Ottawa, ON | November 18, 2025 —The Indigenous Prosperity Foundation (IPF) is honoured to announce a new partnership with Bears’ Lair Dream Camps, a national initiative that empowers Indigenous youth through leadership, creativity, entrepreneurship, and culturally grounded entrepreneurship. Over the next 18 months, this partnership will help expand Dream Camps' programming with financial literacy as they deliver 60 camps to more than 70 Indigenous communities and Nations.
For the past three years, Dream Camps have created spaces where young people can see themselves as leaders and innovators. More than 1,940 Indigenous youth across 83 communities have taken part in these free, three-day camps, gaining hands-on experience through teamwork challenges, pitching exercises, role model engagement, and cultural grounding.
At the Indigenous Prosperity Foundation, we believe prosperity begins with confidence – in identity, in community, and in one’s own future. This partnership strengthens that pathway by bringing a financial empowerment lens to the Dream Camps experience. Through Money Smarts: My Financial Journey, our flagship youth financial literacy program, participants explore core concepts like budgeting, saving, navigating income, and making financial decisions through experiential and culturally relevant learning.
By integrating Money Smarts tools and activities directly into Dream Camps, youth can connect their entrepreneurial ideas with essential financial understanding, building skills that support long-term self-determination and success.
Dream Camps are facilitated by a trained team of instructors alongside community leaders, educators, and Elders. Each camp is shaped by the strengths and teachings of the community hosting it, ensuring that young people experience programming rooted in their local worldview and values.
With more than 113 sponsors supporting Dream Camps to date, this program continues to grow as one of Canada’s most trusted Indigenous youth empowerment initiatives. This partnership also represents a shared commitment to advancing economic reconciliation efforts by supporting Indigenous-led, community-rooted pathways to prosperity.
We’re proud to walk alongside Bears’ Lair Dream Camps in supporting the next generation of Indigenous innovators, creators, and leaders. Together, we’re helping youth build confidence, explore new possibilities, and strengthen prosperity pathways grounded in culture, community, and collective success.
To learn more about Dream Camps, visit www.bearslairdreamcamps.com