Economic Lateral Violence

In a previous post, back in 2012, I discussed the subject of lateral violence within Indigenous communities and among Indigenous people. In that post, I discussed the topic in more general terms. Today, I would like to discuss the subject in terms of the economy.

For starters, it is important to be on a common understanding of what is meant by "economy." The economy is, in real general terms, the flow of resources. This could be barter exchanges, employment, business, etc.

Something that I have observed in Indigenous communities is that lateral violence does not only exist in terms of individual experiences (i.e. People being called 'apples' or 'trading post Indians'; or Indigenous people harbouring negative views of their own peoples), but it also exists at the economic level.

What do I mean by this? Well, for many decades, even centuries, Indigenous people have been economically oppressed. They have been denied jobs due to their ethnicity, denied business opportunities, or used as tokenism (being hired to fill an employment equity quota) in more recent times. This has happened for so long that now, there are many Indigenous people in positions or relative power that perpetuate the oppression of their own people.

Some examples of this are:

1. Leadership that chooses to overlook skilled members of their own community in order to hire 'experts' from outside the community - in particular, white experts.
2. Denial of employment opportunities to very qualified members of their own communities in favour of an outside person or a friend/family member.
3. Leadership that buys into the myth that Indigenous owned businesses and enterprises are not as expert as 'white' owned businesses.

While there are cases where a community may need to hire expertise from "outside," because it is not available locally, I have seen far too many cases where internal resources or even nation-to-nation (Indigenous communities) resources are overlooked.

In many ways, this is a perpetuation of the very oppressions that disrupted Indigenous economies in the first place. I believe it is imperative to Indigenous professionals and leaders to pay close attention to this and ensure that such things do not continue. Further growth and positive development of Indigenous communities cannot occur if this important aspect is overlooked.

In fact, what we are seeing is a values mismatch. We need to start reflecting on our values as Indigenous people and evaluate whether our decisions and actions are aligning to those values.

Ken

Blog Hiatus

It has been a fairly long time that I have been away from this blog. I am back and will be posting again. The topic of economy, economic development and Indigenous people is a very interesting and worthwhile topic.

The current political climate in Canada certainly makes for many potential topics. For example:

• The reduction of support and resources available to Indigenous people
• The pervasive legislation being pushed through parliament
• The conflict and opportunities around oil sand development and pipelines
• The legal environment around resource extraction and Indigenous involvement
• The increasing need for Indigenous communities and organizations to establish solid HR frameworks, solid economic bases, and solid community plans

These are just a touch of the topics that I will be exploring this year.

Questions on Indigenous Identity

The single greatest cause for confusion among Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike is identity. How do you define it? What is an Indigenous person? And if 100% of the population does not agree on a single definition, which one is the "true" definition?

Do we define Indigenous identity in the negative? That is to say, I am not white, therefore I am Indigenous. Or, I am not Canadian, therefore, Indigenous.

When we opt for a specific definition, do we need to be an exclusive group? That is to say, reject participation with the world or with anyone outside our own little cliques?

Can an Indigenous root for a sporting team that is not racially their own, yet refer to the team as "their" team? Does this mean they are not Indigenous or that they are not a credible voice for Indigenous issues?

Suppose the Olympic team try outs for Canada declared that no Indigenous person may be on the team... Would we not angrily cry out "Racism!"? When Waneek Horn Miller, prominent Mohawk voice, made the Canadian Olympic team for water polo... Did she refuse to call it her team? No! She referred to the team as her team. Would she have wanted Indigenous people to reject supporting the team? No! Did this make her "colonial," "collaborationalist," "uncredible as an Indigenous voice," "un-Indigenous"?!?

So what is an Indigenous person? Is it by blood? Then there are no Indigenous nations, only ethnicity.
Is it by geography? Then what of those living off reserve or who were born off reserve or never lived on reserve or were taken from birth mothers and adopted out to white families?

Is it by recognized special "status"? Then our identity is entirely dictated by the Federal government.
What about identity by following a spiritual path? Then we have no nations, only a religion and anyone, even a person of Asian, African, or European descent can be Indigenous simply by making a 'religious' choice.

What about citizenship? I have yet to see this implemented, but would this not make more sense. Then we would need our own citizenship codes and immigration laws.

