Media Centre

NTI urges government to continue to fund AHF

(March 30, 2010 – Iqaluit, Nunavut) Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. President Paul Kaludjak is urging the Government of Canada to continue to fund the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF).

There will be an emergency debate this evening from 7 pm in the House of Commons about the state of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.

“NTI recognizes the positive impact and benefits that the funding from the AHF has brought to Inuit in Nunavut and to many First Nations and Métis across Canada. The funding that had been allocated to Nunavut allowed for 12 successful programs to run and provide much needed support to former residential school students and their families, one of which NTI has been administering.” Kaludjak said.

AHF provides funding and resources to 12 projects in Nunavut that promote healing, reconciliation and encourage and support former residential school students and their communities in a sustainable healing processes that address the legacy of physical, sexual, mental, cultural, and spiritual abuse in the residential school system, including the intergenerational impacts.

Funding for the AHF expires March 31, 2010. This would mean ending up to 131 community based projects in every province and territory in Canada.

“For many Inuit, the 12 programs we have in Nunavut have provided the first opportunity to begin a healing journey. The autonomy of the AHF has been the key to the success of these programs. The community based programs have been able to determine how they will best serve their clients. We need to continue to see our communities mobilized in this way.”

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