The National Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation of Canada’s Intermediate Agreement Program with Old School Community Gathering Place and Life as Medicine.
Akwesasne, Ontario, May 22, 2025
Stories of Hope and Resiliency: Honouring Survivors Through Indigenous Healing Arts
In partnership with LIFE as Medicine: circle of Indigenous healing arts, the Old School Community Gathering Place (OSCGP) is proud to support a transformative initiative centred on the healing, strength, and cultural reclamation of Sixties Scoop Survivors and their families in Mi’kma’ki. Guided by Indigenous knowledge systems, expressive arts, and land-based teachings, this initiative is rooted in a sacred principle: that healing begins with relationship, connection to self, to land, to culture, to one another, and to spirit.
In partnership with LIFE as Medicine: circle of Indigenous healing arts, the Old School Community Gathering Place (OSCGP) is proud to support a transformative initiative centred on the healing, strength, and cultural reclamation of Sixties Scoop Survivors and their families in Mi’kma’ki. Guided by Indigenous knowledge systems, expressive arts, and land-based teachings, this initiative is rooted in a sacred principle: that healing begins with relationship, connection to self, to land, to culture, to one another, and to spirit.
https://www.theoldschool.ca/
LIFE as Medicine is a dynamic circle of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit creative arts therapists and cultural practitioners working collaboratively across Turtle Island. Their approach revitalizes ancestral resiliency through land-based, arts-based, and body-centered healing practices grounded in ceremony, storytelling, and Indigenous teachings. Together, with OSCGP and community partners, they are offering a powerful series of gatherings that honour Survivor voices and foster community-led healing.
https://lifeasmedicine.ca/sixties-scoop-survivors-stories-of-hope-and-resiliency/
Monthly gatherings under this initiative offer participants culturally safe spaces to engage in activities such as drum making, beading, seal skin bracelet creation, ribbon skirt and shirt making, breathwork, sound healing, and more. Each session supports Survivors in reconnecting with their cultural identities while also offering access to qualified Indigenous and Indigenized therapists for one-on-one, family, and group supports. These integrated healing spaces honour the intergenerational strength of Survivors and recognize cultural reclamation as a pathway to wholeness. This project is being guided by four Sixties Scoop Survivors from the Atlantic Region whose lived experiences and leadership ensure the work remains grounded in First Voice perspectives. Their vision has been essential in shaping culturally responsive, Survivor-informed programming that reflects the true needs and priorities of those most impacted.
Monthly gatherings under this initiative offer participants culturally safe spaces to engage in activities such as drum making, beading, seal skin bracelet creation, ribbon skirt and shirt making, breathwork, sound healing, and more. Each session supports Survivors in reconnecting with their cultural identities while also offering access to qualified Indigenous and Indigenized therapists for one-on-one, family, and group supports. These integrated healing spaces honour the intergenerational strength of Survivors and recognize cultural reclamation as a pathway to wholeness. This project is being guided by four Sixties Scoop Survivors from the Atlantic Region whose lived experiences and leadership ensure the work remains grounded in First Voice perspectives. Their vision has been essential in shaping culturally responsive, Survivor-informed programming that reflects the true needs and priorities of those most impacted.
Community collaboration is at the heart of this work. Alongside OSCGP, partners such as Circle Works Counselling, Camp Kidston, the Barefoot Farmers Association, and the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs have stepped forward to support the program by offering land-based spaces, supplies, food sovereignty contributions, and workshop facilitation. Together, they are modelling what it looks like when communities are trusted and resourced to lead their own healing.
How the National Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation of Canada Funded and Enabled This Work
This initiative was made possible through the NSSHFC’s Intermediate Agreement Grant Program, which provided the vital funding and support to bring this program to life. The Foundation’s investment directly empowered grassroots leadership, helping to launch culturally grounded programming designed by, for, and with Sixties Scoop Survivors. True to its mandate of supporting healing, education, and cultural reclamation in creative expression as medicine, and in the inherent strength and dignity of Survivors. By centering First Voice leadership and grounding healing in community-defined priorities, the Foundation helped create a model of care that is sustainable, relational, and restorative.
As the year concludes in a Land-Based Healing Gathering, Survivors will reflect on their journeys, share testimonials, and contribute toa long-term vision for healing supports in the Atlantic Region. Their stories will help shape future programming and strengthen pathways for intergenerational healing, cultural resurgence, and community wellness.
Together, we honour the past and reclaim the future.
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For more information about the Foundation, please visit our website. https://www.sixtiesscoophealingfoundation.ca/