About 100 kilometres north of Winnipeg, on the eastern shores of Lake Winnipeg, a village is being built where Indigenous girls, women and two-spirit people will be able to heal from the trauma of sexual exploitation within a supportive community guided by Indigenous matriarchs.

“Our philosophy is that you have to have long-term healing to deal with all the intergenerational trauma that got you to that point,” said Jamie Goulet, executive director of the Clan Mothers Healing Village and Knowledge Centre. “Our programming is quite different than any other model.”

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That model is based on traditional knowledge and designed by Indigenous women who’ve been working with exploited Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people for decades.

The workers constructing the village, which is expected to be finished in the fall, are women enrolled in the program and employed by a construction company the Healing Village operates as a social enterprise.

This unique project is one of 12 to receive funding from the Archdiocese of Winnipeg’s Indigenous Reconciliation Fund. In 2021, the Roman Catholic bishops........

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