04 March 2o22

House of Wolf's Indigenous Community Safety Partnership Program has been selected as a winner for the 2021 Arctic Inspiration Prize. 

We are only here because of our team : Gina Nagano (Team Leader), Ashley Cummings, Jedrek Dendys, MJ (Mary Ellen) Donald, Chantal Genier, Elder Judy Gingell, Darcy Marcotte, Katie McPherson, Jeff Myke, Lana Selbee, Janine Workman, Lilia Yumagulova

And we are grateful to our nominator Premier Sandy Silver; Government of Yukon!

What is the Indigenous Community Safety Partnership Program?

The dismantling of Indigenous traditional law and culture and its replacement with colonial structures has culminated in intergenerational trauma, cycles of violence, disproportionate incarceration of Indigenous People, and the removal of children from their families, communities and culture. 

This legacy also contributes to decreased resilience in the face of emergencies, like pandemics, natural disasters, and the impacts of climate change. Western approaches to justice, crime prevention, and emergency preparedness continue to fail Indigenous communities, often exacerbating cultural displacement, unsafe conditions and deepening mistrust. 

Now is the time to take another path. It is time to rekindle traditional law, reclaim our knowledge, and approach Indigenous community safety with an Indigenous lens. 

A Different Path

Rooted in an Indigenous worldview the proposed Indigenous Community Safety Partnership Program (ICSPP) offers a transformative approach to community safety, justice and resilience. Our Yukon-based social-enterprise will provide training, mentorship and capacity to empower Yukon First Nations to implement and sustain critical community safety and emergency preparedness initiatives, negotiate and implement administration of justice agreements, and address the root causes of violence and vulnerability in our communities and urban centres. 

In collaboration with First Nations and our partners, we will create a first-of-its-kind Indigenous-led and certified training, evaluation and mentorship program that targets 3 essential areas:  

· Holistic Community Safety Assessments and Planning 

· Community Safety Officer Programs (CSO)  

· Community-led Emergency Preparedness 

Those tasked with the stewardship of traditional law and safety understand the unique historical and cultural context of their communities and the root causes of current challenges. Through the ICSPP they will have access to the tools, training, trust, and mentorship to deliver meaningful and transformative community assessments, plans and programs. 

Through trauma-informed, culturally-relevant and adaptive training and train-the-trainer programs we will build capacity for First Nations to lead this work in-house, reducing reliance on colonial systems or off-the-shelf consultant models.

Through community summits and gatherings, the ICSPP will support mentorship, collective learning, and knowledge exchange across communities, graduates, and leaders in Community Safety. Our partnership with Preparing our Home supports knowledge sharing from North to South, and extends the responsibility for community safety to youth, through youth-led emergency preparedness and resilience programming. 

This approach provides an avenue for communities and governments at all levels to accelerate implementation of key recommendations and actions in line with the Yukon Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2-Spirited People Strategy, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

Indigenous-led safety and emergency preparedness programs consistently have better social, economic and cultural outcomes. The current programs have been implemented in 3 northern communities have already shown exceptional results. The demand for similar programming is unprecedented, but there is limited infrastructure to support ongoing training and administration of these programs in communities. Addressing this capacity gap is essential for sustainability. 

The ICSPP capacity building model provides the infrastructure to revitalize traditional law and sustain, grow and share Indigenous community safety efforts. 

Want to get involved? 

While we await the outcome of The Arctic Inspiration Prize process, we continue to seek Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners to support us to realize the potential of Indigenous-led community safety initiatives, and to enable programming to be delivered across Yukon First Nations. 

With additional funding, we can expand program offerings to have a broader reach, hire and train Indigenous-staff, host powerful community safety gatherings, and amplify learnings across the North and beyond. 

We are proud to share our work to date, and eager to learn from others.

To learn more or discuss partnership opportunities send us an e-mail

Click the image below to visit National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls website.