 Funding from the NIB Trust Fund has helped the Saskatoon Friendship Centre host capacity-building workshops and activities such as First Aid, CPR Training, education and employment, mental health, wellbeing, and parenting workshops which were aimed at helping Indigenous women and girls develop and grow. The cultural workshops focus on building a sense of identity and self-confidence through cultural teachings and lessons which helps connect participants with elders, knowledge keepers, encouraging mentorship, and knowledge sharing.  The Saskatoon Indian and Metis Friendship Centre is working to heal the traumas left behind by Indian Residential School Systems, Day schools, and the Sixty scoop. In doing so we are trying to heal the life-givers and strengthen our Indigenous sisters. 

Saskatoon Indian and Métis Friendship Centre 

Sisters Strengthening Sisters was created to empower Indigenous women and girls in the Saskatoon area and help to build a community of strong, resilient Indigenous sisters. The Saskatoon Indian and Métis Friendship Centre created Sisters Strengthening Sisters with the intent to reduce the barriers typically faced by Indigenous women and girls wishing to access programming. The programming consists of a variety of workshops, activities, outings, and opportunities that help build confidence and a sense of self-identity within participants.

By listening to family and community members share teachings and speak Cree, Charlotte immersed herself in her culture and language. Through her Indigenous Language Revitalization program, she has been able to learn about the experiences, worldviews, and cultures of other Indigenous groups throughout Turtle Island. 

As a mature student, Charlotte would not have been able to complete her studies without the added financial support from the NIB Trust Fund. These funds have helped Charlotte become a proud student and focus on her program rather than finances. 

 “When we become more aware of the many facets of learning our Indigenous languages are an endless source of comfort, healing and inspiration. hiy hiy kinanāskomitināwāw”

As a young girl, Charlotte loved to learn and made a commitment to herself to keep her language and culture alive while also attaining the highest level of education she could without losing her self-identity. Charlotte is an intergenerational survivor and currently pursuing her PhD in Indigenous Language Revitalization at the University of Alberta. 

Danita Lewis is an intergenerational survivor pursuing her Masters of Indigenous Language Revitalization at the University of Victoria. When moving away from her home community to pursue higher education, Danita had to make the tough decision to take unpaid leave from work and significantly decrease her income. With help from the NIB Trust Fund, Danita was able to relieve some of the financial stress and focus her time and energy on attaining her education goals. 

This program offered Danita the opportunity to revive Indigenous language, culture, traditions, and education for herself and share what she has learned with future generations. Danita has learned skills and tools that she will carry with her throughout her life.

Through this reconnection, Reggie feels as though he has had an opportunity to ease the pain caused by Indian Residential School and found new strength within himself, as well as a sense of belonging. Reggie still has many skills he would like to learn, and he hopes to one day pass the knowledge he has gained onto his grandchildren and will continue to practice his Cree way of life. 

As an Indian Residential School Survivor, Reggie has always had the goal of relearning his traditional Cree way of life and reconnecting to the land his late father once survived on. The NIB Trust Fund helped Reggie return to his home territory and learn traditional land-based skills like hunting, fishing, and trapping. 

Support from the NIB Trust Fund has helped create REZ-FM, a fully licensed, volunteer-run FM radio station located on Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation. The station was created to give youth, elders, and creatives of all avenues the platform to share important news, hold discussion, and share their work. The station quickly became recognized as the perfect platform to share cultural teachings and stories that are accessible for the community and beyond.  The radio station has aired student conducted interview and keeps community members up to date with current news and information and encourages language revitalization. The community is using the station to help the Mi’kmaw culture flourish within their members. 

In Nova Scotia, the Mi’kmaw Nation in the community of Paqtnkek were looking for a hub to share important news, community updates, and discussions for what needed to be shared for their members. The community is populated with less than 600 members including a few musicians, change-makers, and elders; and that’s how the Paqtnkek Community Radio Project was created. 

