Healing our Spirits

The impacts of the residential and day school system continue to trickle down from generation to generation. Intergenerational trauma and forced separation from Indigenous culture has left many disconnected from their Indigeneity, language, and traditional teachings.

This has contributed to the high rates of violence, substance abuse, abandonment, and homelessness that often afflict survivors and their families. To promote healing, there is a critical need to restore cultural identity, rebuild knowledge, and create safe, trauma-informed spaces where community members can reconnect. 

Medicine Wheel Teachings in Ontario believes that the best approach to honouring survivors is through connecting individuals to culture and ceremony. Through structured modules guided by Elders, a new multi-year program will teach the cultural significance of directions, colours, and sacred medicines (tobacco, cedar, sage, and sweetgrass) and their connection to emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. Participants will learn how to apply these teachings in everyday life, including relationships, education, and community. The program will teach the 7 Grandfather Teachings, host sacred circle healing programs, drumming groups, and Ojibwe language learning and storytelling. It will also offer land-based and ceremonial practices such as sweat lodges, cedar baths, and feasts honouring the ancestors, creating safe spaces for survivors and families to share and break cycles of silence and harm.

The Indigenous Reconciliation Fund (IRF) is providing funding to ensure that program coordination, cultural materials, and community gatherings are easily accessible and available. This in-depth program will run for four years and be focused on making the maximum impact possible in the lives of participants. By restoring access to traditional teachings, language, and ceremony, the project supports survivors and families in addressing intergenerational trauma and rebuilding cultural knowledge that was disrupted for generations.

Diocese of Peterborough