It’s been a whirlwind start to the new year, with a flurry of activities and events keeping us all on our toes. As we continue to settle into the rhythm of 2024, we’re excited to share this recap of the latest happenings and news from our growing Niriqatiginnga community. From noteworthy achievements like National Kindness Week, the Kivalliq Energy Forum and Northern Perspectives conferences in February, to helping redesign a new Kivalliq Chamber of Commerce in March and April , there’s plenty to catch up on. So grab a cup of your favorite beverage, sit back, and let’s dive into the highlights together.
Canada Invests in Indigenous Intellectual Property Protection
May 1, 2024 – Indigenous Intellectual Property Program grants were announced this week. The program is available to Indigenous organizations to support capacity building, education and awareness, as well as participation in policy discussions on the protection of Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous cultural expressions. Through these grants, Indigenous communities are empowered to protect and expand their intellectual property interests, fostering a renewed sense of strength and resilience. The grants were announced by Minister François-Philippe Champagne on May 1, 2024. Congratulations to the Arctic Buying Company and Niriqatiginnga on this successful application! READ MORE »
Minister Champagne announces grant recipients for programs promoting intellectual property education, awareness and capacity building
May 1, 2024 – Funding will support Indigenous communities in protecting and expanding their IP interests and foster the development of future IP experts. READ MORE »
A Time for Transformation: Manitoba Arts Council launches 2024-2026 Priorities
May 1, 2024 – The Manitoba Arts Council’s 2024-2026 strategy puts equity at up front, ensuring underrepresented voices are heard across Manitoba. As well, a strong emphasis on climate responsibility and environmental stewardship signals a pioneering role for the arts in combating climate change. Read More »
Crafting Connections: Youth Artists to Explore Real-World Arts Marketing and Media Career Pathways
April 27, 2024 – From artificial intelligence tools, to data analysis to targeted strategies, youth media team members will gain essential skills for success this summer. With expert guidance this participatory organizational development initiative prepares Indigneous youth artists to thrive in a rapidly changing sector. Follow their adventures in advertising and media this summer. Read More »
Enhancing Our People Our Climate: Building Resilience through participatory and organizational capacity building
April 26, 2024 – Northern food and supply chains are a big focus point for a lot of Niriqatiginnga activities this year. Just as partnerships at the domestic level are critical to ensuring the safety and security of Canada’s Arctic, it is equally important to work with other Arctic states and international partners in the broader region. Read More »
From Classroom to Kitchen: Winnipeg Youth Food Development Project Plans Fall and Winter Jam Collection
April 21, 2024 – A new food sector entrepreneurship program is starting up this summer in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In the coming months, a small group of youth artists studying entrepreneurship with the non-profit organization Niriqatiginnga are designing, marketing and selling a special edition line of homemade jams for the fall and holiday season. Read More »
Youth, Artists dedicate skills to build new platform to northern chamber of commerce
April 20, 2024 – Almost into its third year, Indigenous youth, artists and Volunteers from @1860, a Canada Council for the Arts-funded Digital Greenhouse program dedicated hundreds of hours applying their skills to rejuvenating online presence for Kivalliq and Manitoba Arts and Culture programming. Read More »
Growing Creative Communities with a Digital Greenhouse
Aligning with other main objectives for Niriqatiginnga’s first phase is to explore piloting an online marketplace alongside their ‘living lab’ for Indigenous food sector entrepreneurship. As a pilot program, this new Manitoba-Kivalliq arts and culture marketplace will be able to sell not just food products, but arts, crafts and maybe even furs from hunters and harvesters too! Read More »
Nunavut’s Human Rights Vacuum: Failures Amplify Northern Barriers
April 5, 2024 – The absence of a Human Rights Commissioner in Nunavut perpetuates a cycle of impunity, allowing discrimination against Indigenous individuals to go unchecked. Read More »
Learning about the Global Affairs Canada Action Plan on Reconciliation
March 15, 2024 – Our upcoming sessions with the Arctic Congress 2024 in Bodø align with Global Affairs Canada’s commitment to advancing reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and promoting sustainable development in the Arctic region. Read More »
Third Annual National Kindness Week celebrated with national press conference
February 13, 2024 – Today, Canada kicked off its third annual National Kindness Week (February 11 – 17) with a press conference hosted by Global Dignity Canada. The early morning event, held virtually, aimed to celebrate the transformative power of kindness and to highlight the significance of this national initiative. Read More »
New report: Child poverty on the rise, undoing historic progress in poverty reduction
February 15, 2024 – As pandemic benefits wound down and the cost of living rose, poverty rates rebounded, resulting in over 1 million children living in poverty. Read More »
Growing with the Arts and the need for northern sectoral development
January 24, 2024 – The northern arts and culture sector continues to face significant challenges, with organizations — north and south — struggling due to a loss of advocacy, support for funding, and participation in major events. Read More »
Canada’s Vision for Arctic Youth Empowerment
December 4, 2023 – With our Niriqatiginnga workshop session accepted for Arctic Congress 2024, and receiving our first letter of support from the University of the Arctic, we wanted to learn more about Canada’s vision for Arctic youth empowerment.
