Happy New Year

We head into the end of one year and the start of a new one. It is symbolic, really. Indigenous peoples this year have been moving ahead, gathering strength, and finding their feet and courage slowly but surely throughout the year of 2011.

Champions of Indigenous people have stood up and are achieving results:

• Sharon McIvor won her court case on the discrimination against First Nation women within Indian Act registration policies
• When Canada responded to the court case with greater discrimination, Sharon McIvor took it to the UN
• Canada was taken to task on missing and murdered Indigenous women and through the efforts of many Indigenous women and organizations, the UN has now stepped up to investigate Canada
• Chief Theresa Spence stood up against a goliath of bullies, Canada. Pamela Palmater has summarized this succinctly here
• The UN is now monitoring Canada's horrid treatment of First Nations people and housing, specifically in Attawapiskat
• Indigenous people have won victory after victory in the courts this year:
• Victory in the Caribou case
• Victory in a Tax case
• Victory regarding probe into lack of Aboriginal jurors
• Victory against Canada's secrecy
• Victory regarding unwanted resource developments
• Cindy Blackstock is leading the charge against internationally condemned Canadian practices of inequitable funding for First Nation children on the grounds of pure racism. Details can be read here.
• Pamela Palmater, champion of Indigenous people and Indigenous nationhood, released the book "Beyond Blood: Rethinking Indigenous Identity" as well as spoken on the behalf of Indigenous peoples on national television:
• 8th Fire Q&A
• Book Presentation during Edmonton tour
• On The Agenda
• On CTV
• There are many others, but I will not list them all.
• There have also been many joint ventures and new businesses and success stories from Indigenous communities building economies

The new year will prove to be interesting. It is poised to be an awakening for Indigenous people in Canada. It will also awaken those Canadians who have been far too comfortable hoarding the nation's wealth to themselves. These lands were meant for all to enjoy and benefit from... AND to care for sustainably.

In the new year, let us draw together even closer. Let us pool our minds and energies. Let us awake from hibernation together with fire in our eyes, passion in our hearts and freedom in our minds.

Happy New Year.

Solution Based Pursuits

I was recently reflecting on the challenges in the world today and how to go about making positive change. The Attawapiskat issue has been big on my mind, for a whole host of reasons. It got me thinking to the broader concepts of change, challenge, focus, and economic development.

For anyone involved in economic development, it will not be much of a surprise to state that much of economic development is based on problem solving. Unlike business development, which takes advantage of opportunities a specific economic environment provides, economic development is the process by which we work to create an environment of opportunities.

What greater example of the challenges we face as economic developers than to consider a community such as Attawapiskat. To introduce you to the community and issue here are some points:

·         Located in Northern Ontario, on the shores of Hudson’s Bay, Attawapiskat is a fly-in only community

·         Food, construction materials and goods must be transported via winter road (of which the window of use is shortening due to global warming) or air at high costs

·         There are about 2,000 residents

·         There are limited employment opportunities and very few businesses and employers (mostly public agencies and Band administration)

·         Like all First Nations, Canada discriminates with its funding levels and provides as much as 50% less funding for First Nations people on basic services such as, water and sewage infrastructure, education, child welfare, health care, and housing to name a few.

·         Canada intentionally excluded the people of Attawapiskat from obtaining any form of compensation for De Beers diamond mine operating in their traditional territory. The result is that De Beers is making billions in profits, while the people of Attawapiskat live in the depths of poverty equalled only by the most impoverished regions of Africa.

·         For a community of 2,000 people, there are only 300 homes, 5 large tents, 17 sheds without heating, electricity or running water.

Here is a timeline that was compiled in Wikipedia, of the most severe issues:

·         1979 30,000 gallons of diesel leaked from underground pipes was spilled underneath the J.R. Nagokee School (houses grades 1-8) recently built (1976). It was the largest spill in Northern Ontario. ("Education is a Right: Fighting for Attawapiskat". http://www.attawapiskat-school.com/Information.html. Retrieved December 3, 2011.)

·         May 11, 2001 J.R. Nagokee School Elementary was closed because of health problems related to 1979 diesel spill. Since then the elementary school students are in portables. (Linda Goyette (December 10, 2010). "Attawapiskat: The State of First Nations Education in Canada". Canadian Geographic. http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/dec10/attawapiskat4.asp. Retrieved December 3, 2011)

·         2000 Minister Robert Nault agreed in 2000 to begin plans for a new school. Two successive INAC ministers, Andy Scott and Jim Prentice also promised a new school for Attawapiskat. You can read the full chronology of seven years of negotiations on the departmental website. On April 1, 2008, the new minister, Chuck Strahl, informed the Attawapiskat First Nation Education Authority AFNEA that Ottawa would not finance the new school after all.

·         2004-12-08. During his 2004 mission in Canada, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, UNESC Special Rapporteur, observed first-hand the substandard conditions of on-reserve housing which included deteriorated units, lack of heating and insulation, leakage of pipes and toxic mould. (UNESC. 2004-12-08. "Human rights and indigenous issues: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Rodolfo Stavenhagen: Mission to Canada.")

