s. The early centres began with funding from fund-raising activities, churches and service group support and from small grants available through various levels of government. Through the 1960s, the number of friendship centres grew across Canada. The demand for services by urban and migrating Aboriginal people also increased the amount and kinds of programming services provided by those centres.
For many Aboriginal people, friendship centres are the first locations they visit to obtain referrals to programs or services that facilitate the transition to urban living.
Friendship centres have a unique vantage point as delivery agents for various levels of government to navigate Aboriginal peoples to the programs and services relevant to the new life in an urban environment. The friendship centres enable newcomers to adapt to their new circumstances and serve as a safe place for urban Aboriginal residents to meet others. Each centre provides a unique mix of programming to respond to the specific needs of the community in which it is situated.
Delivery of programs and services through the network of community-based and community-directed organizations such as friendship centres enables the federal government and other partners to achieve significant results for their financial investments. Audits and evaluations of the programs have found them to be successful in meeting their objectives; we have good, strong governance and frameworks in place. We have also worked hard to build partnerships to avoid duplication and if there is any, to rectify it.
What do the numbers say? There can be no doubt that the 2001 census undertaken by Statistics Canada demonstrates the ongoing urbanization of Aboriginal communities. There are some 976,000 Aboriginal peoples in Canada who self -identify as Aboriginal people. Seventy-one per cent of them live off-reserve; 51 per cent in urban areas; 29 per cent of whom are in census metropolitan areas, CMA; and 22 per cent live in non-census metropolitan areas. Twenty-five per cent of the Aboriginal population live in 10 of Canada's 27 census metropolitan areas. We are in cities and big cities.
It is anticipated that by 2016, the urban Aboriginal population will grow to 457,000. The results from the 2006 Census survey will show further gains. Aboriginal people in Canada count for a higher percentage of the total population than in either Australia or the United States. Over the course of the next decade, the number of Aboriginal seniors is expected to double and triple by 2026.
There are currently about 40,000 Aboriginal seniors; that number could reach 80,000 in the next decade and 120,000 by 2026. This should be a warning that we must prepare for the challenges ahead in caring for Aboriginal seniors.
Aboriginal languages must remain an important priority for off-reserve Aboriginal populations. Most Aboriginal people recognize the importance of their languages, but there is an absence of specific language courses offered through formal and informal language programs. There is a deep concern that language education will no longer be an important investment, which would be a tremendous loss to both our Aboriginal community and to Canada's heritage.
There can be no question that Aboriginal children benefit from spending time with Aboriginal seniors. There is strong evidence that supports the notion that kids who spend time with Aboriginal seniors do better than those who do not spend any time with Aboriginal seniors. Looking back on our own lives, we find ourselves remembering the Aboriginal seniors we were privileged to know when we were younger. It may be our Mishomis or Nokomis or maybe just an old man that was kind to everyone, but these people remain in our hearts forever.
I mention this only to illustrate a troubling situation facing the future of our Aboriginal youth. In partnership with the Canadian Council of Learning, we recently completed a series of focus groups on staying in school. In these sessions with Aboriginal youth in the cities of Vancouver, Winnipeg and Thunder Bay, there was universal acknowledgement that Aboriginal seniors were an important but missing part of their lives.
The majority of off-reserve seniors reported having many social supports. Off-reserve Aboriginal seniors with social support report better health. So, what does it all mean? Let me give you some ideas.
Some of these youth need to count on someone to listen when they need to talk. They need someone to count on when they need advice. They need to know someone could take them to the doctor if needed, show love and affection, have a good time with them, allow them to talk about themselves or their problems and just be there for relaxation and enjoyment.
It should not be any surprise that we all enjoy company and companionship at any age. A healthy social environment is good for you. There exists a universal fear of growing older alone and isolated. I recall many instances where an Aboriginal senior's passing is followed quickly by that of a loving spouse.
Compared to the younger counterparts, off-reserve Aboriginal seniors are less likely to smoke. At the same time there are fewer drinkers in the off-reserve Aboriginal population than in the general population. I believe that growing older teaches many of us to choose a more healthy lifestyle.
