Submission on the development of a Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy

Transcription

1 Submission on the development of a Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy June 2017

2 About the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres The OFIFC is a provincial Indigenous organization representing the collective interests of twenty-eight (28) member Friendship Centres located in towns and cities throughout the province of Ontario. The vision of the Indigenous Friendship Centre Movement is to improve the quality of life for Indigenous people living in an urban environment by supporting self-determined activities which encourage equal access to, and participation in, Canadian society and which respects Indigenous cultural distinctiveness. The OFIFC administers a number of programs and initiatives which are delivered by local Friendship Centres in areas such as justice, health, family support, long term care, healing and wellness, and employment and training. As not-for-profit corporations which are mandated to serve the needs of all Indigenous people regardless of legal definition, Friendship Centres respond to the needs of tens of thousands of community members requiring culture-based and culturally-appropriate services every day. 2

3 Introduction For over four decades, Friendship Centres in Ontario have been community-driven gathering places for Indigenous people who live in urban areas, focused on the wellbeing of anyone who walks through their doors. When there were very few other options in cities and towns, Friendship Centres provided a safe space for Indigenous culture to be shared and to thrive, for community members to be connected to supports and opportunities, and for Indigenous people to assume leadership roles and build meaningful careers. Today Friendship Centres are dynamic hubs of economic and social convergence that create space for Indigenous communities to thrive. Friendship Centres are idea incubators for young Indigenous people attaining their education and employment goals, they are sites of cultural resurgence for Indigenous families who want to raise their children to be proud of who they are, and they are safe havens for Indigenous community members requiring supports. It is precisely this critical role that Friendship Centres play in the fabric of urban Indigenous communities that allows space for working toward and realizing collective prosperity growth. In 2007, the Urban Aboriginal Task Force study found that 22 percent of urban Indigenous people had moved out of poverty to earn middle class incomes in Ontario. 1 This contingent is one that the Friendship Centre Movement has contributed to and aims to grow and support. The Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) and member Friendship Centres have a long history of community development work that has supported the notion of urban Indigenous community prosperity. It is through this specific lens, requiring a conceptual shift from poverty reduction to community prosperity, that the OFIFC shares our submission on the development of a national Poverty Reduction Strategy. Our submission presents insight from member Friendship Centres regarding prosperity growth, measurement, and sustainability in urban Indigenous community contexts and provides responses to the questions posed in the federal government s online discussion paper. Friendship Centres and Urban Indigenous Prosperity Growth Friendship Centre communities have identified that prosperity exists when community members have access to resources and supports that are based on culturally-relevant and community-defined determinants of health. Self-determination must be a foundational aspect of the development of poverty reduction strategies that are aimed at meaningfully engaging and improving outcomes in Indigenous communities. In Ontario, Friendship Centres are actively developing projects that will set the course of prosperity measurement for their communities. These efforts have identified the 1 Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres, et al. (2007). Urban Aboriginal Task Force: Final Report. 60. Retrieved from: 3

4 importance of locally-specific understandings of prosperity as well as common, province-wide conceptions with federal implications. Indigenous prosperity has been defined by Friendship Centre communities as fulfilling the measures that sustain health within communities. Core elements of urban Indigenous community prosperity that feed into a wider taxonomy of community-defined health measures are identified in brief as follows, with specific actions required by levels of government in order to support prosperous urban Indigenous communities. Housing: A home that is affordable, safe, and close to one s community A key requirement of community-defined prosperity is adequate housing for all Indigenous community members. Friendship Centres consider prosperity as including access to a home that is affordable, safe, and in proximity to one s community. Currently, waitlists for adequate housing span years and limit individuals and families stability and safety in their home communities. Through the development of a national housing strategy, a specific strategic priority which focuses on the need for urban Indigenous housing needs to be met is required. The OFIFC put forward a submission to the federal government on the development of a National Housing Strategy and our recommendations should be considered in efforts to develop a federal poverty reduction strategy. Federal Actions Required: A National Housing Strategy that prioritizes urban Indigenous housing needs and drives provincial and municipal incentives for the development of urban Indigenous housing over the short-term including commitments to end generationlong wait lists for adequate housing. A fiscal commitment to end homelessness nationally through coordination efforts with provinces and municipalities. Food Security: Access to traditional food What is often missing from discussions about food security is the intrinsic connection to culture that food carries for urban Indigenous community members. Friendship Centres describe the requirement of access to food that fills community members both physically and spiritually. Food security for urban Indigenous communities includes access to whole, healthy, and traditional foods that are important daily staples and required elements of ceremony. Food security strategies must include opportunities for traditional harvesting practices, exercising Indigenous rights to hunt, trap and fish, and enabling opportunities to share and feast within a community. Currently, not all Friendship Centres are able to share wild game meats with community members due to natural resource stipulations that differ according to regions across the province. Furthermore, 4