·         December 2007 The new Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl cancelled the plans for a new school claiming there were other communities who took priority and that there were no health and safety concerns in Attawapiskat.

·         May 2008 – Hundreds of people are evacuated from the community after a state of emergency is declared. The threat stems from the possibility of ice jams in the Attawapiskat River and subsequent flooding. ("More evacuations expected in northern Ontario due to flood fears". Canwest News Service. MAY 9, 2008. http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=8ee4b129-90d3-44b7-b876-1903d4aa6078. Retrieved December 3, 2011.)

·         2007-11-01 UNHCHR Special Rapporteur, Mr. Miloon Kothari, noted that overcrowded and inadequate housing conditions, as well as difficulties to access basic services, including water and sanitation, are major problems for Aboriginal peoples. He called for changes in federal and provincial government, legislations, policies and budgetary allocation for Aboriginal people (UNHCHR. 2007-11-01. "United Nations Expert on Adequate Housing Calls for Immediate Attention to Tackle National Housing Crisis in Canada." Geneva.)

·         2009 Members of the Attawapiskat First Nation blocked a winter road block near the DeBeers Victor Mine to protest the fact that the Attawapiskat First Nation live in such impoverished conditions alongside this billion dollar project.

·         July 11, 2009 A massive sewage flood dumps waste into eight buildings, which house 90 people. De Beers donated and retrofitted two construction accommodation trailers intended as a short term stop-gap measure, until the homes could be remediated or replaced. They continue to house 90 people who share the four stoves and six washrooms. (Ryan Lux (November 10, 2011). "Hundreds homeless in Attawapiskat MP says, ‘people will die if nothing is done’". Edmonton: The Daily Press. http://www.thedailypress.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3363844. Retrieved December 3, 2011 AND Rebecca Lindell (November 29, 2011). "Putting Attawapiskat on the map". Edmonton: Global News. http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/timeline/6442531868/story.html. Retrieved December 3, 2011)

·         August 21, 2009 Community members traveled to Toronto to confront De Beers Canada about the growing prosperity of the company and the growing poverty in the community.

·         October 14, 2009 – Chief Theresa Hall raises concerns about the federal government’s lack of response to the housing crisis in Attawapiskat caused by the sewage back-up. The government claimed it had committed $700,000 to repair homes.

·         October 28, 2011 – Attawapiskat First Nations leadership calls a state of emergency for the third time in three years. Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan claimed that officials in his department were unaware of Attawapiskat's housing problems until Oct. 28, despite having visited the community many times this year. (CBC (December 1, 2011). "Attawapiskat crisis sparks political blame game". http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/story/2011/12/01/attawapiskat-thursday.html. Retrieved 2011-12-03)

·         2011 December 1 The Canadian Red Cross mobilized to help meet immediate needs in the community of Attawapiskat. The Red Cross continues to work closely with public authorities and the community to identify and address urgent, short-term needs. At the request of the community the Red Cross will also take on a donation management role to support these needs as identified. ("Canadian Red Cross to support immediate needs in Attawapiskat". Toronto. November 26, 2011. http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=41678&tid=001. Retrieved December 4, 2011)

·         CBC journalist Adrienne Arsenault visited Attawapiskat to assess the situation on December 2, 2011.  Alarmed at Attawapiskat's housing problems, she dismissed claims by Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan that on an emergency basis there was adequate clean, dry shelter with running water and electricity available in the community, citing public buildings such as the healing centre and sportsplex. Adrienne Arsenault was particularly concerned about the most-at-risk groups, which include elderly people and children: the healing centre building is five kilometres out of town and has neither running water nor phone lines. (CBC (December 3, 2011). "Adrienne Arsenault Reporter's Notebook". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adKggXHA1uM. Retrieved 2011-12-03)

Much can be said about what is NOT being done or about Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s callous response to the emergency situation whereby he ordered the community into third party management instead of sending any aid at all. For any of you who are familiar with what third party management is, you will know that it is a process to make white financiers rich off the misery of First Nations peoples. With rare exceptions (I know of a few accounting firms that actually do have ethics), they do not build community capacity to eventually get out of third party management – doing so would mean they no longer get a lifelong cushy contract at $1,300 per day or more of community money that could be going toward programs of the basic necessities.

However, this brings me to my main point. The tendency of humans is to spot the injustice (which is a good thing to be aware of), but then get caught into a shoving match in an effort to deal with the injustice. The shoving and pressure, is clearly important, but it cannot be the only action taken. We must still pursue what solutions, however small they may seem, that we can.

Let us assume that the Canadian Government will never help this community and that they will continue to intentionally ignore the discriminatory funding deficits. How can we, as economic development professionals, find tangible solutions for the many challenges that this community (or any other similar to it) faces?

In my last post (http://indigenouspeopleintheeconomy.blogspot.com/2011/12/motivation.html), I discussed the importance of motivation to economic activity and I defined economic activity very broadly – including the process of acquiring food to eat. Another blog post I had recently read (http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/how-to-motivate-yourself/) discussed the importance of a tangible focus in the development of motivation. If I am hungry, rather than focus on the pain of hunger, I should focus on forming a plan on acquiring food to meet this need. That, then, becomes my motivation and offers me clear concrete direction.

