Aboriginal Congress of Alberta Association launches new app
By Tim Kalinowski on April 17, 2021.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com
The Aboriginal Congress of Alberta Association (ACAA) is introducing a new app designed to provide important outreach and information services to urban Indigenous people and non-status Indigenous people at the touch of an icon.
“Our federal government has moved forward with this distinctions-based approach,” explains Beverly Allard, president of the Aboriginal Congress of Alberta Association which is the Alberta affiliate of the nationally registered Congress of Aborginal People, “which means they have given recognition to the Assembly of First Nations, the Metis National Council and the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami folks as representatives of Indigenous populations. But we know Indigenous people are very migratory and just because they leave the reserve, or they leave their home communities, does not mean that their Treaty rights suddenly just sort of end at that border. The majority of Indigenous people across this country live in urban settings throughout the provinces, and when there are programs and opportunities that are funneled through those three primary national organizations oftentimes it is those (urban, transient) folks who get missed.”
The app will keep those who download it on their tablet, laptop or smart phone up to date on various funding programs, opportunities and community information offered through the ACAA.
“We don’t have offices (in northern or southern Alberta),” Allard explains, “and so this app gives us a real opportunity to ensure that the information, the opportunities, the initiatives, and the other resources we have here, are equitably shared across the province.”
The Aboriginal Congress of Alberta Association app can be downloaded free of charge from either the Apple App or Google Play store.
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