The Fund
Grant Recipients
To date five organizations have been awarded funds from the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund. We will continue to update this page as additional recipients are identified.
Odawa Native Friendship Centre
Kateri Native
Ministry
Akwesasne Kateri
Prayer Circle
The Fund
Grant Recipients
To date five organizations have been awarded funds from the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund. We will continue to update this page as additional recipients are identified.
Recipient
Odawa Native Friendship Centre:
Indigenous Children and Youth Pow Wow
“A majority of our families and individuals who have moved to Ottawa have lost that connection to their culture and their traditions. This is what this event was meant to be: to bring them together so they can see this. It’s all a part of who they are, where we come from.”
Delores Peltier-Corkey
Volunteer with the Odawa Native Friendship Centre
After a 3-year absence due to Covid, the 23rd Annual Ottawa Indigenous Children and Youth Pow Wow took place March 25, 2023, at the Shaw Centre. Pow Wows are powerful Indigenous gatherings where multiple generations come together to enjoy food, honour traditions, forge a sense of community and practice spiritual healing.
The Ottawa Indigenous Children and Youth Pow Wow included children and youth dances, a welcoming ceremony for infants and toddlers, information booths and crafters. In addition, it was a good opportunity for Indigenous and Non-Indigenous people to come together.
Photo Credit: Fred Cattroll / Odawa Native Friendship Centre
Recipient
Kateri Native Ministry:
Bi-Monthly Retreats
“As Indigenous Christians, Kateri Native Ministry finds itself at the crossroads of two incredible sources of wisdom and learning. The Kendaasawin Program allows us to embrace both our Traditional and Christian heritages and ask important, universal questions to help better understand our place in Creation.”
Donna Naughton
Executive Director
Kateri Native Ministry has been committed to the healing, reconciliation and spiritual growth of Indigenous people for over 20 years. They are headquartered in Ottawa and work closely with the Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall. The team at Kateri Native Ministry has created the Kendaasawin Project to promote healing and reconciliation. Specifically, they will be hosting six bi-monthly retreats for Indigenous participants led by elders using land-based cultural teachings.
Photo credit: Kateri Native Ministry
The project will include a variety of safe, culturally appropriate events and spaces to meet, pray, and heal within the context of an Indigenous-led Catholic community that respects and celebrates Indigenous ways of being church. The Kendaasawin project is designed for intergenerational participation, particularly for survivors, elders and their families, with a special focus on youth.
Recipient
Minwaashin Lodge:
Cultural Healing and Wellness for Indigenous Women
“One of our Elders said, ‘Everything you need is in your culture.’ We have seen many families turn their lives around as a result of coming to Minwaashin for cultural programming and other wrap-around services.”
Minwaashin Lodge is an Indigenous Women’s Support Centre which provides a range of programs and services to First Nations, Inuit and Métis women and children (regardless of status) who are survivors of domestic and other forms of violence, and who may also be suffering the effects of the residential school system.
Irene Compton
Culture Program Manager
The Cultural Healing and Wellness for Indigenous Women is a 12-month program starting September 2023. The objective of the program is to:
- Prevent violence in First Nation, Inuit & Metis families through culture.
- Reclaim their culture and identity.
- Increase healing and well-being through culture.
- Remove barriers that keep families from participating in cultural activities.
The women will participate in cultural programming to develop competencies in three areas:
- Traditional knowledge.
- Traditional crafting.
- Ceremony.
Recipient
Mādahòkì Farm: Ojibwe Spirit Horse – Equine Assisted Learning
“Mādahòkì Farm is very supportive of working with Indigenous youth and has a strong understanding of the needs of the community”
Assembly of Seven Generations
Mādahòkì Farm will operate an Indigenized version of an Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) program that will pilot the land and culture based teachings, offering healing and wellness in partnership with 10 of the rare and endangered Ojibwe Spirit horses at Mādahòkì Farm. Their nationally certified EAL trainers will guide Indigenous children, youth and families through a process of inner healing and balance through a 7-week program (based on 7 Grandfather teachings) with the horses. Located just southwest of downtown in Ottawa’s Greenbelt, Mādahòkì Farm is home to local organization and attraction Indigenous Experiences. The farm’s name, which means “to share the land” in the Anishnaabe language, reflects the farm’s agricultural and community focus.
Photo credit: Mādahòkì Farm
MAKWA (Black Bear) – Ojibwe Spirit Horse
Makwa, a pretty black gelding, is part of Mādahòkì Farm’s youngest pair of herd members but is already an old soul. Makwa is soft, quiet, friendly and willing. At less than two he is ready to join the Equine Assisted Learning programs as he is so willing to work with their caretakers and to please.
Recipient
Akwesasne Kateri Prayer Circle:
Akwesasronon Healing and Reconciliation Project
The goal of the Akwesasne Kateri Prayer Circle, which includes members of the St. Regis Mission Akwesasne, Altar and Rosary Society and the Akwesasne Mohawk Choir, is to bring back the Kanienkeha Mohawk Language and culture. There are four parts to this project.
- Utilizing music, and especially emphasizing Kanienkeha (Mohawk) Language through hymns and song we seek for Akwesasronon youth and adult parishioners to become more confident and comfortable in acquiring “ear and tongue training” which in turn will assist individuals to become speakers through a natural engaging and enjoyable process. An Akwesasronon youth choir is envisioned as a potential outcome of the project.
- A Youth Sharing our Spirituality Healing and Reconciliation Process conducted in collaboration with the Native North American Traveling College.
- Elders Talking Circles and healing and reconciliation activities.
- The installation of an Akwesasronon commemorative residential school monument to memorialize our Akwesasronon Indian Residential Schools survivors.
Source: Mohawk Art & Design
Artist: Jordan Thompson