Executive Council
Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs
October 22, 2010
Further Funding Announced for Violence
Prevention Work in Aboriginal Communities
Three more projects have received funding for
violence prevention in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Aboriginal
Violence Prevention Grants Program, available through the Violence
Prevention Initiative (VPI), awarded an additional $69,000 to projects
this year, bringing the Provincial Government's total investment to
$200,000.
"Violence prevention is an area our government
continues to view as a priority for Newfoundland and Labrador," said the
Honourable Kathy Dunderdale, Minister Responsible for the Status of
Women. "The money we have invested this year for violence prevention
will help organizations across the province work with Aboriginal people,
and women in particular, at the community level gain access to resources
and skills they will need to bring an end to violence."
This funding will support the Newfoundland
Aboriginal Women's Network (NAWN) in its project to train Aboriginal men
and youth as facilitators in their local communities and, therefore,
include them in the critical effort to end violence.
The St. John's Native Friendship Centre and
Miawpukek First Nation of Conne River have also received grants. The St.
John's Native Friendship Centre will use the funding to support programs
and counseling for young Aboriginal women and children as part of a
culturally-sensitive violence prevention program. Miawpukek First Nation
will renovate the Conne River Health and Social Services Centre women's
shelter to provide room for added programming, a meeting space and
additional temporary accommodations. For full details on projects
funded, see backgrounder below.
"We all have a role to play in standing up
against violence towards women and children," said the Honourable Patty
Pottle, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. "The struggle to stop violence
must take place on many fronts, and the Violence Prevention Initiative
is helping to provide the necessary tools to assist Aboriginal
communities in their own stance against violence."
The addition of these three projects brings
the total number supported by the Provincial Government's Aboriginal
Violence Prevention Grants Program to 13 this year. In the past six
years, the Provincial Government has invested in 56 projects.
Grants are awarded based on criteria developed
from needs identified by Aboriginal women at the Newfoundland Aboriginal
Women's Summit in 2007. These criteria include a focus on violence
prevention plans of action, public awareness and education materials or
activities, healing programs, improved programs and services at shelters
for Aboriginal women, the development of Aboriginal women's leadership,
economic or educational capacity, and the improved cultural strength of
Aboriginal communities.
The VPI is a six-year, multi-departmental,
government-community partnership to find long-term solutions to violence
against those most at risk. The initiative involves 11 government
departments and agencies and over 30 community partners including a
Community Advisory Committee and 10 Regional Coordinating Committees
Against Violence. For more information, visit
www.gov.nl.ca/vpi.
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Media contacts:
Melissa MacLeod
Communications Specialist
Women's Policy Office
709-729-6225, 693-7938
melissamacleod@gov.nl.ca |
John Tompkins
Director of Communications
Department of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs
709-729-1674, 728-7762
jtompkins@gov.nl.ca |
Backgrounder
Aboriginal Women's Violence
Prevention Grants 2010: Newfoundland
Newfoundland Aboriginal Women's Network (NAWN)
Aboriginal Women and Men;
Building a Bridge to Wellness
The Newfoundland Aboriginal
Women's Network will train Aboriginal men in partnership with youth as
facilitators in their communities, giving Aboriginal men the opportunity
to join the fight to end violence. NAWN will continue to address the
issue of violence prevention and awareness through facilitation and
workshops in local communities.
Grant awarded: $23,000
St. John's Native Friendship Centre
Restoring Culture: The Journey
of Healing
The St. John's Native
Friendship Centre will deliver culturally-appropriate support programs
and transitional counseling as part of a violence prevention program.
The program will reach out to young Aboriginal women and children who
may have, for example, substance abuse issues, experienced childhood
sexual or physical abuse, or who may have a high risk for suicide. The
programs are sensitive to the needs and lives of Aboriginal women and
children and are integral to the healing process which raises Aboriginal
women and girl's sense of value and worth as individuals, leaders,
mothers and community role models.
Grant awarded: $23,000
Miawpukek First Nation, Conne River Health and
Social Services Centre
Protecting Our Future — Caring
for out Women and Children
Conne River Health and Social
Services Centre, on behalf of Miawpukek First Nation, will renovate
their women's shelter in order to accommodate additional programming.
These renovations will create a meeting space for the women's centre as
well as additional temporary crisis accommodations.
Grant awarded: $23,000
2010 10 22
10:35 a.m.
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