So, on the ground level, we have motivation stemming from our needs and on the top level, we have the ultimate goal of a thriving sustainable community where people’s needs are met and they have opportunities to reach for their full potential. Before I begin to talk about solutions I will explain what this has to do with economic development and then I will build from the ground up the discussion of motivation from the very basic needs to the highest level of need.

Economic Development and Solution Based Focus

As I had mentioned before, economic development is essentially problem solving and creating an economic environment that encourages entrepreneurship and business development. When viewed in this light, a community such as Attawapiskat is the ideal community for economic developers to consider. If our theories and experiences cannot help communities like Attawapiskat develop, then they are meaningless and only offering an illusion of success in cities or communities that already have economic capacity built. Just as we would not praise an architect for drawing a building that was already constructed, why would we praise an economic developer for developing an economy that is already developed?

This is the reason a discussion such as this is critical to economic development. The creative energies of the economic development profession need to be directed in the right place.

Motivation: From Basic to High Level

By now, most people will have heard about Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Fulfillment of these needs are often our primary motivators. Maslow laid out this hierarchy as follows:

·         Physiological needs: breathing, water, food, clothing, shelter

·         Safety needs: security of health, body, family, employment, resources

·         Belonging needs: friendship, family, belonging to a larger group, sexual intimacy

·         Esteem needs: self-esteem, achievement, respect of self and others

·         Need to know & understand

·         Aesthetic needs

·         Self-actualization: the drive to meet your own potential

While there are critics of this perspective, I believe they can still be valid for discussion. I do not believe they are strictly a pyramid where one must be fulfilled before the next. I also believe that this can be applied to individuals, as well as communities. I might map it to communities as follows:

·         Basic needs

·         Community safety

·         Sense of community/engagement

·         Community pride/marketing

o   Sense of pride in the community

o   Knowledge of past, present and visioning for the future

o   Community clean-up and beautification

·         Community-actualization

In Attawapiskat, they struggle to deal with the basic needs (housing, access to water, food) and community safety (threat of funding cuts from Government of Canada, threat of third party management, personal safety of community members). Often the discussion revolves around comments, such as:

·         “Why don’t they just get a job?”

·         “Why can’t they just fix up their own houses?” or “Why can’t they build better shelters?”

·         “Why don’t we just privatize their land and allow the people to get mortgages?”

·         “Why don’t they start some businesses?”

What these questions, and others like them, fail to address is the foundational influence of motivation and misplaced energies. There are no jobs in the community. There is no Rona’s or Home Hardware to purchase housing materials, even if the people had the money to do so. There are no roads to transport materials in. Mortgages for the people would be useless since they have not the income to support mortgages – it would only result in wholesale giving lands and territories into direct possession of the banking industry.

The last question may have some of the answer, but not in the traditional sense. If they community created social enterprises or co-ops that could respond to the needs they have, they may be able to venture down the road to greater sustainability. Certainly, this could not happen without some sort of an initial investment (perhaps government funding or private sector donations), but here are some potential ideas:

·         Start a sizable greenhouse to begin growing food to supply to the community – it can either be sold in a store run by the community. (Not only would an investment of funds be necessary to build the greenhouses, but training/mentorship in running greenhouses)

·         Request that universities send engineering students to create/innovate some housing/shelter concepts that could be implemented using the resources around the community

·         Request that the military consider the community for practical field exercises

·         Communicate with companies like GE regarding water filtration machines – perhaps a donation or discount price or government support at full price

·         Consult the Elders on the viability of setting up a rabbit farm or perhaps a sheep or alpaca herd

·         Consult with traditional medicine men and women about reintroducing this health option, which has the potential of using natural medicines of the traditional territory

·         Consider establishing a construction company as a joint venture with an experience company and a clear exit strategy to take advantage of housing funds that do come into the community. This builds capacity and opens the potential of the community making use of the resources around them to build further houses (perhaps using Frontier Foundation’s program of establishing local sawmills). This construction company could also take on the work to build the new school (if Canada ever offers the funds).

·         Start a grassroots program where community members gather regularly to clean up around the community as a team, or to conduct basic repairs. Already, being as a group makes things more fun, but also offer a free meal/feast and perhaps some entertainment while people are working through the community. The concept here is that no person should have nothing to do.

There are other ideas that can be thought of, but these are merely examples. When we begin to take our energies and focus them on something more tangible, like a specific solution, we make, what we once though unattainable, attainable. Focusing these solutions to meet our needs today, we fuel them with the energy of the proper motivation and, in the process, build the necessary capacity to rise to the next level.

Will there be other challenges? Absolutely, but the confidence gained in rising past one will encourage us to move beyond the next.

Knowing the problems and challenges is one thing, but if we do not start dreaming up the solutions we enable and perpetuate the problems.

So, as economic developers, let us work with the communities that truly need assistance; walk in with both ears open to find out what their needs are and how they would like us to help; put on our thinking caps and build an economic environment in the community that matches their values, their needs, and their hopes and dreams for the future.

