Stardale Women's Group Inc. Foundation©

The Stardale Women’s Group offers services to Aboriginal women, girls and women of poverty. Developed by the Stardale Women's Group Inc. Foundation, the Center opened its doors for service in Melfort, Sask in 1998, to serve the communities in Northern Saskatchewan. Since that time it has expanded to outreach through southern Alta. Treaty 7 – Blackfoot territory and Sask. We are a non-profit organization and a registered charity (# 894942622RR0001).

A Holistic Approach to Education & Training

"Wholeness is not a quality of the mind but an aspect of the spirit. That wholeness is a unique presence that is within you - it has only to be rediscovered."

This is the Stardale Logo.
Our motto is
"Breaking the Cycles by Creating the Circles"

Stardale Women’s Group graciously acknowledges the contribution from SGI for their efforts to instill good practices positive values through preventative programming that lead to stronger resilient communities.

We would like to acknowledge, and extend a big THANK YOU to RBC Foundation for their sponsorship to the "Sacred Circles" program.

"Reflecting on its origins as a family run business, Shaw endeavours to respect and support the interests and values of the communities it serves. We appreciated receiving information on the Stardale Women's Group and your focus on the provision of life skills, literacy and advocacy to females living in abusive situations.”

Stardale would like to acknowledge and thank Shoppers Drug Mart Life Foundation for their donation. Shoppers is committed to supporting women's health in action.

Community building and people helping people are two of Servus Credit Union's guiding principles. We are proud to support the important work being done by the Stardale Women's Group.

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Our mission in Stardale is to provide life skills and literacy education, as well as advocacy to women living in poverty and abusive situations, toward empowering their lives, their families, and their communities, thus overcoming systemic barriers.

A group of women at Stardale
(click to enlarge)

We strive to provide, in our Center in Melfort, a special place which safeguards for the clients' safety and comfort in expressing their feelings, past experiences, traumas and hurts within the confines of a friendly and caring environment that respects their individuality and freedom of thought. The four components of the holistic Stardale Model encompass the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of life. As building blocks to a journey of awakening, healing, self-respect and empowerment, the Stardale Model encourages development of skills and enlightenment by healing with compassion.

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Women & children creating art at the centre

We Believe In:

Each woman heals in her own time and place
Say what you mean, mean what you say and do it
No one person is better than the next
Being respectful of the experience of each woman
Experiential learning & healing
Releasing the victim's conscience
Wisdom is shared in storytelling
Embracing ourselves & embracing each other
Self-discovery process of the woman making art
Support & unconditional love
The warrior woman who battles her own destructive patterns & tendencies
Tears are healing
Laughter is enriching

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"Honouring the Girls' Stories" series

Stardale developed and implemented self-development programs using creative processes, such as dance and modelling, to educate the girls in matters of self esteem, building skill sets in cooperation, and learning how to perform in public setting. The proactive interventions empower the Aboriginal girls to overcome systematic barriers and internalisation of lower standards of wellness, achievement,education, and employability by providing classroom educational opportunities as well as skills-training and strategies for healthy choice-making.

From the Keynote speakers introduction:

We come together today on Treaty 7 land, the traditional territory of the Blackfoot Nations and the territory of the Métis Nation Region No. 3. I would also like to recognize the Elders and dignitaries who are joining us today: Mr. Danny Fennell, Deputy Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General; Ms. Michelle Cook, from the U.S. Consulate General; The Honourable Ralph Klein, former Premier of our Province; The Stardale Women’s Group; and the Famous 5 Foundation Board - Gillian Lawrence, Chair and Board members Cathy Pinder, Anna Lentz, Lynn Mandryk, Anna Garleff, and Donna Leonard the Executive Director.
- Marie Delorme
from the Famous Five Enbridge Leadership Luncheon Series 2010, in Calgary

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Stardale girls program embraces Mount Royal University

Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the Stardale evening at MRU- Mount Royal University. And what an evening it was for those who were in attendance.

The whole purpose of the evening at MRU was to introduce the girls to a higher learning centre. One never knows that the girls could possibly be intrigued with the facility and could set their minds to one day attending the establishment.

Stardale staff, girls and volunteer mentors was welcomed as they arrived by the Associate Vice-President, Randy Genereux. Randy escorted the girls to a quiet area (Terrace Room) which was set aside for the gathering. All the Stardale Group was served a lovely meal. Once the meal was underway, Stardale was formally greeted, by Vice President Randy Genereux. Then there were 2 presentations. This included Tori McMillan - Aboriginal Education Administrator of the Iniskim Centre and Lindsey Wynder - MRU Recruitment Officer. Both presentations were informative and friendly.

Upon the conclusion of the presentations, everyone moved to the Wright Theatre. This was a terrific opportunity for the girls, who got to experience a huge stage with appropriate lighting, sound and an audience. What a difference to the multipurpose room that the girls take their acting lessons in!

The interpretation of the experience was electrifying. Visually the girls when were on stage where they had to adapt to being the centre of attention in this huge space. Therefore, how they would normally perform in their regular acting class setting became defunct to them. It was an entire range of new experiences such as positioning themselves to the audience and voice projection. Jamie the drama coach was excellent in manoeuvring the girls here and fro; and reaching into their souls to draw more creative juices from them.

We are all grateful to MRU for having us come into their facilities. Hopefully some of the Stardale girls will one day attend the university.

Click on a photo below to the large version.