Eligibility

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Who can apply

You can apply for Listen, Hear Our Voices funding as a:

  • primary applicant
  • as a partner to a primary applicant (secondary applicant)

There are different eligibility requirements for each type of applicant.

Primary applicants

To be eligible to apply, you must be:

  • an Indigenous nation (First Nations, Inuit or Métis Nation)
  • Indigenous government
  • Indigenous non-profit organization

Examples include:

  • cultural centres
  • community organizations
  • historical societies
  • libraries or archives
  • museums
  • band council or a department within the nation’s Administration
  • First Nation, Inuit, or Métis Nation government organizations

Your organization must be not-for-profit and must provide proof of its non-profit status. A band council or a department within a nation’s Administration is assumed to be not-for-profit.

Both incorporated and non-incorporated organizations can apply. Incorporated organizations need to provide proof of incorporation. Incorporation status does not apply to band councils, departments of a nation’s Administration or Indigenous government organizations.

Non-incorporated organizations need a letter of reference from a recognized government or association. If you're non-incorporated, we encourage you to collaborate with an incorporated organization.

Important Note: Organizations, and their direct affiliates, with outstanding reports for projects previously funded through LAC (Listen, Hear Our Voices and/or Documentary Heritage Communities Program) are ineligible for further funding.

We provide two types of funding:

  1. Small projects of one year or less. Both incorporated and non-incorporated are eligible for up to $24,999 in funding.
  2. Large projects of one year or less. Incorporated organizations are eligible for up to $100,000 in funding.

Non-incorporated organizations can apply for large project funding. To do so, they'll need to work with an incorporated organization that is eligible to be the primary applicant.

Partners or secondary applicants

Businesses and for-profit Indigenous organizations are not eligible to receive funding. However, we do allow eligible organizations to hire for-profit businesses to provide services. For example, you could hire someone to digitize material.

Who can't apply

Businesses and for-profit Indigenous organizations are not eligible to receive funding. However, we do allow eligible organizations to hire for-profit businesses to provide services. For example, you could hire someone to digitize material.

Types of projects we're looking for

The following project activities are eligible for funding:

Projects can include a combination of one or more of these activities. Please keep in mind that projects must be completed within a 12-month period.

Digitization of documentary heritage related to Indigenous languages and culture

  • digitizing documentary heritage from formats like:
    • textual documents
    • photographs
    • audio cassettes
    • reel-to-reel
    • VHS tapes and video cassettes
  • preparing items for digitization
    • creating an inventory of your collection
    • prioritizing items in danger of being lost
  • describing and organizing items in their digital or original formats
  • developing a business case for a shared digital preservation system

Training

  • training staff on digitization
  • creating training materials to build digitization skills
  • developing and running training programs to help communities digitize their own collections

Equipment

  • buying or repairing digitization equipment
  • purchasing software to digitize textual, photographic or audiovisual materials

Project activities that are not eligible

  • acquiring or creating new collections
  • creating new oral history recordings
  • digitizing or sharing material without appropriate rights or permissions
  • digitizing books or other published material
  • creating books, articles or other products related to Indigenous languages and cultures

Types of expenses allowed

  • digitization by your organization, a partner or a third-party
  • consultants and professional services related to digitization
  • purchase, rental or repair of equipment or software to digitize and preserve material
  • description, transcription and development of finding aids for materials being digitized within the project
  • shipping and insuring material
  • salaries and wages to finish your project
  • training and workshop activities
  • travel for project staff (must follow the National Joint Council's Travel Directive)
  • honorariums and gifts of protocol to Indigenous Elders
  • general administration costs such as:
    • office supplies
    • long-distance telephone calls
    • postage
    • messenger services
    • project management fees (project budget and schedule oversight)cannot be more than 15% of funding you are requesting

Total general administration costs cannot be more than 20% of the funding amount, which includes the 15% limit on project management fees as noted above. For example:

  • Your organization is requesting $100,000 in LHOV funding. The project budget can include the following expenses:
  • Project management: budget and schedule oversight by Executive Director = $15,000
  • General administration: archival boxes; protective envelopes; shipping insurance = $5,000

Expenses that are not allowed

  • property operations and maintenance like:
    • office space rent or lease
    • property repair and maintenance
    • heating
  • entertainment and gifts
  • developing applications for funding programs
  • employment Insurance, Canada Pension Plan and other benefits
  • taxes
  • expenses from before signing the contribution agreement with us