Minister Randy Boissonnault (second from right), Joanne Pompana, Director of the Red Road Healing Society (third from right), and other dignitaries at the announcement celebration on Nov. 3. Photo by Ryan Hunt.
On Friday, Minister Randy Boissonnault announced that the Government of Canada will provide $6.9 million to the Red Road Healing Society (RRHS) to help bolster their existing programs geared towards providing support to Indigenous children, youth, and adults experiencing homelessness, or who are on the verge of it.
Some of the programs on the RRHS’s list feature counselling, family violence workshops, social services, summer camps, and more.
Joanne Pompana, director of the RRHS, spoke to Windspeaker Radio Network in an interview and said the not-for-profit organization is based on “spiritual principles from 1997,” the year they launched.
“This is all important to us. For who works there, for who we work with, to have those principles in their life,” Pompana added.
Pompana described how during the COVID-19 pandemic, more people started to come through their doors wanting “a good life, ” which leads them to where the RRHS is today.
“Your life changes, and it changes in a good way [when you make sacrifices]. Speaking from my own experience, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Pompana said.
Pompana also went into how much Indigenous culture and awareness around Indigenous issues has boomed in Edmonton over the past few decades, where 40 per cent of the current population identify as Indigenous.
“25 years ago, you would never hear of a sun dance happening around Edmonton. They are everywhere, and people are getting on board. I think they’re looking at those children, and their grandchildren, and going ‘I don’t want them to suffer like I suffered, so I will do whatever I can within reason’. If we don’t look after ourselves, we’re no good to anybody,” Pompana ended with.
More information can be found on their website.
Listen to the interview with Joanne Pompana below:
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