This week, thinkers and doers from across Canada and around the world gathered in Winnipeg to tackle some of the most persistent challenges facing our communities, in the first-of-its-kind Indigenous Innovation Summit.
Hosted by the National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC) together with the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, the Circle, Canadians for a New Partnership and others, the Summit has seen Indigenous innovators from different sectors explore new approaches to common problems in areas of health, education and housing, among others.
Designed by Indigenous people, for Indigenous people, this bold Summit presented a unique, participatory format, encouraging “field building”, creating new connections and partnerships, and overcoming old barriers.
The Winnipeg Art Gallery has been the venue for this interaction, networking and partnership building, working toward unlocking new ideas and approaches to long standing issues in our communities.
On Thursday, a special evening panel was presented at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, on the topic of Reconciliation as Innovation, honouring Justice Murray Sinclair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and others.
The Summit created opportunities for new connections, for sharing of solutions to common challenges and for learning about the current state of social innovation in Canada.
The format of the entire event was interactive and featured three tracks – action, coaching and learning. The Winnipeg Boldness Project, along with the MaRs Solutions Lab, a leading social innovation hub, ran an Innovation lab at the Summit.
