The Blog

Follow along as we work towards systems change and help create better outcomes for kids in our community.

Knowledge Transfer Tools

May 28, 2018

The project is going through a process right now to document all our prototypes and the work that we’ve done over the past four years. This is a challenging and time consuming process, but one that is of the utmost importance for any social innovation lab for a number of reasons.

Firstly, and most importantly, our project has a responsibility to report back to the community that was integral in the gathering of knowledge, and development and implementation of our prototypes. We want to make sure that residents of the North End know what we did and why, and how it turned out, and that it’s accessible in a clear and concise format.

We have also made a commitment to work towards systems change to benefit families and children in the North End in a big way – this is really the overall goal of the project. By creating tools for communicating the potential impact of our prototypes, we’re able to better share this information with the systems that have the power to create this change through the scaling of these ideas.

And lastly, we want to make sure that the project leaves this information behind in an effective way, so that if the project ceases to exist some day our prototypes and the work we’ve done will continue to influence systems. Also, if another project were to continue work in any of the areas we tackled, then they would be able to learn from what we did.

We hope to have documents to share with you shortly, so keep an eye out for them in the coming months. We’re very excited to share this with you and show you what we’ve been working on!

Land Acknowledgement

The Winnipeg Boldness Project resides in and works on the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe), Anishinabewaki (Oji-Cree), Dené, Michif Piyii (Métis), Nêhiyawak (Cree), and Očhéthi Sakowin (Dakota). We recognize that we have benefited from and continue to benefit from colonization on the Treaty 1, Treaty 3, and Treaty 5 Territories.

It is important to also acknowledge how we benefit in this territory at the cost to Indigenous Peoples. Winnipeg has been drinking clean water for over a century via an aqueduct from Shoal Lake. In 1917, 3000 acres of Treaty 3 was declared property of the city of Winnipeg to build the aqueduct. This aqueduct was built over ancestral burial ground, to build these structures, the ancestors were disinterred and reburied. Construction of the aqueduct changed the waters significantly, causing the peninsula to become a man-made island. This now isolated Nation faced many challenges as a direct result from this aqueduct; Necessities like water, groceries, schools, and mail were only accessible via the dangerous trek to the mainland. Lives of adults and children were lost crossing to and from the mainland. Freedom Road, an all-weather road access finally opened summer 2019, over a century after displacement. This road, a testament to the success of Indigenous-led solutions, helps bring materials to build schools and a water treatment plant.

“I always think of it, even when I turn on the tap I’m like this comes from our community and this water probably contains our ancestors and the spirits of our ancestor. I think about the hardships of the people from Shoal Lake 40 who have gone through so many things for the benefit of Winnipeg’s drinking water,” says Angelina McLeod.1

Another benefit we reap in Winnipeg at a cost to Indigenous Peoples and land is the Hydro Electricity Development in Treaty 5. To optimize water movement for greatest power production the Province of Manitoba increased waterflow by creating the Churchill River Diversion in 1976. The modification of the waterflow caused flooding, shoreline erosion, and changes to water quality. This destruction of habitat has caused disruption to waterway travel, fishing, and hunting.

  1. https://www.aptnnews.ca/facetoface/spirits-of-our-ancestor-shoal-lake-40-is-rectifying-a-century-of-hardships/