Indigenous Peoples of Canada – Rotary Palgrave Partnership
From Ian Kittle, President Rotary Palgrave
There are more than 1.6 million Indigenous peoples of Canada, also known as the First Nations, many of them with poverty-driven dire needs in areas of shelter, healthcare, education and social justice. Rotary Club of Palgrave (RCP) has been working in partnership with other Rotary clubs in Ontario in Belleville, Trenton, and Wellington on projects and services to Indigenous peoples of Canada. Recently, the Rotary Club of Rayleigh Mill, in Essex, United Kingdom has joined in with a generous donation to this cause. The efforts of this cluster of Rotary clubs in being coordinated by Birgit Wartenberg, Chair of Indigenous Peoples Partnerships Committee at the Rotary Club of Belleville. Birgit is a consultant for indigenous communities and makes every effort to reach out directly to them, for building relationships with them and letting them articulate the needs within the context of their governance.
There are several Indigenous Peoples (IP) projects that are currently under consideration for funding. A very promising project, called the eye-opening learning experience for IP students, is a field trip planned by the Nibinamik First Nations community. This community is located some 2000 km northwest of Toronto. In this trip, the students will stay at the University of Toronto for seven days and participate in several activities planned at the University. Their itinerary includes learning experiences at the Royal Ontario Museum, CN Tower, the Ontario Science Centre, Government of Ontario Legislative and Administrative operations at Queen’s Park, and several other sites. Nibinamik First Nations community has already raised substantial funds for this purpose. The cluster of Rotary clubs are collectively allocating $6,500 to this noble project. There are several other smaller scale projects such as gift packs and Christmas gifts for Tipi Moza Metis Nation of Ontario ($2,000), Scholarships at Lakehead University ($2,000), Confederation College and other colleges ($1,000), and Laurentian University ($2,000). Gift of Blankets ($2,000), and other requests are under consideration. Rotary Club of Palgrave is inviting all other Rotary clubs to join in this effort to raise the level of services by us to the Indigenous peoples to a more meaningful scale. For more information, please contact Ian Kittle, iskittle@rogers.com.