Minister Bennett announces funding for investments in Indigenous Youth

From: Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

September 3, 2019 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs

Canada

The Government of Canada is firmly committed to responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.

Today, the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, announced funding to advance the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 66, which calls for the establishment of multi-year funding for community-based youth organizations to deliver programs on reconciliation and establish a national youth network to share information and best practices.

The Government of Canada, through Budget 2019, has allocated $15.2 million over three years, starting in 2019-20, for an Indigenous youth pilot program delivered by the Canadian Roots Exchange. This pilot program will establish a national network that reflects the diversity amongst Indigenous youth; support reconciliation-focused youth activities across Canada, including urban, northern and remote communities; and recommend a longer term sustainable approach to the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 66.

Together, the Government of Canada and the Canadian Roots Exchange will help ensure that the voices of Indigenous youth are heard and incorporated into decision-making processes, and will enable Indigenous youth to engage and support each other as they work to advance their diverse and unique priorities.

Quotes

“The voices of Indigenous youth are essential to charting the path forward on reconciliation. In responding to Call to Action 66 the Federal Government is committing to multi-year funding for a pilot program with Canadian Roots Exchange to support a network for indigenous youth to share information and best practices and to provide recommendations on the best path forward.”

The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, M.D., P.C., M.P.
Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations

“Reconciliation in our lifetime is a worthy goal that is within our reach as a country. In the Youth Reconciliation Barometer we conducted, youth across the country who went through a reconciliation program were much more knowledgeable and felt confident that reconciliation is possible. More youth reconciliation programs will help us achieve this goal, and that’s exactly what this investment will help us create.”

Max FineDay,
Executive Director, Canadian Roots Exchange

Quick facts

• Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada is the federal lead on implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 66.
• In August 2017, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations sought direction from three independent advisors with a mandate to explore how to implement Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action 66.
• Through the Advisors’ Indigenous Youth Voices initiative, they gathered the views of numerous First Nations, Inuit, and Métis youth organizations and individuals that cumulated in the Advisors’ final report “A Roadmap to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action 66.”

Associated links

• Delivering on Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action – Youth Programs
• Canadian Roots Exchange
• Canadian Youth Reconciliation Barometer 2019: Final Report

Contacts

For more information, media may contact:

Matthew Dillon-Leitch
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Carolyn Bennett
Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations
819-997-0002

Media Relations
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
819-934-2302
RCAANC.media.CIRNAC@canada.ca

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