I would like to make a couple of observations on your work. I wish to acknowledge the honourable senators for the thoughtful inclusion of Aboriginal voices and opinions in your earlier deliberations. I wish to turn my attention to a number of points raised earlier.
There certainly is a challenge of population aging. I would like to comment on the fiscal pressures that Canada faces in the light of an aging population from the increased need for health and social services for the elderly and the shrinking labour pool resulting from the retirement of the baby boom generation.
I note that there appears a shared expert opinion that:
Government programs will remain manageable, at least in response to population aging. . . . The popular view is that increases in health care costs, which everyone thinks are obviously attributable to population aging, will break the bank — and, in particular, break government budgets — and things will be quite unmanageable. I think this simply is not true. It is not true of the public pension programs, income security programs and it is not true of the health care programs.
I am sure there is good reason to be optimistic for the sustainability for our pension and health care system; however, I am uneasy when the U.S. Comptroller General has been touring their nation with some sobering information:
In a nutshell, the retirement of baby boomers, and I'm one of them, is going to put unprecedented demands on both our public and private pension and health care systems.
The problem is that in the coming decades, there simply aren't going to be enough full-time workers to promote strong economic growth or to sustain existing entitlement programs. I should point out while Social Security has a problem, our Medicare and health care challenges are many times worse.
What will be the macroeconomic spill over effects when the thousand-pound gorilla starts to panic? I wonder what the impact will be on our domestic health care professionals as they are increasingly poached from our universities, colleges and communities. Then again, are we acting responsibly when we recruit from the Third World? I wonder what it does to our credibility when we tell others to do what we say and not what we do. I believe that this will likely translate into less accessibility to health care professionals in our rural and remote Aboriginal communities.
The committee has made an important observation in it first interim report, on which I would like to provide some comment:
Aboriginal seniors in urban areas who have access to health care services do better in terms of overall health, but tend not to access available programs, leaving them isolated. The Committee heard that some Aboriginal people in urban areas ``do not feel comfortable going to white-dominated agencies.'' Many get caught up and ``kicked around'' between federal, provincial and band jurisdictions, complicating access to programs and to services.
It should be no surprise that Aboriginal seniors prefer health care professionals with a shared cultural identity. It has been my experience that our seniors are reluctant to communicate their needs to non-Aboriginal health care professionals no matter how well meaning that care might be. It is important that Aboriginal seniors be provided with family support should they require the services of health care professionals; too often, much needed family support is shunned aside in times of need.
Many friendship centres provide support to Aboriginal seniors should they be required to seek medical attention. This support is a familiar face, transportation and family support as necessary. Much of the support is informal in nature. Those that volunteer in many programs focused on Aboriginal seniors are indispensable to our communities.
I note that in earlier hearings, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Health Canada and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada provided testimony. I urge the committee to recall these witnesses and inquire on their activities in the urban Aboriginal community.
One would get the impression that there is no such thing as Aboriginal seniors outside the reserve. I will not get into the messy constitutional arguments that detail with the ``jurisdictional wrangling'' that has gone on for decades only to say that our Aboriginal seniors suffer dearly as consequence.
I note that many witnesses have made compelling and passionate arguments for identity-specific policy, programs and investments as a better way forward. It has been argued that there should be a separate stream for First Nations, Metis peoples and for Inuit. If we were all one community, such an argument would seem a reasonable proposition, however, in an urban community where there is much more heterogeneity, it is unlikely that such an argument is at all practical. In saying so, it might sound heretical to many Aboriginal political leaders. That is not our intention.
It has been our experience for over 40 years that the urban Aboriginal community, First Nation, Metis, and Inuit peoples, have a shared belief in their communities' well-being. We have come together to take the best of our beliefs, vision and compassion to craft health and well-being policies that meet the needs of our diverse and complex community. We all take pride in this commitment of a shared vision of a healthy community to all.
Our view is not dissimilar to the hundreds of thousands of other Aboriginal people, First Nation, Metis and Inuit people who come through our doors each year in search of warmth, kindness and community.
