Grandmother Spirit Project
Overview
The Grandmother Spirit project was undertaken to raise awareness about issues of senior abuse, safety and well-being for senior Aboriginal women in Canada. The project was based in the belief that Grandmothers (senior Aboriginal women) hold tremendous life experience and wisdom that should guide the policies, programs and services that affect them. The project set out to understand what Grandmothers knew about issues of senior abuse, but also what they felt was needed to help ensure that senior Aboriginal women are safe and well in their communities. This honours the spirit of our Grandmothers – of the roles they held prior to colonization and the need to restore recognition and respect of these roles in our communities and Canadian society today.
This project was guided by an Advisory Committee composed of Elders, community members, service providers and academics, and included youth participation. The Committee directed us to follow a broader vision of exploring issues impacting safety and well-being for senior Aboriginal women, since, as Grandfather Grafton Antone stated, Aboriginal ways of knowing do not focus on what is bad, or wrong, but look and move towards what we want to see. The Advisory Committee served to ensure this project was carried out in a good way by helping to develop the approach to research and consulting on issues of ethics, sampling and how to share the knowledge gathered.
The project had two stages:
“I want to be safe in my community”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fFfIIWEUPQ
“We all have a role to play”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOWjcgdCOVw
How can I get involved? What can I do?
The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) wishes to gratefully acknowledge all of the Grandmothers who so generously gave of their time and wisdom in participating in this project. We also wish to offer our gratitude to the members of the Grandmother Spirit project
Advisory Committee who shared their experience and expertise to help ensure this work was done in a good way. To all those who helped in every way that made this project possible, whether through helping with transportation to meetings, preparing food, organizing meeting times, providing space and ensuring, Chi miigwetch—thank you so much.
We also wish to acknowledge the support of our funder, the New Horizons for Seniors Program through Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC).