Indigenous-led data and healing projects funded through Budget 2021

December 4, 2023

Indigenous-Led Data Research Projects program

Through an open call for proposals, the Indigenous-Led Data Research Projects program provides contribution funding for Indigenous-led research initiatives designed to develop qualitative and distinctions-based methodologies to increase knowledge around missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people and around safety for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people.

In June 2022, the Government of Canada launched a call for proposals, through which 18 projects were selected to receive funding via single and/or multi-year agreements. Between 2021 and 2026, the Government of Canada will have provided approximately $8.4 million in funding to support Indigenous-led data projects. This program responds to the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which calls upon all governments (in Calls for Justice 5.24, 16.44, 17.2, and 18.4) to collect and provide disaggregated and distinctions-based data to address the root causes of violence.

Funded projects

Alberta First Nations Information Governance Centre

Project: Phase 2: Examining Atchimostakanna – (Story Telling Instrument) Cultural Interactive Data Dashboard: Data Digital Storytelling and Visualization for Elders, Indigenous Women, Men, 2SLGBTQQIA+ and Youth and End Users
Total funding received: $227,900
Location: Alberta
Project description: This project examined and developed a cultural interactive dashboard framework that included useable, understandable, relatable, applicable, and clear information within an Indigenous cultural context for the user. The project used a multidimensional research approach of cultural engagement sessions combined with digital storytelling presented in a visual narrative, to provide clear information and extract key insights. The cultural interactive dashboard framework offers a cultural solution to the diversity of data through symbolic mapping that is meaningful and provides cultural safety for its target audience.

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs – First Nations Family Advocate Office

Project name: A Manitoba-Specific Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Database
Total funding received: $264,253
Location: Manitoba
Project description: This project will provide a synthesized resource that is easy to navigate and access for concerned family and community members. The database will not only serve as an active portal for the public to be made aware of currently missing individuals, it will also serve as a communication point where concerned citizens and family members can submit updated information regarding a missing or murdered relative, including photographs and stories.

Throughout several reports on the crisis of MMIWG and 2SLGBTQQIA+, families continue to emphasize the importance of immediate actions needed from government bodies to feel that they are being heard. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs – First Nations Family Advocate Office wants to respond to this call in a way that demonstrates their commitment to supporting MMIWG2S+ by offering a space where families can share information that has the added benefit of minimizing the compounded social isolation typically experienced by First Nations families after the loss of a loved one.

Congress of Aboriginal Peoples

Project: Building Capacity to Support Wellness and Safety Methodologies
Total funding received: $1,425,760
Location: National
Project description: As part of the Indigenous-led data Research Projects program, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) is developing Indigenous-led approaches to research methodologies with a specific focus on urban and rural non-status, non-registered Indigenous Peoples. As an addition to the existing MMIWG2S+ department at CAP, this program will support the research and methodology of implementing CAP’s MMIWG2S+ National Action Plan Illuminating the Way and monitoring of the progress of the 231 Calls for Justice. The program will expand upon CAP’s research into safety and wellbeing indicators, by researching and developing methodologies to measure safety and wellbeing, which will assist in better understanding evidence-based programs and services from a community safety lens. Through engagements, collaboration with external partners, and qualitative/quantitative research, a social justice metric will be developed from a Daniel’s specific safety lens. This program will support CAP researchers to collaborate with PTO researchers to explore and develop culturally appropriate and meaningful ethical research methodologies and protocols and the creation of community-specific safety and wellbeing indicators.

First Nations Information Governance Centre

Project: Proposal to Define and Measure Safety Among First Nations Women, Girls, and Gender Diverse Individuals
Total funding received:$647,360
Location: Ontario
Project description: This is a multi-year project to advance knowledge around safety and human security of First Nations women, girls, and members of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community. This project is exploring ways in which safety is defined and measured among First Nations in Canada and will help chart a path toward more reliable, distinctions or identity-based data. It is examining First Nations perspectives on safety and human security, as well as challenges, considerations, and methods for determining safety. This project supports a culturally-driven engagement process with First Nations stakeholders, regional partners, and subject matter experts to facilitate the necessary dialogue around safety and human security to better define and understand best practices, challenges, and methodological approaches to collect data on safety of First Nations women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, particularly in distinctions or identity-based terms. This project has taken into consideration the findings and recommendations of previous research conducted on the topic and will elaborate upon this existing research.

