Applications open for Indigenous Strategy grants to fund projects supporting Truth and Reconciliation

As part of the University of Calgary’s journey towards Truth and Reconciliation, ii’ taa’poh’to’p, its Indigenous Strategy, aims to build understanding and awareness through annual intercultural capacity building grants, providing five grants annually of up to $10,000 to support not-for-credit projects that align with and elevate the strategy’s goals. 

Applications for the latest round of grants are now open, offering students, faculty and staff support for projects that reflect Indigenous ways of knowing, doing, connecting and being, while creating opportunities for learning, relationship building and community impact.

Indigenous Strategy supports capacity building 

Intercultural capacity building aligns with commitments and recommendations outlined in ii’ taa’poh’to’p as well as specific calls to action by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. For UCalgary, intercultural capacity is a step towards reconciliation. 

In 2018, the Office of Indigenous Engagement (OIE) launched an internal grants program to support new innovative non-for-credit programs that help increase the intercultural capacity of the university community. Intercultural capacity is about deepening awareness, strengthening relationships and expanding perspectives. It is also about building the skills and attitudes needed to walk together in a good way. 

“At its heart, intercultural capacity building invites us to move beyond awareness and into relationship,” says Reagan Markwell, BSc’20, MMgmt’24, Indigenous intercultural education specialist with OIE. “It asks us not only what we know, but how we listen, how we learn, and how we choose to show up — with respect, reciprocity and responsibility — while reflecting on how each of us can contribute to reconciliation with humility, care and action.” 

Intercultural capacity-building projects contain meaningful Indigenous involvement throughout project development, delivery, leadership, evaluation and co-ordination. They commit to a parallel paths way of working where Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures work side by side and collaborate. It is also about going beyond words and putting Truth and Reconciliation into action. 

“Reconciliation cannot live only in statements or strategies. It must live in the way we gather, the way we listen, the way we build relationships and the way we take responsibility for change,” says Markwell.

Impact 

Since 2018, OIE has awarded close to $380,000 dollars over 41 projects under the Intercultural Capacity Building Grants program. Markwell says previous grant-supported projects have brought together diverse disciplines and communities, ranging from health and wellness education to theatre, land-based learning and collaborative planning. She says the projects reflect the power of transdisciplinary work and the importance of centring Indigenous perspectives to move toward meaningful action. 

A few projects supported by the grants program in 2025 include the ongoing development of an online Indian Act learning module that invites students, staff and faculty to deepen their understanding of Canada’s shared colonial history and reflect on their own responsibilities within the ongoing journey toward Truth and Reconciliation. The online format will help make this in-demand and important learning more accessible through a flexible, self-paced option for the campus community. 

Another 2025 grant supports Ótáp ímisskaan: The Indigenous Youth Leadership Program in offering a culturally based leadership summer camp for Indigenous youth. In 2023, one grant-supported project created outdoor Indigenous spaces at the Foothills and main campuses to facilitate connection with Indigenous health-and-wellness knowledge and practices, land-based learning, and to promote a deeper understanding of traditional plant medicines. 

Markwell says the aim of the grants is to build deeper understanding and learning in the university community and beyond.  

“Intercultural capacity building asks us to consider not only what we know, but how we show up — with humility, accountability and a willingness to learn from one another. In doing so, we contribute to a campus community where Indigenous cultures, knowledges and relationships are meaningfully honoured,” says Markwell.

The grant 

“These grants invite our campus community to bring ii’ taa’poh’to’p to life through projects rooted in relationship, shared learning and meaningful action. They remind us that reconciliation is not abstract — it is something we practice through the choices, partnerships and spaces we create,” says Markwell. 

Grant recipients will participate in a pipe ceremony in October, where they will share their project intentions in keeping with Indigenous oral traditions and the university’s parallel path. 

To learn more about the Intercultural Capacity Building Grant guidelines and application process, visit the grant webpage. Applications are due June 14.