Total $372,643—39 projects
Aboriginal Neighbours Program (MCCO North)—Timmins, Ont.
$5,200
Dancing Inside the Circle March 2003-February 2004
The Aboriginal Neighbours Program North of MCCO works with issues concerning Aboriginal Peoples of the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation: family violence, economic and environmental justice and cross-cultural education. The Connecting People Project is committed to improving the quality of direct cross-cultural relationships, and to create expectations of mutual learning and sharing about faith, experience, and human need. The support will allow the work of connecting people to continue thereby creating right relationships. (Diocese of Moosonee)
Aboriginal Neighbours—Parksville, B.C.
$3,000
Nurturing Deep Understanding and Hope Two: A Gathering (Year Two, Part Five, of A Pilgrimage Towards Right Relationships Project.
Working ecumenically and through established networks, a five-year education and action process was begun on Vancouver Island to right relationship between Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal peoples. These relationships will be based on the principles of mutual recognition, respect, sharing, and responsibility. Exploration will be done from a faith-perspective with spiritual and theological reflection.
(Diocese of British Columbia)
Adah’Dene Cultural Healing Camp Society—Fort St. James, B.C.
$5,000
Cultural Healing Camp Project: The Legacy of Abuse in Residential School
The purpose of this project is to heal the wounds inflicted by residential schools on the four Carriers communities of Nak’azdli, Tl’azt’en, Yekooche and Takla Lake Band. The program will show that learning must take place in a safe and secure environment. This project consists of language restoration and culture to bring about healing and wholeness to the community life. Healing circles and training workshops will be provided for service providers and frontline workers. (Diocese of Caledonia)
Arrowhead Foundation—Ishaawin Family Resources—Thunder Bay, Ont.
$9,450
Soar Like An Eagle – Facilitator Training Program
The focus of the organization is to train leaders to lead support groups and recovery programs that address the needs of physical and sexual abuse survivors and their descendants. This particular project will identify and increase the skills of support group leaders in Muskrat Dam, Ont.tario, a small First Nations community in northwestern Ontario. The training program will consist of five components that include regular visits to the community to supervise support group meetings and to prepare trainees to lead. (Diocese of Algoma)
Barrie Area Native Advisory Group—Barrie, Ont.
$4,575
The Gathering Knowledge Project April 2003-March 2004
The Gathering Knowledge project is an exciting opportunity for the Anishnaabe people of the Simcoe and York Region to tell their history through their own perspective. The Anishnaabe have maintained tradition of preserving their values and history through the stories that have been passed from generation to next. But due to infusion of modern society there has been a rapid decline of the Ojibway language and speakers among the Anishnaabe people. This creates a need to record the oral history and cultural knowledge to preserve and protect the diverse history of Canada’s First Peoples. (Diocese of Toronto)
Change of Seasons Society—Vancouver, B.C.
$9,000
Restoring Balance: Phase I Men’s Group Program
The Change of Seasons project is a program for counselling Aboriginal men who have behaved abusively and violently towards their female partners/wives. The Society uses a 28 session group model consisting of five components: the Aboriginal Men’s Domestic Violence Group, the Aboriginal Men’s Anger Management Group, the Community Awareness Program and One-to-One Counselling. Prior to admission, each new client undergoes an intake assessment to determine if he can benefit from participating in a group. (Diocese of New Westminster)
Council of Indigenous Peoples/Anglican Parishes of Central Interior—Merritt, B.C.
$20,000
Healing Gathering June 29 – July 5, 2003
The Council of Indigenous Peoples of the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior will host a 7-day healing gathering at Sorrento Centre in Sorrento, B.C.. The gathering will provide opportunities for survivors of the residential school system to share stories, to gain better self-awareness and self-worth through teaching, sharing and prayer, while providing a learning opportunity to those who wish to gain a better understanding of the trauma and pain lived by those who survived the system. (Anglican Parishes of Central Interior Initiative)
Daylu Dena Council—Lower Post, B.C.
