Circle of Abundance - Amplifying Indigenous Women's Leadership

⏳ Final call — applications close February 20!

The Indigenous Women in Community Leadership (IWCL) 2026 program supports Indigenous women leaders with skills, mentorship, and fully funded learning.




📌 Last chance to apply
🔗

Indigenous Women in Community Leadership On campus and in community May - October, 2026

Indigenous women have always been leaders in their communities.

Coady Institute's Indigenous Women in Community Leadership (IWCL) 2026 program supports First Nations, Métis, and Inuit women (from Turtle Island) to strengthen their leadership skills, deepen community impact, and build lasting networks.

✔ Indigenous-centred leadership
✔ Online, in-person, and community-based learning
✔ Scholarships available (tuition, travel, accommodation, meals)

📅 Apply by January 30, 2026
🔗 Learn more & apply:

Indigenous Women in Community Leadership This program uses a holistic and Two-Eyed Seeing approach, meaning that teaching and learning practices are grounded in Indigenous worldviews, values and teachings while sometimes using other tools and methods that align with those practices.

Applications are now open for Coady Institute's award-winning Indigenous Women in Community Leadership program.

This program uses a holistic and Two-Eyed Seeing approach, meaning that teaching and learning practices are grounded in Indigenous worldviews, values and teachings while sometimes using other tools and methods that align with those practices.

Designed for First Nations, Metis, or Inuit women committed to and actively working to make positive change in your community, organization, or Nation, participants begin with an online component in May followed by an on-campus residency. After an in-community engagement component, participants then will conclude the program with a second residency in Mi'kmaki.

Learn more and apply at:

Indigenous Women in Community Leadership This program uses a holistic and Two-Eyed Seeing approach, meaning that teaching and learning practices are grounded in Indigenous worldviews, values and teachings while sometimes using other tools and methods that align with those practices.

Coady Institute is taking flight and is now a part of the Aeroplan Member Donation Program.

From now until December 31 Aeroplan members can donate airmiles and reduce Coady’s overall administrative costs and bring community leaders together. The focus of this year’s campaign is to help offset the costs of our signature Indigenous Women in Community Leadership program.

The initial Help Coady Take Flight campaign has a goal of 250,000 points.

To donate, please go to: https://donatepoints.aircanada.com/charity/1497.

Earlier this week we hosted Mi'kmaw Elder Albert Marshall as part of our Coady Coffee House and Webinar series. The session saw more than 40 guests from across StFX University campus and the Antigonish community join us in person and more than 200 people participating online.

Dr. Albert Marshall is an internationally respected and deeply loved Elder of the Mi’kmaw nation. He generously advises and lectures internationally on a wide range of topics through the lens of Etuptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing). Etuaptmumk is a guiding principle and an action-oriented invitation to recognize the strengths that exist within diverse cultural knowledges, and in this context, Indigenous Knowledges.

We invite you to view a recording of the session at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCymRMIfnkA

Our next Coffee House will be November 20.

Today, we had the honour of hosting Mi'kmaw Elder Albert Marshall as part of our Coady Coffee House and Webinar series. The session saw more than 40 guests from across StFX University campus and the Antigonish community join us in person and more than 200 people participating online.

Dr. Albert Marshall is an internationally respected and deeply loved Elder of the Mi’kmaw nation. He generously advises and lectures internationally on a wide range of topics through the lens of Etuptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing). Etuaptmumk is a guiding principle and an action-oriented invitation to recognize the strengths that exist within diverse cultural knowledges, and in this context, Indigenous Knowledges.

Our next Coffee House will be November 20.

Each year, September 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. The day honours the children who never returned home and survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities.

Read more about how Coady's commitment to learning more and working in ways focused on respect, relevance, reciprocity, responsibility, and relationships.

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - Coady Institute As an institution focused on the local as well as the global, we are also mindful of the vast range of Indigenous voices, languages, cultures, histories, and lived experiences.

Coady Institute and the Circle of Abundance shares with great sadness the passing of Elder Mary (Hubba) Lafford, a longtime Elder for the Indigenous Women in Community Leadership program.

Hubba, a proud member of the Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation, was “a true Mi’kmaw elder that encompassed the virtues of love, courage, respect, humility, honesty, wisdom, and truth.” Within her own family, community, and with the many participants of the IWCL program, she was passionate advocate of traditional ways, language preservation, and for recognition of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women. She shared her experiences as an Indian Day School Survivor, and with other injustices, as well as her knowledge to guide the IWCL participants from across Turtle Island in their own journeys.

Learn more about Hubba’s nurturing spirit @ https://tinyurl.com/MaryLafford

June is National Indigenous History Month here in Canada and also the 10th Anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission holding its closing event.

Coady Institute recently hosted Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner Dr. Marie Wilson during her Atlantic book launch tour of North of Nowhere: Song of a Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner.

Learn more about the evening @

https://coady.stfx.ca/silence-is-not-an-option/

Silence is not an option - Coady Institute Dr. Marie Wilson served six and a half years as a TRC Commissioner, and she recently visited Coady Institute to share her experiences.