Canadian Women's Foundation Annual Report 2023-2024 - Report - Page 35
Staff members and supporters of the Northern
Birthwork Collective rally in support of their midwifery
program, which helps people access culturallygrounded birthing services.
▶
Northern Birthwork Collective, Yellowknife,
Northwest Territories: Offers culturally safe,
gender-inclusive birthing care services across
the territory, works to increase the number
of doulas, and revitalizes traditional birth and
perinatal practices.
▶
Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation,
Empowering Journeys: Nurturing
Indigenous Well-being, Yellowknife,
Northwest Territories: Offers skill-building
programs that address economic security,
gender-based violence, healthy relationship
skills, and girls’ empowerment.
▶
Foxy: Fostering Open eXpression Among
Youth, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories:
Young people from Nunavut, Northwest
Territories, and the Yukon get training to
become workshop facilitators at schools and
peer mentors in their communities.
▶
▶
Support Wellbeing Training Program,
MakeWay Charitable Society, Yellowknife,
Northwest Territories: Provides tools and
resources to help women who deliver landbased programming to better prevent and
address mental health challenges among
service providers and program participants.
Inuit Tunniit Tattoo Initiatives, Western Arctic
Youth Collective, Whitehorse, Yukon:
Hosts gatherings for sharing knowledge
about revitalizing traditional tattoo practices,
as well as opportunities to reflect on how
colonization has impacted these traditions.
▶
Women and Girls Sharing Circle BeYOUtiful Minds, Victor Sammurtok
School, Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut: Offers
a new space for girls and young women to
build skills in sewing, art, and games, while
developing coping and leadership skills.
▶
Yellowknife Women’s Society, Northwest
Territories: Funding from the Foundation
enables the hire of new staff members to
help strengthen programs and services.
▶
The Sisterhood Peer Support Group –
Moms With Kids in the System, Victoria
Faulkner Women’s Centre, Whitehorse,
Yukon: Offers peer support space,
land-based activities, and other support
resources for mothers, grandmothers,
and aunties as they navigate the process
of reuniting with children who have been
placed in care.
▶
Qisiliriniq (traditional seal skin preparation)
and Tool Making Program for Women and
Girls, Ilitaqsiniq, Rankin Inlet, Nunavut:
Women and girls learn to make tools and
follow traditional methods for seal skin
preparation and spear fishing through
programs that reconnect them with
empowering cultural and nature-based
activities.
“Within our programs we look for ways to
expand and become more inclusive to
teaching and learning traditional skills
and practices that were often assigned to
gender roles. Working with seal skins is
a physically demanding process that has
been perfected by Inuit over generations. It
is important this knowledge and technique
is taught to younger generations by elders
to ensure our cultural traditions continue.
Acquiring this knowledge
is a source of pride and
empowering to women
who have been able to
master it.”
– Adriana Kusugak, Executive Director,
Ilitaqsiniq
35
