A recent announcement by provincial and federal governments is bringing renewed hope to survivors, advocates, and communities across Manitoba. Over $12.5 million has just been committed to 32 initiatives working to prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV), helping stabilize and expand supports for survivors, families, and marginalized communities. 

What’s Happening

• The funding is part of the long-term National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence (GBV NAP) — a 10-year commitment by Canada and provincial partners to fight GBV, support survivors, and tackle root causes.

• Manitoba has allocated these funds to 32 community-based initiatives, including prevention programs, healing services, outreach, culturally informed supports, and crisis services.

• The supported initiatives target groups that often face disproportionate violence or barriers to services: Indigenous, Black, racialized, immigrant and refugee women and girls; 2SLGBTQI+ people; people with disabilities; and those living in rural, northern, or remote communities.
  
  

Why It Matters

Gender-based violence isn’t just an individual problem — it’s a social justice, human rights, and community well-being issue. Investments like this send a strong message: survivors deserve safety, culture-sensitive support, and real access to healing and justice.

For many communities, especially Indigenous and racialized ones, this funding could be a step toward rebuilding trust, offering culturally grounded services, and challenging systemic inequities in how violence is addressed.

Moreover, expanding support means more people — not just in urban centers but in remote, rural, and underserved areas — can access help when they need it most.

What Changes in Practice

With this funding, community organizations are better equipped to:

• Offer prevention programs that engage men, boys, and entire communities — not just survivors.

• Provide culturally informed healing and support services for survivors of GBV, especially Indigenous, 2SLGBTQI+, and marginalized communities.

• Maintain crisis hotlines, safe housing, counselling, and wrap-around supports for those fleeing violence or abuse.

• Build long-term, community-led solutions to GBV — justice, prevention, awareness, and structural change.
  
  

What the Work Ahead Looks Like

Funding is a crucial step — but it doesn’t solve everything overnight. Challenges remain:

• Ensuring initiatives are truly accessible and culturally safe for all communities, including 2SLGBTQI+, Indigenous, newcomers, and rural populations.

• Sustaining long-term commitment beyond initial program cycles — GBV is a long-term issue.

• Holding systems accountable so that policies, funding, and services translate into real safety, justice, and healing.
  
  

Why This Should Matter to All of Us

Ending gender-based violence is not just a women’s issue — it’s a community issue, a human rights issue, a justice issue. As funding flows and new initiatives launch, there’s an opportunity for collective transformation: safer homes, stronger supports, and a future where no one lives in fear because of their gender, identity, or history.

The recent investment in Manitoba gives cause for cautious optimism — but also a call to stay engaged, informed, and committed. Let’s watch these programs closely, support them, and demand that this funding becomes real change.

The federal government has announced a major shift in how large-scale projects in Canada will be reviewed and approved. Under a new “nation-building projects” approach, Ottawa is preparing to fast-track infrastructure, energy, mining, and export-corridor developments it considers nationally significant.

For many, this signals economic opportunity. For Indigenous Nations, it signals something much bigger: a turning point in how land, governance, consent, and long-term community well-being will be respected.

What’s Changing?

The federal government’s new framework creates a streamlined process for approving “nation-building projects,” a category that may include:

• Critical minerals and mining projects

• Large infrastructure and trade corridors

• Clean-energy and hydro transmission initiatives

• Northern and remote-community ports

• Transportation and export-route expansions
  
  

Ottawa’s goal is to accelerate projects that support economic growth and national competitiveness — especially in Northern and Prairie regions.

But for Indigenous communities, these projects intersect directly with:

• Treaty rights

• Land stewardship

• Wildlife and water systems

• Cultural practices

• Long-term community development
  
  

This means the stakes are high — and so is the need for strong Indigenous governance and informed decision-making.

Why It Matters for Indigenous Nations

1. Land, Rights & Jurisdiction

These projects often cross or impact traditional territories. That means they must uphold Indigenous rights, Treaty relationships, and Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) — not as a checkbox, but as a foundation.

2. Economic Opportunity — If Structured Correctly

Indigenous Nations can benefit through:

• Equity ownership

• Revenue sharing

• Training and employment

• Long-term industry partnerships

• Infrastructure development
  
  

But those benefits only materialize when agreements are negotiated on Indigenous terms, with strong legal, governance, and policy support.

