Resources & Updates
Caring for Foster Kids During the Holidays: Bringing Joy and Stability to Their Lives
As a caregiver, fostering a sense of joy, comfort, and security during the holidays can make a world of difference.
Online Indigenous Advent Calendar
Updated annually, this online advent calendar is great fun for kids and anyone wanting to learn more about First Nations, Metis or Inuit culture
ALIGN CONNECTIONS For Indigenous Children/Youth & Caregivers November 2025
CONNECTIONS is monthly newsletter designed to support Foster and Kinship Caregivers to ensure First Nations, Metis & Inuit children in their care have access to cultural resources, activities and events that broaden their cultural awareness.
Showcasing the ALIGN Well-Being Toolkit Fall 2025
ALIGN Association of Community Services recently presented at two major national conferences this fall allowing us the opportunity to connect with leaders, practitioners, and partners from across Canada as we continue to share the impact of ALIGN's Well-Being Toolkit.
ALIGN's Well-Being in Child and Family Services Toolkit
The way we define and understand child and youth well-being matters.
ALIGN's Indigenous Cultural Understanding Framework (ICUF)
A Digital Interactive Journey to increase cultural understanding within Alberta agencies so that all Indigenous children living in Alberta can live in dignity and respect, supported by people with a deeper understanding of Indigenous worldviews, history and current reality.
Budget 2025 Risks Reconciliation: Friendship Centres Concerned About Impacts to Urban Indigenous Communities
The National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC) expresses deep concern with the release of the 2025 Federal Budget and the government’s missed opportunity to address the realities of urban Indigenous people.
ALIGN’s Well-Being Toolkit Community of Practice (CoP)
Next meeting is January 14. 2026. The Well-Being Community of Practice (CoP) is intended for service providers who are currently implementing ALIGN Association's Well-Being Toolkit. A Community of Practice (CoP) is an informal learning space where like-minded practitioners come together to share experiences, challenges, tools, and promising practices. The Well-Being Community of Practice focuses on strengthening the impact of child- and family-serving organizations on child and youth well-being.
Indigenous Games & Activities Directory for Children & Youth (ALIGN)
In honor of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day, ALIGN hopes to encourage both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children and youth alike to learn more about Indigenous culture through fun and play.
Ages & Stages: A Caregiver’s Guide to Supporting Children’s Racial Learning
Children are noticing, asking, and learning about race every day. The Ages & Stages Guide from EmbraceRace shows you how to meet them where they are— at every age!
Research Examining the Connection Between Sex Trafficking and the Disappearances of Indigenous Women and Girls (Thomson Reuters)
Despite being only 5% of the population, Indigenous women and girls account for over 50% of trafficking victims.
Creating Hope Society The Indigenous Boys Matter Too! program
The Indigenous Boys Matter Too! Program (IBMT) is a non-therapeutic wellness program that utilizes cultural teachings, journaling, sharing circles, community building and artistic expression to understand the historic, interpersonal and intergenerational traumas and barriers we may experience as Indigenous Male's.
Prevention Matters! Watch Storying Truths of Indigenous Homelessness (COH)
Indigenous homelessness (or what is increasingly being referred to as houselessness) is a widespread crisis across Canada. While individual experiences may vary, there is a common thread underlying its causes.
Honouring Our Ways: A Journey Through Community-Led Planning
Led by First Nations in British Columbia, the Comprehensive Community Planning movement builds on centuries of Indigenous community planning knowledge.
Reconciliation is recruitment: A strategic workforce solution (By Tanya Tourangeau - Talent Canada)
Reconciliation in the workplace goes beyond symbolic gestures—it must be embedded strategically in recruitment practices.
ALIGN's 20 Great Ways for Children, Youth & Families to Honour National Indigenous History Month
Check out this fun, interactive, flip-card activity for children, youth and families! This June is everyone's opportunity to recognize and honour the achievements, history and rich cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Canada.
Seeds of Transformation Framework, Strategy for Belonging (Tamarack)
Built by listening to their community, Seeds of Transformation shares how the Tamarack Institute is building equity, anti-racism, and reconciliation into the heart of their work, through governance, strategy, policy, partnerships, and culture.
Podcast: Episode 34: Purpose-Built Indigenous Spaces (Enough for All)
Jaclyn Silbernagel connects with Buddie Dixon and Shawna Morning Bull, the co-chairs of the Indigenous Gathering Place.
