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Alberta Coordinator of the Indigenous Swimming and Water Safety Program for the Canadian Red Cross, Justice Vandale-Niccolls discusses water safety, representation and cultural connection.

For more than 20 years, the Fort McKay Wellness Center, a non-profit organization in Fort McKay, Alberta, has been helping children and youth in Indigenous communities and from low-income families. When COVID-19 became a global pandemic, the Center was forced to close its doors. Despite these challenges, they managed to keep in contact with the community through a variety of creative ways.

Women of First Light is a not-for-profit organization led by Indigenous women in the Maritimes that seeks to heal communities, families and society by remembering and returning to the traditional ways of their ancestors. The group has reintroduced land-based learning activities, such as community gardens in several communities in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick as a tool for education to support food security for Indigenous communities.

Tom Jackson loves you.
You might think that’s funny or that he’s just being smart but he’s not. It’s his promise to you. And for Jackson, who has been part of the Canadian consciousness through his work in television, film, and music for decades, love is what we need right now.

When Lesley-Anne Morley took on leadership of the Indigenous Swimming and Water Safety program for the Canadian Red Cross in 2014, she never imagined that, years later, she would be adapting the program for a global pandemic.

The goal of the Strength and Spirit campaign may have been to build strength and resilience in First Nations communities, but what it also uncovered was one man’s passion and commitment to the region he grew up in. Robert Whitelaw, better known as Bob, was a family man who put great emphasis on building strong relationships. This ultimately became his legacy and it was all prompted by the Canadian Red Cross Strength and Spirit Campaign.

Red Cross volunteer Fabrice Vanhoutte loves putting a smile on children’s faces. So, he has plenty of tricks up his sleeve for the young people in a Saskatoon shelter.
 
“If I see a kid who is upset, I don’t necessarily go right up to them but I stay nearby and play my mouth organ or start showing a card trick,” says Vanhoutte.
 

Medical help can sometimes be far away if you’re living in rural and remote First Nations communities in British Columbia. In the past, getting on-call emergency assistance to people in need could be a major challenge. The First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) is working with the Canadian Red Cross to change that.