$15,000
Healthy Grieving Conference
The Daylu Dena Council will host a 3-day healthy grieving conference in Watson Lake and surrounding communities. The need for this specific grieving conference is evident in the area. Survivors of Residential School and their families largely populate the Watson Lake area, and the responses to the loss of culture and family are visible by the numbers of families suffering from various forms of violence, substance abuse, lack of parenting skills, lack of healthy coping skills and high rates of traumatic deaths in the communities. Families also suffer from lack of self-esteem, impacting on their ability to be self-sustaining and economically independent. (Diocese of Yukon)
Diocese of the Arctic, Yellowknife, N.W.T.
$10,000
Community Counsellor Training
The diocese will make available a Biblical Counselling Training Program for selected members of the local communities. The training program is designed to give theoretical foundation and basic skills to promote Christina growth through biblical counseling. The training program is offered through Providence College & Theological Seminary located in Manitoba. (Diocese of the Arctic)
Diocese of British Columbia Aboriginal Resources Committee—Victoria, B.C.
$5,000
Spiritual Unity-Aboriginal Elders Conference
The Elders of the First Nation of southern Vancouver Island will host Spiritual Unity-Aboriginal Elders Conference. While the overall conference focuses on the Elders of B.C. and western Canada, it really is a multi-generational event. The activities will focus on the crucial role that traditional spirituality plays in the well being of an Aboriginal person, Aboriginal families and their communities. This role is tremendously more significant than in the secularized general Canadian society. (Diocese of British Columbia)
Diocese of Keewatin—Keewatin, Ont.
$10,000
Family Wellness Workshops
The Family Wellness workshops will be held in various locations within the diocese. The workshops will focus on reinstating and maintaining values that are essential in fostering healthy families and lifestyles, such as: positive family values, communication skills, traditional and cultural values and teachings, and fostering and maintaining a spiritual connection. Two members from each community will be invited to attend the workshops. The training will allow the participants to be more able to adequately intervene, counsel, and assist and support families in crisis. There will be ongoing training, support, and assistance for the participants in their home communities. (Diocese of Keewatin)
Elizabeth Fry Society of Edmonton—Edmonton, Alta.
$8,450
Aboriginal Women’s Program
January 2003 – December 2004
The Aboriginal Women’s Program provides services, supports and programs based on the Medicine Wheel teachings where each participant is acknowledged with the respect and dignity she deserves. The women who participate in this program are those who wish to make a connection to a cultural approach to healing and recovery. While the program offers traditional teachings, it also assists the women to obtain the necessities for a more stable home life, provides a support system to the workings mothers, advocates for women with social service agencies and links them with education and employment goals.
(Diocese of Edmonton)
Equay-Wuk (Women’s Group)—Sioux Lookout, Ont.
$10,700
Nishnawbe-Aski Nation Women’s Gathering
The purpose of the gathering is to: empower women, youth and families in the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation in the following areas: to develop and/or enhance positive parenting techniques, to empower women to participate in leadership, to develop entrepreneurial skills and to promote self-care. Majority of the people in the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation attended residential schools across Ontario and Manitoba.
(Diocese of Keewatin)
Esquimalt Nation—Victoria, B.C.
$12,000
Family Healing and Support Program
The Esquimalt Nation will begin this project by hiring a family support worker to develop and coordinate programs that will set the foundation for a larger two-year program. Each program will be holistic in its approach. The activities of the program will include: one-to-one counseling, counseling for the immediate family and provide opportunities to strengthen the support from the extended family.
(Diocese of British Columbia)
Grollier Hall Residential School Healing Circle—Yellowknife, N.W.T.
$3,570
ADR Redress and Reconciliation Process.
The Grollier Hall Residential School Healing Circle request is to complete the Alternative Dispute Resolution process. This process began in 1997 when a former student of Grollier Hall disclosed that he had been sexually abused during his stay at the school. Based on the investigations and statements of a number of former students, 50 sex-related charges have been laid against 3 former supervisors. Some convictions have already occurred. Now 2002, this will be the final task of the ADR Process for the former residential schools students. Participants have been working with the church and government to develop a process that is humane, compassionate, and mindful of indigenous peoples’ traditions and yet has safeguards to ensure that claims are validated and damages assessed. The end-result is the individual settlements for those claims that have been validated, and community programs for healing and reconciliation. (Diocese of the Arctic)
Healing & Reconciliation Committee of the Diocese of Brandon
$26,928
Healing, Reconciliation & New life Project
Healing and reconciliation workshops for victims of residential school abuse will be held in a number of communities in the northern part of the diocese. This process is an effort by the Aboriginal people, including the clergy, of the diocese to make healing and reconciliation meaningful for the Aboriginal communities. Colonial school system will be addressed in the way that is determined by the peoples and cultural values, traditions and history will be incorporated. (Diocese of Brandon)
Health Sciences Centre—Winnipeg, Man.