Motivation

When I think back to Indigenous nations and tribes before contact, there is ample evidence of communities of people who were thriving, busy, hard working. When I think back on the rise of other communities and towns here in Manitoba (Winnipeg, Steinbach, Brandon, etc.), I again see people who were thriving, busy and hard working. They did not have all of the modern conveniences we have today and life was definitely more challenging, but they did it. They succeeded in developing communities and many elders still alive can recount many fond memories, despite the "challenges" of not having our modern conveniences.

What did they have in common? What can we learn from our ancestors?

First, one thing that they did have in common is the fact that there was no vast government across the whole of northern Turtle Island (what is now referred to as Canada). This meant that the people did not have some large structure with a pool of funds and resources to draw upon for assistance in a project. If a project was to be undertaken, the community of people had to employ strategies that they, themselves could implement.

On an individual level, leaders of the time were spokespeople, not slaves, not maintenance workers, not resident handy-man. So, if someone needed something done (food hunted or gathered for supper, clothing for the family, proper lodging, etc.), they had to do it themselves. They might have asked for help, or they may have sought out a mentor to help them learn a particular skill or they may have bartered with others for the expertise they needed.

Another common element among these communities, whether they were settlers or Indigenous communities, is that they understood the importance of supporting one another within the community. Success was clearly defined as being broader than individual success. They also understood that people had inherent value. A community is formed of people, not of money, resources, or material assets. With each person having a gift to share and skills to benefit the community, the concept of "unemployment" as we experience today did not exist. Equally so, the concept of vindictively withholding support for a fellow community member's skill was virtually unheard of.

It wasn't so much that the people of the past were necessarily perfect or entirely altruistic. The circumstances of the time demanded that they work together, support one another, and ensure success for each other as a group. Today, circumstances are such that we have a false sense of security. We believe that the success of our neighbour, or lack thereof, has little to do with our own potential for success. The result is a society made of disconnected individuals, loosely bound by politic structures (ie. Canada is a political creation).

In this society it is easy to pursue selfishly individualistic definitions of success. It is easy to withdraw support for a neighbour's skill or business over a petty disagreement or an equally petty sense of jealousy. It is easy to avoid our neighbours, or to ignore the plight of others in our society. It is easy to turn a blind eye to economic exclusion of others in the belief that their misfortune has no effect on our own destiny.

Comparing the past to the present, the key variance that comes to mind summarized in one word - motivation. There are a few angles on this to explore. First, having motivation itself is critical to economic engagement. If I have no motivation to work to seek food, I won't. Worse still if I live in a system that provides my needs without pushing me with any incentive to engage in any form of economic activity at all. As any successful entrepreneur or business person will tell you, the difference between success and failure is heavily influenced by the level of motivation.

Motivation is what drives people to do things. We have a need to fill, which motivates us to seek ways to meet that need. The level to which we are motivated will determine the level of effort, engagement or commitment we offer. This is where our society today differs from the experience of our ancestors. For our ancestors, if you did not engage in economic activity (ie. Hunting or farming),   then you starved. Therefore, you had a very real motivation to work.

Today, we take away motivation from people in two very serious ways. First, we provide social assistance in a way that does not develop capacity or skill and offers no motivation to work for what they are receiving for free. Second, our society often breaks the spirits of many by denying them opportunities to work (systemic racism, hiring bias, training mismatch, etc.) or by punishing efforts to acquire skill (ie. Social assistance gets cut off if a person takes training or courses. It is also cut off if a teenager of a parent on social assistance gets an after school job).

Dealing with the challenge of motivation is complex and critical to the success of a community. One famous quote that summarizes, both the challenge and the solution was spoken by Theadore Roosevelt: "Do what you can with what you have, where you are." This requires an entire communal mindset change, but it is the first place to start.

Having motivation is certainly important, but the second angle is to question what kind of motivation. If the motivation is purely individualistic, there will be pockets of success, but that still may not result in a successful or healthy community. For example, if my motivation is purely based on personal profit, then I might outsource manufacturing of a product to a country that knowingly uses either cheap labour or child labour. However, if my motivation is personal AND community success, then I will hire locally, produce locally, train up fellow community members, even if it means a smaller profit margin.

The rewards of one approach is purely individual and financial, while the rewards of the other is a mix of financial, social development, community development, and the broader definition of success that leads to greater sustainability. In a study on entrepreneurship and motivation, it was discovered that entrepreneurs were not interested in money for its own sake. They were motivated to create, to take action, to provide for their needs, personal achievement, and the adventure of being part of something bigger than themselves. Interestingly enough, one cited success factor was the practice of sharing profits with employees.

For our Indigenous communities, then, we need to reclaim the motivations we once had (and that some of us retained) and ensure that it is the right kind of motivations we develop and reclaim. We have the power to do what we can with what we have no matter where we are. This is something that nobody can take from us, but it is something that we can lose or give away.

If you are in a remote community far removed from economic markets, or a large community with urban reserves and main transportation corridors, be encouraged. You have gifts and passions that the Creator gave you. You can use those no matter where you are. Once that begins to happen, the motivation and drive is contagious and we will be able to rebuild economically successful communities once again.

