METIS NA TION Of ONT ARIO Annu A l Repo R t 20122013 55 will be the lead agency on this pr ovincial fle until at least Mar ch 31 2014 W ith funding pr ovided fr om the Aboriginal Healing and W ellness Strategy AHWS the MNO pr ovides fow thr ough ser vices for satellite pr ojects operated by other Aboriginal agencies involved in healing and wellness Thr ough this pr ocess the MNO has developed successful working r elationships with the Ontario Native W omen s Association ONW A Niijkiwendidaa Anishinabekewwag Ser vices Cir cle the Native W omen s Resour ce Centr e NWRC Aboriginal Peoples Alliance of Norther n Ontario AP ANO Red Lake Indian Friendship Centr e and the Nogojiwanong Friendship Centr e in Peterbor ough Co MM un I ty Wellness Wo RK e R c WW Thr ough the Community W ellness W orker CWW pr ogram the MNO works closely with Metis indi viduals and families to r educe the risk and incidence of family violence in Metis communities and to pr omote informed decisions and actions that will facilitate gr eater safety health healing and wellness Ther e ar e thr ee ar eas of inter vention thr ough which CWW supports Metis communities networking par ticipant based education and dir ect client ser vice Networking CWW coor dinators build upon existing r elationships with other stakeholders to foster a collaborative spirit maximize r esour ces cr eate a str onger voice for the Metis perspective and develop the most ef fective pr ocesses for pr oviding r eferral ser vices Participantbased education Each fscal year CWW workers in each MNO community plan and deliver a variety of educationalsupportive gatherings to impr ove the capacity to thrive incr ease knowledgeskills and help change the unhealthy attitudes and behaviours of participants CWW gatherings addr ess the MNO s edu cational goals as well as the local pr efer ences and needs of each community Dir ect client ser vice The most pr ominent aspect of CWW is the pr ovision of specifc clientdriven sup ports to Metis and other individuals and families The primar y goal of CWW is to r educe family violence and facilitate informed decision making towar ds gr eater community health wellness and safety Thr ough training practice and ongoing support CWW coor dinators ar e able to utilize inter vention strategies including advocacy r eferral wellness planning and individual health pr omotion that meet clients needs Recent notable achievements Ther e was marked gr owth as indicated in the chart in both the number of clients supported and the number of ser vices pr ovided by CWW This gr owth was the r esult of impr oved management capacity to r eview and support community ser vices via the HA TS system and a fully staf fed CWW team compar ed to 201112 when several sites wer e under going tur novers A MNO inter branch training and plenar y session held in the autumn of 2012 allowed CWW coor dina tors to signifcantly expand their understanding of the spectrum of Metis needs stakeholders and ser vices This r esulted in impr oved quality of ser vice for clients and participants in CWW pr ogramming Metis community festivals wer e held at several locations and attracted hundr eds of participants in the fall and summer of 2012 p ro G ram de T a I ls Funder Ministry of c ommunity and Social Services Aboriginal Healing and W ellness Strategy AHWS Gover nment of o ntario n umber of s taf f 19 s taf f located in Bancr oft Brampton f ort f rances Hamilton Kenora Midland n orth Bay o ttawa o wen Sound r enfr ew Sault Ste Marie Sudbury t hunder Bay t immins W elland and W indsor e ligible Clientele Any person Metis and others