NWAC demands that federal government provide Indigenous non-profit organizations with stable core funding after being forced to lay off half its staff
29 March 2024 - 1:16AM
The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) is demanding that
the federal government finally does the right thing by providing
stable core funding to Indigenous non-profit organizations across
this country.
As a result of the termination of a key government
skills-training program and other programs, NWAC has been forced to
lay off more than 75 fixed-term and permanent members of its staff
– roughly half its workforce.
“It is heart-breaking to lose so many talented and dedicated
people,” says NWAC President Carol McBride. “We hope to create
additional employment opportunities when this organization secures
further work in the service of Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit,
transgender, and gender-diverse people. But, until that time, our
financial hands are tied and we simply do not have the money to
sustain our current payroll.”
With the ending of the National Apprenticeship Program (NAP),
which was administered by NWAC and other non-profit organizations
across the country, along with the ending of other programs, NWAC’s
annual revenue dropped from $48 million to $10 million. The annual
funding for staffing fell correspondingly, from $11 million to $3
million.
That means the vital work that NWAC is doing on behalf of
Indigenous women, in both advocacy and service delivery, will also
be scaled back, and the people served by the organization will feel
the loss.
NWAC has laboured tirelessly to promote the economic
independence of the people it serves through a wide range of
programs meant to enhance employability and economic prosperity for
First Nations, Inuit and Métis women, Two-Spirit, transgender and
gender-diverse people.
It also had policy teams dedicated to improving every facet of
Indigenous life in Canada, from health, to justice, to the
environment, to ending the genocide that continues to claim a
significantly disproportionate number of Indigenous lives.
Administrative fees provided to NWAC through the NAP and the
other programs helped to pay for those services. Though many
programs will continue, there is no question that the ending of the
NAP and the other programs will take a toll.
“This financial roller coaster must be stopped if the government
is truly serious about reconciliation with Indigenous people,” says
Alma Brooks, NWAC Resiliency Lodge Elder. “When funding is so
tenuous, how can any organization be expected to do what both the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into
Missing and Murdered Women and Girls said is necessary to achieve
equality? Why are we constantly being asked to scrape the bottom of
the piggy bank?”
Although NWAC relies on federal contracts to subsidise its
programming, it has been working diligently to secure other sources
of revenue that are independent of government in order to stabilize
its workforce and stabilize the organization. It has created a
store to sell the artisanal crafts of Indigenous women, which it
operates online and at a physical location in its headquarters in
Gatineau. It operates a successful café offering and an
Indigenous-infused menu. It has dedicated a significant portion of
its new headquarters as conference and event space that is rented
by outside parties, earning over a million in revenues in the last
fiscal year. And it is pursuing other ventures.
“We are not sitting on our hands waiting for the government to
provide all of the money we need to do the work that we do,” says
Lynne Groulx, NWAC’s Chief Executive Officer. “But, until we can
grow our other social businesses, we are forced to rely on the
amount we obtain through the piecemeal work provided by government
contracts that we have to bid on and win. The well-being of
Indigenous people should not hinge on that kind of
instability.”
NWAC and other non-profit organizations have been lobbying for
decades for secure, stable, core funding. A robust system of audits
ensures that any money received is spent wisely.
“The staff cuts that NWAC is currently being forced to make are
directly tied to the uncertainties of living hand to mouth. Our
workers want stability and job security like most other Canadians,
and we deeply regret not being able to give them those things,”
says Ms. Groulx. “Without stable core funding, we will repeatedly
have to hire and fire staff, repeatedly build and dismantle units,
and repeatedly jeopardise the important work that this organization
does on behalf of Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit, transgender
and gender-diverse people.”
- l’AFAC demande au gouvernement fédéral de fournir aux
organisations autochtones à but non lucratif un financement de base
stable
Gloria Galloway
Native Women's Association of Canada
613-447-6648
gloria@gloriagalloway.com