The Alberta government says it’s putting up nearly $8-million for Indigenous-led mental-health programs that will include support to help residential school survivors and their families heal.
$2.9 million will go to First Nations, Metis Settlements, and the Metis Nation of Alberta.
Community members will be able to apply for one-time grants of up to $50,000 per group for individual and family counselling or traditional healing and talking circles.
The remaining money will be given to an Alberta Health Services Indigenous program that provides culturally appropriate health services for Indigenous people.

The elected chief of Six Nations of the Grand River says the search for unmarked graves at the former site of a residential school in southwestern Ontario should be treated as a criminal investigation.
Chief Mark Hill issued the call on Wednesday along with survivors of the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School in Brantford, Ont.
He says the First Nation is urging police forces to collaborate with the community on the effort.
Hill says 54 deaths were recorded at the former residential school but the graves of those individuals are unknown.
He says Six Nations will provide $1 million to support the creation of a survivor secretariat that will help with the search effort.

The federal government is earmarking funds for projects that aim to build on Ottawa’s commitment to help revitalize Indigenous legal traditions.
Justice Minister David Lametti says $918,000 will go to the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians and Lakehead University’s law faculty to support Indigenous law-making research and “lay the foundation” for an Indigenous legal institute in Thunder Bay, Ont.
The funding draws on a previously announced $9.5 million for 21 projects to help First Nations, Inuit and Metis restore Indigenous law in regions across the country.

The B.C. government says it will provide immediate funding to 21 First Nation communities to help with searches for human remains at former residential schools or hospitals.
Murray Rankin, the minister of Indigenous relations and reconciliation, said on Tuesday that each community can receive up to $475,000 as it carries out searches, planning, technical work and archival research, while also engaging with elders, survivors and other First Nations that have an interest in an area.
No deadline is attached to the grants, he said and the funding is from the $12 million the province announced last month for research at former residential school sites, as well as for mental health and cultural supports for Indigenous communities.

Ontario is reporting 192 new COVID-19 cases today and one death from the virus.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says 43 cases are in Toronto, 25 are in Peel Region, 18 in York Region and 18 in Waterloo Region.
The numbers are based on 19,757 tests.
There are 136 patients hospitalized with critical COVID-related illness and 84 on ventilators.
The province says 120,231 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered yesterday for a total of 18.7 million shots.
Eighty per cent of adults in Ontario have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 66 per cent are fully vaccinated.