Date: December 2, from 1-2:30 PM ET
Cost: Free (Zoom Webinar)
No cybersecurity expertise is required for this session.
*Please note, all registrants will be provided with a link to the recording and presentation slides following the session. The recording will be available for 60 days.
Cyberthreats can disrupt the critical work you do. Are you prepared?
Whether you are an organizational leader, staff member, or volunteer at a non-profit you can play an active role in ensuring your organization is resilient in the face of cybersecurity risks. As an non-profit you don't just lose data in a cyber incident; you lose the ability to deliver mission-critical services to the people who depend on you.
The session will introduce you to Open North and CyberAIDE and walk you through an exercise to build your organization’s Cybersecurity resilience map.
You will leave this session with a tangible, one-page artifact that identifies:
- The specific “shadow data” putting your community at risk right now
- The "Ripple Effect" of a service outage on your beneficiaries
- One immediate, zero-cost action you can take to protect your mission tomorrow
At the end of the session, you will be introduced to the Open North CyberAIDE program for those who want ongoing support. Whether you join CyberAIDE or not, you will leave this 90-minute workshop with a concrete action plan you can take straight to your teams and boards.
CyberAIDE is a program of Open North and designed to help your organization strengthen its capacity to protect its data, operations, and the communities it serves. Cybersecurity incidents can happen to organizations of any size. You don't need a dedicated IT or cybersecurity team to be affected, and you don't need to be a cybersecurity expert to start improving your organization’s protection. CyberAIDE currently serves not-for-profit organizations, Indigenous communities, and municipalities across Canada and is currently planning cohorts focussed on climate, housing, food security, gender justice, and health.
John Griffin is a Program Manager at Open North where he manages multiple programs and projects on information management, cybersecurity, and privacy. He has led projects delivering privacy and cybersecurity support to nonprofits organizations in the Yukon, local government in Alberta, and First Nation governments in BC. John prioritizes delivering support to small and medium sized organizations that match their existing needs and capacities.
Christina Haralanova is Cyberlead-in-Residence at Open North, facilitating CyberAIDE webinars and training for nonprofit organizations. She brings over 20 years of experience as a technical trainer and facilitator, grounded in feminist movements, digital rights, and free software advocacy. She has helped nonprofit organizations assess their technology needs, adopt tools, and build practical skills. With a PhD in Communication Studies focused on feminist hacker practices and collaborative learning, Christina takes an accessible, participatory approach to cybersecurity education.
The DEFNP workshop series will offer tailored programming designed to match ENGOs on their decolonial (un)learning journeys. In Spring 2026 members of the ENGO sector will be able to choose one of three workshop tracks: Introduction to Decolonization in the ENGO Sector, Advanced Decolonial Theory and Application or For Indigenous Ears Only - A Space for Reflection and Action. Each series consists of four three-hour sessions.
Collectively, Decolonizing ENGO-First Nation Partnerships fosters:
Awareness of settler colonialism and the ways it potentially harnesses civil society;
Understanding about how Canadian law such as the Indian Act and the Income Tax Act has suppressed Indigenous governance systems;
Awareness that Indigenous peoples have unique inherent political and legal systems, with which ENGOs may want to form partnerships;
A better understanding about how to navigate partnerships with Indigenous communities that promote decolonial environmentalism;
A stronger sense about how to identify and explain individual and organization social locations (i.e. positionalities) as part of ethical partnership development;
Promoting the resurgence of Indigenous self-determination in the Canadian ENGO sector.
Cost: $100 (Register 2 spots, get the 3rd free)
70 participants max.
All registrants will be provided with a link to access the recordings and presentation slides for 60 days following each session.
Session 1: Settler Colonialism 101
Introduce ENGO representatives to the fact that colonization is a structure and not an event. Identifies key ways that colonialism moves through individuals and organizations.
Session 2: Positionality
ENGO representatives learn how to articulate their social location within a settler colonial state, and in relation to potential Indigenous partners.
Session 3: Inherent Indigenous Governance 101
Introduce the fact that Indigenous nations have their own sources of political authority that they can (and do) draw on when addressing environmental issues. Examples provided.
Session 4: Building Better Relations
ENGO representatives will road test ways they can implement previous workshop key points to re-imagine partnerships with Indigenous nations.
Cost: $100 (Register 2 spots, get the 3rd free)
All registrants will be provided with a link to access the recordings and presentation slides for 60 days following each session.
Session 1: Diagnosing Settler Colonialism in the Enviro Sector
Participants will be asked to share ways in which they have diagnosed and traced power in social justice movements and/or in the ENGO sector. This workshop will make space for discomfort as part of promoting decolonization.
Session 2: Inherent Indigenous Governance
A mix of advanced and introductory theory, this workshop delves into legal and political pluralism, naming the fact that Indigenous nations have their own sources of political authority that they can (and do) draw on when addressing environmental issues.
Session 3: The Nonprofit Industrial Complex
ENGO participants are introduced to theories and examples describing the Nonprofit Industrial Complex and the “Shadow State.” Purpose is to show how settler colonialism structures civil society.
Session 4: Decolonizing ENGO-First Nation Partnerships
This workshop delves deep into how ENGOs can partner with Indigenous nations beyond the Nonprofit Industrial Complex while promoting deference to inherent Indigenous political leaders.
Cost: Free
The Indigenous only space will be collaborative in nature but critical in approach. This track is a space for Indigenous folks within the ENGO sector to come together to discuss their experiences and work, with an eye to taking a position on what the sector might need to do in order to promote decolonization. Participants will use the first session to define our goals for the remaining three meetings. Therefore, session topics named here are proposals only.
Session 1: Naming the Cannibal: Settler Colonialism in the ENGO Sector
Session 2: Proposed topic: Reflections on working in the ENGO Sector
Session 3: Proposed topic: Centering Indigenous Thought in the ENGO Sector
Session 4: Proposed topic: Visioning a Decolonial Environmental Sector
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