Funding from the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction has made it possible for Yeqox Nilin Justice Society to hire an Indigenous resilience worker.
Executive director Violet Fuller said the not-for-profit society will receive $72,000 annually for three years.
The new position will help supplement staffing.
“With the programs that we provide, we don’t have enough manpower here,” Fuller said.
The Indigenous resilience worker will assist the justice worker, response team, Indigenous court and youth success programs that focus on prevention.
“We go into communities and help with different activities, and we partner with Denisqi Services Society, the Tsilhqot’in National Government and the BGC,” Fuller noted.
In the coming months, the youth success worker will be going into public schools in Williams Lake and independent schools in First Nations communities with some prevention programs to address suicide and gangs.
The society had done the prevention programs before, but not since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Indigenous Court, which opened in Dec. 2020, has been holding sessions at St. Andrew’s United Church and seeing about 12 or 13 participants come through each month, she said.
She said the society’s funding is proposal-driven.
In a government news release Feb. 3, the ministry said approximately $5 million in grants was being committed to 23 Indigenous-led non-profit organizations from the Indigenous Resilience and Recovery Grant Initiative.
The investment recognizes the essential role of Indigenous-led organizations in supporting communities, Megan Dykeman, Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development and Non-Profits said.
In May 2023, Fuller will celebrate her second year anniversary working for the society.
READ MORE: Indigenous Court opens in Williams Lake
monica.lamb-yorski@wltribune.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter