Call for Proposals: IRS RHSP Legacy Video Project

Since 2020 FPWC has engaged the Indian Residential School (IRS) workforce and the trauma specialist workforce, particularly the Resolution Health Support and Cultural Support workforce, to highlight the meaningful work they have done since the IRS Settlement Agreement. FPWC’s Qualitative Assessment highlighted the impact the Resolution Health Support Program (RHSP) had on IRS survivors and their families. A key theme from survivors was the positive impact the RHSP workforce made in their lives by reconnecting them to their families, identity and culture and all reported this workforce was instrumental in their healing journey. Another key theme from the Qualitative Assessment noted the RHSP workforce provided services that were culturally safe and culturally competent lending survivors and their families to experience meaningful growth and healing in their lives. A second evaluation assessment, the Formative Analysis, examined the current needs and strengths of the trauma specialist and IRS workforce which identified the importance of sustaining the workforce through knowledge transfer, lifelong learning and development and succession planning. The Formative Analysis underscored that the target population who accessed the services of this workforce had expanded beyond IRS survivors and their families to include others who experienced colonial violence such as Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and Indian Day School scholars. In particular, the workforce identified the need for training that builds cultural knowledge and culturally specific skills that addresses colonial harms including those caused by the Indian Residential School. As a result of these evaluative assessments, FPWC offers training, networking and capacity building opportunities to the IRS and trauma specialist workforces.

As this highly skilled workforce remains in high demand in First Nation, Inuit and Métis communities to multiple survivors of colonial violence there is a strong need for a customized knowledge transfer program that would ensure the continuation of this workforce and the RHS program. It is particularly critical to ensure knowledge transfer activities or initiatives as original members of the workforce age and desire to pass on their knowledge and skills to newer or emerging members of the workforce.