The Law Foundation of Ontario is pleased to announce a partnership with the Indigenous Peoples Resilience Fund (IPRF), an Indigenous-led effort established in 2020 to respond to urgent community needs while taking a long-term view on community resilience.
The partnership is an important step in support of the Foundation’s commitment to Truth and Reconciliation, as outlined in Growing Possibilities, our 2024-2029 strategic plan, and builds on our longstanding priorities to increase access to justice for Indigenous and northern Ontario communities.
“We’re looking forward to working and learning with the Indigenous Peoples Resilience Fund,” says Lisa Cirillo, the Foundation’s CEO. “This partnership will give us the opportunity to grow our understanding of Indigenous peoples’ legal needs and to increase our connections with Indigenous organizations in the north and far north.”
Led by the IPRF, the partnership will drive a multiphase and multiyear community engagement and funding project by and for Indigenous-led communities in northern Ontario. The project will begin with community engagement sessions to learn from Indigenous peoples about the access to justice priorities in northern Ontario. Based on the consultations, the IPRF will design and disburse a funding bundle, supported by the Foundation’s initial commitment of $1M.
“We’re glad to be walking on this journey with The Law Foundation of Ontario,” says Bruce W. J. Miller, IPRF’s Interim Team Lead. “Grounded in the IPRF’s pillars of work, to ‘meet community where community is’, and ‘community knows what community needs’, the partnership will support Indigenous peoples’ legal needs while embedding Indigenous cultural worldviews into all philanthropic practices and disbursement of funds.”
The partnership will help deepen relationships among the Foundation, the IPRF, and Indigenous communities through the development of the fund, while guided by shared values, principles, collective purposes, and commitment. The process will involve the mobilization and engagement of Indigenous philanthropic Knowledge Holders, Indigenous-led organizations, and community members in co-creating and building partnerships to support access to justice for Indigenous communities in northern Ontario.
Indigenous people living in northern Ontario are encouraged to complete a short community survey.
Land acknowledgement
The Law Foundation of Ontario is located in Tkaronto (Toronto), the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. The land is covered by the Toronto Purchase Treaty, No. 13 between the Crown and the Mississaugas of the New Credit and is the enduring home of many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples today.
The Foundation funds programs across the province of Ontario. We recognize that the Indigenous history of this land is rich and complex, encompassing the stories, cultures, and experiences of many First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. This history extends back through time immemorial, long before European contact, and continues to evolve today.
