2026 Sovereignty in Action Awards: Awardees & Cohort 2 Announcement!

Jul 8

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | July 8, 2026

Kanata, Turtle Island – Indigenous Climate Action is honoured to be able to award six of individuals with the Sovereignty in Action Award. Please see the attached page for a short profile of each winner. We believe that their work is important to all those who reside on Turtle Island.

The Sovereignty in Action Awards (SIA) are an initiative of Indigenous Climate Action, an Indigenous-led climate justice organization based in Canada, and celebrates the strength and ongoing work of Indigenous Peoples in our collective pursuit of climate justice, Indigenous rights, sovereignty, and self-determination by:

Awarding up to $80K annually to Indigenous grassroots organizations and individuals across so-called Canada.
Recognizing and strengthening existing Indigenous initiatives. The Sovereignty in Action Awards is not intended to seed new projects, but rather uplift meaningful work already being stewarded.

ICA will be accepting applications for the second round of the SIA Awards on August 1, 2026. First Nation, Inuit, and Métis Peoples within Canada are invited to apply or nominate someone from their network to be awarded $2,500 for their work in upholding Indigenous rights and advancing climate justice.

In 2025, Indigenous Climate Action distributed 33 SIA awards totalling $82,500 into the hands of those leading powerful work across their territories and communities.

Learn more about the Sovereignty in Action Awards

Submit your nominations for Cohort 2!

See the full list of 2025 Awardees

This year's winners so far:

Ulluilsc was initiated by St’at’imc elders from Xwisten and hereditary chiefs who wanted to protect our traditional village site and reclaim the St’at’imc way of living in Ulluilsc. The reclamation of our traditional village site and development of outdoor learning space that was collectively created by several families from our community, has facilitated a positive change in the St’at’imc community. We are led by matriarch Christine Jack who is the caretaker for our mountains with her presence and teachings. The name Ulluilsc translates into a place where people gather. This place has been a trading location for communities from Secwepemc, Tsilhqot'in and Nlaka’pamux. We have been creating programming and access to plants, seeds, growing techniques, hunting, fishing and other supports for living traditionally on the land with on- going activities that have been developed over our 10 years in the St’at’imc community. This award would go towards camp maintenance for our ongoing cultural camp activities for healing and education for Indigenous people to learn from those of us who are actively asserting our title and rights as Ucwalmicw.

Kimberly Kennedy is a member of Red Rock Indian Band (Lake Helen First Nation), an Indigenous community advocate, Indigenous Social Service Worker and Social Work student, published author, and mother from Thunder Bay, Ontario. Her work is rooted in the belief that healing, reconciliation, social and climate justice begin with community. Kimberly is dedicated to advancing Indigenous sovereignty through grassroots leadership, cultural revitalization, and advocacy. She has helped organize the annual Red Dress Run in support of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit People, volunteers with Red Rock Indian Band and Feathers of Hope, and contributes to community initiatives that strengthen Indigenous culture, land stewardship, and promote collective healing. Through her work, Kimberly strives to demonstrate that Thunder Bay is capable of producing more than headlines of tragedy. She believes community-led healing, Indigenous leadership, and reconciliation are not distant ideals but realities that grow when people come together with purpose. She is honoured to receive the 2026 Sovereignty in Action Award and remains committed to creating lasting change for future generations.

Sophia Flather - VUNTUT GWITCHIN LINGUIST, NA’AA (MOM) AND LAND LOVER. Old Crow is an incredible place, self-governing, full of subsistence hunters, athletes, makers and artists. We have a solar farm. Now we need a functioning community garden. Currently, roughly 90 percent of our fruit and vegetables are being flown in. The Sovereignty in Action award would empower Old Crow to get our community garden back into full swing, so we can grow our own food and not be eating produce grown as far south as Mexico - that is over 5 thousand kilometers away! We have many of the cornerstones but need an extra boost so we can garden more sustainably and build a food sovereign future. We need to revitalize our community garden, educate each other, ourselves and raise a generation of gardeners, who, together we could one day have a farm. Gardening is a belief in the future. We need as many tools as we can to heal and be whole.

Sikumik Qaujimajjuti enacts Sovereignty in Action by placing knowledge, data, and decision-making in Inuit hands. Inuit youth are trained to document Inuit qaujimajatuqangit, interpret sea ice data, and create locally relevant safety tools that are culturally grounded. In communities like Taloyoak, knowledge coordinators like Sandra Aqqaq build the capacity to respond to climate change while strengthening local leadership and knowledge sharing. Sea ice is central to Inuit life, so reclaiming indigenous and traditional knowledge about it and empowering Inuit to navigate it safely ties directly to self determination.

Shekon (Hello), my name is Trent David, and I am a Mohawk from the territory of Akwesasne, located along the U.S.-Canada border. Together with my wife, I run a grassroots creative education hub that provides communities with artistic activities and meaningful ways to amplify their voices on issues affecting them. Through Indigenous Climate Action, we are able to bring our mobile program "The Art Cart" to more participants and to communities that lack accessible, free art opportunities. Our goal is to help the next generation uncover the leaders within themselves and to equip those who are next in line with the skills they need to succeed in life. You can stay in touch at www.fishbearstudios.com, where you are able to keep up with the Art Cart pop ups coming to an area near you. Niawen.
Brook Rice - Founder of Tkà:nios. Our initiative enacts sovereignty by restoring indigenous relationships with land and food systems that have been disrupted through colonization. Through seed saving, regenerative growing, traditional harvesting, and food preservation, we are reclaiming our ability to feed ourselves in ways that are culturally grounded, sustainable, and self-determined. This work reduces reliance on external, industrial systems and strengthens local, land-based economies rooted in reciprocity rather than extraction. Sovereignty is also expressed through the revitalization of knowledge systems. Guided by the 13 lunar cycles and Haudenosaunee teachings, Tkà:nios centers indigenous ways of knowing, being, and relating to the natural world. Knowledge is shared through intergenerational learning, ceremony, and practice, ensuring that teachings are carried forward by youth and future. generations in ways that are alive and embodied.