Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society

Published purpose

This 29-month project will support a feminist response and recovery from the current impacts of COVID-19, through systemic change. The Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society will achieve this by influencing policies and procedures of local organizations and agencies to ensure Indigenous cultural sensitivities are reflected; by developing a supporting document to outline methods of inclusion and considerations; developing a guide with recommendations to address gaps in equitable culturally based services; and implement training on an equitable policy procedure for staff to address the systemic inequities facing Indigenous people related to violence, housing, employment, and childcare. At the end of the project, the organization will have contributed to addressing systemic barriers by advancing inclusive policies and practices, increasing networks and collaboration to accelerate systemic change, supporting positive distribution of authority, voices, and decision-making power, and addressing persistent harmful gender norms and attitudes. This project will bring together Indigenous people with lived experience to document the challenges experienced due to the pandemic, identify gaps in services within the Vancouver Metro area, and create a formal policy procedure for internal staff and external stakeholders to implement assistance. A total of 60 staff members will receive training on bias-based inequities and the policy procedures for equitable Indigenous assistance will be shared with community health organizations and other partner stakeholders.