Artwork:
nch7mut | One Heart, One Mind, One People
míkw’achi7m | Marissa Nahanee, sḵwx̱wú7mesh and Nisg̱a'a Nation
Photo Credit: Muncho Lake, British Columbia, Ryan Dickie, Fort Nelson First Nation
míkw’achi7m | Marissa Nahanee, sḵwx̱wú7mesh and Nisg̱a'a Nation
Photo Credit: Muncho Lake, British Columbia, Ryan Dickie, Fort Nelson First Nation
Indigenous Communities Fund
The TELUS Indigenous Communities Fund (ICF) offers $5,000 - $25,000 grants for Indigenous-led social, health and community programs. Together, we can make the future friendly by supporting Indigenous leaders and community groups who know their communities best.
Our commitment to reconciliation
In partnership with Indigenous Peoples, TELUS is committed to progressing the path of reconciliation in a deeply meaningful way and is dedicated to fulfilling our role and responsibilities in this regard.
For more than a decade, TELUS has collaborated with Indigenous Peoples and organizations to enable connectivity and bridge digital, geographic and socio-economic divides.
Working together, we are helping create tangible outcomes that will impact generations to come.
Funding Indigenous-led solutions
The TELUS Indigenous Communities Fund provides flexible grant funding to Indigenous-led programs supporting Indigenous Peoples in Canada across all provinces and territories.
Funding is available for projects focused on, but not limited to:
- Health, mental health and well-being
- Access to education and resources
- Preservation of the land and water
- Community building and enhancement
- Intergenerational language and cultural revitalization
Preference may be given to programs where technology is being used to advance reconciliation.
Application deadlines
Applications are reviewed two times per year. The application portal will remain open until either the first 200 applicants are received or the deadline is reached, whichever comes first. We encourage all applicants to apply early.
Please allow 12 weeks following the application deadline to receive a response regarding your application status. Applications are due by midnight (your local time) on the following dates:
- Spring: We've received an incredible response and have now closed our application portal.
- Fall: We've received an incredible response and have now closed our application portal.
Please note: Applying for the fund does not guarantee that an applicant will receive funding.
If you are an Indigenous-led registered charity or qualified donee supporting youth through health or education programs, apply for a
TELUS Friendly Future Foundation Community Board grant
.Funding guidelines
The ICF provides one-time grants to Indigenous-led organizations such as Band Councils, Indigenous Governments or representative groups, community groups and non-profits.
Non-Indigenous-led organizations can apply if they demonstrate a clear and tangible relationship with an Indigenous organization and have documented support from an Indigenous-led organization or community.
Eligible organizations can apply once per calendar year. $5,000 - $25,000 grants are available to support Indigenous-led initiatives that support tangible positive outcomes.
Requests eligible for funding:
- Your organization, community group or project supports Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) within Canada
- Your organization has not received funding from TELUS or the Indigenous Communities Fund in the last two years
- You clearly address a pressing social or well-being need and create measurable community outcomes such as, but not limited to:
- Accomplishing individual and community wellness and healing
- Reviving cultural strength, knowledge and skills
- Helping overcome geographical and economical barriers
- Increasing social connections to help foster community engagement.
Requests ineligible for funding:
- For-profit initiatives
- Retroactive funding
- Religious-focused projects or organizations
- Sponsorship requests
- Sole proprietorship/Individually-owned applicants
- Lobbying
- Projects that operate outside of Canada
- Go-Fund-Me campaigns or individual fundraising initiatives
Indigenous Communities Fund recipients
TELUS is proud to announce the first round of 2026 recipients of the Indigenous Communities Fund.
The Wauzhushk Onigum Student Success program located in Kenora, Ontario, will support youth to participate in physical activity and cultural programming. This project provides activity-based supports for children and youth from Wauzhushk Onigum Nation that help strengthen school engagement, well-being, and positive relationships. The activities create safe and welcoming spaces where students can build confidence, develop social skills, and stay connected to school supports in an informal and supportive setting.
Located in Mini Thni, Alberta, the Food Security Through Cultural Practice program will support the construction of six smokehouses. Each smokehouse will be built by a group of community members, led by an Elder who will provide traditional teachings about the use of the smokehouse. In addition to reinforcing the cultural practices of hunting and smoking meat, this project will have long lasting implications as it supports food security for Bearspaw families.
Located in Vancouver, BC, funding will support the Nations Skate Youth Skateboard workshops and mental health talking circles and deliver programming for Indigenous youth across the country. These workshops share the importance of learning culture, traditions and language. The focus is to empower and inspire the youth to be positive and to be proud of who they are and where they come from.
This program from Calgary, AB, will support the purchase of two community freezers to strengthen food security in Colville Lake and Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories. These freezers will provide safe, year‐round storage for harvested meat, fish, and donated food, reducing spoilage and ensuring that culturally important foods remain available throughout the winter.
This Indigenous Youth Wellness Pathways program based in Atholville, NB, will provide youth with the opportunity to participate in a 6-week program focused on land based healing and grounded counselling. The program focuses on at-risk Indigenous youth over the summer season to provide a blend of land-based healing, culturally grounded counselling, healing circles, creative arts, and technology-supported mental wellness connection.
The Sts’ailes Community Safety & Self-Defense Program will support a one-year program to provide monthly, culturally grounded self-defence training for women, youth and families in Agassiz, BC. This program design allows the S’iyólemtel Department to provide a safe environment where physical skills are taught alongside traditional values, ensuring that the community remains engaged, independent, and culturally strong while actively reclaiming its inherent right to safety and self-governance.
The Mohawk Institute Survivor Language Recovery Project located in Brantford, Ontario, will provide language lessons to Residential School Survivors and their families. The program will include 40 weeks of lessons for Survivors, their families and community members looking to reclaim the language through intergenerational learning and a healing experience.
Funding will support Camp Wahkohtowin, a 10-day detox camp in Birch River, Manitoba. This program is supported by the Health Authority staff and run by addiction workers, mental health workers, nurses, security, facilitators and peer support workers. Participants will take part in sharing circles, journaling, traditional ceremonies, land based teachings, art therapy, mental health and addiction education sessions and suicide prevention.
Art: syó:qwem | The Sun
kwexta’lsp | Ovila Mailhot, nlaka’pamux And stó:lō Nation
kwexta’lsp | Ovila Mailhot, nlaka’pamux And stó:lō Nation
Past recipients
TELUS’ commitment to artistic integrity
We are committed to supporting the artistic practices of Indigenous Peoples, while being mindful of the historic role organizations have played in the misappropriation of Indigenous art and culture. We have an obligation and responsibility to ensure that TELUS’ use of Indigenous art in our digital and physical spaces is respectful of Indigenous artists. TELUS works with each artist to ensure that they retain full intellectual property and control over their work.
Contact us
If you have a question or a funding request that falls outside of the application deadlines, please contact us at
[email protected]
