Healing centre for residential school survivors in Winnipeg puts programs on hold because of lack of funding

The future of a Winnipeg organization that supports residential school survivors and their families is uncertain after the majority of its funding got pulled.

The Wa-Say Healing Centre said it's two years behind on the financial statements required for the renewal of its annual funding agreement with the federal government, its main backer.

The centre was notified last month that funding wouldn't be renewed.

The organization, founded in 2012, helps the healing journey of residential school survivors and their families through cultural events, offering things like sweat lodge and drumming group programs, as well as naming ceremonies.

In a post on social media earlier this week, the centre announced it was going to cancel its fourth annual Orange Shirt Day healing walk and powwow — its largest event of the year.

Then on Thursday, the organization said a last-minute commitment for financial support from the province as well as the Southern Chiefs' Organization — which are providing $50,000 each — and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs means the event will go ahead.

But Wayne Mason Jr., Wa-Say's director of operations, said its future is still up in the air.

Listen l Wa-Say cancels annual healing walk after funding pulled:

Up To Speed8:26Orange Shirt day event cancelled director says it's because of funding cuts

Host Faith Fundal speaks to Wayne Mason Jr, Director of Operations at the Wa-Say Healing Centre and planner of the Healing Walk, about the cancellation. 

"The reality that our doors were going to be shut didn't hit us for a couple days, and then we had to make decisions of ending programs and services and letting staff go," Mason said. 

Ninety per cent of Wa-Say's staff — about a dozen people including cultural support workers, counsellors and elders — have been laid off.

Without them, all of the centre's programming has been put on hold, Mason said.

Centre working to get funding renewed

The centre's employees were helping some people with their residential and day school compensation claims, but they've had to turn people away, he said.

"That's our fault too. We should have been on top of [the reporting]," Mason said. "We won't be able to open our doors until we can get … enough funding to continue on, and bring back our staff."

Belinda Vandenbroeck, a survivor of the MacKay residential school in Dauphin, Man., has been supporting people like her for decades on their journey toward overcoming their trauma.

She was recently in Opaskwayak Cree Nation, which announced last week that a three-day search using human remains detection dogs had indicated six "areas of interest" that might hold multiple undocumented burials at the first location of the MacKay school, near The Pas.

Vandenbroeck said each residential school student's path toward healing is different, but everyone needs help like the assistance Wa-Say provides.

"I've been on my healing journey for 47 years," she said.

"Life happens every day. All kinds of things happen in a day that can hurt you physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally." 

Vandenbroeck said it's essential for the federal government to continue supporting organizations that help residential school survivors, because the government is responsible for "all this pain."

Mason said Wa-Say has hired a new person who will look at the financial statements, which they hope to have in order by fall, so they can reapply for funding.

CBC News reached out on Thursday to Indigenous Services Canada, which oversees the funding, but the agency hasn't yet answered a reporter's questions.

Wa-Say Healing Centre puts programs on hold because of lack of funding

3 months ago

Duration 1:58

The future of a Winnipeg organization that supports residential school survivors and their families is uncertain after the majority of its funding got pulled.