Finally, it has been pointed out that despite their deep commitment to our communities, many of the lifelong staffers in the 116 friendship centres retire without a pension or other benefits. I urge the committee to examine how to ensure that those who have dedicated their lives work to the community are justly accommodated as they reach retirement.
Friendship centres have a demonstrated continued relevance, capacity and expertise in tackling the challenges faced by urban Aboriginal peoples. The investments in employment, training, skills development, early learning, justice and housing for urban Aboriginal peoples can exist only as urban Aboriginal peoples lift themselves from the depths of social and economic inequity and poverty. Preparing for the future makes it necessary for us to secure a place of respect and dignity for Aboriginal seniors in our communities.
We have always been committed to this work and there is no chance that our dedication will waver. We welcome any further opportunity to inform the work of the committee as it moves forward.
Thelma Meade, Executive Director, Aboriginal Seniors Resource Centre of Winnipeg: I am the Director of the Aboriginal Seniors Resource Centre of Winnipeg. The Aboriginal Seniors Resource Centre of Winnipeg was opened in 2004 by a group of organizations that wanted to see something done for seniors. There are many senior organizations in Winnipeg; we had the Canadian Polish Manor and many other cultural centres but there was no such thing as an Aboriginal resource centre for seniors.
This non-profit organization utilizes a holistic approach to ensure the respect and well-being of Aboriginal seniors in the City of Winnipeg. It is the only Aboriginal seniors' organization in Manitoba. Annually, there is a gathering for all seniors in Manitoba and in 2005; one year after we were established, Aboriginal seniors attended the gathering.
There are over 4,000 Aboriginal seniors in Winnipeg, many of whom live in poverty with inadequate housing. Most of them live in the inner city. Most of the apartments and houses are in poor condition. Twenty-seven per cent of Aboriginal people in Winnipeg live in poor housing.
The pensions do not rise with the cost of living. The majority do not have CPP, especially Aboriginal women.
Concerning health care, Aboriginal seniors cannot afford to pay for assisted living. This program is critical for seniors as they age and feel the effects of health conditions.
There are not enough financial resources for Aboriginal seniors to participate in healthy living activities. They also lack transportation to get out of their homes or their apartments to participate at other seniors' centres.
Aboriginal seniors do have resources but many have a language barrier because they do not speak English. They need to know where their support networks are.
Landlords have no concept of native values, systems, culture and traditions. Many senior Aboriginals wish to continue to exercise the practice of cultural traditions, but there is no funding support.
The Aboriginal Seniors Resource Centre of Winnipeg would like to have a place where Aboriginal seniors can gather and establish their own social clubs. We would like to have culture and native language workshops. The Aboriginal seniors could become aware of resources such as the Alzheimer's Society. There are other workshops. Because our people do not understand which programs they may be eligible for, we brought in Canada Pension Plan people to explain that program to them. The Aboriginal Seniors Resource Centre of Winnipeg wants to make our Aboriginal seniors aware of these programs, including programs provided by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and other health services.
We have an opportunity in Winnipeg but it is very difficult for some of our people to get to us by car or cab because of the language barrier. Our people are often hesitant to ask questions. We are trying to get Aboriginal seniors into exercise clubs, to learn more about nutrition. We are trying to establish powwow clubs and traditional story telling clubs. We can learn from them.
Rapid changes are occurring in the lives of our Aboriginal seniors. Many of them are now at the age where they want to find out what benefits they are entitled to, such as pensions. They want to find out what is out there.
That is one of the things that the Aboriginal Seniors Resource Centre of Winnipeg is planning on doing. It wishes to allow Aboriginal seniors to become aware of their rights and benefits. There is advocacy that also needs to be done. There is much discussion on the issues of health and disease.
We are already doing small scale advocacy but cannot do more due to our limited staff. Our Aboriginal seniors did not know where to go when they became disabled; now, many of them are living independently.
An elder once said that years ago, our people were able to keep the elders at home but with the economy and living expenses what they are today, it is difficult. Many people between the ages of 30 and 65 are still working and they cannot afford to stay at home to look after the seniors.
