The Traditional Indigenous Elders Support Service (TIES) at Ginawaydaganuc Village will honour, support, and learn from Indigenous Elders as vital knowledge keepers and teachers in our community. Elders hold the wisdom that guides us in how to live in balance, with each other and with the land. This project will create a formal, respectful system to recognize and compensate Elders for their time and teachings, ensuring their cultural and spiritual leadership is valued as professional expertise.
Through TIES, GV will host Elder-led circles, workshops, and cultural learning sessions open to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members. The project will also develop resources and policies that help local organizations learn how to engage Elders equitably and respectfully.
By supporting Elders and creating space for shared learning, Ginawaydaganuc Village is building a stronger, more connected, and more resilient community, one grounded in respect, reciprocity, and reconciliation.
Indigenous Elders are the heart of our community. They carry the knowledge, language, and traditions that connect us to who we are and to the land we share. For too long, their teachings have been undervalued or treated as voluntary, even though they are the foundation of learning, healing, and reconciliation.
Through TIES, GV is taking action to change that. This project ensures Elders are respected as professionals and compensated fairly for the time, wisdom, and cultural leadership they provide. It also creates opportunities for community members, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous—to come together in learning, ceremony, and dialogue.
This work strengthens relationships, builds understanding, and helps our community heal. It’s about honouring the knowledge that sustains us, while creating a more equitable and connected future for everyone.
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This project is very important to the Truth and Reconciliation process in Canada. The way they hope to introduce Indigenous ways to the community is wondeful.
Our Indigenous Elders are passing away and the knowledge goes with them, it is very important to keep the knowledge, wisdom and power alive and active.
Connecting communities and removing barriers to identify, culture, language and belonging.
All of our Elders leave us eventually. But if their wisdom and experience goes unheard and unappreciated, then we suffer a great cultural loss. Indigenous Elders often go without because places of care often lack cultural awareness.
Ginwaydaganuc supports the care and appreciation of our Elders, and this is something we should all support.
Elders are a library of information that benefits all. They should have a place that allows them to live and embrace culture and care with dignity.
This initiative is precisely the medicine needed for Truth and Reconcili-ACTION to move forward and thrive in a good way in Canada.