WHY INDIGENOUS ENGAGEMENT TRAINING MAY BE NECESSARY

Have you ever wondered why Indigenous relations and reconciliation departments, ministries and agencies are so prevalent in Canada (municipal, regional, provincial, federal levels and most corporations)? Indigenous Insight provides a unique First Nation perspective, and the type of information that must be available, but isn't.

Many Indigenous communities have endured centuries of systemic marginalization, cultural suppression, and dispossession of their lands. Historical policies like the Indian Act, the Indian Reserve System, and the Indian Residential School System have had devastating and long-lasting effects on Indigenous cultures, languages, and ways of life.

Indigenous cultural awareness training may be necessary if:

•  your business, organization or corporation is interested in developing an economic development project on unceded provincial crown land. In these situations, direct consultation with neighbouring First Nation communities may be necessary.

• your business has a good understanding of Canada's colonial history and makes a commitment to strengthen its Indigenous cultural awareness knowledge foundation.

• Some businesses have no choice but to undergo Indigenous cultural awareness training programs. Racial Incidents across many industry and political sectors are becoming commonplace.

A. CANADA'S COLONIAL HISTORY

          CANADA'S INDIAN ACT

Learning outcomes include raising awareness and understanding of:

• Canada's Indian Act is, when it was enacted, and primary objectives.
• Primary players involved in the enforcement of the Indian Act, and their roles.
• Impacts and implications for Indian bands, First Nation communities in the following areas: land management; economic development, section 89 Indian Act tax exemptions (one of the most misunderstood misconceptions about First Nation people).

          CANADA'S INDIAN RESERVE SYSTEM

Learning outcomes include strengthening one’s understanding of:

• Canada's Indian Reserve System and why it continues to exist and its  primary objectives.
• Canada's Indian Reserve Pass System (1885-1945).
• Impacts and implications for Indian bands, First Nation communities in the following areas: land management, First Nation economies, small business development and entrepreneurship.

           CANADA'S INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL SYSTEM

Learning outcomes include strengthening one's understanding of:

• Canada's Indian Residential School System, why it was created, primary objectives and when the last school closed.
• How this colonization and assimilation instrument strengthened, enabled other colonization and assimilation instruments (Indian Act, Indian Reserve System). 
• Primary players (Canada, RCMP, Christian churches) authorized to enforce this system.
• Discovery of thousands of unmarked graves of Indian residential school children   secretly buried at former Indian residential schools across Canada.
• Canada's response (lowering flag to half-mast; creation of new national holiday).
• Pope's recent visit to Canada (subsequent apology).
• Historical and contemporary impacts and Implications of this grotesque system on Indian bands, First Nation communities throughout Canada, including: types of traumas inflicted on Indian Residential Students and a discussion on the magnitude those traumas affected individuals and their immediate families.

          BAND OFFICE AS AN INSTITUTION

Learning outcomes include:

• an overview and evolution of the band office institution that exists in each and every First Nation community.

B. THE BASICS

Learning outcomes:

• A general introduction to Indigenous peoples in Canada.
• Simple clarification of confusing terms, such as: First Nation, Metis, Inuit, status Indian, Native, Aboriginal and Indigenous; Indian bands, Chief, Indian Reserves.
• Significance of the phrase ‘Since time immemorial’; archaeological/traditional land and resource use data that validates use of this phrase.
• Discussion on similarities and diversity of First Nation communities across Canada; who First Nation people are & where they have been and what they have been through as a result of Canada's colonization history.

C. TRUTH & RECONCILIATION

The Cambridge Dictionary defines reconciliation as “a situation in which two people or groups of people become friendly again after they have argued.” The term reconciliation came into prominent usage following the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Executive Summary in 2015. From a First Nation perspective, reconciliation is one of the most misunderstood aspects of Indigenous engagement. When referencing reconciliation, the healing journey of individual Indian Residential School Survivors must always be the priority. Reconciliation in this regard, must always be a possibility. Confusion results when reconciliation is discussed in the context of an entire Indigenous population (approximately 1.5 million in 2015). In this case, it is highly doubtful reconciliation is possible. Reconciliation in this regard must take into account the devastating impacts and implications of colonial, racist, segregatory Canadian legislation (Indian Act) and systems (Canada’s Indian Reserve System & Canada’s Indian Residential School System. Reconciliation in this context must involve Canada’s long unanswered and neglected ‘land question’. Over 630 land & territory questions remain unanswered across what is now, Canada.

Learning outcomes:

• what reconciliation truly looks like.
• Different types of reconciliation processes.
• Whether reconciliation will ever be possible in Canada.
• Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and 94 Calls to Action.
• Why do most Canadian leaders (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) possess such weak understandings of reconciliation.
• Distinctions between systemic racism, racism, white privilege and roles they play in Canadian society and economy.

D. CANADA'S LAND QUESTION

How did the British Crown acquire its rights to the territory we now call British Columbia?   The Royal Proclamation of 1763 ‘recognized the right of Indians to unceded lands in their possession, protected the Indians interest in those lands. British and then Euro-Canadian rule was enacted by sheer force of numbers as settlers overwhelmed fragments of Aboriginal populations who had survived the first waves of epidemic diseases brought by European fur traders during the eighteenth century. Aboriginal rights are collective rights of distinctive Indigenous societies flowing from their status as the original peoples of Canada. These rights are recognized and affirmed by Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. Although the Constitution does not define Aboriginal rights, these rights can include Aboriginal title; right to occupy and use lands and resources (i.e., for hunting, fishing and gathering purposes); self-government rights; and cultural and social rights. Aboriginal rights will vary amongst First Nation groups according to distinctive cultures.

• Canada's 'land questions' (content coming)
• Numbered treaty regions (content coming)
• Aboriginal rights and title case law (content coming)

Learning outcomes:

• Aboriginal rights and title.
• Subsequent impacts to major Canadian natural resource extraction development projects.
• What meaningful consultation means and why it is always required.
• The importance of treaty negotiations and numbered treaty regions
• Why some traditional territories remain 'unceded'.
• Why traditional territory land acknowledgements are so prevalent across Canada (and even in USA).
• Why Indigenous relations and reconciliation departments, ministries & agencies exist in every level of government in Canada and most corporations?
• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). 

OPPORTUNITIES FOR LEADERSHIP

Learning outcomes:

• Discussion using Tla’amin Nation - City of Powell River 'Community Accords' (2003 & 2018); and recent Name Change issue as examples (both good and bad).