The Indigenous Healing Fund was established in 1991 to give grants to Indigenous community or church groups for healing programs designed to address the damage caused by the residential schools experience. While the original mandate of the Healing Fund was restricted to dealing with the trauma arising from residential schools, this has since been expanded to address the fuller legacy of assimilation policies, in particular the loss of language and culture. The Healing Fund started with a small amount of money raised from voluntary donations, but eventually its work became part of General Synod's annual budget.

The Healing Fund is completely separate from the Anglican Church of Canada's Settlement Fund which is dedicated to paying financial settlements to individual former students of the residential schools who have validated claims of sexual or physical abuse. The Healing Fund makes no compensation payments to individuals, but rather, gives grants to community groups for projects of collective healing and restoration of language and culture.

The following are three brief examples of projects that have been funded.

In 2003, the Preparing for the Future group of the Metlakatla Band received a Healing Fund grant for its work in bringing the community together through reviving traditional activities. The Metlakatla elders of this community teach the Sm'algyax language. They also instruct their children and grandchildren in the harvesting and preparation of traditional foods, as well as in the making of cedar bark baskets and regalia. Young people are taught traditional dancing and the rituals of traditional feasts, and weekly story-telling gatherings are also organized. Most importantly, through these various activities the elders teach respect for all living things, people, animals and plants.

In 2004, the Healing Fund supported a project in London, Ont., called Language, the Healing Portal. This project responds to the need identified by native communities, both on-reserve and off-reserve in southwestern Ontario, to provide learning situations that preserve, protect and teach native languages. The languages chosen were Ojibwe (Anishnabe culture) and Oneida (Iroquoian culture), as these languages are prevalent among most of the native populations in the London area. This initiative enhances oral and cultural preservation and supports those people who have a desire to learn their mother tongue.

The Healing Fund makes no compensation payments to individuals, but rather, gives grants to community groups for projects of collective healing, and restoration of language and culture.

In 2003 the Healing Fund supported Tumivut (which means “Our Footprints” in Inuktituk), a transitional center for homeless youth in Toronto. This unique facility provides critical accommodation, programs and services to 52 male and female, aboriginal and non-aboriginal homeless youth who may reside at Tumivut for up to six months. Tumivut was a featured project in the October 2004 Anglican Appeal material.

General Synod budgets $300,000 a year to the Healing Fund, most of this allocation coming from the diocesan apportionments to General Synod, and some from the Anglican Appeal. The Healing Fund is directed and managed by a full-time staff coordinator, and by a Healing Response Committee, which is composed of an equal number of indigenous and non-indigenous members. The Healing Response Committee reports to the Council of General Synod and to the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples, ensuring that the whole church owns the work.

As of April 2004, the Indigenous Healing Fund had dispersed just under $1.7 million in grants to support community and church-related group projects. The types of projects supported are summarized below.

As of April 2004, the Indigenous Healing Fund had dispersed just under $1.7 million in grants to support community and church-related group projects.

The Healing Response Committee designates one third of its yearly budget of $300,000 to support projects initiated or endorsed by Anglican dioceses across Canada. The other two-thirds of its budget is available for non-church community groups. In all cases, every effort is made to build a relationship with the group or community undertaking the project. This is an important part of the church's ongoing concern to begin to build right relationships with Indigenous groups and communities. Both staff and committee members have visited projects in order to learn about the work and demonstrate the church's interest in, and commitment to, being part of the long-term healing journey.

The Indigenous Healing Fund does not actively solicit donations from individual Anglicans, instead receiving its money from a General Synod budget allocation and from the Anglican Appeal. It is worth noting that all Anglicans support the work of the Healing Fund through their regular parish offerings. At the same time, many choose to give additional support through their donations to the Anglican Appeal, or in some cases through direct donations to the fund.

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