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Indigenous education and health

True North Aid
True North Aid is the first charity listed by the Globe and Mail when talking about how to help the people of Attawapiskat. This organization was started in 2009 to answer the challenging needs of our Indigenous communities in Canada much before crisis situations in the north drew national attention and before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission completed its work.

INDIGENOUS HEALTH

Habitat for Humanity Canada
The Habitat movement first spread to Canada in 1985, when the country’s first Habitat home was built in Winkler, Manitoba. Just two years later, Winnipeg became the first local Habitat in Canada. Today, Habitat for Humanity Canada is a leading national nonprofit, with local Habitats working in every province and territory across the country. With the help of these local Habitats, volunteers, and Habitat homeowners, we provide a solid foundation for thousands of families to lead better, healthier lives in Canada and around the world.

Helping Our Northern Neighbours
Helping Our Northern Neighbours was born in July of 2014 after it was discovered that prices for food and other goods in Northern Canada were unbelievably high when compared to their counterparts in the south. Apparently this was due in part to the cost of transporting the items to these locations, but instead of being absorbed by the government, these prices were being passed on to the people living in these areas.

While we were introduced to this problem in Nunavut, with a little research we learned that similar conditions plague northern First Nations communities as well. It was then when we found there were very few groups in existence to address the needs in the north outside the Inuit communities themselves that we decided to create an organization that would form a partnership with those in the north to try to give them a hand up and support and encourage the development of local initiatives to assist the people while we and others work toward bringing awareness to the conditions that exist and until a permanent solution can be found and implemented. We are not the change or the answer. We are a band-aid solution in the interim, because help that comes too late does not do much for people who have died in the meantime. One day we hope to put ourselves out of business.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
Our work includes research, advocacy, public outreach and education on the issues affecting our population. We work closely with the four Inuit regions to present unified priorities in Ottawa.

Not Just Tourists
Not Just Tourists was founded with the purpose of getting medical supplies to those who can’t afford them. Ordinary tourists are given the means to change the lives of the locals they visit. After seeing first-hand the serious lack of medical supplies in Cuba in 1990, Dr. Ken Taylor and his wife Denise—from St. Catharines, Ontario—started taking medical supplies to remote areas in Cuba. Soon others who were traveling to Cuba began approaching them to take medical supplies too, and the Not Just Tourists phenomenon started.

Since it’s inception 30 years ago, NJT has spread to chapters across the world, with over 10,000 suitcases and 1,000,000+ lbs of medical supplies and equipment delivered to 82 countries.

Not Just Tourists receives donations from Canada’s largest hospitals, clinics, medical suppliers and individuals. The supplies donated are typically gauze, bandages, surgical instruments, masks, gloves, antiseptics, IV kits, urinary supplies and birthing kits. The supplies are packed by volunteers into suitcases during weekly “packing parties”. Travellers sign up and are given the suitcases to deliver to remote clinics where they are needed. The project does not accept funding, is non-political, non-religious. Everything is accomplished through volunteers.

READING LIST

Clearing the Plains
James William Daschuk

Medicine unbundled: a journey through the minefields of Indigenous health care
Gary Geddes

Separate beds: a history of Indian hospitals in Canada, 1920s-1980s
Maureen K Lux

Introduction to aboriginal health and health care in Canada: bridging health and healing
Vasiliki Kravariotis Douglas

Determinants of indigenous peoples' health : beyond the social
Margo Greenwood, Sarah de Leeuw, Nicole Marie Lindsay

INDIGENOUS EDUCATION

Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWF)
DWF aims to continue the conversation that began with Chanie Wenjack’s residential school story and to support reconciliation through a combination of awareness, education and action. We do this through our Legacy School and Legacy Space programs and Secret Path Week.

Honouring Indigenous Peoples
In 2014, a small group of Rotarians from several southern Ontario Rotary clubs sat in the basement of a building in Oshawa talking about creating a country wide organization to work in partnership with Indigenous Peoples. We have gone from planning on the back of an envelope to establishing HIP’s multi-year plan.

While we continue to listen and learn, we also reflect, adjust and build on our successes. We have taken huge steps forward including increasing our board to 20 members selected from communities stretching from coast-to-coast. Bringing some of Canada’s brightest minds and biggest hearts together has resulted in an updated vision and mission.

As Indigenous and Non-Indigenous partners, we are committed to working together. While we have refined our focus with an emphasis on relationship building, we will continue our education and awareness activities including supporting the next generation of leaders and changing knowledge, attitudes and behaviours.

HIP growth means increasing Indigenous and Non-Indigenous participation. We encourage and support relationship building between Rotary clubs and Indigenous communities. As we discover shared purposes, values and how to better support one another, we will be building a better country.

I Love First Peoples
I Love First Peoples empowers Indigenous children and youth to succeed through education and the motivation to stay in school. We bridge communities through practical projects that promote reconciliation and education. Through our celebrity platform, we also raise awareness about reconciliation across Canada and around the globe.

Indspire
Indspire is an Indigenous national charity that invests in the education of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people for the long-term benefit of these individuals, their families and communities, and Canada.

Charity Intelligence Canada recognized Indspire with their four-star rating and named us a Top 10 Canadian Impact Charity for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 and Maclean’s also selected Indspire as a 2019 and 2020 Top-Rated Charity.

Canadian Roots Exchange
CRE builds bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth in Canada by facilitating dialogue and strengthening relationships through leadership programs.

READING LIST

Aboriginal Education: Current Crisis and Future Alternatives
Jerry Patrick White

Aboriginal Education: Fulfilling the Promise
Edited by Marlene Brant Castellano, Lynne Davis, and Louise Lahache

Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the Learning Spirit
Marie Battiste

Dropping the "T" from Can't: Enabling Aboriginal Post‑-Secondary Academic Success in Science and Mathematics
Michelle M. Hogue