Ottawa promotes $15.3M Indigenous youth pilot program

Ottawa plans to give $15.2 million earmarked for Indigenous youth to the Canadian Roots Exchange, a non-profit charity that organizes educational programs and field schools in Indigenous host communities across Canada.

Carolyn Bennett, the minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, confirmed Sept. 3 in Saskatoon that $15.2 million would be used to meet the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 66, saying “the voices of Indigenous youth are essential to charting the path forward on reconciliation.”

Call 66, one of 94 the Liberals promised to act on, is “to establish multi-year funding for community-based youth organizations to deliver programs on reconciliation and establish a national network to share information and best practices.”

To that end, the federal budget for 2019 allocated $15.2 million over three years, starting in 2019-20, for an Indigenous youth pilot program, Bennett said.

So the millions are not new.

But, speaking Sept. 3, Bennett said these will go to the Canadian Roots Exchange.

No details were given about what programs could be coming to Nunavut, Nunavik or Inuit living in other regions and in the South.

But a release on Bennett’s appearance said the pilot program will establish a national network that reflects the diversity among Indigenous youth.

Canada Roots Exchange will support reconciliation-focused youth activities across Canada, including urban, northern and remote communities, the release said, and recommend a longer term sustainable approach to the implementation of the Call to Action 66.