I strongly recommend that we have supportive living so that these people can go from independent living to supportive living, where their medicines would be given to them and they could be taken care of. Then, the next step, of course, would be the personal care home. We have no choice in that because it is difficult these days to care for an elderly person who truly needs a lot of help. At this time, we are looking at trying to make that transition from independent living to supportive living, and we approach the government to help us with that transition.
I want to talk about a matter that someone mentioned earlier — our Aboriginal seniors did not acquire the pensions that the non-Aboriginal seniors get, such as teachers, doctors and lawyers. Our seniors cannot draw from any pension except the Old Age Security program. Maybe there is a way for them to take advantage of the Canada Pension Plan.
As I mentioned, many senior women stayed at home to take care of their families, which is a traditional thing. Now, they have no other money to live on. They are living in these conditions because all they have is the ceiling of the OAS program and, if they are lucky, they can apply for the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
We have held forums in the community and have gathered the data. It stands to reason that the cost of living has to be taken into consideration for seniors' pensions.
The Chairman: Ms. Meade, please tell us who provides funds to the Aboriginal Seniors Resource Centre of Winnipeg? Where are you located in Winnipeg?
Ms. Meade: We rent office space from Kekinan Centre Inc. at 100 Robinson St. in Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority put out a proposal in 2003 for an Aboriginal seniors' resource centre. Together with an elder group in Winnipeg, the Kekinan Centre, where we are located, and other organizations put a proposal together. At this time, the core funding comes from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. The funding is limited so we try to acquire funding from New Horizons for Seniors Projects. We were given sewing machines and many other things to help us with extra programming. At this time, the ASRCW is a small, young organization and we are the only one of its kind in Manitoba.
The Chairman: What is your affiliation or connection, if any, with the National Friendship Centre in Winnipeg?
Ms. Meade: The NFC made its application when we did and I guess it was our competitor then, but today, whenever there are events at the friendship centre, such as folklore festivals, we attend with our elders. We also talk to members of the Manitoba Metis Federation and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs to donate if we want to go on a small tour, for example a river boat tour. These people provide us with funds because it is difficult for seniors to dish out money for those activities.
Senator Cordy: I am interested in what a friendship centre does. There is one in Halifax but I have not visited it. Are they located in every region of the country? How many staff members does each centre have?
Mr. Dinsdale: Currently, there are 116 friendship centres across Canada, one in every province and territory; the facility in Halifax is an excellent centre. Next time you go to Halifax, you should try to visit. The NFCs are community service agencies that were set up originally to facilitate the transition for First Nations coming into urban areas. Today, they have taken on a more complex role in providing programming for all three levels of government. About one-third of our funding comes from federal sources. We receive core funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage and Health Canada for programs such as Head Start, diabetes clinics, HIV/AIDS clinics, early learning and child care programs such as the Canadian Prenatal Nutrition Program for Children and the Canadian Action Plan for Children. We receive funding from Justice Canada for delivering certain programs and we receive employment and training dollars from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. Another one-third comes from provincial sources. It varies from region to region, and that is the challenge. Ontario has a lifelong care program to help seniors stay in their homes. The province provides the seniors with necessary supports and with such programs, seniors do not have to go out because they receive the health and other benefits that they need. As well, there is excellent access to educational programs. Of course, the last one-third of the funding includes municipal grants. The City of Halifax could fund something in your centre as well as own-source-revenue-generation and private sector partnerships.
The question of what each local NFC does is a bit complex. The situation varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction because of location, level of activity and access to other resources. One of our larger centres is in Prince George, British Columbia, with 120 staff. One of the smaller NFCs might have two or three staff to operate a drop-in. The majority of our centres fall in between the two I have just mentioned.
For the most part, we provide services to the most disenfranchised in the communities through food banks, healing programs, drug and alcohol counselling and employment counselling to get people from where they are to a better standard of living. Our mission statement is about improving the quality of life for Aboriginal peoples in urban areas and all the things that entails. That is what the local NFCs do.