Letter to MPs RE: Attawapiskat First Nation

Undoubtedly, you will likely have heard of the plight of one of our communities, living in worse than Third World conditions and ignored by the Canadian and Ontario governments for years. I decided not to be idle. Among other things, I wrote a letter to all the MPs to pressure them to action.

Below is a copy of my letter and below that, the emails I sent it to. Each party has one email that will automatically send your email letter to every member of that party. I hope you will join me in flooding their inboxes on this issue.

Dear MPs,

I recently read the article regarding the State of Emergency in Attawapiskat First Nation and the complete failure of governments and aid agencies to respond (www.huffingtonpost.ca/charlie-angus/attawapiskat-emergency_b_1104370.html#s487209).

Admittedly, the article greatly angered and distressed me. I cannot begin to express how shameful it is for a 1st world country that prides itself on Human Rights to then turn around and deny the basic human rights of an entire community of people.

The people of Attawapiskat First Nation are denied proper housing, electricity, heating, water, plumbing. Many are living in mere tents in a nation whose temperature plummets well below 0, to temperatures that cause illness and death.

Canada gives billions of dollars in foreign aid to nations that are not even experiencing half of the horrendous conditions as the people of Attawapiskat First Nation, and even offers aid to wealthier nations like China, yet turns a blind eye domestically.

I implore you to lay aside your political differences and agendas to do what's right. Take action with appropriate responsive measures and aid. If it means redirecting foreign aid budgets to do this, then so be it. Please make this a priority. It should not come from AANDC budgets. This is a Human Rights issue, not a First Nation issue.

If this were suburban Toronto, I am certain your response would be swift with a budget determined by need rather than by artifical caps. Please act with the same level of dedication and commitment.

Thank you,

Ken Sanderson


Here are the emails (feel free to comment and add to the list):

• libmem@parl.gc.ca (Liberal MPs)
• cpcmem@parl.gc.ca (Conservative MPs)
• ndpmem@parl.gc.ca (NDP MPs)
• elizabeth.may@parl.gc.ca

Last few pieces of advice. MPs are most likely to read your letter if they are well thought out and rant free. This can be the most challenging part. Make sure you take the time to process your emotions first, then write several drafts and get feedback from firends, mentors, etc. Since it is email, delivery is instant, so you can afford to take the few days to get your message right.

Happy activism!

Ken

Indigenous People and the Betty Crocker Axe at Our Necks

I recently came across a call for papers from Indigenous Policy Journal for their “Special Issue of Indigenous Policy, Spring 2012.”

This was of great interest to me because it treats the subject of a current court case in Alaska where Indigenous people there are literally fighting in the courtrooms for the recognition of their existence.

The story starts back in 1989. Exxon Valdez, an oil company had been responsible for a serious oil spill in Alaska on March 24, 1989. Between 260,000 and 750,000 barrels of crude oil had been spilled. According to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (www.evostc.state.ak.us/History/FAQ.cfm). The immediate effects were wildlife deaths in the hundreds of thousands and the complete destruction, permanently, of the fisheries in the region.

The local economy, environment and entire way of life had been completely and utterly destroyed in a single devastating event. Many people, including the mayor of one town in the region, committed suicide after the spill. Even now, 22 years later, the toxins have not been removed and the environment has not been restored. The economy still remains in ruin. Because the Indigenous communities there are remote, fishery and wildlife was the cornerstone of the local economy. Now, there are limited economic options or hopes.

Exxon should have fairly compensated the local people for the destruction they caused, right? Apparently, many others thought so too. They took it to court. Exxon ultimately won by “proving” that the Indigenous people there (the Alutiiq people) were no longer Indigenous people by the time of the spill and, therefore, their culture could not have been damaged. So, no compensation required.

How did they prove this? They argued that the Alutiiq people were no different than average middle class Americans because they had been observed using Betty Crocker cake mix.

In a second trial regarding hunting and fishing rights in 2008, the US government denied the Alutiiq people their rights, arguing that they did not exist as a pan-Alutiiq people prior to contact (they were several groups who amalgamated in identification) and so they could not possibly have Alutiiq rights.

Although these are American court systems and laws, the approach of trying to deny Indigenous people their rights on the basis of “modern” practices is well used by colonial governments all over the world.

Pamela Palmater, in her blog, summarized many of the key points to this backward way of thinking. The main point that applies here is that the rights of Indigenous peoples can NOT be “frozen” to pre-contact times, as repeatedly clarified by the Supreme Court of Canada

Consider the ramifications of the Exxon and the US government’s flawed logic. If what they say were to be relevant, then USA and Canada have no rights selling computers, electronics, automobiles, modern housing (with drywall and vinyl and the many modern materials) because all of these items were no traditionally traded by these colonial governments pre-contact. Skyscrapers, subways, and all the modern conveniences would all need to be torn down and done away with as they are irrelevant to traditional Americans and Canadians. Obviously, this is ridiculous.

The problem comes from a flawed understanding of what trade and economics truly mean. Usually it is Wall Street thinkers that struggle to wrap their heads around the broader, more accurate understandings of trade and economics. Allow me to illuminate so that we are all on the same page.