Liard First Nation

Project name: Redefining Research for Indigenous Women, Two Spirit and Gender-diverse individuals in the Yukon and Northern BC
Total funding received: $568,175
Location: Yukon

Manitoba Métis Federation Inc.

Project: Developing a Holistic Data Collection Framework to Understand Community Experiences with Missing and Murdered Red River Métis Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People
Total funding received: $49,723
Location: Manitoba
Project description: Developing a Holistic Data Collection Framework to Understand Community Experiences with Missing and Murdered Red River Métis Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People.

National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC)

Project: Strategic goals to develop data capacity in the Friendship Centre Movement
Total funding received: $499,268
Location: National
Project description: The NAFC is focusing on initiatives to build data capacity and expertise within the Friendship Centre Movement. We are launching our first ever ‘Why We Collect Data’ campaign during the 2nd NAFC Annual Urban Indigenous Summit from November 27-29, 2023. The campaign includes sharing materials that highlight the importance of data collection, providing opportunities for the membership to share their stories, and engaging members on how we can measure community wellness and safety from a Friendship Centre perspective. More information is available on NAFC’s Data website.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN Corporate Services)

Project name: NAN Missing, Murdered, Under-serviced, and Vulnerable Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People Knowledge Translation Project
Total funding received: $108,965
Location: Ontario
Project description: This project aims to identify, adapt and/or create effective, decolonized methods for collecting and analyzing data, i.e., knowledge, centered on Missing, Murdered, Under-serviced and Vulnerable Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People from NAN. The resultant knowledge gathering tools, approaches and protocols will be key to building a NAN Missing, Murdered, Under-serviced and Vulnerable Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People Database which will inform initiatives, strategies, and advocacy work undertaken by NAN corporate services for its member First Nations.

This project will help enhance the skills of the project team and increase their research, thereby creating more awareness about the MMIWG issue in the NAN territory. More knowledge will be exchanged at the grassroots/community level which is critical to increasing NAN’s understanding of the impacts of MMIWG on its citizens and the supports that are needed to effectively advocate and provide assistance.

Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres

Project: Safety and Belonging – Indigenous 2SLGBTQQIA+ Data & Research Initiatives
Total funding received: $625,000
Location: Ontario
Project description: This project is addressing the lack of consistent, reliable, and comprehensive data regarding the needs and experiences of Indigenous women, girls, and members of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community. The Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) is leading, and co-leading with participating Friendship Centres, research activities and the creation of a 2SLGBTQQIA+ Praxis Network. This Network brings together Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ people, survivors of gender-based violence and their families, service providers, Friendship Centre staff and community members, educators, researchers, community partners, Indigenous organizations to:

• Inform the creation of culture-based, community-driven data collection methodologies;
• Inform the development of actionable resources and wise practices for Friendship Centre communities and partners; and,
• Communicate the research process and outputs with relevant government organizations, community partners, and actors outside the OFIFC to increase impact, via conferences, presentations, knowledge exchanges, or publications.

Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres

Project: Gathering Our Stories – Indigenous 2SLGBTQQIA+ Data & Research Initiatives
Total funding received: $625,000
Location: Ontario
Project description: This project aims to fundamentally change the way information about Indigenous 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals and communities is gathered, analyzed, and shared, by developing innovative Indigenous community-driven approaches, strategies and resources. The potential impact of systemic review and change at the national level will be extensive and transformative for Indigenous 2SLGBTQQIA people and communities. The 2SLGBTQQIA+ Advisory Committee will work towards:

• reclaiming and (re)generating Indigenous knowledge about 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, as well as associated knowledge exchange processes;
• generating promising practices for engaging Indigenous 2SLGBTQQIA+ people regarding data collection; and
• establishing protocols for data governance and sovereignty related to Indigenous 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

Ontario Native Women’s Association

Project: R.A.T.T.L.E.S Framework for Research: Connecting for Change
Total funding received: $150,000
Location: Ontario
Project description: The purpose of this project, in conjunction with existing efforts to finalize and implement Ontario Native Women’s Association’s (ONWA) R.A.T.T.L.E.S research framework, is to create a formalized methodology for knowledge sharing and dissemination, that becomes an ingrained mechanism to refine how safety responses and prevention policies are defined, discussed, and developed. “Connecting for Change” seeks to build within ONWA’s internal networks by first, establishing a safety table that begins to review, guide, and offer insight into information collected and presented by the research department, and secondly, create linking mechanisms to external research networks that are looking to review, develop and/or expand data related to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. ONWA recognizes that any work to define safety through Indigenous ways of knowing and understanding cannot be completed by one organization in isolation and that respect for the principle of community consensus-based decision making is paramount. In acknowledgment of this principle, coordinating internal networks within the organization, which provides service delivery across Ontario, will create a greater ability to inform and participate in national efforts to address safety issues impacting Indigenous women and girls through the sharing of a regionally focused perspective.

