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Skookum Lab

Skookum Lab Prototypes

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Through a highly collaborative and Indigenous social innovation process, the goal is to make Surrey a great place for Indigenous children and youth.  The lab is engaging community, organizations, and government agencies to address the systems that create and sustain Indigenous child and youth poverty in Surrey.

Out of the 16 prototypes identified from the October Campfire Gathering (summarized in the “Skookum Lab Progress Report”) , we decided to focus on a total of 6 prototypes:

  1. Guide Groups: A Culturally Connected Community of Care
  2. Ambassador Program: A Surrey Indigenous Leadership Program
  3. Indigenous Housing: An Urban Village Co-op
  4. Indigenous Gathering Space: Many Voices, One Home – A SUILC Led Discussion Paper
  5. Understanding to Action: Racism Through a Social Innovation/ Systems Lens
  6. Evaluating Successes to Scale Up: An Indigenous Social Innovation Evaluation Team Prototype Development
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All Our Relations: Honouring the Host Nations

Surrey Urban Indigenous Leadership Committee's work takes place on the traditional territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the Katize, Kwantlen, and Semiahmoo First Nations. We recognize their connection to this land and acknowledge that we are newcomers to Surrey like everyone else. Our group, the Surrey Urban Indigenous Leadership Committee does not represent these land-based First Nations and we are careful not to speak on their behalf. Instead, we represent urban Indigenous people that have moved here from all over BC and Canada to make Surrey their home. Our focus is making Surrey a great place for Indigenous people living in the city — regardless of where they come from, their legal status, or their particular culture heritage. As we do this, we endeavour to live in a good way with the land-based First Nations that have called this land their home since time immemorial.