Wall Street thinking of “trade”: financial transactions

True understanding of trade: any exchange of goods or services whether or NOT they make use of a common trade medium such as currency. If I catch a fish and trade it with my uncle for his solar-powered calculator, this is trade. It is a transaction. No money was employed, but it is an economic activity and it is a commercial activity regardless of whether the two parties or related or not.

Wall Street thinking of “economics”: currency, GDP, financial profit

True understanding of economics: the process by which people obtain what they need or want. This is often done through the science of incentives (I want something, an incentive, so I need to negotiate how I will obtain it). An economy can exist and be thriving and successful and never ever involve money. In fact, currency (money) is an imaginary system created to simply facilitate easier trade (See my earlier post on barter systems and discussions on the meaning of economy here, and here).

So a community that had fished for consumption in the past did in fact, have an economy. Fishing for consumption is an economic activity and just because it did not involve the exchange of money or a direct trade between two people, it did involve a trade of time and skill for an economic reward (fish). In this way, this economic activity was also a commercial activity.

Furthermore, just because a people did not engage in one specific form of economic activity in the past, does not mean that they have no right to do so in the future. To deny them that right means that every nation on this planet must be denied their right to produce and trade every modern product.

What about the question of culture?

Are our rights, our ways of life and our very culture itself restricted to historical stereotypes and caricatures? If I am not living in a teepee year round and wearing buckskin clothing, do I cease to be Ojibwe? Do my rights cease?

Naturally, the answers are a resounding NO. For the sake of argument, however, let us assume that this is the case universally. I will liberally borrow an idea from one of Dr. Pamela Palmater’s presentation of the “traditional” Canadian.

The traditional Canadian historically wore black robes, sported long locks of white or grey hair and was white. Their traditional way of life included squatting, consuming massive amounts of alcohol (Sir John A McDonald was a well documented drunk), arguing over legal terminology, and judging other people. In their traditional culture, homosexuality was criminalized and punished, people suspected of witchcraft could be burned at the stake. Now, if Canadians cease to practice these traditional ways and dressing, their rights are null and void. They are no longer Canadian citizens.

Since Canadians no longer outlaw homosexuality or burn people at the stake their Canadian culture is dead and no longer exists. Therefore they have no rights any longer and America may take the land, for example.

Ridiculous, no? Yet this is exactly what the white colonial governments attempt to do to Indigenous people in order to justify their continued expropriation of land and resources. Just as Canadians have been allowed to evolve as a culture and change over time, so must we be allowed.

The fundamental problem is when the colonials attempt to treat our nations as a culture or a race. We are neither; we are nations. Our nations do have a specific culture and majority of our citizens are of a specific ethnicity, but that does not deny the fact that our nations were historically and are now still nations.

So, let’s have a Betty Crocker revolution! Let us hold a box of Betty Crocker cake mix in the air and proudly proclaim that we still retain our cultures and our inherent rights as Indigenous peoples!

Hope for Indigenous people?

Our peoples face unprecedented challenges and have for a long time. When the Vikings first set foot in North America, their first act was to attack our people for blood. Our peoples drove them off. Then came christopher columbus (and yes I wrote his name in small letters, because his does not deserve capitalized names), whose first act was wholesale slaughter of every Indigenous person he could find, approximately 250,000 by conservative estimates.  But by then, we could not drive them off fast enough as other “explorers” came in droves.

Those who came after columbus came less violently and gained friendships with our peoples. Our first mistake. After contact, we were subjected to purposeful biological warfare, “ethnic cleansing”, genocide, unending war, land infringements, residential schools (aka death camps where nearly half of all children sent to these schools died of torture, starvation, beatings, freezing, etc. with those that survived being subjected to degradation, sexual, physical, emotional and psychological abuse), sixties scoop (where mothers were lied to that their babies were still births, and then the babies, very much alive, were adopted out to white families), the Indian Act legislating reserves to become concentration camps where people were arrested and beaten if they were caught leaving the camps and many were intentionally starved to death, outlawing of our languages, outlawing of our cultures, etc.

The list can go on and even today our struggles are no less:

·         Our children are denied equitable access to education – often funded and 50% less per pupil that white children

·         We are denied equitable access to health care – often forced off our own communities for treatment

·         Our babies suffer the highest infant mortality rates in Canada

·         Many of our communities have no running water and many that do are chronically underfunded by the Federal government so that they are under “boil water” advisories

·         We have some of the highest rates of TB in the world – primarily due to Federal underfunding of adequate housing causing multiple families to live in houses that are often no more than shacks

·         Some of the highest rates of suicide in the world

·         High rates of chronic diseases due to lack of access to healthy foods

·         Shorter life expectancies

·         A  rate of incarceration that is 5-6 times the national average; filling up to 50% of Prairie prisons even though we make up less than 15% of the population.

·         Our peoples are often judged harsher and given stiffer sentences

·         We suffer police brutality unparalleled by another group in Canada

·         Our lands are raped by transnational corporations for mining and oil, leaving us with NO benefits, NO equitable royalty payments, and devastating pollution causing disease and illness

·         We face continuous racism and prejudice by the public and media

·         We have higher rates of unemployment and economic exclusion

Reading all of that is depressing. However, there is one important fact to remember.

WE ARE STILL HERE!

That is a powerful fact. Despite 300 years of genocide, we are still here. Despite all the challenges levelled against us, we are still here. In the face of everything that the colonial government seeks to do to us, we are not only still here, but we are gathering strength.

The colonial governments are teetering on the verge of economic collapse:

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-11-05/news/30363948_1_barack-obama-debt-crisis-financial-crisis

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1083622

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204224604577027560761445968.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

http://seekingalpha.com/article/305746-an-economic-recovery-that-s-moving-sideways

The Occupy movement gathering around the world is an example of the failure of the colonial system. The global recession, started by greedy colonial men in Wall Street, is an example of the failure of the system.

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/world/archives/2011/11/20111106-095133.html

Yet, there are more and more examples of our Indigenous peoples beginning to rise up in strength. Some examples include:

·         Westbank First Nation

·         Oosoyos Indian Band

·         Tsawwassen First Nation

·         Membertou First Nation

·         Buffalo Point First Nation

·         Opaskwayak Cree Nation

·         And many more

Our path to victory and to strength will come from DOING the right things and not waiting for permission or approval or funds from the Federal government. Yes we will fight for those things, but we must not wait for them to be concluded before doing anything. Our destinies lie in our own hands. If we have survived 300 years of oppression, then really, nothing can stop us.

This is the irrational fear that has Canada ordering spies and military monitoring of our peoples.

http://www.socialist.ca/socialistworker/SW2011/issue533/NAT-Spying.html

http://www.stopracism.ca/content/spying-first-nations-harper-prepares-unrest

http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/515.php

http://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.com/2011/06/secret-agent-harper-conservative-spy.html

Harper, the conservatives, the elite, the colonials all see that we are beginning to rise to our feet and they fear it. They are afraid that they will no longer be able to sit upon the top of the teetering ladder. They are afraid of losing their privileged, exclusive position. They are likely afraid of the tables turning and becoming oppressed themselves.

It is an irrational fear because we are not seeking to oppress them, despite all that they have done to us. We are not seeking to impoverish them or take anything away from them. We simply seek our rights, fairness, and control of our own destinies. We seek respect for our peoples, our land, our rights, our cultures, our sovereignty.

We are not asking to make them our enemy, even though they see us as theirs. We have a higher vision of the spirit of cooperation, friendship and human harmony.

Is there hope for us? Yes. We must support one another and support our young generation rising up. We must mentor them, encourage them, and stand with them as we lift the yoke of oppression from our backs.

We are still here.

Miigwech

Indigenous balance

As Indigenous people in the economy, it can be a real challenge to find the balance between activism and development.

First, let's be sure we're on the same page here. By "in the economy" I mean either working for someone, running your own business, or even living off the land. To be honest, unless we are sitting on our behinds and literally doing nothing productive, we are all in the economy - it just might not be recognized by the mainstream, somewhat short-sighted economists.

By activism, I am referring to the inevitable calling, we as Indigenous people, have to stand up for our peoples, our rights, and the environment (aka all creation).

By development, I mean the processes by which we harness the gifts of the Creator (be those gifts of the land, gifts of knowledge or skill, etc.) in ways that maintain integrity and honour (aka "sustainability"). This can be developing these gifts and includes our career development too.

So the question is, how do we maintain balance when we see injustices again our people? Do we quit our jobs and make a stand at a blockade? Do we ignore the plights of our people for the sake of some form of socio-economic stability?

As many have shared with me, it's not an either/or situation. However, this is precisely where the challenge comes in. How much activism do I engage in?

Our lives are complex intersections of so many factors, each of which take time. We have to juggle business or career, family, education, community, physical and spiritual development, etc. This, of course, is common to all, including non-Indigenous people. For Indigenous people, though, we add to that the quest for our own identity, our fight for our rights to even exist, and of course our struggle against racism, discrimination, colonialism, assimilation, seemingly unending injustices and a whole host of challenges.

I am not going to say that this or that way is the right balance. Each of us must find our own balance, our own path with this regard. One thing for certain, there will be a cost. If there is no cost at all, then we must ask ourselves if we are standing for anything. We must ask if we are even holding on to our identity, or simply succumbing to assimilation.

The weight of the cost will depend on what we are willing to pay and what we must balance in providing for our children &families and standing for our people. The cost might mean losing a job or simply not being able to work for certain employers (their position on Indigenous issues might be irreconcilable with your own belief or identity). The cost may mean the breaking of brotherhood or friendship with those whose hearts are so hardened against our people that they will hear no reason. The cost may be our time, dedicated to the struggle on a specific issue.

Whatever the cost you deem willing to pay, count it well as you run with the rat race towards the cliff of integrity. Will you stop and hold fast to integrity? Or will you, like so many in the western society, leap off the cliff of integrity into the depths of injustice?

Globalization Versus Localization

There are many elements of Globalization whose discussion and debates could fill a book. I thought I would focus on a couple key elements.

There is a false notion that Globalization will mean fair economic opportunity for all, greater efficiencies in product development and distribution and higher standards of living world-wide.