Senator Cordy: People would be surprised to hear how many Aboriginal people are living in urban areas. When I heard the statistic this afternoon, I was quite surprised.
How do people find out about a friendship centre? For example, if you were living on a reserve and you were moving to Winnipeg, Halifax or wherever, how would you communicate the resources that are available to them at a friendship centre?
Mr. Dinsdale: I think it is a good and bad thing. We are one of the Canada's best kept secrets, which is a problem, but the Aboriginal community knows about friendship centres. Polls conducted by different levels of government concerning access to services in urban area tell us that Aboriginal people know about the programs and services that we provide. We are less successful at letting other government departments and decision-makers, whether they are provincial or federal, know about the programs that have effective partnerships.
There is much local integration between local First Nations and friendship centres. We have a national agreement with the Assembly of First Nations. We are working toward communication protocols to have more formal structures and transitions between First Nations in urban areas.
Many people focus on this because it is natural, but the bigger challenge is recognizing that we have multi- generational urban Aboriginal people. Statistics show that there is not a mass migration of Aboriginal people from First Nations to urban areas. In fact, there has been a net increase in First Nations' populations in the past little while. In part, that is population growth, not necessarily people leaving urban areas. There is this myth that people are migrating. We have a number of multi-generational urban Aboriginal people — that is their only existence. However, I think the communication question is valid and that we need to do a better job of getting the message out about the programs.
Senator Cordy: Ms. Meade, you spoke about ensuring that Aboriginal peoples are aware of government programs available to them, and you mentioned specifically Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement. I read statistics recently about the number of Canadians who are not accessing the Guaranteed Income Supplement because they are not aware of it. I would imagine the statistics would run similarly within the Aboriginal community.
Have you found a way of communicating to the Aboriginal population about government programs that they should be aware of, and are government departments doing enough to make Aboriginal seniors aware of programs that are available to them?
Ms. Meade: We do have an outreach worker. I think workshops would help our seniors to understand what government resources are available to them. We just did one the other day. Canada Human Resources came, we had interpreters and they did the presentation on entitlements. When we meet some of the seniors, we also hear from them about the need to get this information. They say, what is that? We do not understand how this one can get that and I cannot get it.
We did a workshop because we feel that is the only way they will understand. We need to interpret that in our own language. Some of that is very difficult to understand, and if you do not understand it, how will you ask questions?
That is why we are saying we will do it in our language the best we can. We can make them understand, yes, you are entitled to this; you took time off work when you were younger and took care of your children, but you are entitled to some payment between that time. Even for myself, I never heard of that until just last week when we had our workshop.
Many of those workshops are needed, not only in the city of Winnipeg but in the First Nations and Metis communities.
Senator Cordy: Sometimes it is difficult to understand government programs even if you are fluent in English and French. If neither of those languages is your mother language it can be even more challenging.
You are able to do that in Winnipeg because you have your seniors' resource centre there; however, are workshops available for Aboriginal peoples across the country? You said that it was an effective way of reaching out. Are they being held across the country by federal government agencies? How are they communicating to the Aboriginal community outside of Winnipeg?
Ms. Meade: I am not aware of what they are doing outside of Winnipeg. However, we invited a representative from the Metis federation, hoping they will do that in their organization. The key is to be able to translate this so they can understand it. I asked a lot of questions there, too, but it can be very confusing because they are not literate and they are just learning English. That is a difficult problem.
Mr. Dinsdale: We were approached about a year ago about working with the friendship centres and doing workshops on the GIS and CPP. We have a number of seniors groups and programs, where they can come and talk to try to get the message out. They can train our workers and inform them to make sure they are aware. I am not sure what happened to the process regarding the communication of that information. We had many of the same issues that were raised here.
Much of the communication we use is from the Government of Canada. I am referring to the posters with the typical branding — the Canadian maple leaf flag on top, with a banner in English and French. The community does not read these posters. You could put a million of them out there; you could wallpaper their rooms with them and they still will not read them.