Alejandra is focused on exploring and finding solutions to the impacts of intergenerational trauma caused by colonial violence. Alejandra has seen how the science community lacks a solid understanding of how trauma can be passed down through generations on a biological and psychological level and as a result, acknowledges that there is a lack of concrete solutions and resources for Indigenous peoples who suffer from this trauma. It is her goal to use her education to study intergenerational trauma from a scientific perspective and apply that knowledge to initiate a brighter, positive future for Indigenous peoples in Canada. Alejandra has made the Dean of Science Honours List and been chosen to work on an exceptional research project with Dr. Kim Matheson, Director, and Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Carleton University. This project will explore how intergenerational exposure to harmful colonial policies have affected Indigenous youth in terms of cultural understanding and pride. Their focus will be on the self-expression of youth through the arts, as a means to reclaim their Indigenous identity and how the youth view this in relation to their mental health.
 

The funding received from the NIB Trust Fund has helped Alejandra immensely on her education journey and gave her the ability to focus solely on her studies and reaching her goals. The scholarship enabled her to purchase important studying resources that will bring long-term benefits in terms of ease and efficiency in the education process.

Alejandra is an intergenerational survivor pursuing an Honours Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Mental Health from Carleton University. After her first year in her program, she realized how important it was for her to give back to her people and start working in the Mental Health field, particularly with the Indigenous population.  

With funding provided by the NIB Trust Fund, Myia has had the opportunity to be a part of the revitalization of her language and focus solely on her education. She was able to spend her class time learning and has begun incorporating the language and teachings in her everyday life. Myia hopes to one day pass on the knowledge she has learned to her future children and grandchildren. 

With support from the NIB Trust Fund, Myia Antone, an intergenerational survivor, was able to attend the Squamish Language Immersion Program from the First Nations Languages Program at Simon Fraser University. Through this program, Myia had the opportunity to learn her traditional language, and explore how her ancestor's worldviews are embedded into the language and the current world around her.  

Myia sits on the Squamish Nation Youth Advisory Council and is confident that learning her language will help her better represent the Squamish youth and gain a better understanding of what it means to be a leader in her community.

The program has collaborated with a circle of Elders to revitalize Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Lene-Lenape cultural knowledge and peace-making practices that are the foundation of the program. Families are provided with a safe space to discuss and work together to create plans towards healing and forgiveness. The program seeks to address intergenerational trauma that underlies many challenges in Indigenous communities like mental wellness, family violence, justice system involvement, child welfare and addictions. Sessions with Elders and workshops help participants learn new skills in areas like communication, traditional parenting, harm prevention, goal setting, and building self-esteem. Participants have the chance to work with Elders and traditional knowledge keepers one-on-one. They also are provided support to help navigate criminal and family justice systems. Funding from the NIB Trust Fund has helped secure the expertise and knowledge from the local Elders and strengthen family ties by sharing language, ceremony, teachings and peacemaking practices. 

Zhawenjigewag Inawemaaganag Family Healing Program 

The Zhawenjigewag Inawemaaganag Family Healing Program aims to reconnect families through traditional cultural knowledge and peacemaking practices, foster personal development and holistic wellness through cultural knowledge and personal life skills, and contribute to community development. The program gives families who have experienced family violence the chance to reconnect and heal together through conflict resolution and traditional teachings. 

The program also aims to help enhance understanding regionally of the effects of Indian Residential Schools and the how the system left lasting impacts on Indigenous people. The museum also aims to provide people with a welcoming place to learn about different cultures and gain an understanding of how the Ojibway people traditionally and presently interact with the world. The program was designed to help preserve and restore the Ojibway language for people in the community and anyone wishing to learn. To develop the language components, traditional stories and songs were recorded and the museum hopes to eventually make them available on kiosks where users can explore the language. 

Funding from the NIB Trust Fund has helped provide the equipment and tools for the museum that will be used to help promote the Ojibway language and teach about the effects the Indian Residential Schools System left on the Indigenous populations within the region. The museum can continue promoting and supporting reconciliation by educating non-Indigenous people on the history and legacy the Indian Residential Schools left behind through the voices and faces of the survivors themselves.  

