2023 Grant Recipients
Single-Year Grantees
Child Welfare League of Canada, Learning Community on Reconciliation, $10,000
The Learning Community on Reconciliation creates opportunities for mainstream child-,
youth-, and family-serving organizations to: strengthen their ability to work respectfully
and collaboratively with Indigenous peoples; reflect on their practice, learn from peers and
experts, and prototype and evaluate Reconciliation initiatives; and operationalize calls to
action/justice in their organization.
Through Wayne Simpson’s art, members of the Aamjiwnaang community and ECFTA’s community (youth, teens recovering from addiction, adults with (dis)abilities, gallery visitors) will explore themes of culture, colonization, social justice, and Reconciliation. Many will make an art project integrating these themes, through a project conceptualized by Indigenous artist, John Williams.
Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA), Nature Stewards, $10,000
Nature Stewards empowers youth from equity-deserving communities ages 14-18 to connect with nature and develop hands-on skills in environmental stewardship. Our free 10-week land-based education programs take place in Vancouver’s Eastside and centre on three themes: Native plant horticulture, habitat restoration, and Indigenous food and medicine.
Facing History & Ourselves Canada, Facing History Canada, $10,000
Using Theodore Fontaine’s powerful story, this project will support Canadian educators to teach about the residential schools using survivors’ narratives. It will include a virtual Student Day of Learning and an opportunity for students to share their reflections through art on Fontaine’s legacy.
Finding Our Power Together, Orange Heart Club, $10,000
The Oskatis Nigaaniiwemowin, or Young Leaders Circle, is an initiative empowering Indigenous youth (14-35) through leadership development, networking, and cultural teachings. Our objectives include fostering a shared space to address youth issues, facilitating skill-building in mental health/ life promotion, and involving youth in decision-making processes for more resonant organizational strategy.
The Supporting Indigenous Youth through Cultural Skill Building program focuses on building cultural skills while learning about entrepreneurship. It provides space for Indigenous youth to explore pathways to employment grounded in culture and traditional knowledge, and is tailored to the needs and resources of each community or partnering organization.
This program supports Indigenous girls ages 6 to 18 from Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nations Reserve. It builds athletic skills; teaches money management, life-skills, and media literacy; nurtures abilities in Science, Math, Engineering, Arts, and Technology (STEAM), and promotes school success. Participants gain leadership and critical thinking skills.
Lumara Grief & Bereavement Care Society, Indigenous Healing through Grief and Loss, $10,000
Lumara's Indigenous Healing through Grief and Loss program builds trust and safety for Indigenous Peoples to participate in Lumara's programs and supports Indigenous communities to create Indigenous-led grief support programs. This includes mentorship and education for staff and volunteers with Indigenous Elders and culturally safe and informed grief support services.
Natural Curiosity, Aki Kinomaagewinan: Indigenous Land-Based Learning for Educators and Youth, $10,000
Aki Kinomaagewinan: Indigenous Land-Based Learning for Educators and Youth brings together an intergenerational learning community that will engage in land-based learning around our plant and animals relations, Anishinaabe knowledge of the land, principles of reciprocity, nestled within the Natural Curiosity framework for inquiry-based, environmental education
The Pine Project & Eastview Neighbourhood Community Centre Partnership aims to create accessible outdoor spaces and inspire connections to the natural world for equity-deserving children in Toronto’s Blake-Boultbee community. Through weekly outdoor education programming, children in Eastview’s Boys & Girls Club build their confidence, competence, resilience, and love of nature.
Qwelmínte Secwépemc (QS), Knowledge Builders Program, $10,000
The Knowledge Builders Program seeks to address the capacity constraints which exist within our communities and within the Province of BC. The program brings students to join the QS over the summer to support the path to Reconciliation as we work together to stand up Secwépemc governance, jurisdiction, and Rights.
Start2Finish Canada, The LIT (Indigenous Literacy Enhancement) Program, $10,000
Start2Finish is collaborating with friendship centres/schools to provide Indigenous children with access to mental well-being support and literacy enrichment opportunities. The LIT Project will impact 1,500 children through culturally relevant after-school programming (enhancing fitness, reading, and social-emotional competencies) and innovative “book vending machines” filled with books provided to 4 communities.
Urban Stable (The Horse Connection Inc.), Human-Horse Bond Learning Programs at Urban Stable, $10,000
Urban Stable's Experiential Learning Program empowers marginalized youth to learn critical life skills through the transformative power of the horse-human connection. Youth learn teamwork, communication, self-regulation, respect, confidence, and more through experiential learning with horses (the real teachers) and transfer these skills back to their school, home, and community.
