from the desk of: Rolf Auer writer

43 Lavergne St. Ottawa ON K1L 5E9 June 27, 2012 Member of Parliament John Duncan Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Minister Conservative Party of Canada Dear Mr. Duncan, A successful after-school program for Downtown Eastside aboriginal and disabled youth is shutting down because the Treasury Board has frozen a $22-million grant to Cultural Connections for Aboriginal Youth a national program designed to enhance the economic, social, cultural and personal prospects for off-reserve youth. The freeze on releasing the funds to the various Cultural Connections for Aboriginal Youth (CCAY) centres across Canada is incomprehensible, said Vancouver East NDP MP Libby Davies. This is going to have a drastic impact on aboriginal youth said Davies. In parliament Thursday [June 21], Jean Crowder, NDP MP for Nanaimo-Cowichan, asked Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Minister John Duncan to explain why the Treasury Board froze the funding when he had earlier stated that the cultural connections program would be safe from cuts. [Duncan] said the [federal Tories] wanted to realign the program to meet our current needs for skills training development and job readiness.Federal cuts hit aboriginal youth programs hard, The Vancouver Sun, Gerry Bellett, June 23, 2012 That these funding cuts to Native youth centres took place on National Aboriginal Day [June 21] makes it difficult to believe that their timing wasnt deliberate. Mr. Duncan, Prime Minister Harper: if the federal Tories dont want to continue to be accused of harboring racist attitudes toward its First Nations Peoples, then a good first step would be to please rescind these funding cuts as soon as possible. Unless the federal Tories dont immediately start to respect Canada and Canadas First Nations Peoples, Ill do my best (as a writer) to make sure that voters dont forget that come the day of the next federal election. (As a goodwill gesture towards Canadas First Nations Peoples, Prime Minister Harper might begin by please publicly commenting on the sad lack of progress on all the missing womens inquiries across Canada, which almost exclusively are about Native women, to at least give some appearance of concernsomething he so far hasnt done.) Yours sincerely, Rolf Auer 613-617-9293 rolfauer@yahoo.ca cc: The Right Honorable Prime Minister Stephen Harper Member of Parliament Libby Davies Member of Parliament Jean Crowder Naomi Graham, CCAY Program Director

I Peter 5:14 Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity: Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen. John 15:12 Jesus: This is my Commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.