if this is your level of understanding of reconciliation ...
and your work requires a working understanding of 'reconciliation', you Indigenous engagement training is recommended.
If you are on this website, you likely have a good understanding of what Indigenous engagement training is. As an Indigenous cultural awareness trainer, I find it odd that other cultures in Canada are sometimes 'forced' to enrol in Indigenous cultural awareness training. This is not fair to Indigenous cultures. There are two reasons why this is so.
Engaging with First Nations or Indigenous communities doesn't necessarily require formal or certified Indigenous engagement training. However, it's important not to treat the process as a mere formality or checkbox exercise. Depending on the scope of your project, training is recommended—especially given Canada’s troubling colonial history. In 2025, the widespread lack of understanding about Indigenous peoples in Canada remains significant—so much so that it can easily undermine relationships if not approached with care and respect.
Indigenous engagement is complicated and can be intimidating. This topic space does not only include reconciliation, as it pertains to Indigenous peoples in Canada.
All comprehensive Indigenous engagement training programs should include the following learning components:
- Canada's colonization history (Indian Act, Indian Reserve System, Indian Residential School System)
- Aboriginal rights and title ) otherwise known as the 'land question'
- Truth and reconciliation (at least four levels of understanding)
Indigenous Insight has signed a strategic partnership agreement with CanScribe Career College to develop a Indigenous Engagement Studies course (PTIB-approved). This Indigenous Studies course was launched in mid-March 2025 (see QR code to the right).
Click HERE or the QR code on the right, for more details.
Indigenous Insight is a Canadian Council for Indigenous Business (CCIB) member and CCIB-certified Indigenous cultural awareness trainer.
About Indigenous Insight
Indigenous Insight is 100% Aboriginal-owned company operating on ɬaʔamɩn (Tla'amin) Nation lands.
Indigenous Insight provides Indigenous engagement, cultural awareness training and advisory services to non-Indigenous businesses, organizations, corporations and all levels of government. Navigating the Indigenous engagement space involves 637 recognized First Nations across Canada, their websites, and decision-making processes within band offices organizational & corporate structures.
While many First Nation communities thrive in today's economic climate, many continue to struggle to bring economic benefit and other opportunities back to their communities. It is not an overstatement that most First Nation communities have been forced into decades long colonial recessions since time of contact with European settlers.
Please note that Indigenous Insight's approach to Indigenous cultural awareness training prioritizes honesty, respect, and clarity, with a strong focus on the 'truth' aspect of the Truth and Reconciliation equation. Political correctness is optional. A consistent priority will always be honesty, respect, clarity. The unique First Nation perspective offered by Indigenous Insight in the areas of Aboriginal rights & title, Canada's colonization history, reconciliation and leadership are what separates this training program from many others.
WHAT IS INDIGENOUS CULTURAL AWARENESS TRAINING
Indigenous cultural awareness training serves as a crucial step in enhancing one's understanding of Indigenous cultures. The motivations for participating in these programs can vary. Your company may be required to engage due to provincial consultation guidelines, or it could be a proactive choice to bolster its internal commitment to Indigenous culture. Additionally, your company may acknowledge the economic potential emerging from the growing autonomy of numerous First Nation communities as they break free from Canada's colonial legacy.
Indigenous Insight offers Indigenous cultural awareness training for entry level & front line workers (i.e., beginners level) and advanced level of Indigenous engagement training for leadership & management.
WHY THIS TYPE OF TRAINING MAY BE REQUIRED?
Have you ever wondered why Indigenous relations and reconciliation departments, ministries, and agencies are so widespread in Canada today? These departments are present at every level of government. However, from a First Nation perspective, this prevalence isn't always fair to Indigenous peoples, as it can reinforce existing misconceptions held by non-Indigenous Canadians. Often, people are unaware of the two key reasons (see #1 and 2 below) why these departments are necessary.
- Canada's deeply troubling history of colonization and assimilation policies. Many Indigenous communities have suffered through centuries of systemic marginalization, cultural suppression, and land dispossession. Historical policies such as the Indian Act, the Indian Reserve System, and the Indian Residential School System have caused profound and enduring damage to Indigenous cultures, languages, and ways of life; and
- Exploring Canada’s unresolved 'land question' including Aboriginal rights and title.
Other Indigenous cultural awareness and engagement training topics may cover the following:
- Do’s and don’ts when initiating, developing, and maintaining new business and community-to-community relationships with First Nation communities.
- Strengthening internal business culture around Indigenous engagement.
- Addressing common misconceptions that many non-Indigenous Canadians may have about Indigenous peoples.
- An overview of the basics, including pre-, at-, and post-contact colonial settlement history.
- Understanding the role of the band office as an institution, especially in the context of economic development and procurement opportunities.
- Focusing on truth and reality, rather than just 'truth and reconciliation.'
- Principles relevant to decolonization.
- Identifying opportunities for leadership.
WHO SHOULD NOT BE PROVIDING THIS TYPE OF TRAINING?
It is important that Indigenous cultural awareness trainers be of First Nation ancestry and one who has lived their entire life on a reserve, actually governed under Canada's Indian Act, of a family directly impacted by Canada's Indian Residential School System and Canada's other colonization & assimilation mechanisms.