We suggested they should come and work with us and do some focus groups with some messaging around it, talk to some seniors about what messaging works for them, because there is a lot of confusion about what it is that they get. I am not sure what the interest is in engaging in that kind of process with us, but if you really want to communicate this, let us find tools that work as opposed to doing what you know intuitively. Perhaps that is going on in the machinery of government somewhere, but we certainly provided those. There are concepts they are willing to set out but I do not think they have actually done it.
Alfred Gay, Policy Analyst, National Association of Native Friendship Centres: When you are dealing with Aboriginal populations, specifically the ones we are familiar with in urban settings, when you talk about consultation and communication materials, the overall strength of what we do and our ability is participation. That is exactly how you reach the community. You can have all the nice posters, as Mr. Dinsdale described, but people want to be involved in the process. They want to be spoken to in a respectful way.
That is not just Aboriginal seniors; that is for any community. If you can focus away from the efficiency and the economy to delivering the accurate and meaningful message, that would probably put you a bit further ahead.
Senator Keon: I am having a little difficulty sorting out the similarities and differences between the National Association of Native Friendship Centres and the Aboriginal Seniors Resource Centres. To bring it into focus, let me go back to an issue we were discussing with the previous panel, which is the housing problem for Aboriginal seniors.
Mr. Dinsdale, I gather that an Aboriginal senior in Halifax that comes to the friendship centre looking for help is connected with the resources for subsidized housing in a manner similar to any other Canadian citizen. Is that correct or am I wrong?
Mr. Dinsdale: That is correct.
Senator Keon: This is a totally different concept from dealing with the housing situation that occurs on reserves. You deal with it one way in the cities and you deal with it another way on the reserves, is that correct?
Mr. Dinsdale: The distinction I would make is they probably have not been dealing with it at all. That is not to be flippant, but I would hate to leave the impression that on the reserves they have created a wonderful housing regime that is working and that is well resourced.
The machinations around Kelowna talk about the housing crisis. A lot of thinking went into that — how do we take our existing housing stock, look at it meaningfully as to what it is and how to turn it around. I understand your question, but I hate to leave the impression that there is accessible housing stock.
I would suggest it is the same challenge in the urban areas. Yes, you access the existing general machinery, but there is no urban Aboriginal housing program. There are transfers that were going to be done. They were going to be rolled out to the regions. There seems to be a dark netherworld that exists and some regions are rolling out programs here and there, and others have plans for them.
A senior would come to a friendship centre and say, ``I am here in this community and want to get involved in some programs. One of the issues I have is housing.'' Our ability to link that senior up with a housing program is limited by the programs that are available in that community. The friendship centre advantage, such as it is, is that we can do other counselling methods, such as if we had a partnership around the income security thing, some health issues, getting linked to the broader community, and linking up to the housing programs that exist in that community. Many friendship centres operate their own transition housing and supportive housing programs so they would be able to provide those housing services directly. Others do not and they would have to find the resources in the community. That is the kind of role the centre plays. It varies in each community, which makes it difficult to pontificate how it could work ideally. In Halifax, they would have to find the other providers they have in that community and partner with them appropriately.
Senator Keon: Ms. Meade, a senior in Winnipeg who needs to find housing would have the option of coming to you or of going to the friendship centre. How do your services complement each other? I take if that if you did find housing in Winnipeg, it would be under the same concept that Mr. Dinsdale has just described. The senior would be accessing the subsidized housing programs of Winnipeg, not Aboriginal programs. Is that correct?
Ms. Meade: For us, for housing for seniors, we come in contact with them as we do advocacy. Recently, we became connected or affiliated with Manitoba Urban Native Housing Association. We know that the friendship centre here probably handles many programs, but normally we try to access where we can have someone that we can connect with, like we have at Manitoba Native Housing Association, and it is urban housing, and that is where we would be looking for housing for the Aboriginal seniors. We also check the 55-plus places.
Many of the ones we are dealing with right now are already in housing with Manitoba housing, but we do not know later on how much more housing we will need. Like I say, many of our seniors are still living with their families. We do use Manitoba Urban Native Housing Association to see what we can find. We are only doing emergencies right now because we do not have a big enough staff. There are 30 units of independent living under Manitoba housing, and we are only checking out whether they are suitable and what is happening, are they maintained, just a bit of advocacy in that area.
