Healthy Horizons Supports Young Campers of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation

When children and youth are given opportunities to learn, explore, and experience hands-on education, it can open doors to new possibilities and excitement for the future. In 2024, Healthy Horizons Foundation’s grant support helped youth from Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (Nelson House), Manitoba, participate in Career Trek’s Career Education Summer Camp, sparking curiosity and motivation to pursue higher education through interactive workshops and a visit to Skills Shops North in Thompson, MB.

Connecting Generations and Fostering Cultural Pride: Northern Youth Leadership

Seeing the land as a source of healing, balance, and identity is essential to nurturing resilience in the next generation. In 2024, Healthy Horizons Foundation grant support enabled Northern Youth Leadership’s Youth and Elders Harvesting Program, bringing youth and Elders together to strengthen intergenerational learning about traditional harvesting and medicine-making practices, while fostering cultural pride, food sovereignty, mental wellness and language revitalization through guided, land-based learning.

Nurrait | Jeunes Karibus: Empowering Nunavik Youth Through Outdoor Adventures

Photo credit: Dominique Paradi

From 2023 to 2026, Healthy Horizons annual grant support is helping Nunavimmiut youth access life-changing after-school programming through Nurrait | Jeunes Karibus. Through camping, canoeing, and ski expeditions rooted in land-based learning and Inuit knowledge as well as outdoor experiences in challenging northern climates, participants build confidence, leadership skills, and self-sufficiency while deepening their connection to land and to one another.

Creating New Horizons for Inuit Youth Through Ayalik Expeditions

For summer 2024 programming, Ayalik Fund received support from Healthy Horizons Foundation for the Ayalik Expeditions Program, delivered in partnership with YMCA Camp Wanakita in Ontario. Through a two-week summer camp and a canoe trip in Kipawa, Quebec, participants built leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving skills while forming lasting connections with their peers—helping nurture strength, pride, and a positive future for youth, families, and communities.

Sewing Skills Labs: Weaving Culture, Creativity, and Career Pathways

Facilitated by I Love First Peoples (ILFP), the Sewing Skills Lab program provides Indigenous youth at participating schools with access to industry-standard sewing equipment, materials, mentorship, and hands-on learning opportunities. By carrying forward traditional sewing knowledge while introducing fashion-related career pathways, the program offers culturally-grounded learning spaces that inspire creativity, support mental and emotional well-being, and ignite an entrepreneurial mindset among participants.

Traditional medicine camps empower and educate youth

In 2020, Food Matters Manitoba brought together Elders, Knowledge Keepers, Chiefs, Council members, and supporters from all across the province to organize a series of camps dedicated to connecting Indigenous youth participants to their heritage and traditional ways of life. Participants learned valuable survival skills, bringing them closer together as they developed their connections to the land and to their unique cultures.

Healthy Horizons fosters connection between Elders and youth

The Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre (SEFC) saw through the difficulties imposed by the pandemic to provide opportunities for youth members in Hay River, NT to learn a variety of wholesome cooking recipes – while also fostering connections with their families and community. Following the postponement of its in-person programming in late 2020, SEFC continued its Youth Cooking for Elders program by sending recipe kits to youth aged 8-14 containing ingredients and written instructions on how to whip up meals for their families and an Elder of their choice.

Healthy Horizons helps Cat Lake hit the ice

Hockey athletes aged 5-18 in Cat Lake, ON were overjoyed to see the pristine surface of their outdoor ice rink, following the efforts of Matthew Klockenga and the Great Commission Foundation (GCF) in making the facility fit for play. By working with the Healthy Horizons Foundation, Klockenga and the GFC acquired an ice resurfacer – affectionately named the “Ice Dragon” – to keep rinks game-worthy, by layering the rink with smooth sheets of ice.

Lights On program strives to brighten Fort Simpson

Snowboarding is a sport that many Northern communities would like to practice, as they tend to have snow most part of the year, but not all communities have access to the equipment needed to enjoy the sport. Youth in First Simpson, NT had the opportunity to tread on the slopes for the first time thanks to Liidlii Kue First Nation’s efforts in acquiring boards, skis, winter gear, and instructors as it introduced a snowboarding component to its Lights On program in 2019.

Discovering Beauval through an outdoor program

The banks of the Beaver River running along Beauval, SK saw new sets of paddles hitting its shores with the introduction of a new Canoe Healing Program, an initiative dedicated towards teaching Indigenous youth about their rich culture and heritage while also promoting an active lifestyle. With pristine waters ideal for facilitating leadership exercises and leisurely excursions, the Program also had social components directing participants to combat social issues and become stronger members of their community.

Healthy Horizons Foundation grant supports nutrition literacy for Rankin Inlet students

Healthy Horizons is delighted to select Ilitaqsiniq as the inaugural Healthy Horizons grant recipient. An $8,200 grant was awarded to Ilitaqsiniq to support the launch of a six-week Kids Cooking Class program.

Over the course of the program, 15 students from Simon Alaittuq School in Rankin Inlet, NU, learned how to cook and bake wholesome, healthy meals from scratch. The students were also taught traditional Inuit food preparation practices, to help carry on their culture through cuisine.

“The program’s holistic approach is a great way to build the confidence of the youth and encourage healthy habits from an early age.” - Adriana Kusugak, Literacy Coordinator, Ilitaqsiniq.