Fifteen projects receive Crime Prevention and Victim Services Trust funding

Crime Prevention and Victim Services Trust 2019–20 Recipients

Champagne and Aishihik First Nations was awarded $25,000 for the Trauma and Conflict Resolution Program. This project is a five-day camp at Kluane Lake, providing training and circles in trauma, conflict resolution, regulation, and resiliency.  By providing both traditional and modern healing opportunities, education on trauma, coping, conflict resolution, trauma release and ceremony, participants will be better equipped to make choices for their own wellbeing, their relationships and their communities.

Champagne and Aishihik First Nations was awarded $58,542 for the Youth Outreach Program project. This project focuses on empowering youth, providing relevant programming to address risk factors, delivering workshops, reducing harm, hosting circles, teaching life skills, bringing in speakers and educators, providing individualized support, delivering youth-led programming, hosting a Youth Spring Dance, creating safety networks and building a sense of belonging for youth.

The Dawson City Arts Society was awarded $6,000 for their Youth Art Enrichment project, a six-day youth art camp in Dawson City.  Through art workshops and other group events, they hoped to empower youth and introduce them to career paths they may not have considered. Unfortunately, despite excellent organization and planning, this event was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Heart of Riverdale Community Centre Society was awarded $29,595 for the Hip Hop at the Heart program. It is a free, drop-in music production and recording program for youth 12 and up where kids collaborate on challenging projects in a respectful mixed gender group with a skilled facilitator to build and model positive relationships and contribute to personal resilience. 

Kluane First Nation was awarded $ 25,707 for the Roots "Trauma Healing and Support Workshop Series" Project. This project is intended to promote healing from trauma experienced by the community, families and individuals by offering land-based workshops focusing resilience, self-care and reconnection to the land.  

Learning Disabilities of Yukon (LDAY) was awarded $9,600 for their Attention Regulation (ADD & ADHD) Support project. LDAY provides support and interventions for individuals with ADHD to help them develop their self-regulation skills, attention and focus.  Program coordinators create and present workshops for educators, parents and adults; mentor and coach individuals for better self-regulation skills; and form age-specific support groups.

The North Klondyke Highway Music Society was awarded $11,158 for the Dawson City Youth Fiddle/Jigging Community Tour project. This funding will go towards holding family-friendly youth fiddle and jigging workshops, family dances, dance demonstrations and activities in Old Crow, Mayo, Pelly Crossing and Dawson, creating a positive environment for citizens of all ages, where youth learn about each other’s lives and gain positive support and communication with their peer group.

Second Opinion Society was awarded $18,919 for the Mental Health Awareness and Self Care Project. This project offered 24 workshops delivered by professional mental health facilitators.  Participants had access to a variety of options to increase their mental health awareness and learning about self-care in regards to healing from emotional trauma.  

Teslin Tlingit Council was awarded $27,009 for the Weaving Culture Through Justice project. This project is a six-week Cedar Bark Weaving program taught in both Teslin and Whitehorse. Elders will provide a one-day workshop each week on the history of clans, potlatch laws, Tlingit traditional laws, clan emblems, Tlingit stories and legends, drumming and singing. 

Yukon Women's Transition Home Society was awarded $16,300 for the Women's Social Justice Group project. This is a bi-weekly social justice group for women who have experienced violence and abuse. The group is a safe space for women to learn, share and participate in wellness, art and self-care activities, including land-based healing. Participants will learn about safety planning, causes and dynamics of abuse and family violence, and challenging myths around violence.

BYTE – Empowering Youth Society was awarded $20,005 for a project called Stand Up, Speak Out! This project focuses on holding three-day gatherings for youth in four different Yukon communities, which were selected due to a higher number of youth crime incidences.  They will be a youth-led, co-designed workshops that focus on youth crime prevention.  BYTE will use a solutions-based approach in order to create stronger relationships among youth and create spaces for youth to lead. 

Gwaandak Theatre was awarded $10,980 for their Awaken Festival project. This was Gwaandak Theatre’s first festival and took place via online platforms in May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  This was a community-based cultural project centring on Indigenous and marginalized women, all women and individuals relating femininity to their identity, as well as other marginalized voices, their stories and artistic development. This virtual festival included training opportunities, performances and community-engagement events such as Creators Lab, Masterclass, youth storytelling and story writing workshops, Indigi-Queer Cabaret, storytelling café and roundtable discussions.

Skookum Jim Friendship Centre was awarded $10,780 for their Strong Moms, Safe Kids project.  This is free 10-week closed-group program for mothers and their children who have experienced intimate relationship abuse; children who have witnessed abuse in their homes; mothers and children living apart from their abusers; and families of all cultures.  This program is relevant in the North, due to Yukon's high rates of assaults, sex crimes, and violent crimes.  It aims to address the current gap in preventing and healing the effects of domestic violence, particularly for children who have witnessed domestic violence in their own homes.

Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in was awarded $13,100 for First Fish Camp. This camp was held last fall during the salmon run at Moosehide village, near Dawson City, allowing youth to be on the land for one week learning about salmon harvesting, processing, conservation, traditional medicines, foods and languages, as well as discussing traditional justice and what it looks like in a modern community.  Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in members and elders also attended to provide guidance, teachings, stories and history. 

The Village of Teslin was awarded $14,547 for the Teslin Summer Program. This project focuses on keeping youth busy over the summer with meaningful recreation by offering a variety of summer camps and workshops from July to September, aimed at physical activity, personal growth skills, participation in land-based camps, while providing healthy snacks to youth to emphasize proper nutrition.  Original summer plans required revision due to COVID-19 restrictions in regards to travel and social distancing. The Village of Teslin adapted their plan so that alternate programming could be offered to youth.