Pilot Fund for Gender Equality: Okaadenige Wellness Retreat for Survivors

 

Pilot Fund for Gender Equality: Okaadenige Wellness Retreat for Survivors

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Human trafficking is an issue that is often ignored and under-reported in Canada. Hundreds of women and girls are taken every year and forced to enter the sex-trade against their will, and for Indigenous communities, generations of colonial trauma means they are targeted more often for human trafficking.

“The impacts of colonization, including the sixties scoop, residential schools, and the millennial scoop have left Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people extremely vulnerable to intergenerational family and community violence,” says Andrea Jibb, Director of Community Planning at Atlohsa Family Healing Services. “As a result, human traffickers often target Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people by exploiting their human need for a sense of belonging.”

In a 2014 report commissioned by the Canadian Women’s Foundation, it was estimated that 51% of all women and girls trafficked in Canada were Indigenous, a shockingly disproportionate number considering Indigenous communities in Canada only account for 4.9% of its total population (Statcan, 2016).

In 2019, LCF participated in the Pilot Fund for Gender Equality, a precursor to the full-fledged Fund for Gender Equality currently accepting applications, and funded a project undertaken by Atlohsa Family Healing Services, tackling this significant issue by providing support for survivors in our community.

The Okaadenige Wellness Retreat for Survivors is a week-long healing retreat dedicated to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous survivors of human trafficking, exploitation and sexual abuse. The retreat offers access to Indigenous-led programming and allows women, girls, and two-spirited individuals to come together to talk about their trauma. It also helps them learn strategies to keep safe, exit the cycle of exploitation and abuse, and connect with Elders from the surrounding First Nations to learn cultural teachings.

Okaadenige, an Ojibwe word that means “he or she braids things,” represents the three strands of Atlohsa’s approach to anti-human trafficking: prevention, awareness, and support.

“For many of the participants at the inaugural retreat, it was the first time that they were treated with dignity, care and compassion,” says Andrea. “The program educates on understanding healthy relationship patterns, understanding and ending the cycle of abuse, and forming positive and healthy relationships – all of which are essential and necessary for them to reclaim themselves and their personal identity while re-entering the community, school, and workplace.”

Atlohsa saw tremendous success from the inaugural retreat in 2019 with many participants continuing to seek out therapy and even pursue educational opportunities at Fanshawe College afterwards.

“After this week, I now have a sense of identity. I do not feel so lost and disconnected,” said one participant. “Learning so many new things about my culture, and then being connected to people who can continue to teach me these things has truly given me a sense of self that I have been searching for my entire life.”

Thanks to the support of the Equality Fund, Atlohsa has been able to empower survivors of human trafficking through the Okaadenige program by helping them restore their identity, dignity, and hope for a better life. If your organization is working to progress gender equality in Canada, the Fund for Gender Equality is looking to support a variety of community initiatives. Find our more at lcf.on.ca/equalityfund.