Northern Strategy
Indigenizing Grantmaking for Gender Justice in the North
The Canadian Womens’ Foundation is honoured to partner with MakeWay Foundation on a Northern Strategy, guided by the Northern Women and Girls Advisory Committee with representatives from Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik, and Nunatsiavut.
Diverse women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary people living in Northern communities face unique challenges and work in unique ways to address them.
They face some of the highest rates of violence, poverty, and poor health in Canada. They often have least access to basic services—things like transportation and community programs. Legacies of colonialism and residential schools erode local connectedness and sense of identity.
Indigenous gender justice leaders in the North know the solution to these challenges and what women, girls, and gender-diverse people need to reclaim connections to land and culture in the North. They are the catalysts for sustainable and healthy futures.
Granting Focus Identified by Northern Advisory Committee
- Uplifting women’s contemporary roles and responsibilities in family and community, often through the reclamation of Indigenous culture and tradition.
- Empowering programming led by Indigenous health and wellness institutions and increasing cultural competency within public health and wellness institutions.
- Centering and reconciling gender relationships in family and community as a pathway to end violence.
- Expanding culturally appropriate, community-driven, and secure childcare services to reduce barriers to northern Indigenous women’s economic independence.
Northern Initiatives
The Northern Women and Girls Advisory Committee is built on meaningful community-based relationships that enable the Canadian Women’s Foundation to grant towards these excellent initiatives.
