Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association Resiliency Centre
The Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association is pursuing funding for a new Resiliency Centre, planned to begin construction this Fall 2021 in Millbrook, Nova Scotia. The Resiliency Centre, designed in close collaboration with the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association, Young Soaring Eagle Consulting and the Mi’kmaw community, will house essential services to support and empower women in the community while providing a place for holistic healing through reconnection to cultural practices and the surrounding landscape.
How can you help? Donate to the project, write to your MLA, write to your MP, write to Minister McKenna - implore them to fund this project so we can break ground this Fall 2021 and provide a place for all to feel safe in. To give a donation: Cheques can be made payable to the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association and mailed to 52 Martin Cres., Truro, NS B2N 6N7. *NSNWA is a non-profit and is not yet a charitable organization. Charity Receipts cannot be issued at this time*
We invite you to write a letter or use the template below put together by our friends at Just Us! Coffee to strengthen the NSNWA’s request for funding and make this space a reality. The letter template is addressed to the Minister of Infrastructure, Catherine McKenna. The second paragraph provides a space to describe your organization and why support for this type of project is important to you. To customize the letter with your information, simply click the link below to automatically download the template as a Word document. It can then be addressed to your local MP, MLA, Mayor or any other party you choose.
Click the link below to download a letter template to show your support for the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association Resiliency Centre:
Letters can be mailed or emailed to the following:
Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure: [email protected]
Andy Fillmore, Member of Parliament, Halifax: [email protected]
Mike Savage, Mayor, Halifax Regional Municipality: [email protected]
Contact for local MLA’s can be found through the Nova Scotia Members of the Legislative Assembly Directory: https://nslegislature.ca/members/profiles
*Mail may be sent postage-free to any member of Parliament
Or, use the text below to call your local MP,MLA, Mayor or municipality to show your support for the NSNWA Resiliency Centre:
Hello,
We can imagine that you, like many of us, felt your heart sink upon hearing the news of the 215 Indigenous children’s remains found on the site of the Kamloops residential school two weeks ago. It not only provides further evidence of a disgraceful history but, brings our attention to the current colonialism and oppression that continues in Canadian culture and our relationships with Indigenous Peoples.
We heard Zabrina Whitman, speak recently about the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association’s (NSNWA) plan for a new resiliency centre in Millbrook First Nation. We were inspired by the resiliency; by the creativity; and by the power of First Nations people to move forward with their own solutions after centuries of neglect and abuse and the intergenerational trauma that it creates.
Reconciliation won’t come without healing. Although there are many parts for allies to play, the hard work of healing itself can only be done by First Nations Peoples within their own cultures and communities. That said, we must support the creation of such a healing space.
The NSNWA sent you a request for funding. We implore you to support this resiliency centre and encourage our federal government to get behind it with substantial financial support. No more patronizing and paternalistic “management” of the problems that we have created. It is time to trust in the agency of Indigenous women and give them the resources they need to heal from generations of colonialism.
We look forward to the opportunity to discuss this further.
[Your Name]
[Your title & organization]
