CBC/Radio-Canada - Yesterday
The City of Edmonton is working on a tailor-made plan to improve safety and well-being for Indigenous people, based on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).
© CBCRed Dress Day is an annual event that honours missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The city is looking into streamlining its existing projects and funding new ones on the topic of safety and well-being for Indigenous people in the city.
City council looked at a report with a general framework, which came from the city's Indigenous Relations Office. It included both short- and long-term projects.
Council then asked administration for a specific action plan, timelines and a budget by this fall. Coun. Aaron Paquette was the one who put it forward.
Paquette, a Métisman, said the initiatives mean a lot for the city and his own family.
"This issue has impacted and affected my family in very personal ways," Paquette said at the council meeting.
"We have lost members of our family and continue to lose members of our family and so this grief is very common in First Nations, Métis, and immigrant communities."
The motion also directs administration to develop a funding strategy that includes awareness campaigns for National Indigenous History Month.
Another step could be to create an Indigenous ombudsperson or advocate within the City of Edmonton.
Jaimy Miller, director of Indigenous Relations at the city, said during community consultations, she's heard many people call for an advocate to investigate complaints of racism.
"Indigenous people still continue to face racism and discrimination in our city," she told council.
"Sometimes they're experiencing it within city facilities, or in city places of public engagement or work but there are also people experiencing racism and discrimination when they're trying to, for example, get housing in our city," Miller said.
Short and long-term projects
Some initiatives are already underway, like an Indigenous housing strategy, which administration is expected to present this spring.
The motion is meant to streamline a budget and timeline for everything moving forward, as well as provide resources for the projects that are already happening.
Short-term priorities outlined in the report include public awareness campaigns such as Red Dress Day, Sisters in Spirit Day, Walk a Mile in a Ribbon Skirt and Okîsikow/Angel Way that aim to expose violence against Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQ2S community.
These are meant to be rolled out between this year and the end of next year.
Longer-term goals include developing Indigenous awareness and anti-racism training; capital funding for Indigenous hubs, cultural and wellness centres, and support for Indigenous-led community safety and harm and transition reduction programs.
When it comes to making things happen, city manager Andre Corbould said he's analyzing the current resources and will determine what's needed.
"We need to properly staff all the right places in the city to make sure that we can do the work," Corbould said.
Corbould will present a budget in the fall.
Invest in healing
According to research from the Native Women's Association of Canada, Alberta has the second highest number of missing and murdered Indigenous women in the country.
Jodi Calahoo-Stonehouse, executive director of the Yellowhead Indigneous Education Foundation, said the city could expand education and healing programs.
She points to the Indigenous Knowledge and Wisdom Centre, which is building the kihciy askiy site in the river valley. kihciy askiy is Cree for sacred land.
The Indigenous community will be able to host ceremonies and sweat lodges and grow medicinal herbs there.
Programs will be available for families and women to heal from the sexual, emotional and psychological abuse from residential schools and the Sixties Scoop, she explained.
"We know the trauma is there, we must invest and support in the healing and recovery," Calahoo-Stonehouse said.
The city can also work on establishing shelters specific for women in crisis, she added.
With housing and health care being provincial and federal areas of jurisdiction, Calahoo-Stonehouse said often governments try to put the responsibility on each other.
She lauded Edmonton's efforts to take this step.
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