Maryam Monsef, the federal government’s Minister of Status of Women, announced two organizations in Saskatchewan will receive funding to support Indigenous women.
The Aboriginal Friendship Centres of Saskatchewan and the Prince Albert Métis Women Association Inc. were rewarded with a combined $500,000 to fund projects they have proposed. The Government of Canada called for programs aiming to increase the economic security of Indigenous women.
Monsef said there are distinct realities Indigenous women’s experiences that could affect economic prosperity including wage gaps, sexism, and harassment in the workplace.
“For all the barriers that were mentioned we also know that there is a lot of strength and resiliency that is seen every single day, like here today, in Indigenous women and girls,” Monsef said.
Today, we’re happy to announce more than $4.3 million in <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#GoC</a> funding for fourteen projects that advance <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Indigenous?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Indigenous</a> women’s economic security and prosperity across Canada. <a href=”https://t.co/09x1YUHRit”>https://t.co/09x1YUHRit</a> <a href=”https://t.co/ag0dWZqI8b”>pic.twitter.com/ag0dWZqI8b</a>
—@Women_Canada
Creating frameworks and developing solutions
Laurie Bouvier, executive director of the Aboriginal Friendship Centres of Saskatchewan, said with the funding the organization will work toward developing a framework for each of their 11 centres.
“(We’ll be) taking in all of the different factors in each of the communities, such as justice, housing, daycare, children, incarceration, to build the capacity within each of the different communities,” Bouvier said.
Noreen McBride, director of the Prince Albert Métis Women Association said their project aims to identify barriers and implement solutions.
“We have an underutilized market of women who have huge potential to go out there and become gainfully employed, and become leaders for young women in our communities,” McBride said.
The two Saskatchewan projects are part of 14 in the country that are set to receive funding. Monsef said the other projects will be announced in the coming months.