The Healing of the Seven Generations (H7G) is an essential Indigenous-led community organization dedicated to addressing the profound and ongoing impacts of the Indian Residential School system in the Waterloo Region and surrounding areas of Ontario, Canada. This organization is a beacon of hope and a critical resource, embodying the principles of cultural resurgence and holistic wellness to support First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples on their journey toward healing and self-determination.
The mission of H7G is deeply rooted in the concept of intergenerational trauma—the idea that the devastating effects of the residential schools did not end when the last school closed, but continue to ripple through families and communities, affecting survivors, their children, grandchildren, and future generations. By focusing on healing the trauma across seven generations—three past, the current one, and three yet to come—the organization commits to a profound, long-term process of cultural and spiritual repair. Its work is not merely reactive crisis management, but a proactive, culturally safe strategy for rebuilding healthy Indigenous communities.
To fully appreciate the necessity and depth of H7G’s work, one must understand the historical context of the Indian Residential School system (IRSS). Established in the 19th and 20th centuries by the Canadian government and administered by various churches, the IRSS was a systematic attempt to assimilate Indigenous children into mainstream Canadian culture by removing them from their homes, languages, and cultural practices. This system resulted in widespread abuse, neglect, and the complete disruption of family and community structures.
The lasting psychological and emotional damage—known as intergenerational trauma—manifests in the present day through various social challenges, including high rates of poverty, addiction, mental health crises, family dysfunction, and overrepresentation in the justice and child welfare systems. H7G was founded, in part, as a direct response to these specific systemic inequities, recognizing that mainstream support services often lack the cultural competency or spiritual foundation necessary to effectively aid Indigenous individuals affected by this history. The organization's founder and Executive Director, Donna Dubie, whose own father was a residential school survivor, has personal knowledge of these lasting effects, providing a powerful, lived perspective to the organization's governance and service model.
The very name, "The Healing of the Seven Generations," reflects a core Indigenous spiritual principle that underscores all of the organization's programs. This principle mandates that every decision made today must consider the impact on the previous three generations and the next three generations. By adopting this principle, H7G frames the healing process not as an individual task, but as a collective and continuous responsibility that honors the ancestors and protects the descendants.
In practice, H7G adopts a holistic (Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual) model of wellness. Unlike siloed Western approaches, this Indigenous model understands that a person’s well-being is an interconnected web. A person’s mental health cannot be treated in isolation from their emotional well-being, their physical health, or their spiritual connection to culture and community. Therefore, H7G’s service array is deliberately diverse, designed to meet a client’s immediate physical and social needs while simultaneously fostering their deeper, long-term spiritual and cultural health.
Central to this is cultural resurgence. The organization understands that the cultural alienation enforced by the residential schools is a root cause of trauma. Consequently, re-introducing, teaching, and celebrating Indigenous languages, ceremonies, drumming, and teachings becomes a fundamental part of the healing modality. Services like Healing Circles and traditional counseling are vital tools for spiritual repair and identity reclamation, helping community members reconnect with the resilience and strength inherent in their own cultural traditions.
One of H7G's most crucial and detailed programs is the Court Support Program, or Dehsahsodre (which can be interpreted to mean legal services). This program directly confronts the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the Canadian justice system, a direct consequence of historical trauma and systemic bias. The goal is to ensure that First Peoples can better access justice and that the justice system itself acknowledges the systemic factors that contribute to criminalized behavior.
The cornerstone of this program is its expertise in the Gladue Principles. These principles, stemming from the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision R. v. Gladue, require judges to consider the unique systemic and background factors that may have contributed to an Indigenous person’s offense when determining a sentence. These factors include the legacy of residential schools, poverty, loss of culture, and community breakdown.
H7G plays a critical role in this process by:
By focusing on Gladue Principles, H7G shifts the conversation in the courtroom from simple punishment to understanding and restorative justice, ensuring that the legacy of historical injustice is not compounded by further systemic disadvantage.
Beyond the complex legal realm, The Healing of the Seven Generations provides a safety net of social and community-focused services, addressing the day-to-day challenges faced by its clientele. These services acknowledge that healing cannot happen if basic needs are not met.
The Healing of the Seven Generations, accessible via healingofthesevengenerations.ca, is more than a social service agency; it is a vital engine of self-determination and reconciliation on a local level. Operating out of Kitchener, Ontario, H7G has spent over a decade building a culturally safe, trauma-informed framework for wellness that genuinely responds to the needs of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities it serves.
The organization’s success is a testament to the power of Indigenous-led solutions. By bridging the gap between historical injustice and present-day challenges—from providing a Gladue Report for the courts to a backpack for a student—H7G provides tangible pathways out of the cycle of intergenerational trauma. The approximately 300 active clients and their families who rely on H7G are evidence of the critical nature of its programs.
Ultimately, the work of The Healing of the Seven Generations is about reclaiming sovereignty over wellness and cultural identity. It is a continuous, community-driven effort to ensure that the seventh generation inherits not the trauma of the residential schools, but the strength, resilience, and wisdom of their ancestral traditions. H7G stands as a powerful example of how community-based, culturally-grounded care is the most effective and honorable way to achieve true healing and lasting reconciliation in Canada.
