Three Canadian aid groups that have worked for years to alleviate poverty and suffering overseas are launching projects in First Nations communities in Canada.

One of them, Save the Children Canada, which has done work in Canada dating back the Depression, is renewing its commitment to programs inside Canada by working with indigenous communities.

This shift in focus represents a turning point in Canadian international development: Canadian NGOs who specialize in helping developing countries see a space for their expertise here in Canada — where one in four First Nations children lives in poverty.

Save the Children, one of Canada’s largest international development charities, is rolling out the second phase of its program in the Kenora and James Bay areas of Ontario following the completion of a pilot program that started in 2009.

“There is no question that a recurring reality is that extreme poverty in the Canadian context exists in indigenous populations,” said Cicely McWilliam, the charity’s senior adviser of policy, campaigns and media. “From a development agency’s point of view it’s not about what country or hemisphere the agency is operating in. We have a moral imperative to respond and address the impact of this poverty on children no matter where they live.”

Save the Children isn’t alone.

Right to Play — a charity that promotes development in the lives of children through play and sport — started operating in First Nations communities with two projects in northern Ontario in 2010. Within nine months of launching the program, the charity secured $1 million from the province’s Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs to expand. By 2012 there were projects in 39 communities across the province.

The charity is currently running a pilot program to identify and train aboriginal journalists in six northern communities, including Attawapiskat. The program is set to roll out in May.

“Voices from aboriginal civil society have been largely missing in the ongoing Idle No More debate,” said Rachel Pulfer, executive director of Journalists for Human Rights. Pulfer sees the new program as an opportunity for her organization to play a constructive role in creating “a future where the ongoing public conversation about aboriginal issues is much more informed.”

Fisher is on the board of the Kenora Chiefs Advisory, an alliance of Ojibway Chiefs that is committed to providing health and social services for seven First Nations communities in rural, northern Ontario. Save the Children started working with The Kenora Chiefs in 2009, when it came on board to help fund a parenting project. The partnership has provided the group funding that it could not find from government programs.

“Chiefs are committed to healing the community and thinking outside of the box. Thinking outside of the box means working with NGOs like Save the Children,” said Fisher.