Video Wahkohtowin: Cree Natural Law (BearPaw Media and Education)
Learn about the difference between Canadian law and Cree Natural Law
ALIGN Report "Empowering Futures: Gatherings for Indigenous Child Welfare Sovereignty" April 2025
The ALIGN gathering, Empowering Futures Gatherings in Treaty 6 (Edmonton) and Treaty 7 (Calgary), focused on Indigenous Child Welfare Sovereignty, allowing us to engage in deep discussions about Indigenous jurisdiction over child welfare, the barriers and opportunities in Alberta, and what meaningful action looks like moving forward.
Report: Indigenous Shelter Diversion and Eviction Prevention May 2025 (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness)
Through an environmental scan of literature and existing programs, this report adopts a decolonizing lens to explore Indigenous perspectives on prevention, including diversion from shelters and preventing eviction.
Our Children Are Sacred Indigenous Youth Suicide Prevention Course (Ben Calf Robe Society)
“Our Children Are Sacred” is a Youth Suicide Prevention Course and resource for adults interacting with individuals at risk for suicide.
Reconciliation Is Good Business: The Cost of Waiting vs. the Power of Acting Now (Tanya Tourangeau Consulting)
If you're tired of "Trump Economics"—where division, isolation, and short-term gain overshadow long-term prosperity—there’s a smarter, more inclusive economic model already thriving in Canada. Let Tanya Tourangeau tell you about it!
ALIGN's Presentation of the Well-Being Toolkit at the 2025 Symposium on Child & Youth Trauma
ALIGN would like to extend our sincere thanks to the 2025 Symposium on Child & Youth Trauma conference planners for creating a meaningful and collaborative space and opportunity to share the ALIGN Well-Being Toolkit with attendees. It was a privilege to share our work with such an engaged and thoughtful audience, and we deeply appreciate the platform to discuss tools that support the well-being of First Nations, Metis and Inuit children and youth and the integration of traditional Indigenous knowledge with modern practices.
University of Alberta Indigenous Canada Course
Indigenous Canada is a 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from the Faculty of Native Studies that explores the different histories and contemporary perspectives of Indigenous peoples living in Canada.
Government of Canada Announces Continued Funding for Jordan’s Principle March 22, 2025
Ottawa, Ontario (March 22, 2025) — The Minister of Indigenous Services, Patty Hajdu, issued the following statement
Report - Indigenous Land-Based Research Gathering: Summary of Learnings from Talking Circles
A Way Home Canada and the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness’s Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab, in partnership with Waakebiness Institute for Indigenous Health, hosted a two-day, summative knowledge-sharing gathering held on the land and in ceremony.
An Introduction to Decolonizing Indigenous Research
A Way Home Canada, Canadian Observatory on Homelessness & Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab
ALIGN's Indigenous Online Jigsaw Puzzles For All Ages and Skill Levels
The best thing about jigsaw puzzles is that they require you to slow down and look at all the details as you piece the whole picture together. In a fast moving world filled with photos and graphics this is an opportunity for children, youth and adults to relax and appreciate the details of the traditional regalia, food, animals, teepees, totem poles and more!
The Role of Mentoring for Foster Parents & Why It Matters (ALIGN)
Mentoring children and youth offers significant value, both for the individuals involved and for society as a whole. Below are some of the key benefits of mentoring:
‘We Need to Take Care of Our Own Children’ (The Tyee)
Inside the fight for Indigenous jurisdiction over child services in Canada. First in an occasional series.
Caring society files motion to force Canada back to negotiating table on child welfare reform (APTN)
Chiefs in Ontario decided last week to continue negotiating and refining the existing FSA. Then Patty Hajdu, minister of Indigenous Services wrote to the AFN national chief saying the government’s mandate “does not permit further negotiations at a national level.” That seemed to cut First Nations outside Ontario out of future negotiations.
"Year in Reconciliation: Reflecting on 2024 and Looking Ahead" (ALIGN “Reconciliation Talks” Blog)
As 2024 draws to a close, ALIGN Association of Community Services reflects on an impactful year dedicated to advancing Truth and Reconciliation. Through collaboration, learning, and action, we’ve deepened our relationships with Indigenous communities, expanded our resources, and championed culturally relevant practices in child and family services. Whether you’ve been part of this journey or are just joining us, we warmly invite you to reflect with us and look forward to an exciting 2025.
Well-Being EBlast December 2024 The Village: Supporting Staff in Seeing the Impact
This month we feature Val Crosby, Executive Director of The High Level Toy Lending Library, which currently provides Mackenzie Family Resource Network (MFRN) services
Community-driven Collective Empowers Indigenous Caregivers of Children, Youth with Autism (U of A)
U of A researcher receives funding to foster a network of support, resources and advocacy for caregivers of children, youth and adults with autism. November 2024