5 the exorbitant cost of food in the North and near-north is a crisis that must be addressed immediately through a National Food Security Policy that guarantees every individual s right to adequate food, regardless of where they reside. Federal Actions Required: A National Food Security Policy that: o Secures urban Indigenous communities access to whole, healthy, and traditional foods regardless of where they reside and immediately addresses the exorbitant cost of food in the North and near-north; o Affirms and supports urban Indigenous community members rights to traditional food harvesting practices and related ceremonies; and o Invests in Friendship Centres capacity to offer healthy, nutritious meals and hands-on, culture-based food education to urban Indigenous communities. Culture: Cultural resources, identity, and relationship with the land Friendship Centre communities have emphasized the importance of spiritual health as a necessary consideration for community prosperity growth. This requirement includes having access to cultural resources and culture-based programming including traditional healers and traditional medicines. Prosperity exists when community members have access to resources and supports that are based on culturally-relevant and communitydefined determinants of health which support cultural identities. Friendship Centre communities have noted that relationship with the land is essential to community prosperity. Access to land connects a person to the community through cultural practices, language, stories, ceremony, and traditional ways of life. Friendship Centres can offer urban Indigenous young people, families, and individuals opportunities for land-based cultural teachings, medicine walks, harvesting, and ceremony these opportunities need to be expanded upon to ensure community prosperity. Federal Actions Required: Action #13-16 regarding language and culture ensuring: o Annualized evergreen funding toward the protection and sustainability of Indigenous languages. In Ontario, the current funding allocated for Indigenous language revitalization is insufficient to reach protection and sustainability targets and risks losing Indigenous languages, going against the TRC. Support opportunities for Friendship Centres to access lands for culture-based programming, ceremonies, and environmental stewardship activities in recognition of UNDRIP Article 25 which outlines Indigenous peoples right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and 5

6 coastal seas and other resources to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this regard. 2 Self-Determination: Urban Indigenous designed and controlled systems Urban Indigenous community self-determination must be a foundational aspect of the development of poverty reduction strategies that are aimed at meaningfully engaging and working with urban Indigenous communities. What is required is a shift in not only design and implementation of new and improved laws and policies developed with Indigenous communities, but a fundamental shift in how existing and new mechanisms will be required to operate under Indigenous self-determination. Building respectful and effective relationships between Indigenous organizations and all orders of government will be one of the first and most important challenges as these relationships are foundational to successful systems change and prosperity growth. Federal Action Required: Action #48 to formally adopt and comply with the principles, norms, and standards of UNDRIP as a framework for reconciliation. 3 Broaden the notion of a nation to nation relationship existing solely between the government of Canada and First Nations to include strengthened relationships with Indigenous organizations that have a proven track record of supporting increasingly urbanized Indigenous communities such as the Friendship Centre Movement. Opportunity: Education, training and supporting community-based learning Friendship Centre communities recognize the importance of formal education and jobtraining opportunities and recommend Indigenous community involvement in improving curricula and reducing barriers to educational attainment and career development for Indigenous community members. Friendship Centre communities also emphasize the importance of community-based learning including: land-based knowledge, practicing traditions and ceremonies, fulfilling clan responsibilities, and speaking Indigenous languages. Communities acknowledge that community-based learning is a valid contributor to a person s prosperity and that the organizational structure of local institutions and services needs to reflect this culturally-appropriate approach to learning. Federal Actions Required: 2 United Nations. (2008). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Calls to Action. 5. 6

