Success Stories

Food security is a daily challenge in our neighbourhood. Our project teaches people from all walks of life the techniques of preserving food – as a low-cost way to enjoy local food year-round, support local farmers and build community. And it promises fresh, healthy food on the table.  Yes, we can!

The community of Crowsnest Pass is at a crossroads. Our economy is changing from one based on resource extraction to one based on tourism. Thanks to your help, we can now advocate for ecologically sustainable development.

Visitors from the Global South came to Canada to speak with the public, the press, and company directors and their shareholders which have operations in their countries. They addressed their concerns about mining risks and their proposals to improve, limit or cancel mining projects.

In late 2010 the Canadian Youth Home Team asked for support to engage the young people of Canada with the then upcoming United Nations Climate Change Meeting, COP16 that took place in Cancun, Mexico.

The Changing Currents program connected youth to nature through experiential learning. We empowered young people by helping them become citizen scientists, collecting important data about the health of local waterways - data that contributed to a larger ongoing environmental monitoring program.

Specially selected for Canada Water Week, the Central Westcoast Forest Society project hopes to provide training and skills in resource management, training to manage local watersheds, fishing levels and more; skills important to continue to protect this beautiful area of costal BC.

The legacy of residential schools still deeply affects First Nations communities. Many social challanges of today are the result of the traumas experinced at the schools. The Truth and Reconcilliation hearing is coming to Halifax in Oct 2011. It is good that Canadian society is acknowledging the injustice. For many giving tesimony, it will be the first time they have shared publically what has been deeply buried. This will trigger nightmares, and panic. Some will run to drugs and alcohol to dull the pain. After the event, people will be vulunerable and fragile. We have been asked by First Nations people to hold a 4 day healing gathering to help people process their experience in a safe, supportive atmosphere, before returning to their communities. The gathering will include a Sacred Fire, elders, healers, cousellors, ceremonies and time in beautiful natural surroundings. There will be opportunities for group sharing and one on one support. Tatamagouche Centre is an accredited, non-profit education, conference and retreat centre. The Centre is recognized internationally for its excellence in adult education, facilitation and programming related to transformational learning and spiritual deepening. Our team includes Ishbel Munro, Program Director who has worked with many First Nations organizations. Lottie Mae Johnson, from Eskasoni First Nations who is on the Survivors Committee of the Truth & Reconcilliation Committee; Eileen Brooks from Indian Brook who is a Sweat Lodge keeper; and other First Nations who have asked for this project.

Your generous support went to bursaries to allow many deserving youth to participate in a social justice youth camp which answersed the call for social justice understanding and advocacy.

Elk River Swim, Drink, Fish Festival is a community celebration of our watershed and an act of stewardship slated to take place around World and BC Rivers Day on September 30. We hope to also cleans up several fishing/boating staging areas 45 kilometers of shoreline and we need your help to make it happen.

Nova Scotia is the only Canadian province without a coastal Marine Protected Area (MPA). With increasing threats of overfishing, industrial development, pollution and climate change, we urgently need to take steps to protect the productive waters around the province. Through collaboration with fishermen and government, our marine program has made significant progress to advance near-shore protected area planning in Nova Scotia.

This project allowed students and youth to design and install raised bed gardens for food production on school grounds, and rainwater collection systems to water the gardens. The kids in our programs are living in low-income families where food insecurity is a problem.

We are a local planning team made up of residents, service providers and businesses who are working together to improve the quality of life for people living and raising their families in our neighbourhood in Hamilton. Our aim is to establish a community garden.

The First Nations Site C Leadership Conference brought together First Nation and Conservation leaders to discuss common dependencies on the Peace River and effective means of protecting our communities’ land, water, culture and wildlife against pending devastation which would occur should the BC government’s site C dam proposal proceed.

Our project supports the "Our Dreams Matter Too" report from the Shannen's Dream campaign to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. We will be sending First Nations youth to present the report to the UN in Geneva in February 2012 requesting inquiry into First Nations education.

Our project will cultivate creative arts with the youth who serve our organization as farmers, gardeners, and interns in our summer Cultivting Youth Leadership Program. The CYL Program has been a combination of growing and harvesting food at our farm space and community gardens, in-class horticultural training, Afrikan studies and life skills, volunteering and community engagement, cooking, and field trips.

