This June, The Discovery Pod marked Indigenous History Month with a series of conversations centred on Indigenous leadership, justice, and the ongoing work of reconciliation across Canada’s social profit sector. Across the series, we heard from leaders working in very different contexts, from education and philanthropy to health systems and legal advocacy. While they are all uniquely different, they are all connected by a shared understanding that change is built through relationships, trust, and sustained commitment over time.
The series featured Sarah Midanik of The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, Nathania Fung and Dr. Ruth Williams of the First Nations Health Foundation, and Emily Cabrera of RAVEN. Together, these conversations offer a clear reminder that reconciliation is an evolving practice shaped by lived experience, community leadership, and long-term systems change.
Building Momentum for Reconciliation with Sarah Midanik, President & CEO, The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund
In our conversation with Sarah Midanik, President and CEO of The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, she described reconciliation as something inherently non-linear, moving in cycles of visibility, attention, and momentum.
Their work, rooted in the legacy of The Secret Path, has grown into a national education platform supporting classrooms and organizations across Canada. At its core, the organization is focused on helping people engage with the true history of residential schools while also recognizing the strength, resilience, and cultural richness of Indigenous peoples.
A key theme throughout Sarah’s reflection is that reconciliation is not something to be completed. It is something to remain in relationship with. Moments of national attention, such as public reckonings following the discovery of unmarked graves, often bring urgency and engagement, but that attention can fade just as quickly. She brings forward that leadership in this space requires staying present even when the broader conversation moves on.
Education sits at the centre of this work. Whether in classrooms or boardrooms, the goal is the same: to create space for people to unlearn misinformation, sit with discomfort, and begin to understand both the history and present-day realities of Canada more fully.
Bridging Knowledge and Funding Gaps for Indigenous Health with Nathania Fung, CEO & Ruth Williams, Board Chair, First Nations Health Foundation
Our conversation with Nathania Fung, CEO of the First Nations Health Foundation, and Dr. Ruth Williams, Board Chair brings forward a powerful look at what it means to build a new kind of philanthropic organization in direct partnership with Indigenous health systems.
The Foundation exists to support the First Nations Health Authority by raising and directing philanthropic investment into areas of need across British Columbia. In this conversation, a clear theme came through of bridging both funding gaps and knowledge gaps in healthcare; recognizing that access to care is shaped by far more than infrastructure alone.
Ruth brings forward the lived reality behind these systems, sharing her personal experience growing up in rural and Indigenous communities and the lasting impact of inequitable access to care. Her perspective grounds the conversation in the human consequences of systems design, and the importance of ensuring communities have both voice and agency in shaping solutions.
Nathania adds another layer, describing the intentional design of the Foundation as a relationship-driven, First Nations-led organization built to align closely with community priorities. Through deep consultation and engagement, the Foundation has developed a set of impact areas that reflect holistic understandings of health, spanning leadership, healing, systems transformation, and cultural connection.
A key theme throughout the conversation is clarity of purpose. Philanthropy, in this context, is about addressing structural gaps that affect health outcomes over generations. And while the need is significant, both leaders emphasize the importance of trust, shared understanding, and partnership in moving this work forward.
Rethinking Philanthropy Through an Indigenous Lens with Emily Cabrera, Executive Director, RAVEN
The final conversation in the series features Emily Cabrera, Executive Director of RAVEN, where she brings forward a different but deeply connected lens, rooted in legal advocacy and Indigenous-led philanthropy.
RAVEN supports Indigenous nations in advancing legal challenges that protect land, water, and rights across Canada. Emily describes the organization as fundamentally relationship-based, where Indigenous nations lead their own legal strategies and RAVEN’s role is to mobilize the financial and public support needed to sustain that work.
A central theme in this conversation is trust. Emily emphasizes that philanthropy in this context is built on accountability, shared values, and long-term relationships, not transactions. That shift in framing is important, particularly in a sector where urgency and outcomes are often measured in short timelines.
She also brings forward a broader truth that philanthropy is not neutral. It exists within systems shaped by history, including patterns of exclusion that have limited access to funding and visibility for Indigenous-led organizations. At the same time, she points to a growing opportunity: emerging models of Indigenous-led philanthropy, trust-based funding, and community-driven investment that are beginning to reshape the sector.
Across the conversation, Emily holds a consistent tension that legal and systems change takes time, but the need for justice is urgent. Campaigns that stretch across decades require patience, but also communication, storytelling, and consistent engagement to bring people along in the work.
Across all three conversations, there was a common theme that reconciliation and Indigenous-led systems change are built through ongoing relationships, sustained leadership, and a willingness to stay engaged even when progress is complex or uneven.
Whether through education, legal advocacy, or healthcare systems design, these leaders are advancing work that requires both urgency, patience, and a long-term commitment to learning, listening, and acting together.
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