Lil’wat Nation (BC) – Whitehorse (YT) – Inuvik and Yellowknife (NWT) – North Vermilion and Thorhild County (AB) – Coral Harbour and Iqaluit (NU) – Winnipeg (MB) – Hopedale, Nunatsiavut (NL)

Community Wisdom is a youth-led, community-driven project working to address the crisis of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQ+ people by centering healing, culture, and collective action. The First Nations, Métis, and Inuit project leaders, who brought diverse lived experience and cultural knowledge, created spaces for connection, learning and action across their communities. 

Grounded in Indigenous worldviews and northern realities, the project creates space for honest conversations about safety, healing, and gender justice through storytelling and cultural practices, land-based and intergenerational connection. Community Wisdom honours the experiences and wisdom of those affected by violence while uplifting grassroots, community-led, and culturally informed solutions to build safer, more inclusive communities.

We are so proud of this team who led with commitment, courage and care for their communities and one other, establishing themselves as trusted leaders working to create change. They built strong relationships with Elders, partners and community leaders, stepped into visible and often challenging leadership roles, and proudly spoke on behalf of their communities in spaces of influence and decision-making.  

ENGAGING MEN AND BOYS is essential to preventing violence and supporting community healing. Community Wisdom leaders created safe, supported spaces for Indigenous men and boys to reconnect with themselves, their peers, Elders, culture, and the land, unlearn colonial narratives of masculinity and better understand the colonial roots of gender-based violence, navigate trauma, reduce risky coping strategies, and enhance capacity to act as respectful, safe leaders in their communities – contributing to safer families, stronger communities, and long-term, intergenerational change.

VOICES ON THE LAND – Indigenous-Led Pathways to Gender Safety & Justice 

Youth-led resource that brings together lived experience, cultural knowledge, and practical tools to help youth, Elders, caregivers, educators, and community leaders create safe, inclusive spaces, strengthen community responses, and support healing, resilience, and collective action.