A group of students suggested a mural project that would highlight student voices and identity in Gjoa Haven.  A mural project that would be facilitated by a young and inspirational northern artist. The purpose was to invigorate, empower, and participate in giving a voice for young people in the community. The school, and the gym, was the perfect place to showcase this mural, message, and identity.

GreenHere is a registered charity dedicated to increasing green space in Toronto’s Davenport neighbourhood. This project will help low income residents access fresh fruit in their communities through community harvesting. 

Hamilton Fruit Tree Project harvests local, fresh fruit from backyards and the bounty is divided up between homeowners, volunteers and food banks. The project is a way for struggling Hamiltonians to access fresh fruit and we have different parties that come to together to make that possible, each party experiencing overlapping impacts.

The three-week land-based violence prevention workshop will allow for the healing of victims, restoration of relationships, and for the community as a whole to address the causes and effects of violence. It is a big step towards building a healthy community.

The Magpie River is one of the top 10 whitewater rivers in the world, according to National Geographic. According to Hydro-Quebec, the Magpie River is the future home of a power plant. Lend your voice in support of permanent protection for this river.

RAVEN supported the Tsilhqot'in National Government and Xeni Gwet'in First Nation in their legal action against Taseko Mines Prosperity Project which proposed to turn a pristine lake (Fish Lake) into a dump site for acid waste rock.

You have helped inspire the next generation of First Nation scientists - Thank You! Our project connected our children with our land by combining science and monitoring with stories and traditional ecological knowledge. And as our children grow, their love for our land, and their instinct to protect it, will grow with them.

We are producing a series of videos documenting our traditional uses of our Homeland and our ongoing efforts to protect and preserve the land we have depended on since time before memory. This documentation is essential to show the world, and our future generations, what we are trying to protect.

We put this project on the Small Change Fund website because we believed that if government heard from at least 4000 New Brunswickers and Canadians, they would have to respond with improved protection of the natural areas in the Restigouche.

Keepers' Watch will provide an opportunity for all citizens along the Pembina River to address the issues of pollution and to work towards improving and enhancing the ecological health of the entire watershed.

The Québec government is embarking on a tour of three boreal regions to consult communities on 26 protected area projects. We're going on tour too! As conservation experts, we want to help make these areas as effective as possible, and work with local communities to make it happen.

  One look at Lake Winnipeg and you can see the scars of human activity on our natural world. What you don’t see is a robust recovery effort to protect the health of humans, wildlife and birds. To protect this precious land, we first need to map it. But the map is only the beginning...

The Learning Disabilities of the Yukon Summer Leadership Expedition is designed to provide real experiences that demand real decision-making. In 2010, the NOLS Yukon scholarship program received more applications and interest than available scholarships

Stories are timeless. Formats are not. In 2005, we mapped over 3,000 of the most important cultural features of our land, and connected them with stories and interviews. These help us make decisions about the use of our land. Today, it is on paper. Our project will convert our rich history into Google maps.

Our Nation is currently building a land use plan from a grassroots approach, working closely with each of the Keyoh (family groups)in the territory. Cultural/ traditional sites and values are being collected but need to be digitally mapped, for a clearer understanding and to avoid potential conflicts.

The effects of climate change including sea level rise are greatly impacting the western coast of Cape Breton Island. This project will provide baseline mapping of past and present shorelines, beaches and tidal marshlands to identify areas most vulnerable to rising sea level and erosion. The information will inform planning.

Photovoice is used in community development, public health, and education to combine photography with grassroots social action. In our PhotoVoice Workshop, participants in Sandy Lake First Nation have a voice about issues in their community through their photographs. Together they discuss their photos, develop narratives and identify actions to take.

The people of Atlantic Canada are working together to prevent an offshore drilling disaster from happening in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Help them to halt development that could destroy severely damage Canadian coastlines in the event of an oil spill.

The SES is working with First Nations and the general public about how the tar sands might be developed in a sustainable fashion.SES produced a 45-minute presentation on tar sands, and brought this information directly to the people

Groundswell is a community-based monitoring project that will increase the groundwater information in local communities in Nova Scotia. Groundswell is identifying groundwater observation wells, and connecting them with community groups who can actively monitor them, to establish a low-cost network to effectively monitor groundwater levels in communities across Nova Scotia.

By joining our movement to make Fisher Bay Manitoba’s next provincial park you have protected this precious land for our children, grandchildren and future generations. - THANK YOU!

The Green Teens of Aamjiwnaang are a group of indigenous youth planning an exchange with youth in Fort Chip to explore questions of ‘environmental justice’. We are hoping to learn about each community’s struggles, raise awareness, and encourage youth to use creative voices and take action.

Our project is a partnership of all levels of government and community, with an emphasis on the protection and enhancement of the quality of Lake Windermere.

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society of Manitoba is working in partnership with Mosakahiken Cree Nation to campaign for an expansion of the boundaries of the recently established Little Limestone Lake provincial park due to concerns about how recent mining exploration may affect the health of this beautiful and unique colour-changing lake. And we need your help to raise our voices.

A recommended land use plan has been released in the Peel Watershed. With your help, we were able to meet with advisors, develop support, and bring First Nation people together to develop our strategy, which we hope will be key to our success in this long struggle to protect our land.

Fundy Baykeeper, a program of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, works to protect and ensure the ongoing health and well being of the Bay of Fundy. We urgently needed a motor to power our small boat.

We are working with community and tourism partners to achieve large scale protection of the Peel Watershed in northern Yukon. Except for a sliver in the west, the 68,042 square kilometer watershed is unroaded and pristine. We need help to rally the Yukon people to protect the Peel.

School water fountains are not made for refilling re-usable water bottles, so bottled water is purchased instead. We want to help schools turn their drinking fountains into re-usable bottle filling stations, reducing the sale of water in plastic bottles, reducing waste, and increasing the drinking of healthy water in schools all across Nova Scotia.

A generation ago, our people stopped a gas pipeline on the Mackenzie River. Today our children and grandchildren want to document our struggle for our land before the historical record disappears.  You're generosity will now bring six people who changed our history 35 years ago on a journey down the river in a freighter canoe, to connect youth with the inspiring and insistent action of their ancestors. THANK YOU!

With your support, Carrier and Sekani Elders and Youth walked portions of a proposed Enbridge Gateway pipeline route to learn about environmental impacts and voice concerns. Thanks to your help we are now able to produce a DVD to capture the journey and use as a public outreach and media tool in the overall fight to stop the tar sands oil pipeline. 

PAA plans to raise awareness of natural and cultural values of protected areas in general, and specifically Eagle River, through a series of targeted school visits in Labrador, presentations/workshops in local communities, and collecting signed letters from the public and students to deliver to the provincial government.

We would like to send some youth to BC to receive film training for two weeks, and bring them back to the community to use the skills they have learned and working in the same field. They would be working with the CART team to develop Tlicho videos.

Small Change Fund donors helped to protect the culture and language of the Tlicho people of the Northwest Territories by supporting the creation of a summer jobs program which focussed directly on transferring land skills and traditional knowledge from Tlicho Elders to Tlicho youth.  Thank you!

Pelee Island Bird Observatory (PIBO) recognizes that the most successful organizations have a strong strategic (business) plan that engages their staff and Board, and thanks to your support we can invest in this process.  Thank you!

The goal of the Tusaqtuut project was to gather Inuit Core Knowledge from our elders and ensure that their irreplaceable knowledge is promoted, protected, and maintained for generations to follow. Thank you for helping make this possible.

Our Urban Roots Youth program trains 20 youth in urban agriculture in a season. Youth summer staff and volunteers will be installing new and maintaining currently installed rainwater catchment systems in 3-4 school garden locations, training themselves and residents in various techniques for rainwater harvesting and garden water conservation methods.

Music. Dancing. Storytelling. Our 5-day Drum Dance Festival celebrated the diversity of our people, connected us to each other, our shared history and what makes us different. You helped us preserve our stories and history.  THANK YOU

The youth council of Fort Severn Cree First Nation are planning outings on the land where Elders can teach youth about traditional skills in the language to learn conservation.

  Have you ever wondered if we are getting a complete picture of Canada’s oilsands? So have we. Our project is a documentary film – a 3-year journey across Western Canada to explore and expose the world’s thirstiest oil industry.

The Summit is designed for Northern youth to network with others to increase social engagement on climate change issues. The focus will be on developing leadership skills and exploring storytelling as a tool for social change, with skill-building workshops and engaging hands-on activities.

Community elders and traditional knowledge holders taught our youth how to build traditional log cabins on our land.  The cabins will be used to keep alive our Anishinaabe culture and teachings, while the empowered youth will become leaders in our fight to protect the land from big corporations.