“The Oral Histories Program provides funding and training to help organizations record oral histories about how Indigenous communities in B.C. have survived and lived through difficult times.

The Oral Histories Program is for First Nations and/or organizations in B.C. with a mandate or a focus that includes Indigenous heritage. This grant supports the recording of oral histories that are focused on how Indigenous communities and individuals survived and lived through difficult times in the past. These accounts can include a broad range of topics, including personal and collective experiences and lessons learned, ways of managing difficult circumstances, land and community-based activities that promoted resiliency and other experiences from the past that will guide and inspire future generations.

Funding recipients will have an existing relationship with an Elder or Knowledge Keeper in an Indigenous community in B.C. who will partner on this project. They must also have experience working with Indigenous history and cultural heritage, which can include professional or lived experience. Those who collect stories have the option of including them in a permanent, online living archive on FPCC’s First Peoples’ Map of B.C. The archive will inform future generations about how Indigenous communities and peoples adapt to challenges, such as COVID-19 and climate change.

This program is funded by the BC Heritage Branch, in the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations & Rural Development.”

For more information on eligibility and how to apply, please visit: https://fpcc.ca/program/oral-histories-program/

-from FPCC