REFBC Grants Support Housing Solutions and Indigenous-Led Conservation

Fall 2023 Grants

BC Non-Profit Housing Association

Transforming Energy Use in the Non-Profit Housing Sector

To support reducing the energy consumption and environmental impact of non-profit housing through the development of a building life-cycle assessment tool, a municipal education program, and other resources.

$300,000

Cheakamus Foundation for Environmental Learning

We Are One: Building a Greener, Cleaner Future With Indigenous Youth

To offer high-performance building workshops to Indigenous youth, in partnership with the Aboriginal Housing Management Association, through the Cheakamus Centre.

$40,000

Community Energy Association

Climate Leaders Implementation Network: Relationship-Based Collaboration

To build stronger regional networks of local government staff and elected officials dedicated to climate action, and to help local governments and First Nations build relationships and explore possibilities for collaboration.

$300,000

Downtown Eastside SRO Collaborative Society

Building Operations Led by Tenants in SROs

To scale up BOLTS, a peer-led repair and maintenance program for tenants of single room occupancy buildings, to help maintain safe and affordable housing in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

$30,000

FarmFolk CityFolk Society

Climate Solutions Through Food Systems: Elevating Indigenous Agriculture and Food

To build relationships with Indigenous farmers, ranchers, and food sovereignty leaders, develop resources, create mentorship opportunities, and facilitate knowledge sharing.

$300,000

First Nations Technology Council

Indigenous Digital Equity Strategy: Movement Building

To engage First Nations communities in the development of the Indigenous Digital Equity Strategy, which will offer a vision for Indigenous ownership, creation, and usage of digital technologies with respect for Indigenous rights and worldviews.

$200,000

Gathering Voices Society

Bringing Fire Back to the Land: Building Resilience Through Carbon Financing

To explore the potential use of carbon credits to finance Yuneŝit’in fire stewardship activities, which mitigate wildfire risk and are an expression of Tŝilhqot’in sovereignty, title, and culture.

$240,000

Harmony Foundation of Canada

Great Caribou Rainforest Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area

To establish the Great Caribou Rainforest Alliance in partnership with the Canim Lake Band (Tsq’escenemc), Simpcw First Nation, Williams Lake First Nation (T’exelcemc), and Xatśūll First Nation, and support planning and implementation of an Indigenous protected and conserved area.

$60,000

IISAAK OLAM Foundation

Evaluating the IPCA Planning Certificate and Ensuring Its Long-Term Success

To redesign the world’s first postsecondary program specializing in planning for Indigenous protected and conserved areas to strengthen its impact, in partnership with Vancouver Island University.

$85,000

Indigenous Food Sovereignty Association

Indigenous Food Sovereignty Networking and Capacity Building

To establish an Indigenous Food Sovereignty Network to support capacity building, collaboration, education, and funding for food sovereignty projects in Indigenous communities.

$375,000

Peace and Unity Program (Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition)

Peace and Unity Summit

To bring Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together to build relationships, share knowledge, and work together to improve collective stewardship of the Upper Skeena watershed.

$49,340

Pembina Institute

Moving CleanBC Forward Through Equity and Accountability

To develop a roadmap for scaling up deep retrofits of affordable housing and to advance equitable access to renewable energy for remote and Indigenous communities.

$150,000

Shuswap Band (Kenpesq’t)

Strategic Kekuli Mapping and Carbon Dating

To identify and catalogue kekuli (pithouse) sites to preserve Secwépemc heritage, assert Indigenous rights and title, and support land stewardship.

$50,000

Sierra Club of BC Foundation

Building Capacity for Indigenous-led Forest Conservation

To support Indigenous-led visions for land use and objectives for forest conservation through an online toolkit, technical support, and strategic analysis.

$150,000

Simon Fraser University (Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue)

Moving in a Livable Region

For Moving in a Livable Region to engage the public in reimagining a Metro Vancouver transit system that’s accessible, climate resilient, and financially stable.

$75,000

Small Housing BC Society

A Two-Eyed Seeing Approach to Gentle Density Housing in BC

To collaborate with Indigenous communities on the creation of culturally appropriate solutions for gentle density housing (e.g. houseplexes, laneway homes, lock-off suites, pocket neighborhoods, etc.).

$200,000

Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association

Transforming Land Use Planning Through Indigenous Partnerships

To support the Okanagan Collaborative Conservation Program in working, in partnership with the Okanagan Nation Alliance, on collaborative planning for kɬúsx̌nítkw (Okanagan Lake) and the Okanagan Mountain-k’nmalka wildlife corridor, as well as on a cumulative impacts tool for land use planning.

$100,000

West Coast Environmental Law Association

Land Relationships for Healing and Revitalization in the Lower Fraser

To continue co-chairing the Boundary Bay Living Dike Roundtable and supporting the Lower Fraser Floodplains Coalition in partnership with the Emergency Planning Secretariat, and collaborating with the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance through the RELAW (Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air, and Water) program.

$240,000

Wild Bird Trust of BC

Repairing Relations: Land-Based Learning, Place-Based Healing

To repair and strengthen relations with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (səlilwətaɬ) by collaborating on a land-based education program for Tsleil-Waututh youth at Maplewood Flats, as well as to support a community of practice for settler-led organizations learning how to work in right relations with Indigenous Peoples.

$225,000

Yuneŝit’in Government

Tŝilhqot’in Wildfire Prototype House Communications

To produce a short film about a Yuneŝit’in-led project to build a prototype home suited to Tŝilhqot’in cultural values and increasing wildfire risk, while building capacity for healthy housing design and construction in the community.

$10,096