Apagidiwag Omàmawi’ininiwag Community Development Circle

Purpose Statement

Apagidiwag Omamawi’ininiwag Community Development Circle was founded to provide shelter, healing multigenerational wounds and contributing to the health and well‐being of Omamawi’ininiwag and regional Indigenous people who reside in or maintain significant connection to the Madawaska, Mississippi, Rideau and Tay River watersheds. Working in partnership with Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, Apagidiwag serves to strengthen resilience, providing high-quality education, social and cultural activities, and capacity development services to support respectful engagement with the vast biological and cultural diversity that is the Kichi Sìbì, our communities, and the individuals within it.

Mission

Our mission is to advance the physical, social, cultural, spiritual and ecological well-being of Omamawi’ininiwag and regional Indigenous people who reside in or maintain significant connection to the Madawaska, Mississippi, Rideau and Tay River watersheds through community-driven cultural education, capacity development, and equitable partnerships with regional communities and municipalities.

Vision

Apagidiwag Omamawi’ininiwag Community Development Circle envisions vibrant and empowered communities, where Omamawi’ininiwag and regional Indigenous people live and grow together, maintaining responsibility and relationships within their homelands, families, and communities.

Goals and Objectives

  •  increase access to hands-on, land-based experiences of Omamawi’ininiwag knowledge, values, histories, and contemporary experience;
  • enhance cultural awareness and relationship building through activities that facilitate the transmission of collective knowledges and values, while also promoting intergenerational relations between families and communities at large.
  • build capacity in individuals, families and communities through values-based dialogue, leadership and collective action

Values and Cultural Teachings

  • we believe in collaboration that is respectful, transparent, balanced, inclusive, and ground-breaking.
  • we support reciprocal sharing and communication of knowledge, empowering the voice and presence of both Omamawi’ininiwag and regional Indigenous people
  • we value communal processes, promoting community-based development of collective wellbeing