1. Fair economic opportunity for all

Global trade is one thing, but what acolytes of the globalization movement are pushing is not global trade. What they are pushing for is a global open market for the largest companies of the world to operate in. This means that well established companies that have been started decades ago by people from privileged classes and races (typically upper class white businessmen) during times where diversity was not an important social issue, nor was social justice or fair trade.

Now, when many people and nations are starting to rise out from under oppression, colonial rule, and decades of intentional economic exclusion by the privileged classes, the same people who created the unfair advantages are pressing for the opportunity for them to unfairly compete globally.

Consider it like a race. The starting pistol fires and the privileged class runs off down the track. Meanwhile, the remaining runners try to start running only to realize that someone chained their ankles to large stakes in the ground. The privileged class runners, miles ahead finally hear the concerned voices of spectators calling out that it is not fair. So they order their henchmen to go unlock the chains.

As they are running along, the privileged class, now miles and miles ahead, feeling good about themselves, think, “I am so glad I levelled the playing field for those poor people.”

This is the position many of our Indigenous nations are put under. To make matters worse, we are criticized for not winning even after the playing field was “levelled.” This is same position that all “developing” nations are placed under.

These nations, only now starting to form businesses and economies after a long time of oppression, colonialism and exclusion, now must compete against transnational corporations that have had decades to build their vast empires and resources. These same transnational corporations have received corporate welfare for decades in the forms of grants, tax breaks, incentive packages, waived fees, waived regulatory requirements, etc. The moment government or philanthropists consider offering some meagre support to young businesses from the non-privileged classes, the privileged ones rise up and cry foul.

“That’s not fair to give them welfare” they say. “They should stand or fall in a free market economy!”

Is it a noble goal? Yes. Is it fair economic opportunity for all? No.

2. Greater efficiencies in product development and distribution

The basic concept of globalization is that the processes used in producing a product and subsequently distributing will be more efficient. This, in term, will reduce overall consumer prices.

The problem with this thinking is that somebody is going to have to pay. Either front line workers will endure poor conditions with poor pay, or businesses in the middle of the supply chain will have to suffer cuts into their financial sustainability, or taxpayers will need to be put on the hook for corporate welfare. Somewhere, somebody is going to have to pay for the grossly undervalued products we buy at discount rates.

Another problem with this basic concept is that, in theory, it is supposed to make it easier to acquire the products we cannot produce domestically. In practice, we end up paying others for the right to use our own products!

An example will suffice. We have trees in Canada. We cut them and load them on trucks and trains, ship them to the U.S. where American businesses then do “value-added” work to the lumber. This lumber is then shipped back to Canada, and we buy it for a highly inflated price. Why are we not doing the work ourselves?

This phenomenon is not limited to forestry. It happens with fruits and vegetables, resources and products of all types. For many products, we export as much as we import. It is utter ridiculousness when we could be producing and prepping our own products for our own consumption. Only the excess of what we require should be exported.

Think for the moment. How can apples still be low priced, if we grow them, then transport them to another country (typically the US), transport them back and then sell them to our own people? Taxpayer funded subsidies given over to private companies as corporate welfare. This is part of the anger among the Occupy movement around North America right now.

In this day, when we are concerned with CO2 emissions, we are actually creating a worse problem through the traffic that comes from globalization.

3. Higher standards of living world-wide

The premise behind this claim is that globalization brings about increased living standards. Does it really? There are a number of key questions that need to be asked.

-          Who defines what the living standard should be?

-          How do you measure living standard?

-          How is living standards monitored?

-          Are living standards truly “one size fits all”?

Often, living standards are defined as the white, English-speaking, North American lifestyle. This lifestyle is essentially based on material wealth, consumption, individualism, and artificially high value on intangible (ie. Low practical value) knowledge economy careers. In this system, a CEO doing only a fraction of the work that the cashier working at the front end of his business empire does. In practical terms, the CEO’s job is of so little value that he should hardly be paid more than the front line employees. Yet, CEO’s often make anywhere from 10-1000 times what their front line employees make.

A computer technician is often valued in school, while teachers frown upon farmers or hunters or fishermen. Yet, in practical terms, the latter are infinitely more valuable in terms of what they produce than the former.

This is not to say there is no place for CEO’s and leaders and technicians, but it is to say that they are artificially valued above the more practical occupations.

Western lifestyle is also characterized by consumption and waste. Why should we impose such a backward value upon other peoples? Why should a developing nation be measured by how much they consume and waste? Yet, this is precisely what our current economic measurements do.

Living standards cannot be defined by the elite, nor one specific culture. They must be defined at local levels.

Globalization will not lead us to economic fairness. Localization is what is required. This is the process of making local economies strong and sustainable. It is not against global trade, but does insist that we engage global trade in a balanced manner. We trade the excess of what we produce. Why on Earth would one trade away that which one needs and then live in lack?

Global trade, without strong local economies, is an illusion built upon the backs of communities exploited for the benefit of the elite.

Ideas for change and how you can resist an unjust Global economy are here:

http://www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/generate-alternatives-take-back-the-economy