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Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy gets $10 million from province

THUNDER BAY -- The Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy received a $10-million investment to help prevent domestic violence, violence against Aboriginal women and improve overall health.
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Minister of Community and Social Services Helena Jaczek announed $10 million for the Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy Thursday at the Valhalla Inn. (Jodi Lundmark, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY -- The Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy received a $10-million investment to help prevent domestic violence, violence against Aboriginal women and improve overall health. 

Ontario’s Minister of Community and Social Services Helena Jaczek made the announcement Thursday morning at the Valhalla Inn during the Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Training Conference.

“I think the last 20 years of the Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy has shown what a useful, important service it is to the Aboriginal community. There has been real progress made,” said Jaczek.

“Our government, notwithstanding even the fiscal situation that they’re in, feels it’s important to make this investment because essentially it’s a prevention strategy. We want to prevent violence, domestic violence. We want to ensure people have those basic necessities of life in a culturally appropriate environment.”

Of the $10.1 million announced, $8.6 million will go toward enhancing services and programs, including Talk4Healing, a 24-hour helpline for Aboriginal women.

The other $1.5 million will go towards wage increases for frontline workers; they will receive a two per cent raise this year and next year.

“It’s to make sure we have a dedicated, committed workforce that are being appropriately compensated for the important work they do,” said the minister.

Erin Corston, executive director of the Ontario Native Women’s Association, said she was elated by the minister’s announcement as the Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy is one of their biggest funders.

“For the provincial government to make a commitment like this is huge right now,” she said. “It says a lot about their commitment to Aboriginal women and ending violence against Aboriginal women and to ensuring we continue the good services we’re already doing in the province.”

ONWA has a number of workers funded by the strategy from community wellness workers to employees dealing with homelessness issues and violence against women.

The wage increase for those workers is something that’s been needed because too many of those workers have been underpaid for too long, said Corston.

“These are workers that give the shirt off their back for the people they’re dealing with. They have a close relationship with a lot of their clients and for them to get that little bit extra support means a lot. It allows them to deal with the needs of their own families,” she said.

“When people are working for poor salaries, it doesn’t make them want to stay in those positions for long. I think it will go a long way towards retaining a lot of those good workers that are working on the ground,” Corston added.





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