b'POLITICAL FUNDINGchanged and there was a sense that theof extra money around that we can use Indigenous national institutions werentto keep programs and services going, important anymore, he explains. SoDeGagn says. Once theyve stopped they said, alright, well thats it, when yourfunding them, theyre done, so thats a money runs out, youre closed down,pretty immediate impact.were not going to give you any more. So it was a reflection of the change in theDeGagns experiences, particularly political wind. the closure of the Aboriginal Healing According to DeGagn, the impact fromFoundation, outline the significant the loss of government funding wasimpact that federal budgets have on the immediate as the organization had toaccessibility of programs and services. shut its doors, lay off staff and cease itsUnderstanding the proposed budgets, and functions. This is all part of the chal- therefore the priorities of political govern-lenges with economic development inments, can greatly inform decision-making our community, because theres not a lotupon election time.hasnt been sort of tried and true, but might produce a different result or might have different types of impact?According to DeGagn, organizations need to innovate and make sure they are doing things in a new and different way. And thats not always easy, he says. If youre created to serve one population, sometimes that service doesnt change much, but youve got to be constantly gathering information to find out if youre being effective [and] then using that infor-mation to innovate to change things.Freezing funding for the six months before an upcoming election is good governmental policy, says DeGagn; other-wise, governments could use funding to buy votes leading up to an election. That makes good sense; it saves us from being showered with our own money, he says.DeGagn was the final CEO for the AHF before the organization ceased operations in 2014. He explains that one reason the AHF was so stable for so long was because they had been provided with an endowment.The government gave the money upNishnawbe Aski Police front, and because we werent a govern- Service is now hiring!ment organization, we were allowed to invest the money to grow the fund,Please visit joinnaps.ca for DeGagn says. So the money we woundmore information on:up getting directly from government for Qualificationsthe Aboriginal Healing Foundation was Salary & Benefitsabout [] $510 million. But we spent Candidate Preparation Listclose to $600 million because we gener-ated almost $100 million in interest. Our obligation annually was just to report back to government on how the money was spent and to produce an annual report.DeGagn says the AHF was closed by theContact Sgt. Cory Oleschuk, Uniform Recruitment for more information:previous Conservative government. TheContact Sgt. Cory Oleschuk, Uniform Recruitment for more information:[Aboriginal] Healing Foundation was1-800-654-6277 ext. 6593Cory.Oleschuk.naps.cadoing good work, but the political winds1-800-654-6277 ext. 6593Cory.Oleschuk.naps.caOntario Native Womens Association45'