Exploring new approaches to northern Chamber of Commerce and Industry Association programs
December 1, 2023 – As a new and emerging program that is still in its early phases, Niriqatiginnga spends a lot of effort exploring the many different cluster-based models and approaches to northern Indigenous entrepreneurship and food security. Read More »
Relationship Development, Consultations and Community Engagement:
Addressing Discrimination: Amautiit launches Community Survey Series
March 30, 2024
Amautiit is conducting a survey to better understand and address the distinct risks and vulnerabilities faced by individuals in Nunavut due to discriminatory practices and policies. Read More »
Combattre la discrimination : Amautiit lance une nouvelle série d’enquêtes communautaires
Ce mois d’avril, l’Association des femmes inuites d’Amautiit Nunavut lance le dernier volet de sa série continue d’enquêtes communautaires Amautiit. Chaque mois, Amautiit prévoit de mener une enquête différente afin de mieux comprendre et d’aborder les risques et les vulnérabilités distincts auxquels font face les individus au Nunavut en raison de pratiques et de politiques discriminatoires.
ᑕᒃᑯᒌᐊᕐᓗᑖ ᐊᔾᔨᖏᑎᑦᓯᕌᑦᑕᑦᑐᓂᒃ: ᐊᒪᐅᑏᑦ ᐱᒋᐊᕐᑎᑦᓯᔪᑦ ᓄᓇᓕᖕᓂ ᐊᑉᐲᖁᑏᑦ ᐊᑕᐅᓯᐅᖏᑦᓗᑏᑦ
ᑕᒃᑯᐊ ᓄᓇᕗᒻᒥ ᐊᕐᓇᐃᑦ ᑲᑐᔾᔨᖃᑎᒌᖏᑦ ᓯᐊᒻᒪᖅᓯᕗᖅ ᓄᑕᕐᒥᑦ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᖓᓐᓂᒃ ᑕᒻᒪᓇ ᓄᑕᖑᓛᖑᔪᖅ ᐱᓕᕆᐊᖓᓐᓂᒃ ᑲᔪᓯᓐᓇᕐᑐᒥᑦ ᑕᒻᒪᑐᒥᖓᖅ.
Upcoming Program Deadlines
For a full list of upcoming events, visit our events calendar.
From the Ground Up – Safe Healthy Communities for ALL Program
https://www.gov.mb.ca/grants/grant-subject.html
The new program provides application-based project funding to support a broad range of community renewal efforts, community capital projects and children and youth initiatives. It will focus on community-led response and revitalization efforts including capacity building, wellness and safety, community economic development, social inclusion, housing coordination and children and youth initiatives. The program leverages investments in community development by local governments, non-profit organizations, and others. The application intake for the program is now open and the application deadline is May 31, 2024. Read More »
Manitoba Arts Council: Share – Artists in Communities
https://artscouncil.mb.ca/grants/artists-in-communities/
The Artists in Communities program supports arts-related activities by individuals, arts groups, and organizations that face barriers to accessing artistic opportunities and/or serve a community that faces barriers to accessing artistic opportunities. The deadline is May 15, 2024. Read More »
Department of National Defence Indigenous Reconciliation Program
https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/programs/indigenous-reconciliation-funding.html
Do you have an idea to improve how the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces work towards reconciliation with Indigenous communities? The Indigenous Reconciliation Program provides funding for work that helps build and maintain relationships between Indigenous communities and the Department of National Defence/Canadian Armed Forces (DND/CAF).
Arctic and Northern Challenge program
https://nrc.canada.ca/en/research-development/research-collaboration/programs/arctic-northern-challenge-program?utm_campaign=ancp-development-grants-round-2-funding&utm_medium=smo&utm_source=twt-e
Working with Canadian and international partners from Northern communities, academia, industry, government and other interested stakeholders, research conducted under the program will examine 4 research themes and 2 cross-cutting areas, as outlined in the program plan.
Thank you to the incredible individuals and organizations who’ve supported our work.
Northern food insecurity is a complex problem rooted in poverty which cannot be solved by one program alone. The collective efforts of partners and supporters not only drive innovation but also incubate stronger ties across communities, enabling impactful food sector capacity building. These collaborators, contributors and volunteers make what we do possible and showcase the power of collaboration in creating meaningful change for thriving and interconnected communities.
We’re thankful for their encouragement, contributions, guidance and support.
Follow Our Adventures
Niriqatiginnga (‘Come Eat With Me’) is a grassroots, community-driven non-profit organization building on more than a decade of participatory research. As a locally and regionally-focused program, Niriqatiginnga supports four primary objectives: Indigenous Food Sector Entrepreneurship and Skills Development Training; Promoting Indigenous Agriculture and Agri-food-focused Research; Promoting Trade in Indigenous Peoples’ Food Products and Cultural Revitalization through Arts, Culture, and Creative Entrepreneurship.
Niriqatiginnga also lays the foundation for sustainable and impactful arts, culture and food sector entrepreneurship programming, while working to strengthen relationships between the Manitoba and the Kivalliq region. Niriqatiginnga is proud to be supporting members of and dedicated volunteers with the Kivalliq Chamber of Commerce. For more information, visit our web site at: https://niriqatiginnga.ca.
Thanks and Acknowledgements:
We would like to thank the Arctic Buying Company Kivalliq, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, University of Minnesota Duluth, OpenAI and its Researcher Access Program for supporting our Niriqatiginnga project activities. We also acknowledge funding and support from Manitoba Agriculture and the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership – Indigenous Food Systems program, and the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada Indigenous Intellectual Property Protection Program. The Niriqatiginnga Youth, Arts and Media Team is funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Program.
