A Message from the CEO

June was an incredibly busy month at NWAC—filled with critical advocacy work, building capacity with our PTMAs, engaging with new and potential partners, providing corporate training, and developing a monthly e-newsletter.

ENGAGING IN ADVOCACY

June 1 saw us launch our MMIWG action plan, Our Calls, Our Actions, after the Government of Canada (GOC) failed to hand down a true action plan in response to the National Inquiry’s 231 Calls for Justice. The GOC’s plan lacks concrete actions, measurable goals, budgets, and timelines. In contrast, our plan not only includes those components. It also sets out more than 65 concrete actions that address culture and language, health and wellness, human security, international action, justice, and public awareness. The media covered the lack of concrete action in the government’s action plan extensively and NWAC received extensive national media coverage on this matter. Just as we advocated for the National Inquiry, NWAC will continue to advocate for the full implementation of the 231 Calls to Justice.

As part of our MMIWG action plan, NWAC printed 1,000 copies of a “little red book,” which contains the 231 Calls to Justice, and distributed these to Indigenous women across Canada. We want Indigenous women to be aware of their right to have these “legal imperatives” implemented.

We also launched our newest initiative, Safe Passage. This dedicated website hosts the first Indigenous women-led database on MMIWG cases in Canada and provides important educational and training resources on violence prevention.

As part of our advocacy work, NWAC met with the Minister of Justice and the Commissioner of the RCMP to demand that charges be laid in the deaths of Indigenous children at Indian residential schools after the horrific discovery of 751 unmarked graves at the Marieval school in Saskatchewan. We demand that charges be laid against people still living who perpetuated these crimes. This includes members of the religious orders that ran the schools, governments, and the churches that we know to be complicit. The Criminal Code of Canada allows such charges to be laid against governments and institutions, including churches, in cases where they have failed to provide the necessities of life to people who were in their care.

BUILDING PTMA CAPACITY

In June, NWAC held meetings with some of our provincial and territorial member associations as part of a cross-Canada tour. We discussed the supports they need to continue to build their capacity—critical given that the demand for services increases at the grassroots level. During this tour, we heard about the need for training opportunities and information sessions for PTMA leaders, board members, and staff in the areas of finance, communications, governance, proposal writing, and fundraising. In response, we are developing a series of online webinars for PTMAs. These will be delivered by subject matter experts.

As NWAC and our PTMAs continue to grow, we want to ensure that every PTMA has the ability and the tools to provide the best possible advocacy, programs, and services possible.

DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS

Over the past few years, NWAC has developed a partnership with the Bank of Montreal (BMO) to help us acquire the first Resiliency Lodge property, located in Chelsea, Quebec, and develop our new Social and Economic Innovation Centre, located in the heart of Gatineau, Quebec. BMO announced the partnership in a press release this month. NWAC has received broad support from the community for both initiatives.

The Resiliency Lodge is a beautifully designed elder-led healing centre located on 2.5 acres of land. It has been designed to provide online and in-person healing services to Indigenous women and gender-diverse people. Our 45,000-square-foot Social and Economic Innovation Centre is expected to open in October. It will provide NWAC with flex-office space, training and workshop space, space for the artisan boutique, called Artisanelle, which features collections from across Canada and the Americas, a new café concept called Bouleau, with its own commercial kitchen, and a rooftop greenhouse garden and designated commemoration area.

Our growth plans for the artisan boutique involve developing a network of artisans from across Canada and the Americas, including Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela, Colombia, and Peru. Artisans will be able to showcase their art pieces, jewellery, clothing, accessories, baskets, and many more items through the store’s online presence and in the boutique. Artisanelle will officially launch in the fall of 2021. This initiative supports Indigenous women’s micro and small businesses by purchasing their goods and marketing them on two platforms. The items sold online will be available to U.S. and European markets.

NWAC values our relationship with BMO, and we look forward to working together to expand the Resiliency Lodge concept across the country and to develop other projects that will benefit Indigenous women in Canada.

RECONCILIATION AND TRAINING

This month, NWAC delivered high-level corporate training to Hootsuite employees on colonialism (past and present) and how to attain a decolonized future. Providing culturally appropriate training is part of NWAC’s action plan in response to the MMIGW Calls for Justice. As recently stated by our new Governor General, “reconciliation is about getting to know one another.” NWAC will continue to provide high-level training both on-line and in-person, where possible.

NEW MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER

Our new monthly newsletter is called Shining the Spotlight. The newsletter provides monthly updates on NWAC’s work, including the #BeTheDrum program and the LEGISreform project, and on the Resiliency Lodge’s virtual and in-person programming. In this first issue, we also highlighted our international advocacy work and research projects on cannabis use, Indigenous women in the workplace, and the protection of oceans and fisheries. I hope you enjoy reading about some of the impactful work NWAC is doing in this month’s issue.

NWAC TEAM

As with many other workplaces, NWAC’s employees have been teleworking throughout the COVID pandemic. When some conditions were lifted this month, we took the opportunity to meet in groups at the Resiliency Lodge to reflect on the past year, discuss our work, plan new innovative and strategic initiatives, and talk about how we can continue to best serve our communities.

Miigwetch, Thank you, Merci,

Lynne Groulx