Tutoring services, online programs, and a 14-passenger van.
These are some of the things the Inuvik Native Band will do with $1.6 million in new federal funding for youth programming.
The funding is provided through Jordan’s Principle and was announced by the Band on Friday.
Chief Robert Charlie-Tetlichi acknowledges it’s a lot of money for a band that rarely receives funding. “The funding definitely helped us, but more importantly, [it’s] supporting our members, especially the children.”
“We still have to do [outreach], we have to staff up a number of positions, and then really start engaging with the youth and the Elders in our community so that we can get these programs up and running.”
The intent of the Jordan’s Principle funding is to ensure Indigenous children nationwide have equitable access to services and programming.
As Charlie-Tetlichi explains, the funding can also be used to bridge generational gaps in the community. “We’re really pleased that the department accepted our proposal and that we can now move forward and really start working with our youth to provide some programming to them, but also including the Elders, and bridging that gap between the youth and Elders, which is, I think, really important.”