$9,100
Aboriginal Clinical Pastor Education Program (Spiritual Care)
This program has been developed to increase the number of clinically trained Aboriginal care givers in the aboriginal community as a direct way to address the impacts of residential schooling through existing avenues of care and service. Embracing Traditional, Christian, and Interfaith values, this program offers standard Spiritual Care (Pastoral) Education, with an emphasis on Aboriginal issues in care. Subjects like residential schooling, addiction and recovery, and colonial history will be central in this program.
(Diocese of Rupert’s Land)
Henry Budd College for Ministry—The Pas, Man.
$5,000
Healing Workshop and Gospel Jamboree: Hope For Our Youth
This is a sequel to the 1999 and 2000 events that were held in The Pas. This third gathering, Hope for our Youth, will again focus on the youth. A youth group from the Church of the Messiah will be assisting in planning the workshops. The Gospel Jamboree event will include evening musical program, testimonies, prayers and healing ministry. The evening programs will be broadcasted on the radio in order to reach as many northern communities and will also be video taped. (Diocese of Brandon) (Lutheran Life)
Hinton Friendship Centre—Hinton, Alta.
$15,000
Community Wellness Program
The Hinton Friendship Centre will train 5-6 support workers to work with the victims of sexual abuse in Hinton and communities in the surrounding area. The Community Wellness Program works with the whole family and not just the victim or the offender. The Centre has also been working with the Alberta Justice to put protocols in place for the judicial system, as this program is an alternative to incarceration for the offender. The program works only with one type of offender and that is the regressed offender, as this type of offender generally only offends within the family unit. Once the family accepts the conditions of the program, they enter. The family is required to attend individual and group therapy for 18-24 months while each member is required to attend 20-25 hours of therapy per month. After the completion of the program, there is a 5-year follow-up. (Diocese of Edmonton)
Indian Brook First Nation Band Council—Shubenacadie, N.S.
$5,000
Indian Brook Healing Conference
A committee of concerned community members and frontline workers decided to host an event that will address some of the important issues the people of Indian Brook are facing. This forum will bring awareness, hope and begin the healing process to the community. The community has a large population of former residential school students and their families, and the long term affects of that experience is clearly visible today. Through workshops, the conference will outline the impacts of the residential school experience and its inter-generational impacts. Some of the impacts of this experience has been suicides, attempted suicides and an increase of violence, alcohol and drug abuse and related issues. (Diocese of NS & PEI) (Lutheran Life)
Indian Residential School Survivor’s Society—Vancouver, B.C.
$30,000
Survival and Beyond: Hope, Help and Healing 2002 Residential School Gathering.
The forum will provide a safe and welcoming learning environment for survivors, families, frontline workers and staff of community healing projects in BC to gather and share their successes. They will have an opportunity to build a stronger communication and exchange network that will continue long after the gathering. The theme of this gathering provides a context within which participants can discuss their successes while looking at other approaches that are practical, relevant and meaningful to their respective healing paths. Accordingly, the activities recognize the work individuals and communities are already involved in, while also providing information that will be useful, holistic guide for communities around the province. (Diocese of New Westminster)
Little Shuswap Indian Band—Chase, B.C.