National Indigenous Residential School Museum of Canada

The vision of the National Indigenous Residential School Museum of Canada is to be a place where people can learn, share, heal, and move forward. The goals of the Maamiikwendan program have been to create a safe space for Indian Residential School Survivors to share their stories and feel acknowledged and heard. Stories from Survivors were documented and shared in perpetuity. 

While also pursuing her studies at U of T, Kira also set the goal of taking Anishinaabemowin language courses so she can directly contribute to the revitalization of her traditional language. Support provided by the NIB Trust Fund helped Kira be able to pursue her language goals and keep the financial stresses behind her so she could focus on all her courses throughout the semesters. 

For Kira, being able to study Criminology and Anishinaabemowin means having the opportunity to ignite change and reach her goal of ending the cycle of violence against Indigenous women and respectfully continuing their legacy. 

Kira studies Social Sciences and Criminology at the University of Toronto and is an intergenerational survivor whose studies surround identifying the systemic flaws in the Canadian Justice System. Her education and background are what has made Kira become passionate about finding solutions to help end the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis. 

“Funding from the NIB Trust Fund had helped motivate me to complete my studies. I have furthered my personal skills and knowledge while contributing to my community.  My community has and will continue to benefit from my culinary program, as I will provide my community my skills and knowledge by teaching and educating about meal preparation and nutrition information.”

“I am grateful for the support from NIB Trust Fund and continue working with the Dene Youth in my community of Fort Good Hope, NWT. My research focus has been on the impacts of residential school trauma on youth, while finding ways to empower them in their Dene identity. I aim to strengthen myself and my community with my research.  My research has been challenging but funding has helped me continue my studies.”

Scholarship – PhD, Indigenous Studies, Philosophy

“My cultural learning experience has been humbling. I have had the opportunity to learn my Mi’kmaq traditions and knowledge. My family had taught me that it’s our responsibility to share our knowledge and I am so grateful to now to have learned about my culture. I hope to share these teachings with my community. My experience with the NIB Trust Fund was simple and straight forward.  Each and every person I spoke with were so efficient, professional yet very friendly.”

Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation, Newfoundland and Labrador

Award – Language, tradition, beading/crafts/sewing

The NIB Trust Fund provided us the opportunity to create a program to  deliver services of trauma informed healing, employability training,  Metis culture and identity strengthening activities. Our Metis Women’s  Bridging program offered weekly professional trauma counselling to  survivors and family members and a series of workshops. Workshops  included traditional meal preparation, medicine preparation and Métis  art teachings and creation. Participants are now able to connect to a  positive support system for themselves and their families while  continuing to address and reduce isolation, and maintain connections to  Métis culture, language and community.  They can also actively teach the  next generation and increase cultural engagement at both the family and  community-level.

“Thank you to the NIB Trust Fund for investing in the healing and resilience of Metis Women. Often it is a  challenge for Metis survivors who suffer traumas to access funding for  professional counselling and be able to access Metis-specific trauma  informed programs. This program was indeed life changing for the women  who participated.”

– Victoria Pruden, Executive Director, Bridges for Women Society

The Gitxsan Land and Culture program empowered youth through  land-based programming. Participants were engaged in cultural learning,  traditional harvesting, collecting medicines, and storytelling. Sessions addressed intergenerational traumas and connected youth with  their individual house chiefs and father clans. The program supported  and encouraged youth to be leaders of their communities, and to use  their traditional knowledge to heal, overcome adversity, build  self-confidence and have pride in their Indigenous identity.

Senden Holistic Land-Based Youth Program:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-pIpxONTwE

“We brought back culture and traditions of the Gitxsan people  through art, language, song, traditional food, and medicines. As a result, program participants are more confident, open and speak with  pride and hope about their language, culture and identity.”

“The NIB Trust Fund has helped me reach my education goals towards becoming an Electrical Engineer. This scholarship allowed me to focus on my studies and maintain an above average grade point. I plan to find, design and implement better, safer and more renewable sources of energy in and outside my community. I aim to contribute to a cleaner and greener Mother Earth as environmental protection is important to my First Nations culture.”

