The Centre’s commitment to Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples is something close to our hearts. It is enshrined among our key priorities, and it is reflected in our support of initiatives that address the housing needs of Indigenous communities. In 2022, we plan on doing more. The first step is providing free, exclusive access to an online Indigenous cultural awareness course called The Path: Your Journey Through Indigenous Canada. Underwritten by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, it is designed to help learn about First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples and communities in Canada.
Since there is limited availability, we will allocate spots for the online training. The Centre staff will be taking the course this month.
The Path: Your Journey Through Indigenous Canada was designed by NVision Insight. “The first step of reconciliation is awareness. The Path is about topics that we should have learned in high school but never did [and it] meets various [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] Calls to Action,” says Jennifer David, senior consultant at NVision.
The training is divided into five modules (for a total of 4 to 5 hours of learning, to be completed at your own pace). It includes videos and quiz questions.
Its content was updated in 2020 and revised by NVision’s Indigenous shareholders, education experts and an Indigenous lawyer. First Nations and Métis external collaborators also also contributed. To date, more than 100 groups of all types (federal and municipal government organizations, professional associations, private companies, etc.) across Canada have taken The Path.
NVsion is a majority Indigenous-owned company with First Nations, Inuit, Métis and non-Indigenous shareholders and staff. Its mission is to provide support to Indigenous communities to create positive change and it has been offering cultural awareness workshops for nearly 15 years.
“We hope, after taking The Path, that people are more aware of Indigenous realities and aware of how little we know of our shared history, and that we all have a role to play in reconciliation,” says Jennifer. “We also hope that people understand the diversity of Indigenous Peoples, histories, nations, and perspectives across Canada.”
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Following the delivery of the online training, we will collect your feedback and work on developing more tools to better meet the specific needs of the community-housing sector in relation to Indigenous realities.
We hope you will join us on the path to reconciliation.
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If you’re a community-housing provider, housing co-operative or a community-led organization that works with tenants, we want to hear from you! Send us an email at path@centre.support. There is limited availability, so please specify how many employees or volunteers will take the course.
Priority will be given to small-to-medium organizations, but larger organizations are encouraged to communicate their interest, and we will evaluate need and capacity in relation to available space.
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If you have received an email confirming your enrollment in the course, click here or on the picture below to access the login page. Your enrollment key can be found in your confirmation email, please select ‘CMHC Partners’ as your organization. for all issues and inquiries, contact Path@centre.support
