Citizens for Public Justice (Ottawa) is establishing working relationships with Indigenous organizations and has two people, one an Indigenous law student, studying its three main areas of work (poverty in Canada, ecological justice and refugee rights) and preparing internal studies to guide its efforts to deepen reconciliation with Indigenous People.
Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba, or IRCOM, (Winnipeg) receives guidance from Indigenous staff, cultural advisors and elders that is essential to the success of its partnerships. In 2017-8, IRCOM received funding from the Province of Manitoba for the Common Ground, Stronger Voices project to collaborate with and enhance relationships between Indigenous Peoples and newcomers to Canada. For the project IRCOM hired an Indigenous staff person to focus on IRCOM’s initiatives to build safer, integrated neighbourhoods in Winnipeg. http://www.ircom.ca/programs/common-ground-stronger-voices/
The Canadian Centre on Statelessness, or CCS, (Ottawa) is building alliances and relationships with Indigenous organizations and leaders to better understand the term “Indigenous statelessness.” Presently, CCS is attending Indigenous events, workshops and information sessions in and around Toronto to build relationships, with the hope of expanding these efforts across Canada. The main objective for this project is for Indigenous people to lead CCS through the learning process so as to ensure an Indigenous worldview is being applied rather than a Western view, which continues the colonial system. CCS has identified that Indigenous statelessness occurs when Indigenous people are purposely rejecting/resisting the Canadian state due to colonialism or when they are unable to provide proof of their birth in Canada. As CCS begins to collaborate and work alongside Indigenous organizations and leaders, it aims to develop a better understanding of Indigenous statelessness in relation to Indigenous people’s lives, their needs, their feelings of belonging, as well as policy perspectives that can work to foster reconciliation.