Aboriginal People in Manitoba

From the outset the Doer government has given priority to closing the gap in the quality of life between Aboriginals and other Manitobans, specifically in the areas of education, health, housing, economic opportunities and employment.

Aboriginal justice

• Created the Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission, and used its recommendations to make changes in a number of important areas.



• Transferred responsibility for developing and delivering culturally appropriate child and family services off reserve to the new Métis and First Nation child authorities, the first such authorities in Canada.



• Signed agreements to increase fivefold the number of First Nations communities served by Aboriginal police.



• Established on-site circuit courts in Sandy Bay, Pine Creek, Duck Bay and Camperville.



• Created Lighthouses programs, providing after-school recreational activities in 50 communities across the province, including a number of reserves.

Better educational opportunities

• Established the University College of the North (UCN), providing local education and training for northerners from its two main campuses in The Pas and Thompson as well as ten regional centres, with two more on the way. Nine of these centres are on reserves.



• Committed more than $50 million for UCN capital projects.



• Bolstered funding for ACCESS programs, which help Aboriginal students pursue post-secondary education.



• Conferred 700 Aboriginal Education Awards for post-secondary students in cooperation with Ottawa and the Business Council of Manitoba.



• Set up a $60 million fund for pre-project Hydro training with Hydro and the federal government that has benefited over 1,400 northern Aboriginal people, enabling them to meet the demand for skilled labour not only on Hydro projects but also in the province’s growing construction industry.



• Developed an Aboriginal Education Action Plan to help more Aboriginal students complete high school, enter post-secondary institutions, and start careers.



• Partnered with the Winnipeg School Division and the Manitoba Métis Federation to make the counselling services of elders and specially trained support staff available to at-risk Aboriginal students and their parents.



• Tripled the number of Aboriginal apprentices to more than 1,000.



• Set up partnerships with nine Aboriginal communities to deliver apprenticeship training right in their own communities.



• Introduced the LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) training program that will train 175 students over four years in seven Aboriginal communities.



• Set aside 25% of the Winnipeg Partnership Agreement for an Aboriginal training and education component.

Healthier people

• Installed dialysis units in Norway House Cree Nation and Garden Hill First Nation, the first dialysis units located on-reserve in Canada.



• Currently developing dialysis services at Berens River for area communties and at Hodgson for Peguis First Nation.



• Set up community-based diabetes management and prevention training programs, as well as diabetes training programs for Aboriginal homecare aides.



• Launched a Northern Healthy Food Initiative, which promotes nutrition awareness, community gardens, country foods and greenhouse pilot programs in some twenty northern and remote communities in partnership with NACC, Frontier School Division, The Bayline Round Table, Four Arrows Health Authority and partners in the public and non-profit sector.



• Increased the northern remote food allowance for Employment and Income Assistance participants by 20% in 2005, and by a further 30% in 2007 to help offset the higher costs of healthy food in the North. These increases were matched on reserve by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.



• Created an Aboriginal Midwifery Education Program that teaches a blend of traditional Aboriginal and Western practices.



• Created Healthy Schools, Healthy Child and Healthy Baby programs across the province, both on and off reserves.

A flourishing Aboriginal culture

• Restored funding in the first budget to all 11 Friendship Centres, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, the Manitoba Métis Federation, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, the Southern Chiefs’ Organization and the Mothers of Red Nations.



• Funding Aboriginal Languages of Manitoba to promote the preservation and retention of Manitoba’s seven Aboriginal languages.



• Promoting participation in sports and recreation so that youth in remote communities and the inner city alike can benefit from traditional and non-traditional sport and recreation activities.



• Signed an agreement with the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation and the Wuskwatim Partnership to protect any heritage resources discovered as a result of the Wuskwatim and Conawapa Hydro projects.



• Working with East Side First Nations on attaining a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation.



• Providing funding for the Manito Ahbee Festival, the Aboriginal People’s Choice Awards, Pow Wows and winter festivals and events such as the National Cree Gathering in Grand Rapids.

Fast tracking economic development

• Created a Northern Development Strategy to ensure that all government departments act on priorities for the North.



• Signed new equity and training partnerships with First Nations for future Hydro developments.



• Moved ahead on the Wuskwatim Hydro project, where two-thirds of the 200 people already employed are Aboriginal.



• Appointed a Ministerial Aboriginal Leaders Advisory Group to develop an Aboriginal tourism strategy.



• Invested 25% of the province’s highway budget each year in northern roads more than double the previous levels despite calls by the Official Opposition to move funding to southern Manitoba.



• Tripled spending on winter roads, took 600 km of winter roads off ice onto safer land routes, and began the first leg of an East Side all-weather road.



• Secured strong representation of Aboriginal business and community leaders on the Premier’s Economic Advisory Council.



• Renounced the province’s half interest in mineral development on reserve land.



• Partnered with MKO and Protega to create FireSpirit, a human resource company that will bring jobs, training and business opportunities to Aboriginals and northern communities in Manitoba.



• Launched TEAM, a micro-enterprise development program for northern Manitoba run by the Communities Economic Development Fund.



• Ensured that Aboriginals and other equity groups under-represented in the construction industry benefited from new floodway jobs. The Aboriginal Set-Aside Initiative has awarded over $25 million in contracts to Aboriginal firms.



• Invested more than $50 million on capital projects in Northern Affairs communities over the past seven years.



• Built new provincial housing in communities like Duck Bay, Camperville and Wabowden for the first time in more than a decade.



• Entered into an agreement with the Swampy Cree Tribal Council committing timber resources to support forestry development, and will continue to work with other First Nations on other forestry projects.



• Committed to providing broadband internet connections to 60 remote communities.



• Sponsored the 2003 Aboriginal Business Summit, organized by the Premier’s Economic Advisory Council.

Moving Forward

• Working with Ottawa and First Nations to advance Treaty Land Entitlement transfers by more than 150,000 acres annually, a tremendous opportunity for economic growth.



• Investing over $100 million for low-income housing for urban and northern Manitobans, of which $42 million will go to Aboriginal off-reserve housing.



• Supporting partnership agreements with 7 large employers, including 5 health authorities, to increase the number of Aboriginal people employed in all areas of the workforce.



• Created the First Peoples’ Economic Growth Fund with the AMC, a $20 million fund to help develop new First Nation businesses.



• Working with the Manitoba Métis Federation on a new Métis economic development strategy and other projects.

Figures are current as of October, 2008

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