Rooted in Cultural Pride and Learning: Healthy Horizons Supports Annual Wabasca Cultural Days

When we bring together youth, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and community members to celebrate, share, and preserve traditional ways of life, we create opportunities for lasting connections to take root in the hearts of the young generation who will step up to lead tomorrow. At the annual Wabasca Cultural Days in 2023 and 2024, HHF was proud to support the Métis and Cree youth as they engaged in land-based cultural learning strengthening their sense of pride and belonging.

From Kitchen to Community: Pond Inlet Youth Cooks with a Purpose

Using their practical, culturally rooted cooking skills to give back to their community is what Nunavummiut youth in Pond Inlet learned through their after-school cooking class program, supported by a $20,000 grant from Healthy Horizons. Students developed foundational skills in food safety, meal planning, and nutrition, and the meals they prepared were delivered to approximately 50 individuals and families in need.

Healthy Horizons Foundation Supports ‘The Zen Den’ at Happy Valley-Goose Bay Middle School

Healthy Horizons proudly supported Queen of Peace Middle School in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL, with a $17,500 grant that helped support the development of a dedicated sensory and wellness space designed to support students with anxiety, sensory processing differences and diverse learning needs. The multi-purpose wellness room, known as ‘The Zen Den,’ offers a calming space where students can reset, recharge, and find emotional balance.

Nourishing Young Learners for Success in Île-à-la-Crosse

Healthy Horizons supported over 150 students at Rossignol High School in Île-à-la-Crosse, SK, through a grant that helped them access healthy daily snacks and a monthly hot breakfast through its Nutrition Program. Students also developed essential gardening and food preparation skills, helping build healthy habits and a greater understanding of long-term disease prevention. By supporting local educational institutions that promote proper nutrition and healthy living, we help inspire youth to keep pushing toward success.

Rooted in Land: Prioritizing Wellness and Cultural Connection

In 2024, Métis and First Nations youth in the Northern Village of Beauval, SK, attended an outdoor summer camp, engaging in land-based physical activities that promoted wellness, cultural connection, and personal development. A total of 45 young attendees participated alongside Elders and Knowledge Keepers in activities such as canoeing, wilderness walks, rat root scouting and harvesting, fishing, berry picking, and camping.

Nourishing Play Times: Healthy Horizons Supports Coral Harbour Youth

Nearly 300 youth in the Nunavut island community of Coral Harbour received access to nutritious snacks throughout the 2025-26 school year, helping them stay energized during after-school activities. By supporting programs such as the Healthy Living program, we can help ensure youth in northern Inuit communities can engage in physical activities while easing the challenges many households face in accessing nutritious food for their families.

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.

Pinaymootang First Nation Youth Welcome New Summer Splash Pad Facility

With approximately half of the population under the age of 20, community leaders of Pinaymootang First Nation identified a growing need for accessible recreational amenities to support youth. In 2024, HHF’s $10,000 grant helped the community welcome a new splash pad facility designed to promote active living and positive social interaction throughout the summer months. The facility highlights the importance and long-term value of community-led investments in social infrastructure that supports youth.

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.