2025-2026 Highlight report: Families and survivors
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Introduction
The National Family and Survivors Circle Inc.'s (NFSCI, formerly the National Family and Survivors Circle) contribution to the 2021 National Action Plan, The Path Forward - Reclaiming Power and Place, identified a set of actions requiring immediate federal action and proposed a set of related corresponding Calls for Justice for each action item. They categorized one set of action items and related Calls for Justice as foundational, and then four sets that fall under key rights areas:
- culture
- health and wellness
- human security
- justice
This highlight report is a specific response to NFSCI's call for the federal government to produce and publish reports that are inclusive of families and survivors on work to address the issue of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (2SLGBTQI+) people. The Highlight Report for Families and Survivors illustrate departmental and agency efforts on these priority action items identified by NFSCI as requiring immediate.
Foundational Calls for Justice
The NFSCI identified seven action items for the federal government related to foundational Calls for Justice. In 2025-2026, the federal government reported progress across all of these foundational areas, particularly through distinctions-based law and policy reform, Indigenous-led service delivery and governance, efforts to strengthen oversight and data, and investments intended to reduce structural barriers facing Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people.
In 2025-2026, the federal government made progress by continuing to build rights-based structures intended to improve safety, access, representation, and support for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people. For example, Indigenous Services Canada's (ISC's) efforts to reform child and family services through implementation of the Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families has resulted in 15 signed agreements (14 with First Nations and one with an Inuit governing body) with another 23 coordination agreement discussion tables that are active. The aim of this work is to support stronger recognition of Indigenous rights, laws, and jurisdiction, along with implementation that is guided by Indigenous partners and communities. ISC's work in child and family services has helped address longstanding legislative and policy inequities affecting Indigenous children, and families.
Important progress was also reported through funding and service initiatives designed to respond to urgent harms and longstanding exclusion. The Family Violence Prevention Program, administered by Indigenous Services Canada, supported over 400 community-driven violence prevention projects across Canada, including but not limited to public outreach and awareness campaigns, workshops, support groups, stress and anger management seminars, and Indigenous knowledge land-based programming. Organizations like Circling Buffalo, Three Eagle Wellness Society and the Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition used a variety of public initiatives to promote awareness of family violence and prevention efforts. Tunngasugit Inuit Resource Centre led a culturally relevant series of workshops aimed at addressing family violence among Inuit. Collectively, these efforts help reduce immediate safety risks, improve access to supports, and strengthen community capacity to respond to violence and systemic marginalization.
The federal government also made progress in creating more formal avenues for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people to shape decisions that affect their lives. Administered through Women and Gender Equality Canada, the Increasing the Capacity of Indigenous Women's and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Organizations initiative provided funding for Indigenous organizations such as Infinity Women Secretariat Inc. and AnânauKatiget Tumingit Regional Inuit Women's Association Inc. for leadership development, representation, and community-informed policy advice. In addition, through Administration of Justice Agreements, the Indigenous Justice Strategy, and distinctions-based organizational funding, federal action is supporting greater Indigenous participation in governance, advocacy, policy engagement, and service design. Through these initiatives, Indigenous Women's and 2SLGBTQI+ organizations have increased capacity and ability to advocate for actions that aim to prevent and address gender based violence, that is informed by their priorities and constituents.
Further, the federal government reported progress in reducing jurisdictional barriers and improving coordination across systems. For example, Justice Canada's Family Information Liaison Units provide service that support families and survivors navigate a fragmented and complex justice system that too often has resulted in neglect, delay, and re-traumatization. The National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, administered by Women and Gender Equality Canada, which includes an Indigenous-focused pillar, is working to strengthen existing federal-provincial-territorial approach and strategies to prevent and address gender-based violence. Implementation of agreements are underway across the country related governance and service initiatives. While these efforts do not eliminate jurisdictional gaps entirely, they represent practical steps toward more coordinated, culturally relevant, and survivor-centred responses.
Culture
The NFSCI identified three action items for the federal government related to Culture. These action items reflect the understanding that cultural continuity, representation, language, and identity are not insignificant issues, but foundational conditions for safety, dignity, healing, and justice for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people.
In 2025-2026, the federal government reported progress in all of these areas through Indigenous-led cultural funding, language revitalization initiatives, media and broadcasting supports, culturally grounded education and early learning, and anti-racism and anti-hate measures.
