A Way Home Canada and the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness’s Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab, in partnership with Waakebiness Institute for Indigenous Health, hosted a two-day, summative knowledge-sharing gathering held on the land and in ceremony. This report shares key highlights from the gathering.
We gathered 45 people working on projects aimed at Making the Shift research theme: Enhancing Outcomes for Indigenous Youth.
Attendees included researchers, community partners, youth and elders, fire keepers, as well as Making the Shift and Hart House Farm staff, Nookomis Kitchen, and SpiritWind Women’s Hand Drum Group.
Over the two days, those gathered had the opportunity to participate in talking circles focused on their experiences and hopes pertaining to Indigenous youth homelessness programming and research. The event began each morning with an opening by Traditional Knowledge Holder Clay Shirt. After the opening, we did introductions and then had a talking/sharing circle focusing on the questions, ‘What were the key things learned through your research project?’ and ‘What were some of the challenges faced?’.
The talking circles continued after lunch, concentrating on the same two questions. Everyone was given the opportunity to share their experience with the research and working with academic institutions, while also highlighting their successes and challenges.