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| Formation | March 30, 1998 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | September 30, 2014 |
| Legal status | not-for-profit, private corporation |
| Headquarters | Ottawa, Ontario |
Executive Director | Mike DeGagne |
The Aboriginal Healing Foundation was established in 1998 as an Indigenous managed, non-profit corporation dedicated to responding to the legacy of residential schools in Canada and the associated community health impacts. Funding for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation ceased in 2014. [1]
The Aboriginal Healing Foundation was created on March 30, 1998. It was established following consultations with residential school survivors, the Assembly of First Nations, the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, the Métis National Council, and the Native Women's Association of Canada. [2] The mission of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation was to foster sustainable healing strategies in Indigenous communities in Canada that begin to address the impacts of the residential school system. [3] The Foundation was initially provided with $350 million of funding from the Canadian government to carry out this work with residential school survivors and Indigenous communities across Canada. [2] The Foundation was designed as an organization to be responsible for the management of the Canada government's healing strategy related to residential schools. This strategy was part of the "Gathering Strength, Canada's Aboriginal Action Plan" established by the federal government on January 7, 1998. [4] The original mandate of the Foundation was set to end on March 31, 2009. [5]
The first chair of the Foundation was Georges Erasmus. [6] The original board of directors was composed of 17 people, including Garnet Angeconeb, Charlene Belleau, Jerome Berthelette, Paul Chartrand, Angus Cockney, Ken Courchene, Wendy John, Richard Kistabish, Cerrielynn Lamouche, Ann Meekitjuk-Hanson, Teressa Nahanee, Dorris Peters, Viola Robinson, Grant Severight, Cindy Swanson, and Charles Weaselhead. [2]
In 2005 the Aboriginal Healing Foundation was granted an additional $40 million through the 2005 federal budget. [7]
The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement of 2007 resulted in an additional $125 million of funding for the Healing Foundation and a prolonged mandate for the organization. [8] Part of this funding was through the federal government. Additionally under the settlement agreement the 50 Roman Catholic Church entities associated with the settlement agreement were required to pay $29 million to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation which would be used for community healing programs. [9] There has been debate about the Church's obligations to pay this amount and in 2013 the Canadian government pursued legal action for $1.6 million that the Catholic entities had not paid the Foundation. [10] [11]
Throughout its operation the Foundation received $515 million from the Government of Canada. The Foundation also generated $537,146,681 in interest on this funding which was further used to fund community projects. [7] In 2010 funding for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation was cut by Stephen Harper's conservative government. [12] This cut in funding resulted in the closure of the Foundation in 2014. [1] [7] It also resulted in the discontinuation of funding to many community based healing initiatives and the closure of many healing programs regionally in Canada. [13] [14] Following the closure of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation its research library, records, and archives were donated to the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre at Algoma University. [15]
The first funding cycle of the Foundation operated in the form of a call for proposals that was sent out on December 3, 1998. [3] The call was open to communities and survivor groups and focused on three thematic areas of programming: 1) Developing and Enhancing Aboriginal Capacity and Community Therapeutic Healing; 2) Healing Centers; 3) Restoring Balance, Honour, and History. This first batch of funding resulted in $19.4 million being awarded to projects across Canada. [2] Funded community groups included: [2] [6] [16]
During its operation the Aboriginal Healing Foundation funded over 1,500 community based healing initiatives. [1] The Foundation was subject to government funding audits and the Foundation also conducted community based program evaluations of the initiatives which received funding. [12] [17] The 2009 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) evaluation of the Foundation programming reviewed the administration files of Foundation funded projects; conducted staff and subject expert interviews; and conducted community case studies which included interviews with healing project participants. [17] [18] The evaluation found the Foundation had been very successful in administering funding and contributing to community healing but that there was still much ongoing work in communities to be done. INAC also indicated that there was a strong need for community based healing initiatives to continue and recommended continued funding of the Foundation. [17]
In addition to funding community based healing initiatives the Aboriginal Healing Foundation had a research mandate that was dedicated to creating a knowledge base relating to the long term community and health impacts of residential schools. [19] This research mandate was outlined in the 1998 agreement that the Foundation signed with the Government of Canada and resulted in the Foundation seeking out researchers, scholars, and authors to write publications on residential schools, reconciliation, health, and other issues. [4]
The first research director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation was Gail Guthrie Valaskakis (2000-2007). [20] Following the death of Valaskakis in 2007, Jonathan Dewar served as research director from 2007 to 2012. [21] As a result of the work of research branch of the organization published numerous books, including:
In addition to the publication of books the Aboriginal Healing Foundation maintained a research library. Named after the first research director the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, the Gail Guthrie Valaskakis Memorial Resource Library is a special collections library focused on residential schools, healing, reconciliation, and Indigenous people. [15] The library contains over 6,000 unique items including video, books, research materials, and project reports. The contents of the library was donated to the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre in 2011 following the announcement of funding cuts to the Foundation. [22] [23] [24]
Indigenous peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. Although Indian is a term still commonly used in legal documents, the descriptors Indian and Eskimo have fallen into disuse in Canada, and most consider them to be pejorative. Aboriginal peoples as a collective noun is a specific term of art used in some legal documents, including the Constitution Act, 1982, though in most Indigenous circles Aboriginal has also fallen into disfavour.