$3,200
Family Circle Project
History, tradition, roles, relationships and family rules were always learned and shared at family circles. The children need to be a part of these family circle times in order to understand family, community roles and responsibilities. In the era of residential schools, families lost all opportunity to have family circles, and the intergenerational sharing of information, knowledge, culture and traditions was lost for many people. The Family Circle Project is to re-establish some of this family spirit. (Diocese Kootenay) (Lutheran Life)
Native Canadian Center of Toronto
$1,000
16th Annual Traditional Awareness Gathering
The Native Canadian Centre of Toronto is to hold the 16th Annual Traditional Awareness Gathering – Youth: A Sacred Part of our Circle—in the spring of 2002. The goals each year is to reach Aboriginal people who want to reconnect, to lift up the broken ones or relationships, to mend the hurt, to challenge the young, and to strengthen the families and to respect the Elders past, present and future. (Diocese of Toronto)
Native Canadian Centre of Toronto
$2,000
17th Annual Traditional Awareness Gathering—March 2003
This annual Elders conference brings together Aboriginal people and other Canadians from Toronto and beyond and provides an opportunity to increase their awareness about Aboriginal knowledge and cultural traditions. This grant will assist the Anishnawbek committee to provide for the travel costs of the Elders/Teachers. (Diocese of Toronto)
Naut’sa Mawt Tribal Council—Delta, B.C.
$10,000
Healing and Training Forum
This forum will ensure that each of the nine communities under the umbrella of Naut’sa Mawt Tribal Council has a voice to ensure its healing and training needs are heard. Some of these communities are quite small and remote that it is not possible for them to carry out a healing forum on their own and as a result many residential school survivors and their families are being denied a chance for healing. (Diocese of New Westminster)
Northern Tutchone Council—Pelly Crossing, Yuk.
$15,000
Community Healing Initiative.
To run an eight-week treatment and counseling program for community members of each the three communities that the Northern Tutchone Council works. The project will include workshops, sharing circles, storytelling, exercises and social gatherings. The participants will learn about trauma and the need to forgive in order to heal. The legacy the community wants to pass on to their children is that of respect and compassion for all mankind. (Diocese of Yukon)
Ojibway of the Pic River First Nation—Pic River, Ont.
$15,120
Voices of Tomorrow – A Gathering of Youth – August 2003
The gathering will provide an opportunity for Aboriginal youth and elders to come together and share their experiences for the purpose of healing, self growth and development through the teachings of spirituality, beliefs, traditions, self-respect, awareness and prevention of alcohol and drug use. Approximately 200 youth and elders are expected to attend the four-day gathering. (Lutheran Life) (Diocese of Algoma)
Our Mother’s Guiding Hands—Chase, B.C.
$8,000
Nechi Institute Training of Trainers Project.
The Society will engage the Nechi Training Institute to provide the Training of Trainers Program to the First Nations people of Chase, B.C. area. This training provides basic knowledge, Sask.ills and attitudes needed to work at a community level. The trainers will facilitate the learning of the participants as adult learners, and blend that learning process with traditional techniques of instruction and experiential learning. Lectures will be interspersed with group activities and a strong emphasis is placed on the maximum involvement of the trainees. (Diocese of Kootenay)
Regina First Nation Survivors and Victims of Residential School
$1,650
Healing Through the Heart Project
This group is a volunteer group with a deep commitment to create on-going programs for inner city children, youth and survivors of the residential schools. The purpose of this project is to provide educational, recreational, social, cultural and training opportunities to inner city children and youth with a primary focus of preventative programming. There has been an average of between 30-50 children and youth from ages 10 and up attending each activity. (Diocese of Qu’Appelle)
Rupert’s Land Indigenous Council—Winnipeg, Man.
$9,000
Sacred Circle —The Indigenous Council of Rupert’s Land will host its first Rupert’s Land Sacred Circle on the grounds of the historic St. Peter’s Anglican Church near the banks of Red River, where the original Peguis Reserve was located. The focus will be on healing and reconciliation. Non-Aboriginal peoples will be invited to participate in talking circles and traditional ceremony. The major features of the event will include the Doctrine of Discovery with local testimony from delegates concerning treaty land and Residential Schools. (Diocese of Rupert’s Land)
Saanich Heritage Society—Brentwood Bay, B.C.
$5,000
Protecting the Saanich Language
The Saanich Heritage Society will research and develop a book illustrating month-to-month activities that can be used by youth groups, training, education, daycare and other members of the communities. Researching and writing about Saanich culture will have the latent effect of instilling pride in the language and culture of the Saanich people. Every project the Heritage Society undertakes is important because of the loss of language and culture people experienced at the Residential Schools. This book will compliment other books published by the Heritage Society. (Diocese of British Columbia)
St. Joseph’s Anglican Church—Montreal Lake Cree Nation, Sask.