3. Environmental Responsibility

Indigenous communities are at the frontlines of protecting water, wildlife, and ecosystems. Nation-building cannot come at the cost of land, culture, or sustainability. Indigenous stewardship must guide environmental decisions from the beginning — not after damage is done.

What This Means for Manitoba

Manitoba is positioned to play a major role in Canada’s infrastructure and resource expansion, particularly in the North. Many projects will rely on access through Indigenous territories and Métis homeland, making Indigenous leadership essential.

This moment calls for:

• Clear governance structures

• Strong policy analysis

• Transparent information-sharing

• Community-driven decision-making

• Skilled negotiation and rights-based frameworks
  
  

These are the core supports Indigenous Nations will need to navigate — and influence — Canada’s new nation-building direction.

Nation-building will not succeed without Indigenous Nation-building.

As Canada moves forward with this accelerated agenda, Indigenous communities must not be observers — they must be decision-makers, rights-holders, and co-designers.

At Kíwétinohk Consulting, community is at the heart of every project and partnership. Time and again, Indigenous and northern communities demonstrate that the strongest change comes from working together—lifting voices, sharing knowledge, and mobilizing action. But what does “community” really mean in the context of advocacy?

Community-Led Change: Lessons from Indigenous Engagement

Recent initiatives across Canada highlight how national strategies benefit from Indigenous engagement at the community level. When governments partner with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis groups to shape policy—such as on environmental justice or racism—results are more equitable, relevant, and enduring. Early engagement conversations in 2025 showed that two-way communication builds the trust needed for collaborative action].

One standout example is the new Joint Committee between Aamjiwnaang First Nation and government, piloting community-driven solutions to environmental justice and stewardship. Lessons learned from these kinds of partnerships help guide larger policy frameworks, informing others nationwide.

Empowerment, Equity, and Social Justice

Community is foundational in empowering marginalized voices and addressing complex social issues. Programs supporting Indigenous women’s leadership, such as those highlighted by Land Is Life, foster gender equality and economic growth while strengthening the fabric of local society. As these initiatives show, capacity-building and shared space for learning and advocacy create ripple effects—spurring durable support systems and safeguarding tradition and territory.

Grants and resources from partners like Native Voices Rising have further multiplied the impact of grassroots organizing. Native-led organizations receiving this support have transformed community advocacy into practical solutions on climate, health, youth, and cross-generational mentorship.

Building Resilience for the Future

Stronger communities are not just safer or better resourced. They are more resilient, able to adapt to challenges, and better equipped to advocate for justice and environmental sustainability[4]. Supporting movements that connect local action to broader national and international conversations is key to sustaining this momentum.

Why Community Matters to Kíwétinohk Consulting

All these examples reinforce the deep belief that belonging, shared vision, and collective effort are what drive real change. Whether through facilitating engagement, amplifying Indigenous leadership, or supporting program design, Kíwétinohk Consulting stands with communities striving for equity, justice, and cultural vitality.

This summer, Manitoba made history. With the passing of Bill 43, the province’s Human Rights Code now explicitly protects gender expression.

In plain terms, that means people cannot be discriminated against because of how they express their gender — whether through pronouns, clothing, names, or other outward expressions of identity. For many, this change provides validation and safety. It sends a message: in Manitoba, everyone deserves to live authentically, without fear of exclusion.

Some critics raised concerns about free speech, as reported in the news. But legal experts are clear: the Human Rights Code already balances rights. What Bill 43 does is close a gap — ensuring protections extend to everyday realities of gender expression.

For our northern and Indigenous communities, where barriers can be higher and resources fewer, this matters deeply. At Kíwétinohk, we bring this law to life through workshops like Reclaiming Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Identities and Two-Spirit & Gender-Diverse Care in the North. These sessions foster understanding, dialogue, and action that ripple out to create safer spaces.

Bill 43 is not the end of the road — it’s a beginning. By working together, communities can move from policy on paper to lived change on the ground.

Sources

• Centre for Human Rights Research. Bill 43 – the Human Rights Code Amendment Act: Adding Gender Expression as a Protected Characteristic (2025).
  
  

• Global News. Manitoba Tories say bill to protect gender expression could infringe on free speech (2025).