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Feathers of Hope seeks core funding to expand programming

Currently, the Indigenous youth-led organization mainly relies on grants to survive
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Delegates in discussion at a Feathers of Hope forum on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Thunder Bay on Jan. 24, 2025.

THUNDER BAY — An Indigenous youth organization that promotes empowerment and leadership among First Nations young people is lobbying federal officials for stable funding, something they haven’t had in at least six years.

Feathers of Hope’s project manager Koral Hamilton said that they’ve been in discussions with representatives of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and Indigenous Services Canada — the two federal departments that deal with matters involving First Nations — for stable funding to allow them to hire staff positions she said are necessary to provide more effective programming.

Currently, Hamilton said, the not-for-profit effectively relies on a succession of grants aimed at specific initiatives. They also do get some corporate sponsorship from businesses like Biogen and Lush, she added, but the generally precarious nature of going grant-to-grant puts a ceiling on what they can achieve.

“We are really, really lobbying and really pushing to have at least five core staff members for a three-year contribution period from the Indigenous government agencies in Canada that do provide funding to many other … Indigenous organizations, non-profits and charities,” Hamilton said.

“That is what we are doing right now.”

The organization has had core funding before. Hamilton said that when they were a program under Ontario’s Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, they had access to stable funding. The child advocate had an office in Thunder Bay, but the independent position was eliminated after Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government was first elected in 2018, and its responsibilities and oversight transferred to the provincial ombudsman.

The loss of that funding — which Hamilton said “hit us extremely hard” — not to mention the COVID-19 pandemic, caused some tough times, but the organization survived, incorporated as an independent not-for-profit, and began applying for grants.

“Our youth-led board did not want to stop doing what they were doing for the youth because it's something that really matters not only to our youth board but also to the youth in this region,” Hamilton said, adding that the group's CEO Betty Kennedy also deserves recognition for her continued efforts.

Recently, the organization held a day-long session where delegates could learn about Canada’s action plan to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and offer input that would form a report that Feathers of Hope will submit to the federal Department of Justice (the department funded the project).

Feathers of Hope is also planning another initiative around Indigenous youth and the criminal justice system, Hamilton added, which is slated to include a forum where young people can share their experiences, opinions and asks for information on the system.

The goal is to have an online resource that she said will, not only break down the criminal code in accessible language, but also cover things like one’s legal rights and provide a “resource map” of Indigenous and non-Indigenous justice-related services that are available.

A licensed attorney will oversee everything to ensure accuracy, Hamilton said.

And there’s no shortage of ideas for future initiatives, she added.

“We have 60-plus testimonials that Feathers of Hope is something that they really want,” she said. “The criminal justice system, mental health, addictions, family violence, Seven Fallen Feathers, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and people are topics that the youth have identified as priority topics for them.”

“We're working towards listening to what the youth want and then finding those funding sources for them.”




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