The CanadianIndian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school system was created to isolate Indigenous children from the influence of their own culture and religion in order to assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture. Over the course of the system's more than hundred-year existence, around 150,000 children were placed in residential schools nationally. By the 1930s, about 30 percent of Indigenous children were attending residential schools. The number of school-related deaths remains unknown due to incomplete records. Estimates range from 3,200 to over 30,000, mostly from disease.
Algoma University, commonly shortened to Algoma U or Algoma, is a public university with its main campus located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. With a particular focus on the needs of Northern Ontario, Algoma U is a teaching-focused and student-centred post-secondary institution, specializing in liberal arts, sciences, management and professional degree programs. Located on the former site of the Shingwauk Indian Residential School, Algoma U has a special mission to provide and cultivate cross-cultural learning between Aboriginal populations and other communities. Algoma U also offers satellite programming in Brampton and Timmins, Ontario.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was a truth and reconciliation commission active in Canada from 2008 to 2015, organized by the parties of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig is an Indigenous led institute, with Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie as one of its main partners. Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig is one of nine Indigenous Institutes in Ontario's post-secondary system and collaborates with other colleges and universities to offer post-secondary programs geared specifically toward Indigenous students.
The Sixties Scoop was a period in which a series of policies were enacted in Canada that enabled child welfare authorities to take, or "scoop up," Indigenous children from their families and communities for placement in foster homes, from which they would be adopted by white families. Despite its name referencing the 1960s, the Sixties Scoop began in the mid-to-late 1950s and persisted into the 1980s.
According to the latest available data, Statistics Canada estimates 4,157 suicides took place in Canada in 2017, making it the 9th leading cause of death, between Alzheimer's disease (8th) and cirrhosis and other liver diseases (10th). In 2009, there were an estimated 3,890 suicide deaths.
The history of the First Nations is the prehistory and history of present-day Canada's peoples from the earliest times to the present day with a focus on First Nations. The pre-history settlement of the Americas is a subject of ongoing debate. First Nation's oral histories and traditional knowledge, combined with new methodologies and technologies —used by archaeologists, linguists, and other researchers—produce new—and sometimes conflicting—evidence.
Gail Guthrie Valaskakis (1939-2007) was a media studies scholar who taught in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University, where she also served as Dean in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (1992-1997). After leaving Concordia, Valaskakis served as Director of Research at the Aboriginal Healing Foundation in Ottawa.
Walking With Our Sisters is a commemorative art installation of over 1,763 moccasin vamps that was created to remember and honor missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Each pair of moccasin vamps, also known as tops, represents one missing or murdered Indigenous woman from North America.
The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement is an agreement between the government of Canada and approximately 86,000 Indigenous peoples in Canada who at some point were enrolled as children in the Canadian Indian residential school system, a system which was in place between 1879 and 1997. The IRSSA recognized the damage inflicted by the residential schools and established a C$1.9-billion compensation package called CEP for all former IRS students. The agreement, announced in 2006, was the largest class action settlement in Canadian history.
Shingwauk Indian Residential School was a Canadian residential school for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children that operated in Canada between 1873 and 1970 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, by the Anglican Church of Canada and the Government of Canada.
The Spanish Indian Residential Schools was a set of single-sex Canadian Indian residential schools for First Nations, Métis, and Anishinaabe children that operated in Spanish, Ontario from 1913 to 1965 by the Jesuit Fathers, the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, and the Government of Canada.
The Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre (SRSC) is an archival repository and cross-cultural education centre within Algoma University with a special mandate to collect and preserve material relating to the legacy residential schools in Canada, healing and reconciliation, and Indigenous communities. The Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre is jointly governed by Algoma University and the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association. It is a partner with the Engracia de Jesus Matias Archives and Special Collections which is also located at Algoma University.
Michael (Mike) Cachagee was a prominent Indigenous rights activist, speaker, and community leader. He was a member of Chapleau Cree First Nation and was one of the founding members of the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association. He is a well known residential school survivor and has been an advocate for residential school rights, healing, and reconciliation. Mike passed away at the Sault Area Hospital on July 15, 2023.
The Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA) is a grassroots, community based intergenerational residential school survivor organization based in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.
Madeleine (Kétéskwew) Dion Stout is a Cree author, speaker, and health care professional. She was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2015.
The Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada is an English and French educational resource created by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, published by Canadian Geographic, and funded by the Government of Canada. It was created to address calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, among them the development of "culturally appropriate curricula" for Aboriginal Canadian students. Its content includes information about indigenous lands, languages, communities, treaties, and cultures, and topics such as the Canadian Indian residential school system, racism, and cultural appropriation.
Greg Younging was a Canadian editor and expert on First Nations copyright. He was a member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation. He was the managing editor at Theytus books and published "Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guidebook for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples" in 2018. Younging died on 3 May 2019 in Penticton, British Columbia.
Krista McCracken is a Canadian public historian, educator, curator and archivist known for their work raising awareness about the history of the Canadian Indian residential school system.
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