Now, whatever becomes the defacto standard definition - if ever one can be possible even - is part of that identity dependent on how much hate and rejection of non-Indigenous people we demonstrate? Must we always refer to non-Indigenous people as "the enemy" and "them"?

In all honesty, I don't think we can form a single identity for "Indigenous" people. In fact, as I pose these questions and ponderings, I think "Indigenous" is just as bad a term as the Canadian use of "Aboriginal." In fact, a Haida or a Cree or a Mohawk has no right to accuse an Ojibway or Blackfoot or Assiniboine of not being "Indigenous."

In fact, I believe so called "Indigenous" people who do this are practicing assimilation (perhaps without realizing it), but rather than forcing people to be Canadian or British, they force them to be whatever group they themselves are from (I.e. Mohawk, Anishinaabe, Innu, etc.).

If you are reading this, maybe someone once called you Apple, or Trading Post Indian, or Indian Agent, or colonial, or some other crude derogatory term. Take heart, for those are assimilationist terms and you are who you are despite what others may say. Nobody can control your identity. If you wish to seek your own identity - go back to your own Elders, for only your own people can determine if you are "Indigenous" or not.

I am Anishinaabe. No Blackfoot, Cree, Mohawk, Innu, Dakota, Dene, Maliseet, etc can tell me I am not Anishinaabe. And not a single one of them can tell me I lack credibility to speak for my own people.

Likewise I cannot tell them the same, nor can any of us give "approval" for it either. Only Anishinaabe can respond to Anishinaabe on identity.

What does this mean going forward? I'm not fully sure. I just know I am not sure umbrella terms are doing any of us any favours.

Economic Ecosystem

A truly sustainable economy is not purely manmade. It is a breathing entity with seasons and fluidity. It is something we work with, something we try to synchronize with as we might do with a regional climate. We fail when we try to control it as western economists do.

Companies always view a quarterly "loss" or stagnation of profit as a bad thing. I think that's wrong; it is a necessary season as the daylight hours lengthen or shorten; or rainfall increases or decreases; or temperature rises or lowers. But when we push too hard for artificial and continual growth we end up with exhausted resources, over-saturated markets, mass consumption culture, etc.  

Rather than thinking of economy as some lifeless abstract concept, think of it as living ecosystem. Now imagine what would happen to any ecosystem if we tried to artificially control some aspect of it. Say we found a way to artificially super heat all the lakes and waterways in a region to force evaporation/condensation, and hence, rain. The ecosystem would experience continual rains, but at what cost?  

A little rain is great for growing crops or ensuring lush vegetation, but if we force it to a level that denies natural cycles, we end up with:

• flooded land
• nutrient stripped soil (as the water run off would leech out the nutrients)
• disrupted river and lake beds
• dying or dead aquatice life, which then affects the food chain
• etc.

Another example - suppose we were to specifically try to eradicate all wolves in a region because short-sightedly concluded that we would have more big game for ourselves without competition from wolves. Although, if we did that, there would be no natural mechanism in place to remove the old and sick from the herds, thereby diminishing overall quality of the wild meat and maybe even threatening us with disease.

Or what if we somehow figured out a way to make it daytime 24 hours a day. Party time! No night! Of course, if we did that, the scorching sun would damage plants, reducing food sources for humans and animals alike. Then entire food chain would begin to fall apart. Not to mention the net negative psychological effect on people and animals with respect to sleep patterns.  

With virtually any aspect of an ecosystem, too much of something is damaging, if not destructive, to the entire ecosystem itself. This is no different when we consider economies. Economies are not simply about money, jobs, businesses; they are holistic in nature. Economies are not rigid structures, but rather, they are fluid, moving, breathing, changing ecosystems. Economies are not one size fits all, but are unique for every region and community, each possessing distinct identities and features.  

This is crucial to understand if we wish to create true sustainable, meaningful community economic development. Too many communities look to mega-corporations from outside that ecosystem to come in and wave a magic economic wand (perhaps a benefit agreement of some sort), expecting that this will fix everything. Benefit agreements or partnerships are not bad, but they cannot be the driver and shaper of local/regional ecosystem (i.e. economy). The mega-corporations lack the understanding, the connection, and the personal stake in caring for the local ecosystem to adequately be able to "develop" it. They often come in with cookie cutter approaches to what the economy is "supposed" to look like.  