Non-Indigenous individuals, especially lawyers, consultants, professors) should never be considered qualified to provide Indigenous cultural awareness training. Additionally, First Nation Indigenous cultural awareness trainers should not be proving cultural awareness training relative to Métis or Inuit cultures, and vice versa.
INDIGENOUS INSIGHT PRESENTATION DELIVERY
Indigenous Insight will not simply "tell you what you want to hear," as political correctness often stands in the way of true reconciliation.
Direct, factual presentations are essential and often missing from other Indigenous cultural awareness training. Many programs take a cautious approach, prioritizing comfort over hard truths. This reluctance is one reason reconciliation progresses at a glacial pace in Canada. Too many non-Indigenous Canadians either don’t understand, don’t care to understand, or don’t take the time to engage with the realities of Indian Reserves, the Indian Act, and the lasting trauma of Indian Residential Schools.
The culture within non-Indigenous businesses and governments plays a critical role in reconciliation. Companies committed to strengthening their Indigenous engagement must first confront the truth before achieving meaningful reconciliation. This journey demands strong leadership.
WHY THE MAJORITY OF FIRST NATION PEOPLES IGNORE CANADA'S NEWEST NATIONAL HOLIDAY (SEPTEMBER 30)
While the significance of this holiday—along with events like Orange Shirt Day and Red Dress memorials—is undeniable, the deeper realities, lived experiences, and challenges of First Nations people on reserves remain deeply personal. For many, the September 30 holiday does not go far enough in meaningfully advancing reconciliation in Canada.
The term “reconciliation” is often misused, having become a widespread buzzword over the past two decades. Too many Canadians—both Indigenous and non-Indigenous—use it without fully understanding its weight. As a First Nations person who has lived on an Indian reserve my entire life, made governance decisions under the Indian Act, and comes from a family directly impacted by the Indian Residential School System, I believe all First Nations people inherently hold the right to use and define this term.
SUGGESTION: DO NOT USE THE WORD 'RECONCILIATION'; REPLACE WITH 'REALITY'
Most Canadians do not have a workable understanding of reconciliation. A respectable approach when speaking on 'truth and reconciliation' should be replacing with 'truth and reality'. This suggestion is made because it is acknowledged how difficult it can be for white settlers to grasp the full meaning of reconciliation. For many status Indians, reconciliation is a difficult exercise. True reconciliation must begin with the land. Too many non-Indigenous leaders and Indian Act-elected Chiefs and councillors feel the only way to achieve reconciliation is by writing a check. Beyond the land issue, reconciliation must prioritize genuine healing. The most effective way to understand reconciliation is to study Canada's history of colonization, including the Indian Act, Indian Reserve System, and Indian Residential School System.
LEVELS OF PRIVILEGE
This topic requires discomfort to be met head-on and honestly. For too long, Canadians have given themselves 'a pass' when uncomfortable subjects arise in all areas of Indigenous engagement. Since the time of contact to current times (or 170+ years), so many millions of advantages and benefits have bestowed upon non-Indigenous Canadians who are completely unaware of the true where their privileges originate and how matching disadvantages are immediately created on every Indian Reserve in Canada. Too many non-Indigenous leaders pollute this situation in Canada by ignorantly insisting First Nation peoples should 'just get over it'.
TRADITIONAL TERRITORY AND OTHER LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
From my First Nation perspective, in 2024, all traditional territory and land acknowledgements simply have become meaningless rhetoric. Most of us struggle to see what they accomplish. The primary purpose seems to erase guilt and shame. Most do not move any reconciliation needle in the right direction. There are ways to move beyond simple acknowledgements. Actions do speak louder than words. Indigenous Insight can assist your organization to move beyond simple words.
HINT: From a First Nation perspective, one way to move beyond simple land & territory acknowledgements would be 'asking for permission to be on the land or within a territory'? This approach requires courage, commitment. Much too few land & territory acknowledgements have ever asked for this type of permission. Requesting permission does not correct colonization in Canada but can be a demonstration and acknowledgement of respect.
About KWAST-en-ayu
KWAST-en-ayu is a member of the Tla'amin Nation (TN), Coast Salish culture, located on the west coast of Canada. Maynard was bestowed with his ancestral name on May 10, 2003 by Tla'amin’s Elders immediately before his nation signed the Sliammon First Nation - Corporation District of Powell River 'Community Accord'.
For non-Indigenous peoples to be successful in this program, critical thinking and evolution of thought are required. Maynard's respect and teachings have been sharpened from 30+ years of direct exposure to decision-making under Canada's Indian Act, actually living on a Indian Reserve and being of a family directly impacted by Canada's Indian Residential School System.
Maynard’s has worked in the Indigenous economic/business development space for many years, in multiple capacities and truly understands the massive distinctions between Indian Reserve economies when compared to those within cities, towns, municipalities and provinces. His in-depth knowledge of the history and culture of Aboriginal peoples, their traditional land and resource practices and archaeological footprint comes from years of working closely with traditional land and resource use experts and Elders.
Maynard was a guest presenter at Ch'nook Indigenous Business Education (UBC's Sauder School of Business) and was invited to participate on UBC's Indigenous Procurement Committee.