Friendship Centres are critical sites of Indigenous knowledge and language transmission. They connect children, youth and adult learners. They enable community members to engage with Indigenous knowledge, negotiate healthy Indigenous identities, and reach their full potential. The OFIFC works to support Friendship Centres’ efforts to revitalize Indigenous knowledge systems, improve public understanding and recognition of Indigenous knowledge to affect public policy, and a responsive public education system that honours Indigenous identities, knowledge, histories, and rights.
Education:
The federal government’s Indigenous language legislation fails to establish mechanisms that increase Indigenous control over languages and ignores the rights of urban Indigenous communities to reclaim and revitalize their languages. In this submission, the OFIFC outlines a way forward that respects the rights of urban Indigenous communities and consistently incorporates the full participation of urban Indigenous organisations in decisions that impact their cultural rights.
Employment:
The OFIFC has established four strategic goals aimed at increasing urban Indigenous people’s involvement in the labour force. By addressing gaps within the education to employment continuum and enhancing supports to urban Indigenous youth, the OFIFC outlines policy directives that can change the employment and training landscape in Ontario.
In this submission, the OFIFC provides recommendations to the federal government about how to make the Employment Insurance program more equitable and accessible for urban Indigenous communities.
This report puts forward policy solutions informed by urban Indigenous people with lived experience of accessing social assistance programs across seven communities in Ontario. Jointly authored by the OFIFC, the Ontario Native Women’s Association, and the Métis Nation of Ontario, this report demands action from government on income security and greater support for urban Indigenous community development.