7 Action #10 to draft new Indigenous education legislation. 4 Prioritize Friendship Centres within investments into community education infrastructure aimed at creating more vibrant communities, protecting language and culture, and enriching people s lives as outlined in Budget Environmental Stewardship: Clean water and healthy lands An essential requirement of community prosperity as defined by Friendship Centres is the protection of waterways and caretaking of the land. The health and wellness of mother earth, the plant and animal worlds which include essential medicines, and the waters that sustain all life is essential and foundational to community prosperity. Urban Indigenous communities involvement in environmental stewardship and monitoring, conservation, and community sustainability planning efforts requires spaces for urban Indigenous community members in processes and decisions that affect our natural environments. The respectful involvement of holders of environmental Indigenous Traditional Knowledge in these efforts and the opportunity for the wider consideration of environmental stewardship from an Indigenous lens will contribute to community prosperity growth. Federal Actions Required: Ensure that urban Indigenous communities including Friendship Centres are involved in comprehensive efforts to integrate traditional Indigenous knowledge in protecting Canada s marine and freshwater ecosystems 6 and enhance climate resilience 7 announced in Budget 2017 and in compliance with Article 29 of UNDRIP. 8 Integrate the national Food Security Policy with climate resilience initiatives to support sustainable food harvesting methods and community gardens in Friendship Centre communities. Infrastructure: Urban Indigenous community space Friendship Centres have shard that an individual has a prosperous way of life when they can fulfill their cultural responsibilities within the Indigenous community. For this to occur, community members require physical and institutional space to practice culture. Urban Indigenous infrastructure is an evidence-based source of community prosperity 4 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Calls to Action Government of Canada. (2017). Building a Strong Middle Class: Budget Retrieved from: 6 Government of Canada. (2017). Building a Strong Middle Class: Budget Retrieved from: 7 Ibid United Nations. (2008). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

8 and is an asset that Friendship Centre community members recognize as essential to further urban Indigenous prosperity growth. Through investments in Friendship Centres, Indigenous employment is protected and increased. The Friendship Centre Hub Model is a wholistic approach to community infrastructure that acknowledges the historical and political contexts of Indigenous people living in urban areas. The protective measures operationalized by Friendship Centres, to sustain Indigenous culture and lifeways, support and facilitate urban Indigenous poverty reduction. Urban Indigenous infrastructure such as Friendship Centres not only support Indigenous concepts of prosperity by serving as community spaces where prosperitydriving activities occur, but also directly contribute to tangible and long-lasting prosperity measures for community members. It is in large part through significant capital and core funding investments in Friendship Centres and other Indigenous infrastructure that a thriving Indigenous middle class emerged in urban centres in Ontario. As an evidencebased approach, Friendship Centres should be considered as vital community infrastructure in urban Indigenous communities. Federal Action Required: Reinstate evergreen core funding to Friendship Centres, recognizing the critical service-delivery, coordination, and community development functions that Friendship Centres provide for urban Indigenous communities in an effort to improve the lives of urban Indigenous community members and propel prosperity growth. Community Safety: A sense of personal and community safety The Friendship Centres recognize that safety in one s community is an essential factor in prosperity growth. Community safety must be considered wholistically to ensure that Indigenous people s human rights are upheld across all social sectors and that Indigenous communities traditional concepts of justice are recognized and respected alongside western legal traditions. Self-determination must be a cornerstone of community safety as it allows for community-driven processes of prevention, care, and intervention, and conflict resolution. A wholistic conception of community safety also extends to the adequate provision of healthcare, traditional health and healing, and wellness promotion. Federal Action Required: Action related to: o Justice which call upon the federal government to reduce the overincarceration of Indigenous young people and adults and to implement community sanctions that offer alternatives to imprisonment for Indigenous people. 8

