Meadow Lake Tribal Council - Over 25 Years Creating Health, Community Wealth and Good Governance.

Programs & Services: Social Assistance Reform

The Meadow Lake Tribal Council’s Social Reform Project was a pilot program officially launched on October 1, 2000. Previously the responsibility of Indian and Northern Affairs, the Meadow Lake Tribal Council has developed a unique welfare delivery system in partnership with five of the Meadow Lake First Nations.      Due to past successes in program delivery, the Meadow Lake Tribal Council was the natural choice for the pilot project. The Meadow Lake Tribal Council, with the assistance of the participating First Nations communities, developed a proposal and negotiated with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada to finalize the deal and put it into effect.      By taking over the management, delivery, and financial responsibility for the $6 million program, the Meadow Lake Tribal Council/Meadow Lake First Nations partnership now looks after the day-to-day operations of the social assistance program on a block-funded basis.      All program resources are shared, based on common policy parameters. Any unexpended funds at year-end will be allocated on an equitable basis to a community re-investment fund for each participating Meadow Lake First Nations community. These funds are then in turn used to support community initiatives to reduce social assistance dependency.      To ensure the accurate and timely administration of the Social Assistance program, a customized database program has been developed to automate all administrative procedures. The program, which ensures accessibility, is set up as a shared operating system through an Internet-based wide area network. This enables the remote First Nations to process social assistance transactions on a central server and have all outputs print out at their home office.