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Aboriginal health programs will be suspended while health authorities are revamped

The future of aboriginal health in B.C. is uncertain after the money to fund essential community-based programs switches hands at the end of this month.

The future of aboriginal health in B.C. is uncertain after the money to fund essential community-based programs switches hands at the end of this month.

Millions of dollars that were once going directly from the provincial government to the six Aboriginal Health Councils in B.C. have now been redirected to the newly created health authorities.

As of March 31 the funding for this year runs out and the programs that deal with mental health, addiction and family violence in native communities throughout the province will be discontinued for the time being.

"There's no way for the communities to avoid a disruption to service and no security or guarantees that the service they presently provide will be maintained and stay the same," said Denise Taylor, a communications consultant contracted to the Aboriginal Health Association in B.C.

"You can imagine the level of fear and anxiety in the communities."

The Lower Mainland Aboriginal Health Council which includes aboriginal bands in the Sea to Sky Corridor, is now going to be incorporated into the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA) – an organization that has just inherited a massive debt.

"Basically nothing is sacred given the $136 million that we have to find across the authority to trim," said Clay Adams, the communications director for the VCHA.

"We're looking at everything, absolutely everything."

The councils have been told the new health authorities will determine their continued existence by the summer.

For the past 10 years each health council has been getting $750,000 for aboriginal programs.

The councils decide based on needs, where the money goes in the community after reviewing various program proposals. A council sometimes has 30 to 60 proposals to review.

"The whole purpose of the Aboriginal Health Council was to provide the ability for the aboriginal communities to be decision makers about the aboriginal programs specific to addictions and mental health," said Taylor, of the Aboriginal Health Association.

Funding for family violence programs was also included in their mandate.

This year the Mount Currie band received funding for a Family Violence Prevention counsellor.

Statistics from the tribal police for this small native band north of Pemberton pointed to family violence as an ongoing problem in the community.

"A lot of this is generational stuff or residential school stuff that has impacted the individuals and their families," said Merle Wallace, the director of community services with the Mount Currie band.

Wallace is also a representative of the Lower Mainland Aboriginal Health Council through which the band applied for funding for the counsellor.

They received $45,000 for the program. The counsellor, who was hired from within Mount Currie, started work in October.

Over the past five months she has been conducting group, family and individual sessions to help people overcome and cope with family violence. She has already seen 67 members of the Mount Currie band, out of a population of 1,700.

"It's made a considerable difference for the clients she's working with," said Wallace.

"People are starting to open up. It could be quite traumatic for these people to put it on hold indefinitely. That's a disservice to our community."

The councils have been told a decision about the funding and aboriginal health structures will be made by June or July.

"My sense is that it is simply a redirection of the funds," said Adams, of the VCHA.

"How we use those funds is something that will be determined, we hope, by the summer, in which case, it's almost a transitional thing."

But this transition means there will be a break in community-based programs for at least four months, with no guarantees the programs will return.

Although the Family Violence Prevention counsellor in Mount Currie has only been in place for a few months, there are some aboriginal programs, which have been funded by the councils for the past five to nine years.

"They have had a huge impact and have become a service in the community which is no longer going to be available," said Marilyn Ota, the regional co-ordinator with the Lower Mainland Aboriginal Health Council.

Ota is concerned the VCHA will not be attuned to the needs of the aboriginal communities, especially the rural communities.

"It's not like we're in Vancouver and we can try to access the mainstream programs," she said.

"If you're in Mount Currie, where do you go?"

This sentiment is echoed by Wesley Jeffries, the co-regional chair of the Lower Mainland Aboriginal Health Authority.

"We know the needs of our people," he said.

"We're afraid that what we're going to have to do with the new health authority system is that we're going to have to educate them. And we've been educating for the last 200 years."

Jeffries is from the Sechelt band on the Sunshine coast. For the past three to four years there has been a detox program in place there funded by the Aboriginal Health Council. The program was put in place to respond to the crack problem that is plaguing the community.

"Crack is really serious now," said Jeffries.

"It's like an epidemic sweeping through our community.

"I call it an epidemic because of the fact that both the young and the adults are using it. So it's reaching all ages in our community."

The detox program runs about three times each year for 21 straight days.

About 12 people use the program during each session and they go to a remote lodge in Vancouver Bay by water taxi where they spend three weeks with drug addiction counsellors.

"Detox is just the place to go to be able to cleanse your body of the intoxicants that you've been using and to be able to learn how to focus and plan your life," said Jeffries.

He is worried about how the funding changes may affect this program and others like it throughout the province.

Another concern in the aboriginal community is there won't be any representation on the VCHA boards.

"I'm not sure we can confidently say there will be (representation) given that one of the messages that the board... has sent out is that representation will be based on the best people and the best locations and so on," said Adams.

"Right now with so much going on and so many changes taking place, it's something else that we need to get a better handle on and sort out the best way to replace the old health council structures."

Meanwhile, these programs will be put on hold until a decision can be made.

This is not good news for community members who need the services that these programs provide.

Said Ota, of the Lower Mainland Aboriginal Health Association: "Our community members lives are at stake."