9 o Health which calls for closing the gaps between Indigenous and non- Indigenous communities on health indicators. Discussion Questions 1. How do you define poverty? How should it be measured? Are there data gaps that need to be addressed to help improve our understanding of poverty in Canada? Indigenous prosperity has been defined by Friendship Centre communities as fulfilling the measures that sustain health within communities. Within this understanding, prosperity includes, as foundational the following core measures: Housing for all that is affordable, safe, and close to the community; Traditional food that fills you physically and spiritually; Cultural ways of living including supports, and resources; Urban Indigenous community self-determination; Access to opportunities including education, training, and community-based learning; Clean water and healthy lands; Urban Indigenous community infrastructure; and Personal and community safety. Friendship Centres have noted that community prosperity will be enhanced through the community-determined and culturally-relevant implementation and evaluation of these measures. It will be necessary for the government to make space for Indigenous approaches to collecting and measuring this data to ensure it is useful, accessible, self-voiced, and grounded in communities context and relations. The OFIFC s USAI Research Framework 9 is an essential tool that facilitates communitydriven processes and which has guided Friendship Centre communities prosperity research and metric-setting development. Within mainstream service sectors, poverty reduction strategy goals will require standardized data-collection that ensures Indigenous-specific data is collected across a multiplicity of sectors and shared openly and expeditiously with Indigenous communities. Data collection processes in the province of Ontario are unstandardized and unreliable. Common data collection standards must be implemented across all levels of government, agencies, and non-profit sectors to ensure the ability to cross-compare and analyze mainstream service sector data and undertake accurate sector-specific and system-wide evaluations. 9 Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres. (2012). USAI Framework: Utility, Self-Voicing, Access, Inter-Relationality. Accessible at: 9

10 2. What will success look like in a Poverty Reduction Strategy? What target(s) should we pick to measure progress? For urban Indigenous people to thrive, measures of prosperity need to be community-defined, held in-common, and substantiated by culturally-informed indicators of success. Success will mean embracing a wholistic approach to poverty reduction that reflects the fundamental ways in which Indigenous people see and make sense of the world. Such an approach is unlike the premise of so many existing government strategies, policies, and programs which exist uniquely to fix an issue from a deficit perspective without a wholistic lens or community-driven processes. The OFIFC has put forth specific recommendations for action on the part of the federal government in key prosperity growth priorities (see Conclusion and Recommendations section, pages 13-15). 3. Which indicators should we use to track progress towards the target(s)? Urban Indigenous prosperity metrics must be measured with direction from Indigenous communities. Key indicators within each of these metrics must fit within urban Indigenous communities self-defined concept of prosperity. Of particular importance is the consideration of urban Indigenous youth involvement in metric analysis and measurement. Young Indigenous people must be meaningfully engaged as the generational inheritors of prosperity growth and community development. 4. On which groups should we focus our efforts? Which dimensions of poverty should be prioritized? The federal government must recognize the growing urban Indigenous population in Ontario. Ontario has the greatest total number of Indigenous people as compared to other provinces. Indigenous people in the province account for the largest part of the Indigenous population in Canada. In Ontario, 84.1 percent of Indigenous people live off-reserve, 10 the highest proportion in all of Canada. Ontario s extensive Friendship Centre network operates in this reality, delivering culture-based programs and services that meet the needs of our communities. The growth in the percentage of Indigenous people living in urban centres combined with the knowledge that an unacceptable number continue to live in poverty 11 demands a stronger financial commitment from the federal government. While our communities grow, federal investments in Friendship Centres have shrunk, threatening to stymie the positive momentum of our movement for new generations of Indigenous young people. The federal government must respond to this changing 10 Statistics Canada. (2011). National Household Survey. 11 Statistics Canada. (2008). Aboriginal Children s Survey, 2006: Supporting Data Tables, p

