| | Celebrating National Indigenous Peoples Day
and the New Indigenous Hub Ground Breaking |
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| National Indigenous Peoples Day was a busy day for Anishnawbe Health Foundation! We started the day with a special invitation from the TMX Group to open the TSX Stock Market virtually at 9:30 a.m. Members of the Foundation’s Board, Finance Committee and staff took part in the event. TMX Group took this opportunity to announce a $50,000 donation to the home for a new home for Anishnawbe Health Toronto. To see coverage of market open click here. The Foundation also commemorated National Indigenous Peoples Day by running a full page ad in the Toronto Star to recognize our supporters who have helped us to achieve 94% of our $10 million campaign to support the new home for Anishnawbe Health Toronto and the reclamation of Traditional Healing practices. In the afternoon, Foundation donors, volunteer and supporters joined in the virtual Ground Breaking of the Indigenous Hub, including the new home of Anishnawbe Health Toronto. |
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| |  | After the Indigenous Hub Ground-breaking event on National Indigenous Peoples Day, Foundation Chair Andre Morriseau (centre) and Vice-Chair Cherie Brant (right) invited Barry Green to the site of the new AHT. Andre and Cherie presented Barry with a drum painted by Anishnawbe Health Osh-ka-be-wis Sofi Rostanpour to thank him for his family’s partnership on the new home for Anishnawbe Health Toronto. Photo by Red Works Photography |
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The Barry and Laurie Green Family Charitable Trust supports the Family, Youth and Child Unit at the new home of Anishnawbe Health Toronto with leadership pledge of $500,000 to Capital Project Donor Profile Family has always been at the core of Barry Green’s strong commitment to community. As a third-generation Canadian, Barry Green has always held a deep connection to family. His grandfather, Al Green, came to Canada from Europe in 1910, where he began working as a bricklayer and starting his own business. In a rapidly growing Toronto, the family business saw great success, particularly when it helped construct the city's first planned community in Don Mills. Even in those early days, the Green family had a long history and tradition of giving back to the community. Today, as President and CEO of Greenrock, Barry has grown the business to encompass property management, property development and repositioning, sustainability and investment management. |
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| | Donor Profile: The Shawana/Trudeau Family
Anishnawbe Health Toronto Holds Special Place in Family’s Hearts Anishnawbe Health Toronto (AHT) will always be a special place for the Shawana/Trudeau Family of Wikiwemikong First Nation. AHT was strongly supported by their loved ones. Joanna Shawana started working for AHT in 1989. Her dad Nelson contributed wild game and fish for the many cultural ceremonies that took place at AHT including Naming Ceremonies and the feasts after seasonal fasts. According to Joanna, Nelson didn’t always live traditional ways but through his everyday livelihood and lifestyle, he always taught his family to live off the land through hunting and fishing. One of his biggest lessons was to give back to the community and donating his harvest was his contribution. Joanna’s mother Rebecca spent many years being a stay-at-home mom of 11 and a homemaker. When she moved to Toronto, Rebecca started working for AHT as a maintenance worker. Her work with the agency was her very first job. |
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| | Indigenous Peoples Landscape Committee Kicks of National Indigenous History Month We kicked off National Indigenous History Month with an opportunity for community to come together to learn more about the Indigenous Peoples' Landscape at the new home of Anishnawbe Health Toronto, breaking ground this year. Nearly 150 people joined us virtually for Connecting Land-Based Healing & Traditional Medicines at the New Home of Anishnawbe Health Toronto. Huge thanks to our guest speakers Kahontakwas Diane Longboat, Ceremonial Leader, Traditional Teacher, Healer, and Elder at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), and Matthew Hickey, Partner, Two Row Architect, one of the lead architects at the new home of Anishnawbe Health Toronto. Our event was hosted and moderated by Dr. Elisa Levi, Chair of the Indigenous Peoples' Landscape campaign and Anishnawbe Health Foundation Board Member. For those who missed the event or would like to re-watch the video, you can view it here |
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| | Local Small Business Owner Gives Back on National Indigenous Peoples Day Reza Piroznia, proprietor of Jewellery Jamboree Gems (JJGems) and owner of RezaGemCollection, immigrated to Canada from Iran in 1995. Upon landing in Toronto, Reza found himself living in a boarding house and working several jobs to make ends meet. Not one to let tough times get him down and wanting to give back to his adopted country, Reza held his very first fundraiser for Sick Kids the same year, and has continued to raise money for various charities ever since. In 2020, Reza raised over $25,000 for charitable organizations and in 2021 he is aiming to double that amount. |
