Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement — Health Support Component (Close-Out Report)

Starting in 2018–19, funding for the 2 components of the horizontal initiative was renewed within existing, separate departmental programs. Separate results and performance indicators were also identified for each component rather than shared horizontal results. For this reason, the horizontal initiative was considered closed as of March 31, 2018.

Lead department: Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC)

Federal partner organization: Indigenous Services Canada (ISC)

Non-federal and non-governmental partner(s): Not applicable

Start date: September 2003 (Resolution Health Support Program), July 2004 (Crisis Line)

End date: March 31, 2018

Number of times renewed: 4

Expenditures

Total federal funding from start to end date (authorities and actual)
Federal organizations Horizontal initiative activitiesa Program authorities (according to the TB submission) Internal services authorities (according to the TB submission) Actual program spending (dollars total) Actual Internal Services spending (dollars total) Variance(s)
CIRNAC Indian Residential School Crisis Line $38,900,000 N/Ab $30,330,983 N/Ab ($8,569,017)
ISC Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program $551,500,748 $20,362,298 $562,103,588 $18,930,374 $9,170,916
Totals $590,400,748 $20,362,298 $592,434,571 $18,930,374 $601,899
a The horizontal initative stems from the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, which was implemented in September 2007. Under the agreement, Canada has the obligation to maintain health support services including the Crisis Line.
b Internal Services authorities in Treasury Board submissions for CIRNAC were aggregated with other program components that were not part of the horizontal initiative. Therefore, internal services funding and spending amounts for the Crisis Line cannot be isolated.

Results

CIRNAC
Expected results Performance indicators Trend dataa
Former Indian residential school students and their families have access to a 24-hour, national crisis line operated by trained crisis counselors % of calls receiving a busy signal in a 24-hour period 2017–18: 2.5%
% of calls answered within 3 rings in a 24-hour period (Crisis Line) 2017–18: 97.6%
a Trend data for this performance indicator is only available for fiscal year 2017–18 as the performance indicator was implemented in 2017–18.
ISC
Expected results Performance indicators Trend data
Demand-driven health support services will be accessible to former Indian residential school students and their families throughout all phases of the IRSSA Number of distinct former Indian Residential School students and their family members who access mental health counselling 2017–18: 12,363
2016–17: 10,631
2015–16: 7,508

Brief explanation of performance

CIRNAC: The Indian Residential School Crisis Line (Crisis Line) is a national 24-hour toll-free support service operated by crisis counselors trained to respond to issues affecting Indigenous Canadians, and to support former students, their families, and communities. The Crisis Line is demand-driven and provides critical and culturally-appropriate support to individuals, including suicide intervention and other support services. These services are provided in Indigenous languages and are available to anyone, anytime from any location. From February 2008 to March 31, 2018, the crisis line responded to 76,266 calls. Crisis counselors handled 7,979 calls in 2016–17, and 8,972 calls in 2017–18, including 101 suicide interventions.

ISC: Former Indian residential school students and their families have received demand-driven mental health, cultural and emotional support through each phase of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. From September 2003 to March 31, 2018, demand-driven health support services were made accessible to former Indian residential school students and their families. In this timeframe, the services have seen yearly increases in uptake with over 468,000 counselling services provided and over 5.6 million interactions with health support and cultural support workers. In 2017–18, there were 88,104Endnote 1 counselling sessions reported.

Programs receiving ongoing funding
Federal organizations Program Ongoing funding Purpose
CIRNAC Residential School Resolution 2018–19: $3,600,000
2019–20: $3,600,000
2020–21: $3,600,000
Continued delivery of Indian Residential School Crisis Line services in accordance with the terms of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
ISC Mental Wellness 2018–19: $77,731,700
2019–20: $82,755,900
2020–21: $88,028,300
Budget 2018 provided 3 years of funding for the continuation of health supports.
Total $259,315,900  
Note: 2018–19 expenditures are included in the corresponding program in the Program Inventory and rolled up at the Core Responsibility level. The Programs in this case are "Residential Schools Resolution" and "Mental Wellness".

Fiscal year of planned completion of next evaluation:

CIRNAC: No evaluation is planned for the next 5 years based on an assessment of risks, priorities, and needs. However, CIRNAC has completed a lessons learned exercise undertaken in collaboration with all parties to the Settlement Agreement.

ISC: The next evaluation of the Mental Wellness Program, including the Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program, is planned for 2020–21 and will cover the period from April 2015 to March 2020.

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