There is a big waiting list for seniors. I think I mentioned before that the younger people are not keeping their seniors because who is going to attend to them while they both have to work.
Senator Keon: It has been pointed out to us that the housing situation on the reserves is not good and so there would not be options for somebody who could not find housing in Winnipeg to go back to the reserve. However, in principle, is it true that a native person has the option of seeking housing in Winnipeg or seeking housing back on the reserve?
Ms. Meade: If you read the papers last week, there is a definite lack of housing in the community. The choice the seniors make is that they take what is available, even though the unit may be in poor condition. When you go back to the reserve, you are at the bottom of the list because they serve their residents first. That is the bottom line. You can be waiting and waiting if you want to go back to the reserve.
Mr. Gay: I want to make sure that you are not left with the impression that the National Association of Native Friendship Centres is tackling this housing situation alone. We have established some strong relationships that result in almost quarterly meetings with the Assembly of First Nations to deal specifically with off-reserve housing, so we have powerful allies.
Another strong ally on the housing situation is the National Aboriginal Housing Association, which represents a series of Aboriginal housing providers. Probably the most striking example is one of our elders who serves on our board of directors. Marge White is the president of the Lu'ma Housing Society, which is the largest urban housing provider in the greater Vancouver area; we call her senator as a term of respect. Many relationships exist among Aboriginal organizations. We really are committed to breaking down the silos to the partnerships.
On the issue of the on-reserve housing, I wish to point out that this is a long-standing issue. You would not know it, but I went on a hunger strike about 15 years ago on the very issue of lack of housing and, at the time, indoor plumbing. Fifteen years later, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, nothing has changed. There are a couple of new doors, and maybe some new caulking on some bathrooms. Unless the committee and like-minded individuals go to see what we are talking about, you cannot believe the scope of the crisis that exists in our communities. Most of the people who live in those houses are 65 years of age or more. They are elderly, they are disabled, and it always troubles me when I go back that there is not much I can do in terms of alleviating the situation.
The Chairman: Some of us have been in some of those communities and have seen the housing and know first-hand that it has not significantly changed in the last 25 years.
Senator Chaput: In regards to the native friendship centres, you represent the national association of those centres.
Are the 116 centres independent? Do the centres belong to the national association? How does the funding work? Do you get funding and then distribute it to the centres or do they apply for their own funding?
Mr. Dinsdale: Yes and yes. There are actually 118 friendship centres because two centres opened in the past year. One hundred and sixteen centres receive funding right now, from coast to coast to coast. Last year they served over 1.1 million client contacts. So if one person comes 10 times, it is counted as 10. Recognizing that, there were 1.1 million client contacts last year.
Seven provincial-territorial associations, PTAs, support these centres. They are the B.C. Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres and the Alberta Native Friendship Centre Associations. Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec all have associations and the North is dealt with as a group, as one PTA. We administer all the eastern Friendship Centres ourselves.
We have a 16-member board of directors, which is made up from those representatives. We have a national senate that has served at all three levels of our friendship centre movement: local, regional and national. We wanted to call them our elders' council but they thought they should be senators because they do good work, so we call them our national senate. We also have an Aboriginal Youth Council, which has representatives from all of those regions as well. That is our network.
We receive $16.1 million a year to support this entire network. We give $14.9 million directly to the local centres and $500,000 goes to the provincial bodies to provide training to those local centres. We receive the rest into our national work, around another $500,000.
In addition, we also provide two more other national programs. We have a national youth program called the Urban Multipurpose Aboriginal Youth Centre Initiative, to which we provide around $10.5 million a year. Those funds are delivered through the regions to those local centres. We have about $1.5 million a year in student programming for summer students that we deliver directly to the local friendship centres.
All these provincial bodies I described also go to their provincial governments and advocate for the centres in their region to say they are the best thing since sliced bannock, you should work with us, we have all these senior issues, we can provide the senior programming like they have in Ontario. They have this life-long care program which serves disabled people and seniors. Not every region cooperates in the same manner with friendship centres, so there is a disparaging level of services.
