Our Mission
Plenty Canada is a registered non-profit organization that facilitates access to and shares resources with Indigenous peoples and other community groups around the world in support of their environmental protection and sustainable development goals.
At Plenty Canada we recognize that people are part of the environment and we sustain healthy lives only when the environment as a whole is healthy. For us the environment and the bio-diversity of our environment is a precious treasure we need to protect.
At Plenty Canada we recognize that people are part of the environment and we sustain healthy lives only when the environment as a whole is healthy. For us the environment and the bio-diversity of our environment is a precious treasure we need to protect.
Call for Applicants: Truth and Reconciliation Training Program
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Plenty Canada is pleased to be offering a third year of its truth and reconciliation training program. This special opportunity offers a series of monthly events from July to March, paired with a community project opportunity, to the member's of this year's cohort.
For more information or to apply, please visit plentycanada.com/trtprogram. |
Speaker Series: How Do Treaties Give Us Hope?
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In celebration of National Indigenous Peoples Day, on June 21st, in partnership with the Mississippi Mills: All My Relations Speaker Series, Plenty Canada is excited to announce the upcoming talk How Do Treaties Give Us Hope? with guest speaker Larry McDermott, Executive Director of Plenty Canada. The conversation will dive deeply into topics concerning Treaty Relations between Canadians and Indigenous Peoples, beginning with discussions of the Treaty of Niagara, establishing a foundation for reconciliation, creating an ethical space for renewing the friendships between Indigenous Peoples and Settlers, and providing guidance for a sustainable relationship with Mother Earth.
For more information on the event, or to purchase tickets, please visit: www.eventbrite.ca/e/treaties-are-alive-tickets-158006675219. |
Plenty Canada Statement on Kamloops Residential School
Children’s shoes placed on the steps of the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School in memory of the 215 children found in a mass grave at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. (photo by Tim Johnson)
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Since 1976 when Plenty Canada first coalesced and activated in response to an earthquake that devastated Mayan communities in Guatemala, our organization has worked closely with Indigenous peoples to affirm and support their rightful roles in the pantheon of nations that comprise human civilization on Earth. In the pursuit of truth and justice and recognizing the profound need to respect human rights and promote and restore equality, Indigenous peoples should be free from discrimination of any kind.
Recent news that 215 Indigenous children were found buried in a mass grave at the Kamloops Residential School has been devastating to our organization, to our community, and to all those across the country whose empathy and decency have been roiled by shock, dismay, and pain. As an Indigenous organization, whose family members and associates have been impacted directly by Canada’s residential school policies and who continue to contend with generational trauma, we are reminded on a regular basis the extent of this tragic history. But nothing prepared us for this, for such a stark and horrific realization of the pain and suffering evidenced by this terrible discovery. |
In our attempts to process events and realizations such as these, we must also confront the lingering impacts of colonialism, of rationalization born of entitlement, that not only dehumanize Indigenous peoples, but also damage our sacred earth’s delicate balance. These outcomes are connected, they are related. Whether a violation of natural law or a violation of human rights, we are now forced to ponder, have we been inadequately describing residential school policies as “cultural” destruction, when it would appear they meet the full and complete United Nations definition of genocide, full stop?
It is therefore with collective grieving hearts that we extend our most sincere and heartfelt sympathy to the families of the 215 children who did not survive the Kamloops Residential School, and to all those within Canada who are feeling the deep and seemingly indelible effects of this recurring and dreadful nightmare.
If you or any of your family members, friends, or associates need someone with whom to talk or communicate, please consider contacting the National Indian Residential School Survivors Crisis Line, which is available 24-hours per day for anyone experiencing pain or distress caused by a residential school experience.
Phone: 1-866-925-4419
Website: https://www.irsss.ca/faqs/how-do-i-reach-the-24-hour-crisis-line
It is therefore with collective grieving hearts that we extend our most sincere and heartfelt sympathy to the families of the 215 children who did not survive the Kamloops Residential School, and to all those within Canada who are feeling the deep and seemingly indelible effects of this recurring and dreadful nightmare.
If you or any of your family members, friends, or associates need someone with whom to talk or communicate, please consider contacting the National Indian Residential School Survivors Crisis Line, which is available 24-hours per day for anyone experiencing pain or distress caused by a residential school experience.
Phone: 1-866-925-4419
Website: https://www.irsss.ca/faqs/how-do-i-reach-the-24-hour-crisis-line
(photo by MarkZelinski.com)
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Plenty Canada featured in Global Heroes Magazine, an insert in the Globe and Mail newspaper, identifying organizations that incorporate and apply ethical and sustainable standards and practices in their work. Plenty Canada’s focus on Indigenous peoples, the environment, and equity, diversity, and inclusion have made it a trailblazer for global change. Click on the photo or this link (http://www.globalheroes.com/plenty-then-and-plenty-now/) to go to the Global Heroes article about Plenty Canada.
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Urgent Covid-19 Relief for Indigenous Communities
in Peru and Guatemala
Community members from a Q’eqchi Mayan community in Guatemala displaying a white flag. Our partners there, have launched this initiative where families suffering from hunger or have a sick relative in the home can put up a white flag so that community volunteers can find them and help.
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Indigenous communities in Peru and Guatemala are culturally strong and resilient, but they are facing dire conditions in the face of Covid-19. Grassroots initiatives are being led both in Peru and Guatemala within communities where Plenty Canada has developed strong relationships over the years. Many families are suffering from hunger and deprivation. Their lives have been severely disrupted by the pandemic and by the official restrictions on all travel. These initiatives are run by local Indigenous volunteers in an effort to help their extended communities. We need your support to uplift these communities by helping to provide lifesaving resources, at a time when they are most vulnerable.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE |
