Success Stories

The West End Food Co-op Community Cannery reaches hundreds of people, volunteers and community partners with training in preserving, facilitation, jobs, templates and workshop designs for WEFC and other communities. It expands the market for local food, supports local farmers, and creates training and job opportunities for marginalized groups.

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.

To hold a 4 day healing gathering for First Nations in the Maritimes who share their stories at the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission Hearings. With elders, healers, counsellors, we will work to create a new dawn - moving beyond the pain, bringing light back for the People.

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.

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.

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. We are seeking permanent protection for this river, to conserve its rich biodiversity and cultural heritage, and to ensure the development of recreational tourism in this beautiful region of Québec's North Shore.

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 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 SHIM project will provide important, missing baseline information about the present ecological conditions required to improve shoreline-use, protection and management decisions and to promote nutrient load reductions, improved habitat conditions, and long-term ecosystem sustainability.

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

Our Keyoh is facing significant development pressures. We have an Aboriginal right to protect our lands. We have mapped over 3,000 cultural features and want to liberate this data in a custom Google Mapping application to help us to query this information and be more effective in resource management planning.

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.

The purpose of the St. Lawrence Solidarity Project is to educate stakeholders throughout Atlantic Canada about the proposed Oil and Gas Development in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and facilitate discussion on the involvement and role of Atlantic Canadians in halting the development.

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.

The scenic and ecologically precious Fisher Bay area is being eroded daily by logging and mining projects. To protect the area for future generations, we are striving to establish a provincial park to safeguard nature, culture and sustainable economic opportunities. To save a significant part of the Fisher Bay region, we need your help to create the political will required to get the job done.

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.

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.

Six participants in the Berger Inquiry will visit nine schools along the Mackenzie River. They will deliver workshops using photographs, newspapers and maps from the Inquiry. Children will use this primary research materials to interview village leaders and build a website that explores key moments from the Inquiry.

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. 

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.

This project will bring together elders and youth to share drumming and drum dancing. This is the largest gathering for drum dancing, each drummer has their own style of drumming. In reflecting the epistolmolgoy of Inuit style - the best way to learn is to have diverse examples.

“White Water, Black Gold” is an investigative point-of view documentary that follows David Lavallee on his three year journey across western Canadian watersheds (Edmonton, Vancouver, Fort McMurray, Fort Chipewyan, Kitimat) in search of answers about the activities of 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.