Ontario Native Women’s Association

Project: R.A.T.T.L.E.S Framework for Research: Development, Expansion and Organizational Capacity Building
Total funding received: $150,000
Location: Ontario
Project description: This is a multi-year project to build upon Ontario Native Women’s Association’s (ONWA) current data collection practices and increase capacity to engage in research through an Indigenous woman’s inter-sectional and gender-based lens. ONWA aims to complete its research framework, which establishes the over-arching principles for how to engage in research, and the exploration on applying the framework into existing systems. To increase safety, it will be necessary to assess how ONWA has been defining and measuring safety over a 50-year history. This will further the understanding of what safety means and looks like to Indigenous women and girls over time, and most significantly, aid in developing a new and innovative methodologies that capture the intersections of a multiplicity of identity indicators, such as nation, gender, sexuality, social location, physical location, spiritual affiliation, ability, and age.

Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

Project: Inuit Count: An Inuit-Specific, Gender-Based Approach to Improving Data and Addressing Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Total funding received: $354,498
Location: National
Project description: This project is developing a data strategy, through a gendered lens that is based on promising practices, early intervention, prevention, and healing and wellness supports and programs. This project is also helping improve data methodologies that are specific to missing and murdered Inuit women, girls, and gender-diverse Inuit, including initiatives that:

• Develop qualitative distinctions or identity-based indicators
• Address existing methodological gaps for Inuit women, girls and gender diverse Inuit who are overwhelmingly underserviced or underrepresented in data
• Define safety through Inuit ways of understanding (Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) Principles
• Implementing these initiatives will work to improve existing data and expand data related to missing and murdered Inuit women, girls, and gender-diverse Inuit.

Through this project, Pauktuutit will create the mechanisms necessary for Pauktuutit’s research and Gender-based Analysis Plus Framework to be strengthened and implemented with Inuit women remaining in control of the methodologies and resulting outputs to reduce violence and ensure the safety of Inuit women, girls and gender-diverse Inuit. A Data Strategy will also help advance key recommendations from Pauktuutit’s National Inuit Action Plan on MMIWG+ Peoples and is in alignment with Pauktuutit’s mission, vision, and strategic goals.

Quebec Native Women Inc.

Project: Nānīawig Māmawe Nīnawind, Stand With Us: Mapping of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Quebec
Total funding received: $260,000
Location: Quebec
Project description: In partnership with the Iskweu Shelter for Indigenous Women of Montreal and Audrey Rousseau, sociology professor at Université du Québec en Outaouais, Quebec Native Women Inc’s project documents and analyzes quantitative and qualitative data on the disappearances and murders of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in Quebec. The ultimate goal of this collaborative project is to co-construct an interactive map that will visually assemble the quantitative data (statistics) and qualitative data (stories, images, etc.) collected.

Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta

Project: Natonikewin Examining Gender Based Services For First Nation Women, Girls And 2SLGBTQQIA+ People
Total funding received: $321,207
Location: Alberta
Project description: Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta will conduct a three-year study to examine the relationship between distressing experiences, cultural interpretations, social structures, and seeking help from violent situations for First Nation women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in the Treaty 8 Alberta area. The research will also focus on understanding the factors that are related to seeking help, what services are available, how data is captured about gender identity, and how information is shared between First Nations and other jurisdictions.

