Backgrounder : Funding Opportunities Related to the Government of Canada’s Initiative on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women

Introduction

On Friday, October 29, 2010, the Government of Canada announced that it was taking seven concrete steps to address the disturbingly high number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and to make our communities safer.

For more information, see the news release at http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/news-nouv/nr-cp/2010/doc_32560.html.

Background information is also available through two backgrounders:

• Concrete Steps to Address the Issue of Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women
• The Government of Canada's Ongoing Support for Aboriginal Peoples

Three of the concrete steps that were announced involve changes to law enforcement and justice system responses, and a collection of promising practices.

New Funding

The other four steps involve funding, available to Aboriginal organizations and community groups, and to provinces and territories:

1. Victims Fund: Victims Services (Department of Justice Canada)
   Provinces and territories will be able to apply for funding to adapt and develop culturally appropriate victims services for Aboriginal peoples. Aboriginal groups can also apply for funding during that period to address the unique needs of the families of missing and murdered Aboriginal women.
2. Justice Partnership and Innovation Program: Access to Justice for Aboriginal Women (Department of Justice Canada)
   Aboriginal and other community organizations can apply for funding to support the development of school-based and community programs, including supportive mentoring projects, research, conferences and activities that aim to reduce the vulnerability to violence of high-risk young Aboriginal women and girls by promoting resilience and alternatives.
3. Justice Partnership and Innovation Program: Awareness Materials for Aboriginal Communities (Department of Justice Canada)
   Aboriginal and Public Legal Education organizations can apply for funding to support the development, revision, translation or distribution of awareness materials and activities that contribute to breaking intergenerational cycles of violence and abuse in Aboriginal communities that lead Aboriginal women and children to face higher risks of violence.
   
   Inquiries on these three funding programs should be directed to:
   
   Department of Justice Canada - Programs Branch
   284 Wellington Street, 6th Floor
   Ottawa, ON  K1A 0H8
   Telephone: 613 941-4193
   Fax: 613 941-2269
   E-mail: pb-dgp@justice.gc.ca
   http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/pb-dgp/prog.html;
   
   
4. Aboriginal Community Safety Development Contribution Program (Public Safety Canada)
   Aboriginal communities can apply for funding and assistance to develop community safety plans to enhance the safety of women living in Aboriginal communities.

Inquiries on the community safety plans should be directed to:

Public Safety Canada – Aboriginal Corrections Policy Unit
340 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0P8
Fax: 613 990-8295
E-mail: abocor@ps.gc.ca
http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/prg/cor/ac/index-eng.aspx;

Funding for related projects may also be available through the following Government of Canada resources:

Status of Women Canada
123 Slater Street, 10th Floor
Ottawa, ON  K1P 1H9
Toll free: 1-866-902-2719
Local: 613 995-7835
Fax: 613 947-0761
E-mail: infonational@swc-cfc.gc.ca
http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/contact/index-eng.html;

• Indian and Northern Affairs Canada – Family Violence Prevention Program
  

• Public Safety Canada – National Crime Prevention Centre

• Canadian Heritage – Aboriginal Women’s Program
  

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Department of Justice Canada
December 2010