Opportunity

Reconciliation is a priority for the McConnell Foundation. Thanks to the courage of Indian residential school survivors and the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, more people than ever before are reflecting on what Canada will look like when reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples becomes a reality.

By working together to address the legacy of our shared history, Canada will become a more inclusive and resilient country. The Foundation believes that this can be achieved, in part, by creating a reconciliation economy. In a reconciliation economy, wealth and resources are equitably shared and sustainably managed. We will know we have reached a reconciliation economy when there is no longer a socio-economic gap between the wellbeing of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

Our approach

The McConnell Reconciliation Initiative will focus its efforts on bringing forward the societal change necessary for a reconciliation economy. In cooperation with Indigenous communities and other stakeholders, we will target three key areas:

1) Collaborative funding models
2) Innovative platforms for change
3) Solutions finance

In addition, all efforts made by the Initiative will be aligned with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Focus Areas

Collaborative funding models enable a variety of stakeholders to coordinate resources when tackling persistent social challenges in Indigenous communities, such as safe housing, clean drinking water, and access to education.

With the close of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a growing number of individuals and organizations are looking to work with Indigenous communities and accelerate reconciliation. However, they often do not know how or where to start. Collaborative funding models can channel positive intentions in a constructive way, by enabling a variety of stakeholders to coordinate resources to solve complex challenges.

Collaboratives promote diversity by bringing a variety of partners to the table. Through shared administration, they allow for a more efficient use of resources. Partners are able to leverage financial resources, human capital, networks, and each others’ strengths. When done right, collaborative funding models are low risk and high reward.

Some of the collaborative funding models the Foundation has partnered on include: the Northern Manitoba Food, Culture and Community Collaborative{Re}conciliation and the ArtsNWT On the Land Funding Collaborative, and the Indigenous Innovation Demonstration Fund.

Innovative platforms for change unite a variety of stakeholders to test new ways to solve problems.

The housing, food security, education, employment and health care systems that were created for Indigenous peoples in Canada are broken. To fix them, we will need to test different ways to solve problems by building on each others’ strengths.

Innovative platforms for change are often composed of a group of individuals with different backgrounds and interests. Members come together to develop a common vision and then find ways to achieve their goals, individually and/or collectively.

Innovative platforms for change also have the ability to tackle challenges and opportunities, from the community level to the national level. Ideally, they influence change at a systemic level.

Some of the innovative platforms for change the Foundation has supported include: the Winnipeg Boldness ProjectDechinta Centre for Research and Learning, the Moose Hide Campaign and the Northern Hearing Initiative.

The barriers to creating a reconciliation economy require us to go beyond granting and convening. We must deploy all our financial resources in strategic and innovative ways to create lasting systemic change.

To create a reconciliation economy, the current challenges that we will need to address are so large and complex that that they cannot be solved by one solution or by one sector alone. If we are to address the existing inequalities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, then we will need to engage in “a multidisciplinary exercise that challenges businesses, governments, philanthropists and social enterprises to think holistically about their role and their relation to others—not as competitors fighting over an ever-shrinking pie, but as potential collaborators looking to bake something fresh that serves as many stakeholders as possible” (Eggers, W.D., 2013).

Solutions finance is an integrated approach to deploying financial capital and adapting financial models to catalyze, sustain and scale systems transformation. Solutions finance approaches include responsible investing, granting, impact investing and financial innovation.

One example of a project the Foundation supported by using a solutions finance approach is the First Market Housing Precursor Fund that was created by ABSCAN. In the Huron-Wendat Nation in Quebec, this housing loan fund enables its members living on reserve to become homeowners, thereby decreasing dependence on government subsidies and stimulating economic development in the community.

How We Support Change

Funder

We support a portfolio of projects, focusing on those that are driven by Indigenous communities/organizations, that utilize innovative solutions to enhance Indigenous wellbeing, and that build collaborative networks that leverage

We support a portfolio of projects, focusing on those that are driven by Indigenous communities/organizations, that utilize innovative solutions to enhance Indigenous wellbeing, and that build collaborative networks that leverage and maximize different members’ strengths and resources to generate change.

Investor

We look for opportunities to invest in solutions that generate a measurable, beneficial social and/or environmental impact alongside a financial return.

Convener

We collaborate actively with other funders and investors. This helps us to understand and align our individual grants and investments, foster deeper learning and evaluation, facilitate reporting and, most importantly,

We collaborate actively with other funders and investors. This helps us to understand and align our individual grants and investments, foster deeper learning and evaluation, facilitate reporting and, most importantly, create greater impact.

Recent Funding & Investments

First Peoples Justice Centre of Montreal

The First Peoples Justice Centre of Montreal will use funds from the Foundation to introduce Indigenous approaches to justice and sentencing in Montreal and to share these approaches with cities [...]

$ 200,000

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University of Waterloo: WISIR Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience

A grant from the Foundation will be used to help launch the Turtle Island Institute - an Indigenous-led initiative to develop Indigenous and non-Indigenous people’s ability to use social innovation [...]

$ 185,000

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Taking IT Global

Funds will be used to help Taking IT Global expand their Connected North program into more schools in the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

$ 575,431

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Raven Indigenous Impact Foundation

A grant from the Foundation will support the Raven Indigenous Impact Foundation to mentor a cohort of Indigenous entrepreneurs, and to eventually launch an impact investment fund focused on expanding [...]

$ 150,000

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Impact & Lessons Learned

News 30 May 2016

World Wide Hearing and partners take on hearing loss in northern communities

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20 January 2017

Ancient stories, new technology: Indigenous media treads new ground

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Indigenous Innovation Summit Report 2015

The Indigenous Innovation Summit Report 2015 is a detailed overview of everything that the NAFC and its partners accomplished with the inaugural edition of the Summit. It provides a detailed [...]

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