The Stephen Harper federal Conservative government has picked a fight with the Nuu-chah-nulth people of Vancouver Island, and today the 14 nations that make up the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council have committed to stand shoulder to shoulder in that fight.
The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council has received word that the Harper Conservatives have unilaterally decided to cut core funding to all National Aboriginal Organizations, Provincial Aboriginal Organizations and all Tribal Councils in every Province and Territory in Canada. The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council’s funding will be cut by an astounding 60 per cent by the year 2014. That is a significant funding reduction to an organization that provides programs and services to more than 10,000 people up and down the coast.
The impact of this severe funding reduction, if allowed to stand, would significantly undermine the purpose of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council to build strong, self-determining, healthy communities by providing equitable social, economic, political, and technical support to Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations.
The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, a major employer headquartered at Port Alberni, B.C., provides such essential programs and services to the Nuu-chah-nulth people as education, child and youth services, health and social services, and employment training. The tribal council also operates child welfare and protection services both on-reserve, and in the city.
“These funding reductions have the potential to create very serious negative impacts for First Nation families and in turn the broader community and all Canadians,” said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo of Ahousaht First Nation.
“The funding cut demonstrates the contradictory nature of this Conservative majority government,” said Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council President Clifford Atleo, Sr., particularly in light of the commitments made in January 2012 at the Crown-First Nations Gathering, which was intended to enhance Canada’s relationship with First Nations in the country by enabling strong and sustainable First Nations communities.
The impacts of the funding cut to the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council will hurt Nuu-chah-nulth people, their communities and their nations and will be felt in communities across the region, including non-First Nations communities like Ucluelet and Tofino, Campbell River and Victoria.
The Nuu-chah-nulth Nations call upon their neighbors to stand with all First Nation Provincial Organizations and Tribal Councils and denounce the Conservative Government’s attack on the viability of their tribal council organization and the services this organization provides.
For further information contact:
Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council President Clifford Atleo Sr. at 250-724-5757
or
Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council Vice President Ken Watts at 250-724-5757