“The NIB Trust Fund has enabled me to find the balance I needed to manage the many educational goals I set for myself while achieving my Master’s Degree.  I intend to share my knowledge, experiences and teachings with my community and hope I can give back in any way.  I have been endlessly inspired, supported and encouraged by my community. I cannot thank the NIB Trust Fund enough for their support and I will be forever grateful.”

Lennox Island First Nation, Prince Edward Island

This program’s main objective had been to provide language classes and certificate customized to meet the community’s priorities for language revitalization. These classes encouraged and promoted Cree as the working language in Chisasibi organizations.  The results have been great, language capacity has increased and students have acquired the skills, tools, knowledge and strategies to promote and use the Cree language within the community.  The staff at the Chisasibi Heritage and Cultural Centre have a renewed and strengthened sense of responsibility as Language Keepers.

Victoria, British Columbia and Chisasibi Heritage and Cultural Centre, Quebec

Certificate Program in Aboriginal Language Revitalization

“I have been inspired and humbled for the opportunity to work alongside our partners from Chisasibi Cultural and Heritage Centre. The protection of the Cree language, stories, cultural history, and traditional practices – this demonstrates their resilience and strength in response to colonization, the impact of residential schools, and the relocation of the entire community. While the University of Victoria is just a small part of their journey, I think that it’s significant to mention that we had 23 graduates. This speaks to the significance and impact of co-developing educational programs with community partners and stakeholders.”

-Tania Muir, Director of Cultural Management Programs, Division of Continuing Studies, University of Victoria

The goals of this community program was to provide a language outreach program as a means to heal the traumas of residential schools through a rejuvenation of Cree language. Classes were offered to students from all levels of knowledge and included everyone from Elders who did not have language learning opportunities, to fluent Cree speakers wanting to re-acquire literacy skills, and to non-Cree speakers starting with the basics of the Cree language. The program attained its objective of increasing language literacy to survivors and their children with 150 participants.  There has also been increased outreach for Cree language learning to the greater Cree community through a social media Cree language page. This page has users across the several Cree communities and, as a result, is promoting and expanding the Cree language.  This program has helped our community to be more in touch with our beautiful language and solidify the importance of language to the connection with our ancestors and culture.

Maintaining our Language: Cree Literacy for Wemindji Adults

 “I was thinking last night before I went to bed about the language and the meaning of words and I remembered hearing my grandmother and aunt talking to me before I went to residential school.  It’s different now, the language, people don’t speak that way anymore.  I was thinking after our class last night, that what we are learning, this is the right way how to say it.”

– Wemindji Community Cree Language Program Student

“I am grateful to have been chosen as a recipient of the NIB Trust Fund. My goal as a future physician is to work with First Nation communities and address issues on inadequate primary health care. I also want to focus on mental health issues that are affecting First Nation communities at epidemic rates. As a First Nation doctor, I will be able to advocate for our communities and make a change.”

“My goal is to be in my community, giving back as much as I can, but also focusing on my community elders and youth. I say this because our elders are our teachers and the youth is going to one day be our leaders. I want to show them, that through hard work and dedication, no matter where you come from, you really can obtain all your goals and dreams.”

Nisga’a Village of New Aiyanish, British Coumbia

The Ripple Effect is a community-based program developed to reconnect community with culture. The program’s main focus has been language revitalization and hosting cultural events throughout the year in partnership with the Lennox Island Health Center. Our goal was to open the discussion of intergenerational impacts of Residential Schools within the community and find positive ways to heal. The program has brought about new ways to introduce language learning styles and techniques to promote and ensure community members become fluent Mi’kmaq speakers.

“The sense of pride amongst our community members is growing each and every time someone takes a step forward on their healing journey. The Ripple Effect program allows us to learn together and heal together. It is an amazing process.” 