In 2025-2026, federal funding supported efforts to protect language and preserve cultural knowledge through revitalization, digitization of oral histories, Indigenous-language broadcasting, repatriation, and community-led heritage projects. For example, in 2025-2026, the Museums Assistance Program - Indigenous Heritage Component, administered by Canadian Heritage, funded 10 new Indigenous-led projects that supported the rematriation and repatriation of Indigenous cultural belongings to their communities. This work supports the immediate safeguarding of Indigenous teachings, stories, and materials that are essential to identity, belonging, and intergenerational continuity.
The federal government also supported access to culture and belonging through education, early learning, and culturally grounded services. Facilitated by Employment and Social Development Canada, the Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Transformation initiatives was co-developed with Indigenous partners and organizations. Programs delivered through this initiative in 2025-2026 include the Aboriginal Head Start and First Nations and Inuit Child Care Initiative programs. Distinctions-based language funding, First Nations, Inuit and Métis-led early learning and child care, culturally rooted education programming, and land-based learning help create more permanent and community-based pathways for Indigenous children, youth, families, and communities to access language, teachings, histories, and cultural knowledge. This work supports cultural continuity, and safer and more affirming environments for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people.
Canadian Heritage's Indigenous Languages Program supports community-based language projects and initiatives such as immersion and mentorship programs. Program funding has been provided to Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Makivik Corporation, and the Nunatsiavut Government to advance self-determined strategies that strengthen access and use of Inuktut across Inuit Nunangat. In Inuit contexts, federal support for Inuktut revitalization, service accessibility in Inuktut, educator training, and Inuit-led digitization strengthens language access, community control, and intergenerational transfer of knowledge. 2025-2026 Indigenous Languages Program funding also supported the implementation of Métis Nations language revitalization strategies including the provision of culturally appropriate urban services, culturally grounded health supports, the digitization of Métis languages and histories, and more accurate Métis representation in federal learning products. This contributes to improved visibility, belonging, and culturally relevant access to services and information.
Progress was also reported on anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-homophobia, and anti-transphobia through broader federal strategies and targeted Indigenous-led initiatives. For example, Canada's Anti-Racism Strategy and Action Plan on Combatting Hate helped establish a broader policy and public education framework to address systemic discrimination, while the Changing Narratives Fund and Indigenous Screen Office, administered Canadian Heritage, are supporting Indigenous peoples tell their own stories in ways that challenge stereotypes and expand public understanding. CIRNAC's funding for Indigenous women's and 2SLGBTQI+ organizations, along with the RCMP's Positive Space Initiative, also contributed to more inclusive environments, stronger institutional awareness, and greater support for Indigenous 2SLGBTQI+ leadership, advocacy, and systems change.
Health and wellness
The NFSCI identified five action items for the federal government related to Health and Wellness. These priorities reflect an understanding that health and wellness are deeply interconnected with safety, culture, family integrity, and freedom from racism and colonial harm. In 2025-2026, the federal government reported progress across all of these areas through Indigenous-led service delivery, distinctions-based health funding, anti-racism initiatives in health systems, mental wellness and substance use supports, child- and family-centred services, and community-based healing programs. In 2025-2026, the federal government reported meaningful progress in expanding community-based and culturally grounded health and wellness supports for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people. Federal initiatives supported Indigenous-led mental wellness, substance use treatment, harm reduction, sexual and reproductive health, midwifery, doula and birth supports, patient advocacy, and culturally safe navigation. These investments improve immediate access to care that is trauma-informed, community-designed, and more responsive to peoples lived realities, including those facing racism, geographic barriers, family disruption, substance use harms, or limited access to culturally safe services.
Important progress was also reported for children, families, and survivors living with the impacts of violence, loss, and intergenerational trauma. Through ISC's Mental Wellness Program - MMIWG Crisis line and CIRNAC's support for the wellbeing of families and survivors, Indigenous organizations continued delivering healing circles, cultural supports, crisis response, celebrations of life, navigation services, and other community-led healing activities. The First Nations Child and Family Services Program and Jordan's Principle also remained important mechanisms for reducing service gaps, supporting family and community-based care, and ensuring children can access the health, social, and educational supports they need without being further harmed by jurisdictional disputes.
In Nunavut, the federal government reported more coordinated and child-centred approaches through RCMP collaboration with Child Wellness Teams and the Umingmak Child Advocacy Centre model. The five-year Memorandum of Understanding with Nunavut's Department of Family Services, the Child Sexual Abuse Action Plan, mobile interdisciplinary response capacity, and strengthened information-sharing and training aim to reduce re-traumatization while improving access to counselling, medical care, advocacy, and wraparound supports for Inuit children and families affected by abuse. This work reflects the importance of integrated, trauma-informed, and culturally appropriate responses in northern and remote contexts.