In turn, the local centres apply direct. The New Horizons Program for Seniors is one with which I am sure you are familiar. There is no national pot; these local centres apply kind of on their own, isolated to the program and get whatever it is that they can get.
It is complicated, but that is the reason for the complexities. All the local centres are members of the National Association of Friendship Centres. To be a member, you have to adhere to a code of ethics which say you are going to behave in a good way, basically; you are going to respect Aboriginal customs, traditions and partner in your community.
One of the things we do really well is that we do not ordinarily fight too much in communities. You have heard about the partner — well it is not a partner, they both applied to the same funding in Winnipeg to run the seniors program but at the end of the day, they are working together. They bring the seniors to each other's programs. It is about case management. It is about having that senior having a seamless transition from one service, no matter where it is, to the other service in their community.
Senator Chaput: Do they each have an action plan according to the needs of the Aboriginals that do go to those centres? How does it work out?
Mr. Dinsdale: Yes, each local friendship centre is its own corporation. It is incorporated under various acts to operate as a non-profit in its jurisdiction. It has a board of directors. In Alberta, every single friendship centre has a five-year business plan as a part of its relationship with the provincial government. We have a five-year strategic plan. The Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres has a 20-year strategic plan that they have just finished renewing. Each of those local centres is responsible to its community and to its own board. Yes, the individual centres do their own planning process.
Senator Chaput: Are they a one-stop centre, where a young Aboriginal comes to Winnipeg, would go to that centre and would know where to get a job, if they have a kid, where they could get child care services, maybe they might get training to go back to school? Are those the kind of services that are offered?
Mr. Dinsdale: That is the spirit of it. It would be easier for me to say ``yes'' if you said Thompson, Manitoba because it is a smaller community. It is just the size of the community.
The thing about Winnipeg, and it probably occupies a unique space in Canada, is that they have such a large Aboriginal population, 40,000 to 60,000. The census says 40,000 and the community usually says 60,000 or more. They have such a long history of programming that they have an incredible number of service delivery providers in that community. For that reason the friendship centre does not need to be the one-stop shop. They can refer to the other programs that exist; they do not need to be the only game in town.
Thompson is a little bit smaller. We probably are the premiere stop in Thompson and you would go to the centre there for all of those services.
The Chairman: Ms. Meade, do you know of any other Aboriginal resource centre anywhere else in Canada? You said you were the only one in Manitoba, but are there ones in other parts of the country as well?
Ms. Meade: Not that we know of. We checked out what there was — we were communicating with Alberta. They had a centre but they did have a bit of programming for the seniors but it was not specifically for seniors; it was more like offering resources to employment and new aging or whatever.
I have never come across — Brandon was talking about it, but as far as I know, we are the only ones so far here in Manitoba.
The Chairman: Thank you for that.
My final question is to you, Mr. Dinsdale. The friendship centres that I have visited, certainly in Brandon, Thompson and Winnipeg, are very much engaged in literacy work. Is that still a cornerstone program for the friendship centres?
Mr. Dinsdale: It is not. It is interesting that you picked literacy because those are probably, certainly Thompson and Brandon, some of the best literacy programs we had across the country. We are in the throes of a struggle of dealing with the National Literacy Secretariat toward having a comprehensive family literacy program. B.C. has got some traction with their provincial government; Ontario has many of its children's programs they are doing literacy things through; and we are about to engage in a series of regional research projects in each of the eight regions I described to talk about literacy programs required, including senior literacy. I have to tell you, when we say ``family'' it is just not the young ones we think about; it is the entire family.
It has not been the cornerstone, although the ones that you visited happened to be some of the leaders in that area. We are hoping to make it so across the country but it is a work-in-progress.
The Chairman: Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Meade, for coming to us via video conferencing this afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Dinsdale and Mr. Gay, for joining us here in the Senate of Canada.
Honourable senators, we are now adjourned.
The committee adjourned.