(Montreal) Ottawa is granting close to $1 million in financial assistance to the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal with a view to providing better access to justice for vulnerable members of this community. This is the first-ever collaborative Indigenous justice strategy to address overrepresentation and systemic discrimination in the Canadian justice system.
Federal Justice Minister David Lametti confirmed Tuesday morning financial assistance of $919,000 which will be used, among other things, to provide the services of a full-time lawyer to the organization and the families who attend it. A social worker will also be hired to support the beneficiaries of the centre’s services. The rest of the envelope will be devoted to the implementation of training allowing them to better understand their rights.
The amount is taken from the Funding program for the provision of legal services and support to racialized communities, for which 21.5 million had been allocated in the last budget.
Currently, many Indigenous families across the country are being broken up by the removal of children by child protective services, said shelter director Na’kuset S.
Many specialists or lawyers are poorly equipped to help mothers because they are not familiar with the reality of indigenous peoples, she also lamented.