The federal government also reported progress in improving accountability and representation within mainstream health systems. Through ISC's work on anti-Indigenous racism in health systems and the National Circle for Indigenous Medical Education, progress included culturally safe training, workforce development, Indigenous faculty leadership, support for Indigenous midwifery and doula pathways, and initiatives to improve Indigenous recruitment and retention in health professions. These measures help respond to persistent barriers within mainstream systems and support more dignified and culturally grounded care for Indigenous patients and families.
Human security
The NFSCI identified seven action items for the federal government related to Human Security. These priorities reflect the understanding that human security depends not only on protection from immediate harm, but also on access to housing, food, infrastructure, education, income, mobility, family unity, and community-controlled services. In 2025-2026, the federal government reported progress across several of these areas through housing and homelessness initiatives, violence prevention programming, distinctions-based education and workforce supports, transportation investments, child and family services reform, and emerging work to address risks linked to major development projects.
In 2025-2026, the federal government reported meaningful progress in addressing immediate conditions that affect the safety, stability, and wellbeing of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people. CIRNAC's Harvesters Support Grant and Community Food Program Fund supports a wide range of harvesting and hunting initiatives that have assisted more than 15,000 traditional harvesters, with activities being delivered across more than 112 remote communities, in partnership with 24 Indigenous governments and organizations. Federal investments in the Indigenous Shelter and Transitional Housing Initiative, jointly administered by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and ISC provided funding for the construction of 38 new shelters and 42 transitional homes across urban, rural, and northern regions in Canada. Housing, shelter, infrastructure, food, and freshwater investments are especially important in this context because inadequate housing, overcrowding, homelessness, food insecurity, and poor infrastructure can heighten vulnerability to violence, exploitation, and family disruption. Together, these initiatives help reduce immediate barriers by supporting shelters, transition homes, violence prevention, navigation services, outreach, and safer service spaces for Indigenous women, girls, families, survivors, and 2SLGBTQI+ people.
Important progress was also reported for Indigenous people fleeing violence, experiencing homelessness, or facing socio-economic exclusion in urban settings. In 2025-26, the Public Health Agency of Canada's Family Violence Prevention Program provided funding to projects that prevent and address the health impacts of family violence, reaching over 1,270 Indigenous children, youth, and families, as well as service providers, across Canada that provided tools and promoted safe and supportive relationships.
The federal government also reported progress on prevention and empowerment through education, employment, income support, and skills training. In 2025-2026 First Nations women (13,981), Inuit women (925), Métis women (5,343) and urban and non-affiliated partners (3,389) benefited from Employment and Social Development Canada's Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program with some finding employment while others returned to school or further training. Other complimentary federal initiatives such as distinctions-based post-secondary education strategies, Indigenous Women's Entrepreneurship, and related wraparound supports are significant because they help address some of the economic pressures that can contribute to heightened vulnerability, including poverty, housing insecurity, dependence, and barriers to employment.
Further progress was reported in child and family services. The Inuit Child First Initiative, the First Nations Child and Family Services Program, and implementation of the Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families continued to support more culturally grounded and non-discriminatory approaches to child wellbeing. These initiatives seek to reduce family separation linked to poverty and socio-economic conditions, strengthen kinship and cultural continuity, support youth aging out of care, and create pathways for Indigenous communities to design and deliver their own child and family service models.
Practical progress was reported in areas linked to mobility and resource development. Investments in remote rail transportation improve access to essential services and reduce reliance on unsafe travel options that can increase the risk of violence, trafficking, and exploitation. In parallel, Natural Resources Canada continues to lead on coordination with Indigenous and federal partners to improve the safety aspects of major projects, particularly as it concerns large influxes of non-local/non-regional workers. Through this work, the federal government is beginning to address longstanding concerns about the harms that major projects and resource development can create for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people.
Justice
The NFSCI identified eight action items for the federal government related to Justice. These priorities reflect the understanding that justice reform must extend beyond procedural change to address systemic discrimination, family and survivor needs, Indigenous legal traditions, and the ongoing harms caused by colonial policing, courts, and corrections. In 2025-2026, the federal government reported progress across several of these areas through the Indigenous Justice Strategy, Indigenous-led community safety and justice programming, Gladue implementation, victim and family supports, policing and investigative reforms, and correctional initiatives.
In 2025-2026, the federal government reported progress in strengthening more culturally grounded, trauma-informed, and Indigenous-led justice responses. The release of the Indigenous Justice Strategy, led by Justice Canada, marked an important step in setting a co-developed, distinctions-based federal direction for justice reform. Its emphasis on Indigenous-led, culturally safe approaches, phased implementation, and regional priority-setting, signals movement toward a justice system that is more responsive to Indigenous laws, traditions, experiences, and community-defined priorities.