11 reality with policies and programs that recognize growing urban Indigenous communities in Ontario. 5. Which Government of Canada programs and policies do you feel are effective at reducing poverty? Are there programs and policies that can be improved? What else could we do? Investments in preventative programs that are wholistic and culture-based are effective in narrowing the socio-economic gap between Indigenous and non- Indigenous people, thereby reducing the long-term costs associated with maintaining the status-quo. Across many of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada s Calls to Action, the work of the OFIFC and Friendship Centres is directly advancing reconciliation and supporting community members to thrive. The Friendship Centres represent the most significant off-reserve Indigenous service infrastructure in Ontario and are dedicated to achieving greater participation of all urban Indigenous peoples in all facets of society, inclusive of First Nation Status/Non-Status, Métis, Inuit and all other people who identify as Indigenous to Turtle Island. Friendship Centres and the OFIFC have demonstrated outstanding return on investment over the past four decades and with strategic federal investments, can achieve much more for future generations. In Ontario, investment in Indigenous community infrastructure and programming between 1985 and 2007 has shown to have created a growing and vibrant urban Indigenous middle class. 12 Paramount to achieving positive outcomes in reducing urban Indigenous poverty is dedicated, sustainable funding for Friendship Centre core operations and infrastructure and support for culture-based programming. Short-term, administratively burdensome funding jeopardizes the ability of Friendship Centres to focus on supporting their communities and thereby affects the urban Indigenous community s ability to contribute to their community and the larger economy. 6. How can the Government of Canada align its Poverty Reduction Strategy so that it supports existing efforts by provinces, territories, municipalities and communities? Instead of merely consulting with Indigenous people, governments must respect Indigenous communities authority and facilitate and support Indigenous control and systems change. Furthermore, the federal government must take action on directives within the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada s 94 Calls to Action. 12 Urban Aboriginal Task Force, Urban Aboriginal Task Force Final Report 2007, December 2007, p

12 It is important to note the leadership role which the Government of Canada has in efforts to reduce poverty by spurring systems change at a national level. Systems change requires the motivation and education of each and every system member. Change cannot be optional for systems actors. The government must use a variety of tools, from legislation, regulations, and ministerial directives to critical links between funding and change performance in order to incentivize system actors and to promote and facilitate the required changes at organizational, management and individual worker levels. Friendship Centres have long recognized that, for poverty reduction strategies to be useful and produce positive outcomes for urban Indigenous people, indicators of successful poverty reduction must factor in the historical and political context of urban Indigenous people. All levels of government, public institutions, and participating private sector partners should commit to cultural competency that is progressive in nature and contributes to meaningful reconciliation efforts with Indigenous peoples. 7. What are some initiatives/innovations in Canada or elsewhere that other governments, community organizations, academia, or businesses have introduced or proposed to effectively reduce poverty? Investments in systems, programs, and initiatives that are focused on community wellness and prevention are proven to reduce poverty and support prosperity growth. It can easily be argued that costly interventionist systems exist to perpetuate themselves, and although they are nominally intended to have an improving effect, they have simply served to entrench long-standing historic inequalities and oppression. As systems, they have yielded a lamentable lack of social change or positive impact on Indigenous people who have been involved with them. Therefore an approach based squarely on prevention must be a key priority of any strategy for poverty reduction. This means that resources must be shifted away from costly, inefficient systems designed for the general population and away from associated mainstream institutions and organizations. Resources must then be redirected towards Indigenous community organizations which have successfully shown their ability to build resiliency and success, and thereby prevent the outcomes of child welfare and justice system involvement, low educational attainment, and poor health, among others. The OFIFC has put forth specific recommendations for action on the part of the federal government in key prosperity growth priorities (see Conclusion and Recommendations section, pages 13-15). 12

