the Aboriginal Healing Foundation Summary Points of the AHF Final Report
Published in January 2006, the Final Report of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation comprises three volumes. The report records information and accomplishments related to healing in general and to the work of the AHF.
Volume I – A Healing Journey: Reclaiming Wellness places the work of the AHF within the context of the wider Aboriginal healing movement, summarizes what the AHF has learned from research and evaluation, and recommends measures to address the future healing needs of residential school Survivors and their families.
Volume II – Measuring Progress: Program Evaluation Synthesizes the data collected through the three national surveys (2000, 2002, 2004), five focus groups, thirteen case studies, 1,479 individual participant questionnaires (IPQs), and file review of thirty-six AHF-funded projects.
Volume III – Promising Healing Practices in Aboriginal Communities Reports on AHF-funded programs with practices and interventions that are working well for Aboriginal communities or communities of interest based on questionnaires, file review, survey data and focus groups.Between 1800s-1990s, over 130 government-funded church-run industrial schools, boarding schools and northern hostels operated in Canada for Aboriginal children.
Many First Nations, Métis and Inuit children attending residential schools suffered physical, sexual and other abuses (i.e., loss of childhood, family, community, language and culture).
In 1996, the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples stressed the urgency of addressing the impacts of residential schools.
On January 7, 1998, then Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Honourable Jane Stewart issued a ‘Statement of Reconciliation’ and unveiled Gathering Strength-Canada’s Aboriginal Action Plan.
The federal government announced a one-time grant of $350 million for community-based healing of the physical and sexual abuses that occurred in residential schools.
On March 31, 1998, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation was created. It was given a ten year mandate: one year to set-up; 4 years to disburse the $350-million healing fund on a multiyear basis, and 5 years to monitor and evaluate the projects.
