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This training is intended to provide those interested in expanding their knowledge in working with Indigenous peoples through an educational and experiential opportunity. Over three days, you will gain a deeper understanding, and personal experience on Indigenous history and perspectives through various traditional teachings and protocols, and how these relate to the delivery of human services with Indigenous service users.

This virtual training is intended as a level two training opportunity to better understand “The How” in reconciliation. Participants MUST have taken Cultural Solution 101 as a primer as well as experience in understanding parallel approaches, ethical space and personal experiences with Indigenous history and perspectives. 

Facilitated by Frank Shannon, Haida Nation – Old Massett Band, the team at ALIGN are happy to announce a new online sharing and learning opportunity.

This series builds on the work being done on the Indigenous Cultural Understanding Framework (ICUF) initiative, with the objective to outline a holistic Learning and Development Pathway to Indigenous cultural understanding to support service providers in Alberta to be culturally appropriate, and influence better outcomes for Indigenous children, youth, families and communities.

ALIGN invites all Foundation of Caregiver Support (FOCS) Trainers and all caregivers (group care staff, foster care/kinship caregivers and providers) to come together virtually to watch the The Journey Home, a 25-minute film designed to train caregivers and reflect on what this means for indigenous children and families. This session will be repeated monthly on the third Friday of each month, next session will be on April 23 @ 10:00 am to 12:00 pm via Zoom.

The session is facilitated by Frank Shannon and Beverly Keeshig Soonias. The Journey Home video is a tool for training caregivers and can be incorporated into module one of foundation of caregiver supports. The post-viewing discussion is intended for reflection on the film in a more interactive and relational approach than watching it alone.

More information about the film: The video, The Journey Home, explores healing Indigenous children in the Canadian child welfare system. This powerful documentary provides an Indigenous community perspective on inter-generational trauma and its impacts on children and youth in government care. This research-based Documentary highlights community approaches to ensuring children are meaningfully connected to their culture, community and identity.” Available online on YouTube and developed by Native Counselling Services of Alberta.

You are invited to the collective viewing of the The Journey Home video and facilitated group discussion as we look at this tool for training caregivers and staff.

The Touchstones of Hope movement of the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society encourages meaningful collaboration with others devoted to helping make sure Indigenous children and families are healthy and living with dignity and respect. This is why the Caring Society created resources that will enable communities and organizations to build momentum toward reconciliation in their own context by using the Touchstones of Hope principles: self-determination, culture and language, holistic approach, structural interventions, and non-discrimination.

The Indigenous Games for Children Resource is a collection of traditional Indigenous games and activities to help introduce or reconnect children to recreational and sport activities that reflect the rich cultural heritage of our Indigenous peoples across Canada.

Through consultation with Indigenous communities and cultural organizations, researchers and existing publications, this resource is a collection of activity cards that put children in touch with nature. Indigenous people in Canada have always had a special bond with their natural environments and for many years, depended entirely upon Mother Earth for their survival. Many games were introduced to children by elders to help them learn and develop skills necessary for survival, building strength and agility, hunting and gathering food in harsh weather environments.

Many of these active games will also help children increase their physical activity levels while strengthening their sense of culture and tradition.

The word Iiyika’kimaat, which means “to try hard” in Blackfoot, was gifted to the agency after consultation with elders. The Iiyika’kimaat program provides Indigenous youth, aged 12-21, an opportunity to reach their full potential through culturally-relevant and leadership-specific components and activities.

Check out these Indigenous resources for kids including videos, book recommendations, activity books and so much more!

7 Generations Series: A Plains Cree Saga by David Alexander Robertson is a series geared towards 14-18 year olds. Only by learning about his family's past—as warriors, survivors of a smallpox epidemic, casualties of a residential school—will he be able to face the present and embrace the future.

Goodminds.com offers a number of free resources including activities and projects.

Do you know of an Alberta or Canadian author who has published a children's story that shares their heritage? Send us a link to the book and we'll include it in another edition of Connections!

Take a look at our updated Children's Book library! (Click on the library shelves)