Community Fund for Reconciliation Grants

Supporting the work of reconciliation for all people.

Saskatoon Community Foundation created the Community Fund for Reconciliation through funds raised at the Nutrien Saskatoon Community Foundation Cultural Gala series that spanned 2017 to 2022. Funds raised were disbursed from 2018 to 2023 for community partnerships answering one of the TRC calls to action.

Also in 2017, Saskatoon Community Foundation created the permanently endowed Community Fund for Reconciliation, a fund that would forever support the work of reconciliation for all the people of Saskatoon. The foundation welcomes gifts for long term funding from donors in the community who wish to support the work of reconciliation. Visit the Community Fund for Reconciliation fund page to make a donation.

Photo: Wanuskewin staff, by Axis Imagery.

2023 Grant Recipients

Congratulations to all of the Indigenous-led partnering organizations receiving 2023 Community Fund for Reconciliation grants. They are:

• Central Urban Métis Federation Inc. – CUMFI’s  Métis Cultural Days: The Year of the Community 
• Core Neighbourhood Youth Co-op – Skills Building
• The Evermore Centre – Strengthening Our Families Round Dance
• Foundations Learning and Skills Saskatchewan (formerly READ Saskatoon) – nehiyawak Language Experience
• Meewasin Valley Authority – Land Based Reconciliation in the Meewasin Valley
• Reconciliation Saskatoon – ConnectR and Communications
• Reconciliation Saskatoon – Leadership Development
• Reconciliation Saskatoon – Events including Rock Your Roots Walk for Reconciliation 2023
• Saskatoon Public Schools Foundation – Indigenous Ensemble
• Wanuskewin Heritage Park Authority – Teaching and Healing Through Plant Knowledge: Gardens Initiative

Applying for Funding in 2024

Reconciliation continues to be an important commitment for Saskatoon Community Foundation. Applications are no longer being received for Community Fund for Reconciliation grants. Please watch for information about applying for your project through the Quality of Life, Youth Endowment Saskatoon, or Vital Focus granting programs in 2024.

Together, Canadians must do more than just talk about reconciliation; we must learn how to practise reconciliation in our everyday lives—within ourselves and our families, and in our communities, governments, places of worship, schools, and workplaces. To do so constructively, Canadians must remain committed to the ongoing work of establishing and maintaining respectful relationships.

For many Survivors and their families, this commitment is foremost about healing themselves, their communities, and their nations in ways that revitalize individuals as well as Indigenous cultures, languages, spirituality, laws, and governance systems. For governments, building a respectful relationship involves dismantling a centuries-old political and bureaucratic culture in which, all too often, policies and programs are still based on failed notions of assimilation. For churches, demonstrating long-term commitment requires atoning for actions within the residential schools, respecting Indigenous spirituality, and supporting Indigenous peoples’ struggles for justice and equity.

Schools must teach history in ways that foster mutual respect, empathy, and engagement. All Canadian children and youth deserve to know Canada’s honest history, including what happened in the residential schools, and to appreciate the rich history and knowledge of Indigenous nations, which continue to make such a strong contribution to Canada, including our very name and collective identity as a country. For Canadians from all walks of life, reconciliation offers a new way of living together.

From the TRC Report’s Principles of Reconciliation

Inclusive Process

The process of creating criteria for this granting program was built on collaboration and partnership. Members of the Saskatoon Community Foundation Grants Committee began with a pipe ceremony led by an elder and a personal story from a survivor of residential schools, learning about Indigenous culture and our history in the spirit of reconciliation. Members of our staff, board and committees participated in the blanket exercise. The Grants Committee worked with cultural advisors representing First Nations and Métis communities to ensure many voices were included. The principles of this fund mirror the principles of reconciliation set out by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Criteria for Applicants

• As per CRA regulations, grants will be awarded to “qualified donees” as defined by the Income Tax Act of Canada, the majority of which are registered charities and municipalities (such as the City of Saskatoon). To facilitate work being done in various quarters of the community, partnerships among indigenous organizations, non-Indigenous organizations and qualified donees will be encouraged, provided that the qualified donee partner provides accountability for the use of the granted funds.
• Projects funded from the Community Fund for Reconciliation should offer “new ways of living together.”
• Funded projects should support education for all sectors of the community about reconciliation, the TRC Calls to Action, the treaties and treaty relationships that affect all Canadians, the history of residential schools and other aspects of the true history of relationships among the diverse peoples in Canada.
• Funding will be provided to projects in which Indigenous organizations seek out partnerships with non-indigenous organizations, rather than partnerships which are led by non-Indigenous organizations.
• Funding will be provided to projects which are led by Indigenous people and/or organizations, and which support the current and future development of Indigenous leadership in the community.
• Funded projects should address, as directly as possible, at least one of the 94 Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, identifying the Call to Action and explaining how it will be addressed by the activities of the project.