Indigenous women and girls on Vancouver Island will receive increased community-led support through $1 million from the Giving Voice project.

Women, girls and gender-diverse people are disproportionately targeted by gender-based violence, and Indigenous women are four times more likely to experience gender-based violence. The Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation’s Advisory Council on Indigenous Women (MACIW) has made action on this topic a priority for the council.

Under Giving Voice, a funding initiative led by MACIW, nine organizations on Vancouver Island will receive as much as $30,000 each for community-driven healing projects that inspire change and give voice to issues of violence in Indigenous women’s lives.

“Gender-based violence disproportionately affects Indigenous women and girls in communities across the province,” said Barb Ward-Burkitt, chair of MACIW. “This latest round of Giving Voice funding is supporting meaningful initiatives that foster healing and promote safety for Indigenous women and girls, and empower change at a community level.”

Launched in 2013, Giving Voice places emphasis on the rights of Indigenous Peoples to cultural self-determination and safety, and aligns with the Province’s efforts to strengthen relationships with Indigenous Peoples and take action in accordance with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

Highlights of funded projects on Vancouver Island include:

• Cowichan Valley Métis Nation will provide community members with resources, including access to a mental-health navigator, strategies for mindfulness and self care, and counselor-led discussions (Koksilah).
• Homalco Indian Band will create a safe space for community members to talk about the normalization of violence from residential schools, child welfare and lateral violence (Campbell River).
• The Tillicum Lelum Aboriginal Friendship Centre will inspire justice and healing from gender-based violence through dance workshops (Nanaimo).

Funding for the 2024-25 Giving Voice initiative was provided as part of the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. The program also helps support one of several key actions the Province is advancing under Safe and Supported: B.C.’s Gender-Based Violence Action Plan.

“Action is urgently needed to prevent and address gender-based violence against Indigenous women and girls, and it is vital that we support Indigenous communities in leading this work,” said Murray Rankin, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation. “This funding is helping grassroots initiatives across the province address violence and prioritize the needs of community members.”

MACIW is an advisory council of respected Indigenous women that was created in 2011 to advise the B.C. government about how to improve quality of life for Indigenous women and girls throughout the province.

Quotes:

Grace Elliott-Nielsen, executive director, Tillicum Lelum Aboriginal Friendship Centre –

“Giving Voice funds support Elder matriarchs and knowledge keepers to share teachings through dance, helping young lone-parent Indigenous moms living with the fear of having their children apprehended to heal from the intersecting and interconnecting gender-based structural violence they experience from a variety of colonial systems. Caring Hearts reflects a knowing that a deep yearning for genuine reconciliation potential resides in both the Indigenous Nations of Turtle Island and settler people sharing our land.”

Lacey Jones, director, QomQem Coastal Connections –

“With the support of Giving Voice, we can continue our ongoing harm-reduction work through SACRED, an Indigenous women’s leadership and capacity-building group that supports marginalized people facing colonial violence. In partnership with Peers Victoria Resources Society, SACRED gathers cultural perspectives on gender-based violence and shares stories of resilience from Indigenous women and two-spirit individuals in our community. This funding will allow our members to develop new strategies to support community members, while addressing colonial violence, providing healing and building strength.”

Colleen Rudderham, director of community services, Kyuquot Checleseht First Nations (KCFN) – 

“This funding will allow Kyuquot Checleseht First Nations to expand on previous community projects and bring together KCFN women to learn about culture, tradition and ways of knowing. Through the Reclaiming our Gifts women’s gathering, we will explore how women’s roles in our matriarchal society can be lived today for the purpose of healing from and preventing further violence toward women.”

Learn More: 

To learn more about Giving Voice, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/indigenous-people/minister-s-advisory-council-on-indigenous-women-maciw/giving-voice

To learn more about the Minister’s Advisory Council on Indigenous Women, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/indigenous-people/minister-s-advisory-council-on-indigenous-women-maciw

For more information about Safe and Supported, B.C.’s gender-based violence action plan, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/services-policies-for-government/gender-equity/safe-and-supported-gender-based-violence-action-plan-december-2023.pdf

For more information about the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence, visit: https://www.canada.ca/en/women-gender-equality/gender-based-violence/intergovernmental-collaboration/national-action-plan-end-gender-based-violence.html

A backgrounder follows.