$15,000
Community Based Indigenous Residential School Healing Project
The project calls for training and healing seminars in several of the Indigenous Communities within the Diocese of Saskatchewan. The training aspect of the project calls for empowering local leaders to be resource people for their communities. Week long seminars will also be conducted in a number of First Nation communities where former residential school students will have opportunities to share stories in a safe environment. Counselling and other support will be provided for all participants. (Diocese of Saskatchewan)
St Timothy’s Parish, Diocese of the Arctic—Pond Inlet, N.W.T.
$10,000
Healing and Reconciliation Gathering.
The Healing and Reconciliation Community Gathering in Pond Inlet will bring together 10 Inuit clergy who will provide leadership at this event. The community had expressed a concern that over the past 30 years, many community members had passed away, and family members who reside in various communities in the Arctic were unable to be with family during the tragedy or any other time due to travel costs involved. This has been the case for all the Anglican clergy. Therefore, this gathering is a time for families, who have been separated for a very long time, to be with one another, attend various community activities and begin the healing process as a family. (Diocese of the Arctic)
Simon Charlie Society—Duncan, B.C.
$7,000
Continuing the Coast Salish Legacy.
The Society will offer a series of workshops on carving, First Nations art history, weaving, preparation and storage of traditional foods. All workshops will include Elder participation and a language component. The Society, through its workshops, will provide inspiration and the awareness to participants and give them the tools such as sharing networks and circles to facilitate personal connections, and a long-term approach to this new cultural understanding. (Diocese of British Columbia)
Snuneymuxw First Nation—Nanaimo, B.C.
$18,000
Journey to Wellness Workshop
The program as a journey to wellness, intends to help people to deal with traumatic experiences of losses as a result of Residential School experiences, and promote effective personal, family and community wellness through an approach which is inclusive, comprehensive, accessible, accountable and holistic. Snuneymuxw First Nation will conduct a 5-day intensive personal healing workshop that will focus on helping people to help themselves to letting go of the past and offering them the opportunity to heal the present and create a better future. (Diocese of British Columbia)
Sunset Women’s Aboriginal Circle—Sioux Lookout, Ont.
$6,900
Production of Support Documents Towards Healing—It has been expressed by former students that it is imperative to establish a network for individuals to connect and support each other while on a healing journey. The Sunset Women’s Aboriginal Circle will develop and maintain an ongoing support system by making available information for the survivors and their families that will complement the healing work already undertaken over the past few of years. The group will ensure that information is obtained from the previous gatherings. (Diocese of Keewatin)
Terrace Community Group—Terrace, B.C.
$4,200
c/o Indian Residential School Survivors’ Society
Dynamic Healing Arts: A First Nations Personal Empowerment Workshop
The Terrace Community Group will host a 3-day community-healing workshop. The group process healing methods used in these workshops are effective in healing inter-generational abuses due to the Residential School experiences. (Diocese of Caledonia)
U’mista Cultural Centre—Alert Bay, B.C.
$10,000
LAXWE’GILA: Gaining Strength Gathering.
U’mista Cultural Society’s plans to host a 5-day gathering. This gathering will involve residents of Alert Bay, Namgis First Nation, Whe-la-a-u and area Council. This gathering will include a 3-day camping experience where workshops on traditional uses of plants will be taught, traditional food preparation and preservation, cedar basket weaving and sharing circles for all ages. There will also be a day of canoeing and it will conclude with a community feast. (Diocese of British Columbia)
Union of New Brunswick Indians Training Institute—Fredericton, N.B.
$9,600
Aboriginal Parenting Skills Course
The UNBITI will sponsor a training program to train residential school survivors and their children from the First Nations in NB and PEI to be Parenting Skills Trainers in their First Nation Community. The organization will train two trainers from each Band. The trainees will be required to train others from their Bands. Following this initial training the UNBITI will work with those trained as instructors and assist them in organizing Parenting Skills Workshops in their communities. Approximately 3,000 people will be involved and benefit from the project. (Diocese of Fredericton)