Page 10 - Walking_The_Red_Road

Introduction
This project has brought the youth and the elders together, creating a lot of activity in our urban setting. It is just such a beautiful thing that we could have a program like this, to really
enhance what is already here.
Dot Kennedy Beacauge, Board Member North Bay Indian Friendship Centre
Photo Voice. Shine-A-Light Gala. Community Action Circle. Coffee Houses.
What do all of these things have in common? These are some of the ways we did research during our project. Through workshops, events, sharing circles, and planning meetings, we learned about our community’s challenges and its solutions. Our motto was “share, learn, act.”
The project that brought us together for this purpose is called Urban Aboriginal Communities Thrive (U-ACT), a community-driven research and social action project. This report tells the stories of how we worked together in North Bay.
The project came about because of important work that had been done earlier and because our community members continue to face many barriers. Securing employment and housing and living with the effects of inter-generational trauma with few culturally safe services and supports are some of the challenges.
Building on the work completed in 2007 by
the Urban Aboriginal Task Force, the Ontario Federation of Indian (now Indigenous) Friendship Centres (OFIFC) invited the North Bay Indian Friendship Centre, along with two other communities, to participate in Phase Two in May of 2012. The OFIFC provided seed funding and supported the North Bay Indian Friendship Centre to apply to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for funding. In November 2012, funding was granted and this project was born.
With a research team hired to support the project, the overall goal was to create a Community Action Plan for our urban Aboriginal community. To do so, we knew we needed to approach research
differently—we needed research tools and techniques that would work for our Indigenous community members. The OFIFC’s recently launched USAI Research Framework would provide a strong foundation for community-driven research and Ontario Trillium Foundation funding would enable us to reach specific goals identified by our community.
These goals included mobilizing members of the Aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities to work together to address racism, promote cross- cultural learning, and increase awareness of and respect for Aboriginal culture.
Walking the Red Road | REPORT OF THE URBAN ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES THRIVE PROJECT
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We want to break down barriers - connect youth to Elders. We want to work with the Elders to address needs and wants. We want to
see through your eyes, what has happened, what is happening now, and what will happen.
Member, Youth Action Circle