Tla’amin Nation Health Services’ Segat (lifting spirits) program will be among several funded by the province’s Giving Voice project, designed to support community healing.
The Tla’amin project will use traditional teachings to empower participants, according to a media release from the ministry of Indigenous relations and reconciliation.
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 release stated. 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, according to the release.
Under giving voice, a funding initiative led by MACIW, 20 organizations in southern BC 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," stated 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, the release stated.
Funding for the 2024/2025 Giving Voice initiative was provided as part of the national action plan to end gender-based violence, the release stated. The program also helps support one of several key actions the province is advancing under safe and supported: BC's gender-based violence action plan.
"Giving Voice has supported thousands of people through community-led healing that uplifts the voices of Indigenous people and provides safe, culturally specific spaces for survivors, their families and communities on the path to addressing the impacts of violence and trauma," stated Kelli Paddon, parliamentary secretary for gender equity.
MACIW is an advisory council of respected Indigenous women that was created in 2011 to advise the BC government about how to improve quality of life for Indigenous women and girls throughout the province.
Join the Peak's email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.