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| | Toronto Cycling Community Honours Residential School Victims and Survivors On the early morning of June 20, a group of dedicated and passionate cyclists embarked from High Park on the "Every Child Matters Ride for Reconciliation - 215 km Bike Ride" to raise funds for AHF. The ride and fundraiser were held to honour both the First Nations children lost but also survivors of the Indian Residential School system in Canada. The cyclists rode as an act of reconciliation to the site of the Mohawk Residential School grounds in Brantford, Ontario. The ride totaled 215 kilometres, each one in memory of the 215 children lost in Kamloops. |
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| | Anishnawbe Health Toronto Mobile Healing Unit Wins Transformative Change Award Congratulations to the Anishnawbe Health Toronto Mobile Healing Unit. On June 17, this extremely hard-working group of professionals won the Alliance for Healthier Communities Transformative Change Award. This award recognizes leaders, innovators, collaborators, and health champions who have been working at the forefront of transformative change to achieve the vision of the best possible health and wellbeing for everyone living in Ontario. The nomination of the AHT's Mobile Unit Program was reviewed and recommended by a selection committee of peer reviewers and approved by the Alliance Board for its outstanding contributions to improving the health and wellbeing of people and communities facing barriers. We are incredibly proud of the work that the Mobile Healing Unit does in and for the community. If you would like to watch the video presentation put together to honour the team please click here. |
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| | Meet Anishnawbe Health Foundation's Newest Members of the Board of Directors On June 16, we held the Foundation’s Annual Meeting and elected two new members of our Board of Directors: |
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| | To read more about Kelly and Brittany, and to see a full list of our Board members, please click here At the recent Annual Meeting, the Foundation membership also approved the Foundation’s Audited Financial Statements for the Fiscal Year ended March 31, 2021. The statements are available here on our website. |
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| | Dr. Chandrakant Shah receives UofT's highest honour Dr. Chandrakant Shah, Anishnawbe Health Foundation Board Member and Honorary Consulting Physician at Anishnawbe Health Toronto, has received the University of Toronto's highest honor, Doctor of Science, honoris causa, where he is a professor emeritus at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. It seems only fitting that Dr. Shah received this honour during National Indigenous History Month, as he has been a tireless advocate for Indigenous Peoples and a champion of equity and inclusion for decades. Dr. Shah has dedicated himself to helping his medical colleagues understand the impact of social factors such as income and education – and, importantly, historical trauma on the health of Indigenous Peoples. Congratulations Dr. Shah! |
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| | UJA Federation’s Baby Gives Back Initiative Supports Maternal Infant Program Thank you to the UJA Federation for their donation to AHT's Maternal Infant Program. UJA’s Baby Give Back initiative provided 15 of our new parents with baby essentials as they go through this beautiful yet very challenging, exhausting, and unpredictable time of new parenthood, especially now with the added challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. Each new parent received a diaper bag plus a tote bag filled with many baby essentials and a box of diapers. UJA is very proud to assist a diverse group of recipients through Baby Give Back, as parenthood and the struggles that come with it are universal, and helping each other is the true meaning of community. |
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| | TICOT Hosts Fundraiser for Anishnawbe Health's Two Spirit/Trans* Program The Imperial Court of Toronto (TICOT) is hosting a
fundraiser on June 26 in support of Anishnawbe Health Toronto's Two-Spirit/Trans* Program. The live-stream event - Two-Spirit Indigenous Pride Honouring our First Nation Two-Spirit Communities begins at 8 p.m. and is free to watch. There are two ways to view. On Facebook at www.facebook.com/ticotlife and on TICOT's YouTube Channel at youtube.com/TheImperialCourtOfTorontoTICOT |
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| | Help Us Win $20,000 in CanadaHelps Great Canadian Giving Challenge Have you considered making a donation to Anishnawbe Health in honour of National Indigenous History Month? Your donation this month not only helps the Indigenous Community in Toronto but could also help us win $20,000. Every dollar donated to Anishnawbe Health Foundation in the month of June, qualifies us for a chance to win $20,000 from CanadaHelps Great Canadian Giving Challenge. Contest ends June 30 so there is still time left! All you have to do is make a donation at
supportanishnawbe.ca/donate/make-a-donation/. To learn more about the Challenge visit www.givingchallenge.ca/ |
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