Tungasuvvingat Inuit

Project name: Inuit Specific MMIWG Research
Total funding received: $219,311
Location: Ontario and Nunavut

Wabanaki Two-Spirit Alliance

Project name: Wabanaki Two-Spirit Indigenous-Led Data Research Project Plan
Total funding received: $366,850
Location: Atlantic
Project description: This project aims to “lay the groundwork for improved methodologies and new approaches to produce better data around safety that are inclusive of Indigenous worldviews and perspectives”. W2SA demonstrates strong foundations of governance, leadership, organizational practice, and knowledge to take a lead role in Indigenous-led data research. There cannot be methodologies and new approaches to produce better data without foundational principles and practices that follow the interests and goals of the Wabanaki Two-Spirit community in Atlantic Canada. Therefore, the W2SA will hire a data and research coordinator to move forward with Indigenous-led research with 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. The following are the project’s expected outcomes:

• Capacity Development - Hire a Full-time Data and Research Coordinator
• Develop workshop and knowledge-sharing strategy
• Build partnerships to enhance data-gathering tools with 2S focus
• Engage key 2S partners nationally and internationally to enhance 2S data-gathering and research

Yellowhead Tribal Council

Project: Echoes of the Past: Discovery and Direction
Total funding received: $249,334
Location: Alberta
Project description: Facilitated by two workshops on cultural crafts, the purpose of this project is to encourage Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people to express concerns in a safe, secure environment where everyone is respected, valued and honoured, while reconnecting with their culture and honouring the echoes of those who have passed. This project will also gather information related to the Indigenous definition of safety, inner safety and cultural safety, which in turn will enable Yellowhead Tribal Council to provide valuable recommendations and direction for making communities safer. This project will also monitor the progress of the goals outlined in the Federal National Action Plan and the Federal Pathway to address the MMIWG and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

Support for the Wellbeing of Families and Survivors of MMIWG and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People Contribution Program

Through an open call for proposals, the Support for the Wellbeing of Families and Survivors of MMIWG and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People Program provides funding for Indigenous-led projects that provide assistance and services for the healing journeys of individual Indigenous family members who have missing or lost loved ones, or are a survivor, due to violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people.

In 2022-23, the Government of Canada continued to provide funding to organizations for multi-year projects from the Call for Proposals held in 2021-22, and approved 13 new projects to receive funding via single and/or multi-year agreements. Between 2021 and 2026, the Government of Canada will have provided over $12.5 million in funding to support Indigenous-led healing projects. This program responds to the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which calls upon all governments (in Calls for Justice 3.7, 5.6, and 17.20) to provide ongoing, accessible, and culturally relevant healing programs and support for children, survivors, and family members of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people.

Funded projects

Abegweit First Nation Mi’kmaq Wellness Centre

Project: Msit No’kmaq (All my relations)
Total funding received: $92,762
Location: Atlantic

Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary

Project: Cultural Healing and Supports for Indigenous Women, Girls and 2 Spirits
Total funding received: $711,683
Location: Alberta
Project description: This project will strengthen therapeutic and cultural supports for Indigenous women and girls to reduce the threats of violence and discrimination. For example, the Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary will strengthen a peer network that brings together families, friends, and allies who have been affected by missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, as well as Two Spirited people. Connecting participants to various community resources will restore a sense of safety and empower resiliency. Talking circles will be one activity with our Indigenous Elders to offer cultural healing, reinforce positive cultural identity and practices. We will also design and provide workshops that will promote:

• healthy healing practices
• trauma recovery
• raise awareness on these types of violence
• explore individual and community strategies to reduce threats to our community

The Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary will bring together their urban Indigenous community along with allies from mainstream society to plan and host a vigil to honour and recognize the significant losses and open wounds that remain because some individuals have not yet been found.

Âsokêwin Friendship Centre Society

Project: MMIWG & 2SLGBTQQIA+ Family and Survivor Healing Program
Total funding received: $419,760
Location: Alberta
Project description: Some major activities the healing program will provide include, but are not limited to:

• healing gatherings, such as women and girls support groups or wellness groups
• MMIWG wellness forum
• bi-annual healing round dances
• healing kits with sacred medicines for health and wellness
• Mending Broken Hearts: Healing from Unresolved Grief Training for Women and Girls

The organization will connect with established networks and meet the Indigenous community in order to determine how often to have these healing gatherings.

Cree Nation Tribal Centre of Manitoba

Project: Minowawin – Healing
Total funding received: $300,000
Location: Manitoba

Cree Women of Eeyou Istchee Association

Project: You are not alone
Total funding received: $140,200
Location: Quebec
Project description: “You are not alone” is a regional project that will cover the territory of Eeyou Itschee. It is to inform the survivors of MMIWG that they are not alone and do not have to go through the emotions alone. This will create a support group within the communities. As an extra activity, a commemorative monument representing MMIWG will be placed at the entrance of their territory – Eeyou Istchee – to remind their members that their women have not been forgotten and the survivors are not alone.

Mannawanis Native Friendship Centre Society

Project: Iviniw nanatawihowin (Indigenous Healing)
Total funding received: $361,000
Location: Alberta
Project description: The intent of this project is to offer holistic healing to the participants and to provide opportunities to address unresolved grief due to loss, as well as putting an emphasis on trauma recovery. A strong emphasis is also placed on creating safe spaces for the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community and to address the racism, bullying and lack of acceptance that is often experienced by this group of people.

This initiative will help those who have lost loved ones and are directly impacted by MMIWG by working on unresolved grief and assisting them with the trauma that arises from such losses. Empowerment of said individuals, couples, and families is crucial in assisting them in achieving their full potential.

Métis Central Western Region II

Project: Wiiyawow Kishkishi pi Kiikew Project
Total funding received: $1,000,000
Location: Saskatchewan

Native Women’s Association of Canada

Project: Resiliency and Healing for survivors, families, and communities of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people
Total funding received: $655,040
Location: Quebec

Ontario Native Women’s Association

Project: Indigenous Victim and Family Liaison Program Expansion
Total funding received: $1,000,000
Location: Ontario
Project description: This project seeks to expand ONWA’s existing Indigenous Victim and Family Liaison (IVFL) program as there is strong demonstrated need for specialized, culturally relevant supports for victims of MMIWG and their impacted families. The IVLF program provides support and guidance to the families of MMIWG and 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples in navigating the culturally relevant health and wellbeing supports that are available to them.

Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

Project: Illavut
Total funding received: $457,739
Location: Nunavut
Project description: Building from the Red Amauti commemoration project, Pauktuutit will collaborate with a representative and advisory group comprised of surviving family survivors, including Elders and youth from across Inuit Nunangat and urban cities, to determine meaningful ways to support the healing of and honour the legacies of Inuit women, girls, and LGBTQ2S individuals who are missing or have been murdered. The intent is to build awareness of the impacts of MMIWG for Inuit women, and to provide meaningful resources to build healing though self-guided activities for care, while respecting culture and traditions.

At the direction of the advisory committee, Pauktuutit will develop culturally relevant activities that support families and survivors. These activities may include celebrations of life and legacy, memorial feasts and events, provision of healing kits, the establishment of items of commemoration, holding healing gatherings, or the provision of resources to assist in the navigation of healing supports as guided by the advisory group. The activities will be with and for Inuit that promote healing, inspire hope for future generations, and raise awareness toward ending the cycle of violence and abuse.

The Pas Family Resource Centre

Project: Kiseetiskatano (We Hold Each Other Up)
Total funding received: $180,392
Location: Manitoba
Project description: This project will provide opportunities to engage in cultural traditions and ceremonies, which include but are not limited to the following: mental health and emotional supports with an Elder, one to one counselling, sharing and caring circle, peer support, arts, music and dance, traditional food gathering, prep and cooking, and ceremonies such as sweat lodge, full moon, and sundance.

Cree is the region’s prevalent Indigenous language and will be shared during activities and be visible in developed materials and resources, and others to be identified by participants. Participants will be invited and encouraged to share cultural knowledge and experience and lead/assist with the development and delivery of activities. Seasonal and ceremonial feasts and ceremony will be held with community for the equinoxes, solstices, and significant days such as:

• Sisters in Spirit Day
• Red Dress Day
• National Indigenous Peoples Day

Smudging will be available at all times. Activities and supports will take place in a trauma informed, culturally competent setting by a recruited project coordinator who will have been recognized and acknowledged by community as a Traditional Knowledge Keeper with experience in counselling, mental health, and a trauma informed approach.

Women of the Dawn

Project: Missing and Murdered Women’s Healing Project
Total funding received: $620,002
Location: Saskatchewan
Project description: The Women of the Dawn will provide the necessary services to the missing and murdered women and their families in the City of Regina in the following areas: healing circles, one to one counselling, culturally sensitive workshops, medicine wheel training, traditional teachings, cultural activities, commemoration, celebration, cultural camps and life skills.

Yukon Aboriginal Women’s Council

Project: Finding Peace: MMIWG Commemoration Project – Phase 2 (Community Outreach – Watson Lake)
Total funding received: $243,892
Location: Yukon