Veterinarians Without Borders, Northern Animal Health Initiative (NAHI), $10,000
The Northern Animal Health Initiative partners with remote communities in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories to increase access to veterinary and animal care to build healthy communities with healthy people and healthy animals. They do this by providing veterinary services while also building local capacity through training and education.
Multi-Year Grantees
1JustCity, Indigenous Cultural Program, $7,500
The Indigenous Cultural Program is meant to provide accessible opportunities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members to engage meaningfully with each other and with Indigenous culture/practices. It is led by a team of Indigenous people with great cultural knowledge between them. They hope to foster opportunities for Reconciliation and healing.
Interconnections: Reconciliation through Education school programming provides an accessible way to further Reconciliation by teaching students about Indigenous culture, history, and interconnectedness with the environment. Indigenous worldviews are taught so as to foster reflection, sharing and healing in a holistic way that supports the TRC’s Calls to Action.
Detail of #Landback, 2021 from Sho Sho Esquiro Doctrine of Discovery
Chuntoh Education Society, Yunk'ut Whut'sodul'eh (We Learn from Our Land), $7,500
Yunk’ut Whut’sodul’eh (We Learn from Our Land) connects school aged youth with local Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Holders through hands-on, place-based, outdoor science and culturally relevant activities. Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) is an important part of outdoor STEAM learning and it's inclusion in education is vital for Reconciliation.
Community Arts and Heritage Project (CAHEP), Environmental Arts Education, $10,000
In collaboration with three low-SES elementary schools, CAHEP will set up onsite art studios to plan and deliver eco-arts education programming that illuminates the recursive interrelationships between humans, non-humans, and planetary ecosystems. Programming will target Grades 4-6 students and will be informed by the newly emerging model of donut economics.
A research-based program developed for elementary and high school students with disabilities and other diverse needs. Research shows that equestrian programming provides these students the opportunity to develop stronger self-confidence, self regulation, and coping skills. Simply having horses present has shown to provide a positive platform for learning new skills.
Iksooksipaitapii Wellness Foundation, Sspommihtaa (Blackfoot, meaning ‘Help Out Someone’), $7,500
Sspommihtaa (Pronounced Sp-oh-me-tah) offers Wellbriety and Mending Broken Hearts programming and Facilitators training to the Indigenous Community. Wellbriety and Mending Broken Hearts provide support and healing with addictions, grief & trauma from Indigenous perspectives. Both programs are culturally appropriate and developed by the Indigenous community using traditional worldviews and practices.
OTCC's "Wildlife Conservation Through The Ages" educational programing brings generations together under a common goal of wildlife conservation. This program will provide experiential learning opportunities for all ages on how to protect Ontario's turtles. Generations will develop a deeper sense of connection to the natural world, and to each other.
Returning to Spirit Inc., The Power of Story – Youth Voices in Reconciliation, $7,500
Returning to Spirit's project "The Power of Story - Youth in Reconciliation" prioritizes the urgent need for meaningful intergenerational conversations that specifically address judgements, assumptions, biases, hurts within a sacred Indigenous circle. At the heart of this project is engaging youth voices in our collective Reconciliation journey.
Riverwood Conservancy, One Health at Riverwood, $7,500
Healthy Youth and Healthy Ecosystem is a volunteer-based project to restore Riverwood's vernal pond ecosystem by engaging youth in hands-on nature restoration. An abundance of plant and animal life will thrive, youth wellbing will grow, and a beautiful space will be brought to life for the whole community to enjoy.
Still Moon Arts Society, Ecological Arts Connect Program, $7,500
Connect engages the community's youth in eco-art and environmental stewardship to combat social isolation and connect people to their natural environment, their creativity, and each other. This free, accessible program prioritizes underserved and at-risk groups, and is designed to build long-term reciprocal connections within a vibrant, healthy, sustainable neighbourhood.
Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra Association (TBSO), TBSO Noondaagotoon, $7,500
Noondaagotoon is a collaboration between TBSO and Indigenous artists, in the spirit of cultural exchange and Reconciliation, culminating in concerts presented free-of-charge at Fort William Historical Park, which break down barriers to accessibility, provide work for underrepresented artists, strengthening and deepening our communities' connection to Indigenous communities across northwestern Ontario.
Multi-Year Grantees
These organizations received their 3rd (and final) year of multi-year funding in 2023:
Arts Etobicoke
Lakeshore Arts
For details about the specific programs we’ve funded in previous years, click here.