The Cree language program’s primary objective is to expose students to their language and culture through learning activities in and outside the classroom. We offered land based learning of traditional skills and teachings, invited Elders and Survivors to teach youth or history and share their experiences.  Elders volunteered and taught students in school through storytelling, drum and rattle making, sewing traditional regalia and outfits. Youth learned from knowledge keepers how to build shelters, dancing, making a fire, tree identification, picking herbs, cultivation of medicines, fishing, and snaring of small game. The program also held traditional feasts/gatherings throughout the year to showcase student achievements in the program and language development.

Mentoni kwayask awasisak kistohtamowsowak nehiyawin/Young Children Understanding Themselves Through the Cree Language 

"The NIB Trust Funds has provided an opportunity for Swan River First Nation to assist students in the revitalization of the Cree language and culture in our community through Cree language classes, head start programming and several cultural activities. The Metoni kwayask awasisak kistohtamowsowak nehiyawin program allowed the youth to feel a sense of pride and are working towards making healthy life choices.” 

The MALS hosted a series of focus groups, research, discussion, and engagement with department heads, future students, alumni and Elders to revitalize, retain and promote Indigenous languages through the creation of an Indigenous language teacher certification program.  The resulting language model is adaptable to meet various institutional specifications and can be utilized across the province.

“The Manitoba Aboriginal Language Strategy (MALS) is a committee driven strategy to revitalize, retain and promote the survival of Indigenous languages in Manitoba. Receiving funding has enabled the organization to move forward in the development of an Indigenous focused language teacher training certification program. This is a significant project for Manitoba, and we are incredibly grateful to the NIB Trust Fund for the opportunity to make it a reality.”

Funding provided by the NIB Trust Fund assisted the Ontario Native Literacy Coalition to create a unique technology and literacy based program. The goals of the I-STEAM program were to provide adult learners the opportunity to explore the fields of Indigenous Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. The initiative was piloted in three sites throughout Ontario and we found many students engaged and eager to participate. The students, as a result of I-STEAM programming, had increased their individual literacy and work place employability.

“The Indigenous-Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (I-STEAM) program was developed as a targeted learning resource for adult literacy. The program is filled with exciting and innovative lesson plans for every level. The I-STEAM program helps students to understand that Indigenous peoples have always had this knowledge in their ancestors’ repertoire to survive since time immemorial. The Ontario Native Literacy Coalition (ONLC) would like to see more students pursue careers in these areas and to know it is genetically embedded in their DNA to be leaders in these fields.”

-Michelle Davis, CEO, Ontario Native Literacy Coalition

“The knowledge I gained from these cultural teachings have made a big difference in my life. I learned the traditional way of living and how to live off the land of Mother Earth. I was taught how to hunt, how to properly smoke meat, how to set nets for fish, and how to prepare duck. I am proud to be able to practice my culture while also learning to speak my language.  I am thankful and grateful I was selected for funding to learn my culture and the traditional way of life.”

Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, Saskatchewan

Award – Fish drying, hunting, preparation and language

The primary purpose of the ”We Are Better Together” program was to address some of the major issues stemming from the impacts of Indian Residential School, such as; loss of language, culture, family structure, and disconnection from the land.  Okanagan language, traditional knowledge building, and food preparation workshops were held seasonally throughout the year while also incorporating cultural identity, self-esteem/expression and self-awareness. Participants learned traditional territory locations, kokanne and trout fishing, berry picking, tea and medicine gathering. The program also included a “Calling Our Spirits Home – Healing Walk” from Kamloops Indian Residential School to the communities of Quilchena and Spahomin as a way of enriching solidarity and healing as a community.  High interest and attendance of these workshops and the walk confirm this programming is needed and has direct beneficial impacts on individuals, families and community.

Kwu Xast “We Are Better Together” Program

“The Kwu Xast program provided language workshops and training to teach Okanagan language.  Students participated in field trips to traditional territories and enjoyed knowledge keeper storytelling”

NIB Trust Fund provides resources to create opportunities that improve the quality of life for First Nations and Métis in Canada. These are some of our stories.

Danita Lewis

Cold Lake, AB

NIB Trust Staff

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