Ontario eliminates Indigenous Culture Fund, cuts millions for the arts

The Canadian Press Allison Jones

The Ontario Arts Council, which awards grants, is receiving $10 million less from the government this year — with $5 million of that cut the result of axing the Indigenous Culture Fund

Ontario has eliminated a fund supporting Indigenous culture as the government cuts tens of millions of dollars in arts funding — a decision that is being slammed as short-sighted.

The Progressive Conservatives are attempting to trim an $11.7-billion deficit and are cutting spending in a number of areas. That includes lower spending on tourism, arts and culture, according to recently released expenditure estimates for this fiscal year.

Culture programs are budgeted at $235 million this year, down from nearly $295 million last year, including cutting “arts sector support” from $18.5 million to $6.5 million.

Additionally, the Ontario Arts Council, which awards grants, is receiving $10 million less from the government this year — with $5 million of that cut the result of axing the Indigenous Culture Fund that was only established last year.

The Aboriginal Arts Collective of Canada received $25,000 from the fund and president Dawn Setford said she used the money to hold a long-planned conference to teach about 200 Indigenous women various artistic and cultural practices such as porcupine quilling and basketry.

Those types of traditional teachings were lost in some families, she said, because of residential schools or the ’60s Scoop that removed Indigenous children from their homes.

Setford now doubts she will be able to get other sources of funding to hold another conference.

“As Indigenous women we were just getting there, to the point where people wanted to learn about us … and we’re just at that point where we’re confident enough, we feel safe enough and proud enough to start sharing,” she said. “I think these kind of governmental movements renew in us the feelings that we’re not valuable, that we’re not equal again.”

full story at https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ontario-eliminates-indigenous-culture-fund-cuts-millions-for-the-arts