Wanda Brascoupé
Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Fund Curator at Unite for Change
Canadians are finally reckoning with the country’s long and shameful history with Indigenous communities, but there is still so much work to do.
While donations to Indigenous Peoples charities grew faster compared to all other charitable categories in both 2020 and 2021 on CanadaHelps, Canada’s largest online donation and fundraising platform, these charities still only received 3.3 percent of donations in 2021. This is far lower than gifts made to environment charities (5.1 percent), animal charities (5.9 percent), arts and culture charities (6.9 percent), international charities (9.4 percent), education charities (18.4 percent), health charities (26.4 percent), religious charities (28.3 percent), and social service charities (45.6 percent).*
In a recent survey published in CanadaHelps’ 2022 Giving Report, 18.3 percent of Millennials (aged 25 to 39 years of age) placed Indigenous causes in their five top causes, while only 13.7 percent of Generation X (aged 40 to 54) and 13.1% of Baby Boomers (55 – 85) did the same. For Generation Z (aged 18 to 24 years old), 22.3 percent placed Indigenous causes in their top five list of causes they care about — the highest of any age group surveyed.
While we know that many Canadians have donated to Indigenous causes in response to the discovery of unmarked graves and of learning of Canada’s dark history, Canadians must have an opportunity to engage in reconciliation beyond Orange Shirt Day, which takes place only once a year. That’s why I’m calling on all Canadians in the position to give this holiday season to stand with Indigenous ingenuity and brilliance by supporting Indigenous-led charities.
Learn more at uniteforchange.com.