Progress was also reported in community safety and policing. ISC investments in the Pathways to Safe Indigenous Communities initiative in 2025-2026 funded 57 projects that enhance community safety and well-being Indigenous organizations and communities (30 First Nations, nine Inuit, seven Métis, and 11 urban Indigenous). Along with Indigenous policing programs, infrastructure funding, and prevention initiatives, these initiatives collectively contribute to safer, more community-rooted responses. These measures are significant because they recognize that safety cannot be addressed through policing alone and that Indigenous communities require access to self-determined, culturally grounded approaches that include prevention, mental health supports, traditional knowledge, and community-based safety planning.
In the area of police accountability, investigations, and family response, the federal government reported a range of concrete measures intended to improve consistency, communication, and public confidence. In 2025-2026, the RCMP continued its work to develop of distinctions-based and specific Community Profiles in collaboration with Indigenous communities in order to deliver culturally responsive policing services and support detachment onboarding. The RCMP has also continued work on national coordination on missing persons and unidentified remains, centralized investigative oversight, national crime linkage analysis and publication of family guides for victims of homicide and missing persons. Overall, these efforts seek to address longstanding gaps that have left Indigenous families without timely information or effective public response when loved ones go missing. These measures help improve transparency, emergency response, and family-centred communication.
This year, progress was also reported for families, survivors, and victims navigating the justice system. In 2025-2026, the Supporting Victims of Crime initiative, led by Justice Canada, continued funding to 44 Indigenous organizations to improve access to Indigenous-led, culturally safe, survivor-centred services and supports, at the community level, for Indigenous people who are victims and survivors of crime. This initiative is complemented by federal initiatives such as Community Support and Healing for Families that enables Indigenous-led organizations to design and deliver programs and initiatives that assist families of missing or murdered loved ones with the grief and trauma of their loss. In 2025-2026, continued funding supported 27 Indigenous-led projects across the country, including 12 First Nations-specific or -led projects, two Métis projects, one Inuit project, and 12 pan Indigenous (non-specific) projects. In addition, Justice Canada launched a Community of Practice to connect funded projects, promote shared learning, and strengthen good practices in supporting families. In addition, the Family Violence Prevention Program that continue to enable Indigenous-led organizations to provide healing circles, land-based healing, counseling with Elders, emotional support, child advocacy services, safe housing, and other wraparound supports. These initiatives are especially important because they respond to the needs of families and survivors not only as participants in justice processes, but as people living with grief, trauma, violence, and long-term harm.
The federal government also reported concrete progress in expanding Indigenous-led justice practices and culturally relevant alternatives to incarceration. Community-based justice programs, Gladue reports, Gladue aftercare, diversion, restorative justice, mediation, reintegration supports, and community justice services all help reduce reliance on mainstream systems that have too often criminalized and failed Indigenous people. In 2025-2026, Correctional Service Canada continued to advance the Anijaarniq Holistic Inuit Strategy, which guides its approach to Inuit corrections through healing, reintegration, and strengthened cultural connections. Correctional Service Canada also installed 11 operational body scanners at federal institutions, three of which are women offender institutions to provide more humaine and trauma-informed correctional practices. In correctional contexts, distinctions-based programming for Indigenous women, Inuit-specific strategies, community reintegration funding, healing lodge support, and research on gender-diverse offenders also contribute to more trauma-informed and culturally relevant supports for people in custody and on release.
Progress towards transformational systemic change
Beyond immediate action and service delivery, federal progress in 2025-2026 points to longer-term systemic change across governance, culture, health, human security, and justice. Key examples include implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act; the Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families; the Indigenous Justice Strategy; distinctions-based and Indigenous-led funding and service delivery; Indigenous-led language and cultural initiatives; health system transformation; community-based justice, safety, housing, and healing models; and stronger data, coordination, and oversight functions through the MMIWG2S+ Secretariat. Together, these measures reflect gradual movement away from imposed federal models and toward Indigenous-led, culturally grounded, and distinctions-based systems that better support safety, self-determination, accountability, and cultural continuity of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people.
At the same time, much work remains. While important foundations for change are being laid, the deeper structural conditions identified by the National Family and Survivors Circle Inc., including systemic discrimination, socio-economic marginalization, service gaps, and accountability, will require sustained action and investment at all levels and continued advancement of Indigenous-led solutions.