13 8. How can the Government encourage an ongoing dialogue with other levels of government, community organizations, academia and businesses on its poverty reduction efforts? The government is expected to demonstrate transparently how it is considering feedback received through its public consultation process and how it will proceed in the development of a national strategy that aligns with provincial and grassroots efforts. Further consultative efforts should be undertaken directly with Indigenous organizations like the OFIFC, through a process that meets their specific consultative processes. Conclusion and Recommendations The OFIFC posits that poverty reduction can be examined through Indigenous concepts of prosperity and that the protective measures operationalized by the Friendship Centre Movement to sustain Indigenous culture and lifeways can inform the development of wholistic indicators that support urban Indigenous prosperity growth. In order to take action on prosperity growth that will have a lasting, multi-generational effect on urban Indigenous people, it is recommended that: 1. The Federal Government take action on the following specific measures to support prosperity growth in urban Indigenous communities: Develop a National Housing Strategy that prioritizes urban Indigenous housing needs and drives provincial and municipal incentives for the development of urban Indigenous housing over the short-term including commitments to end generation-long wait lists for adequate housing. Fulfil a fiscal commitment to end homelessness nationally through coordination efforts with provinces and municipalities. Develop a National Food Security Policy that: Secures urban Indigenous communities access to whole, healthy, and traditional foods regardless of where they reside and immediately addresses the exorbitant cost of food in the North and near-north; Affirms and supports urban Indigenous community members rights to traditional food harvesting practices and related ceremonies; and Invests in Friendship Centres capacity to offer healthy, nutritious meals and hands-on, culture-based food education to urban Indigenous communities. Action #13-16 regarding language and culture ensuring: Annualized evergreen funding toward the protection and sustainability of Indigenous languages. In Ontario, the current funding allocated for 13

14 Indigenous language revitalization is insufficient to reach protection and sustainability targets and risks losing Indigenous languages, going against the TRC. Support opportunities for Friendship Centres to access lands for culture-based programming, ceremonies, and environmental stewardship activities in recognition of UNDRIP Article 25 which outlines Indigenous peoples right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and other resources to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this regard. 13 Action #48 to formally adopt and comply with the principles, norms, and standards of UNDRIP as a framework for reconciliation. 14 Broaden the notion of a nation to nation relationship existing solely between the government of Canada and First Nations to include strengthened relationships with Indigenous organizations that have a proven track record of supporting increasingly urbanized Indigenous communities such as the Friendship Centre Movement. Action #10 to draft new Indigenous education legislation. 15 Prioritize Friendship Centres within investments into community education infrastructure aimed at creating more vibrant communities, protecting language and culture, and enriching people s lives as outlined in Budget Ensure that urban Indigenous communities including Friendship Centres are involved in comprehensive efforts to integrate traditional Indigenous knowledge in protecting Canada s marine and freshwater ecosystems 17 and enhance climate resilience 18 announced in Budget 2017 and in compliance with Article 29 of UNDRIP. 19 Integrate national food security policies with climate resilience initiatives to support sustainable food harvesting methods and community gardens in Friendship Centre communities. 13 United Nations. (2008). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Calls to Action Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Calls to Action Government of Canada. (2017). Building a Strong Middle Class: Budget Retrieved from: 17 Government of Canada. (2017). Building a Strong Middle Class: Budget Retrieved from: 18 Ibid United Nations. (2008). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

15 Action related to: o Justice which call upon the federal government to reduce the overincarceration of Indigenous young people and adults and to implement community sanctions that offer alternatives to imprisonment for Indigenous people. o Health which calls for closing the gaps between Indigenous and non- Indigenous communities on health indicators. 2. The Federal Government develop a national poverty reduction strategy carves out space for Indigenous-developed frameworks and methodologies that upholds community-defined conceptions of prosperity growth and facilitates Indigenous control including: Urban Indigenous prosperity metrics developed and measured with direction from Indigenous communities. Key indicators within each of these metrics must fit within urban Indigenous communities self-defined concept of prosperity. Nation-wide commitments to Indigenous cultural competency that is progressive in nature and contributes to action-oriented and measurable reconciliation efforts with Indigenous peoples. 3. The federal government ensures young Indigenous people are meaningfully engaged in the national strategy as the generational inheritors of prosperity growth and community development. 4. The federal government lead efforts to standardize data-collection processes across all levels of government, agencies, and non-profit sectors that ensure Indigenousspecific data is collected across a multiplicity of sectors, shared openly and expeditiously with Indigenous communities, and analyzed to provide system-wide evaluations against poverty reduction strategy objectives. 5. The federal government demonstrate transparently how it is considering feedback received through its public consultation process and how it will proceed in the development of a national strategy that aligns with provincial and grassroots efforts. 15