Residential school counselling program makes little impact in Nunavut
A federal program that offers individual counselling to former residential school students has not been used by as many people in Nunavut as in the rest of Canada, some officials in the territory say.
Health Canada has been running the $94-million nationwide program for 18 months, offering individual counselling to former students or their family members. It even covers transportation costs for those who don't have counselling services in their home communities.
But while Health Canada would not say how many former students from Nunavut have used the program to date, officials with the territory's Inuit land-claim organization say few Nunavummiut are aware of it.
"We don't know of any individuals that have accessed this particular type of counselling," Natan Obed, director of social and cultural development with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., told CBC News on Wednesday.
"It's a pretty significant mandate that the government of Canada has, and it's one that NTI feels that hasn't been properly communicated."
The counselling program is part of the government's residential school apology and legal settlement package. It runs until 2013.
Former students are eligible to apply, including students who have received federal compensation payments and who have filed claims through a formal resolution process or litigation.
Health Canada officials say they've mailed brochures to community health centres, RCMP detachments, government offices and Inuit organizations across Nunavut. However, there have been no media campaigns to promote the program.
"I would say the take-up is not as high in Nunavut as it has been in some of the other territories. I don't have a reason for that," said Ross Leeder, Health Canada's director general for the North.
"We continue to look for ways to promote the program to ensure that people have access to it, but the Nunavut engagement or the takeup of it has not been as great as we had first expected."
Leeder added that his department is working with the Embrace Life Council, Nunavut Tunngavik and the territorial government to ensure people are aware of the program.