Stardale Women's Group Inc. Foundation©

Stardale Women's Group offers services to Aboriginal women and girls as well as to women of poverty. Developed by the Stardale Women's Group Inc. Foundation, the centre opened its doors for service in Melfort, Saskatchewan in 1998, to serve the communities in Northern Saskatchewan. Since that time, it has expanded to provide outreach to Southern Alberta. We are a non-profit organization and a registered charity (# 894942622RR0001).

A Holistic Approach to Education and 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 and their efforts to instill good practices as well as positive values through preventative programming that lead to stronger, more resilient communities.

We would like to acknowledge and extend a big thank you to RBC Foundation for their sponsorship of 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 your focus on the provision of life skills, literacy and advocacy to females living in abusive situations.

In building healthy individuals and strong communities that are socially inclusive, everyone may benefit. Stardale gives thanks to ATB Financial for their generosity and contribution for seeing the broader picture of empowering youth through the arts.

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. They are proud to support the important work being done by the Stardale Women's Group.

The Knights of Columbus generously give help to the most vulnerable populations who need support for a better quality of life.

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

We strive to provide, at our centre in Melfort, a space where clients feel comfortable to express their feelings, past experiences, traumas and hurts. It is 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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We Believe

Each woman heals in her own time and place
One should say what they mean, mean what they say and do it
No one person is better than the next
Tears are healing
Laughter is enriching
Wisdom is shared through storytelling
In being respectful of the experience of each woman
In experiential learning and healing
In releasing the victim's conscience
In embracing ourselves and embracing each other
In the self-discovery process of a woman creating art
In support and unconditional love
In the warrior woman who battles her own destructive patterns and tendencies

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"Honouring the Girls' Stories" Series

Honouring The Girls 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 a 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 speaker's 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 were 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 of the Stardale Group were served lovely meals. With those underway, they were formally greeted by Vice President Randy Genereux. Then there were two 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. The girls 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 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 to 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.

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Stardale Picture Vignette from Events, Programs, and Workshops

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