The Fireweed Project

Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Abortion

The Fireweed Project is a research project based out of University of Victoria and co-led with four community organizations across Canada, including: Abortion Support Services Atlantic, ekw’í7tl Indigenous doula collective, Northern Reproductive Justice Network, and Northern Manitoba Abortion Support.

This project aims to learn from Indigenous women, Two-Spirit, and LGBTQIA+ community members who have accessed or tried to access an abortion, as well as service providers working in abortion care, with the hopes of improving the culturally safe service gap in Canada.

This project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Race, Gender and Diversity Initiative grant.

Our name was inspired by a conversation with a participant from our pilot project who shared how fireweed was used for abortion in their community.

“There’s one plant called fireweed and you can usually find it up in northern Alberta or anywhere where there’s been forest fires because it’s a plant that grows and grows after forest fires. But I know that we traditionally used that as birth control, but also as a medicine to implement abortion…

I kind of have a philosophy that with the knowledge of herbal methods ending a pregnancy, Indigenous culture suggests a tradition of honouring pregnant people’s self-determination of their own bodies.

Unfortunately, in my culture you hear a lot of ‘abortions never happened, we didn’t do abortions, abortions are a sin.’ And I think that really came from colonial Christian Catholic, settler ideologies.”

Our logo was designed by Sarah Jim

“Fireweed is a beautiful, abundant, and resilient plant that grows best after disturbance. The fluffy seeds are free to fly away and land where they're meant to be. We can learn from this plant by being open to challenges and having the freedom to choose.

The moon phases emphasize the divine feminine and the cyclical nature of all things. The moon reminds us that change is constant, and phases are temporary. The fireweed flower in the centre could also be a compass rose, representing the four directions and the ubiquitous nature of this project.”

– Artist Statement by Sarah Jim