Ontario Native Women's Association (ONWA)

Published purpose

Through this 59-month project, the Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA) willincrease its ability to prevent and address gender-based violence (GBV) against Indigenouswomen, girls, or 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, across Canada. This will be achieved by enhancingand utilizing a strength-based approach to storytelling that will change the narrative ofIndigenous women by increasing accessibility to web-based learning and resource materialsthat are specific to ending GBV, creating safety and healing pathways for Indigenous women,girls, and 2-Spirit people. The dual web-based platform will ensure that Indigenous women in community throughoutONWA’s membership and community partners will have access to ONWA developed GBVresources, tools, social media creatives and educational materials to support their work inaddressing and reducing instances of GBV. The project will also highlight areas of Indigenouswomen’s success through storytelling that reflects the strength and resiliency of Indigenouswomen. ONWA’s She Is Wise Framework will be a safe space to highlight and share wisepractice approaches to ending GBV as ONWA works to support Indigenous women incommunity to determine safe outcomes through the development of resources and trainingmaterials that are reflective of their lives. ONWA will partner with their Chapters, Councils and partners, such as the Native Women’sResources Centre of Toronto, Hamilton Native Women’s Centre, Niagara Chapter of NativeWomen, Sunset Women’s Aboriginal Circle, Fort Frances Tribal Health Authority, and theOttawa Aboriginal Coalition to develop the tools, educational material and social mediaengagement creatives and will make them accessible to urban Indigenous Peoples, FirstNation, Metis, and Inuit as well as others on a local, regional, provincial, and national level.ONWA will also share resources with many provincial and national organizations such as theAboriginal Shelters of Ontario, Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres, andMetis Nation of Ontario, Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak, Tungasuvvingat Inuit, and Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada. Through these tools, educational materials and social media creatives, by the end of theproject, the Ontario Native Women’s Association will have strengthened their capacity toprevent and address GBV against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people. The additional funding will be used by ONWA to hold two annual three day She is Wise: Nibwaakaa Inaadiziwin - Leadership Conferences to train frontline workers on wise practices to support ending violence against Indigenous women and creating safety and healing pathways for Indigenous women, girls, and 2-Spirit people. The Conference will apply intersectional, wholistic, culturally grounded, trauma-informed and gender-based approaches and will support professional development and learning for over 450 attendees through interactive activities, knowledge sharing, and cultural practices (i.e., ceremony, smudging, art therapy session, moccasin making, medicine teachings, ribbon skirt making, storytelling, creation stories). With the supplemental funds and extension provided in early 2026, the Ontario Native Women’s Association will 1) develop Evaluation strategy to support ONWA’s portfolios in measuring the impact of their work for Indigenous women; 2) develop Data Governance Strategy with policies and strategies with content informed from organization’s recent data projects and RATTLES research framework where the policy and strategy will outline wise practices and key recommendations to feed into the evaluation strategy; 3) integrate the Evaluation Strategy and develop training tools on applying the evaluation strategy to highlight the collective successes of each ONWA portfolio. Through this they will further advance Gender Equality.