This, generally will not be sustainable. They are there to extract maximum benefit as quickly as possible without regard to natural cycles within the ecosystem. They come in like a wooden stake driven into the chest of a local ecosystem and stay until they have taken literally everything they want and then move on, leaving a gaping hole behind. It is not often easy or swift to heal from the hole left behind and often results in communities bleeding their residents who move away to follow the jobs.  

Some may call me idealistic in my thinking, but be that is it may, there a number of actions that people can take.  

On the "idealistic" side, it is an outright rejection of capitalism and its mass-consumption artificial culture. More pragmatically, it means exploring alternative methods for local trade and production and only producing as much as is needed for living. Local farms and gardens, barter exchanges, local stores, locally produced goods, etc. are all parts of the solution. If natural resources are to be developed, then less excessive extraction methods need to be considered and longer term thinking is required versus the short term "extract it all now" type of thinking.  

Coops, worker coops, social enterprises are all tangible mechanisms that can help create a better balance with a greater level of synchronization with the natural rhythms of the economic ecosystem.  

All said, at the core, pure capitalism is inconsistent and at odds with true community economic development in my humble opinion.

Indigenous Women - Foundation to Economy and Nationhood

I just attended the awareness march/rally for missing and murdered women (well over 600 now with no public inquiry, no police action, no arrests, mostly Indigenous women). The health of a nation, including its economy, depends on the health if its women.

Many of our Indigenous nations are suffering. The women in our nations are often the most impoverished... period. According to Statistics Canada data (contained in this fact sheet), nearly half of all Indigenous women live in poverty with the average ANNUAL incomes of a mere $13,300 – over $6,000 lower than non Indigenous women.

A sign that I saw one of the women holding said it all:

“Indigenous women are the heart of our families”

They are not only the heart of our families, but our very nations. Yet, how many women are recognized in leadership roles? How many are able to get into that old boys club that came as a “gift” from our colonial oppressors?

Why is it that our women are the ones being so systematically targeted? Not just by killers, but by poverty, and prison. Poverty and prison go hand in hand. Take for example Geraldine Beardy from Winnipeg. She was living in poverty and hungry. She was caught stealing a can of lunch meat by the store owner. The store owner beat her, after which, she fled for her life and later died in the hospital.

What justice was meted out for this beautiful Indigenous woman? NOTHING. All charges against the murderer were dropped (article here).

What if Geraldine had not been killed? She would have been punished by a justice system designed to discriminate against the poor. Indigenous women are increasingly being institutionalized. Between 1996 and 2002 the number of Indigenous women in Federal prisons increased by 36.7% (see this report http://www.laa.gov.nl.ca/laa/naws/pdf/nwac-legal.pdf). Since the Conservatives’ new crime, punishment and prison agenda, this rate is only expected to grow.

Injustice against our Indigenous women is not new. It has been a constant weapon against our nations for decades, if not longer. Many may remember the outrage of the story of Helen Betty Osborne and the utter failure of the justice system to help or protect Indigenous women in any way. This outrage sparked the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in the 1990’s, and yet very few of the recommendations were really implemented.

Now all of these examples and discussions are the “big” items: murders, crimes, and injustice. Yet our women face sexism, and racism and a constant barrage of put-downs that seek to kill their spirits.

A young Indigenous woman made this video to illustrate what our beautiful Indigenous women are put through on a daily basis.

The danger in all of this is that we lose the heart of our nations and our families – our Indigenous women. They are critical to our cultures, our next generations, and our national well-being (which includes our Indigenous economies). A growing body of research worldwide (one report here and here) has recognized that investing in women is the best ROI (if you excuse me using an annoying capitalist term).

Indigenous women are the hearts of our nations.

So what can we do? I will speak for a moment to Indigenous men.

You want to be a warrior? Then you better respect women. Defend them against racists and ignorant buffoons. Discourage men from making sexist or lewd jokes. See the true beauty of Indigenous women. They are not objects. They are women with dreams, aspirations, wisdom, love, a past and a future.

Be a listener and hear them out. Do your share of work around the home and with kids. Participate in rallies, educate people, and spread the word to raise awareness.

The greatest and most powerful action a modern warrior can take is to raise up our Indigenous women.

When our women rise up, our families will be strong, our nations will rise up, and our economic well-being will follow. This is the foundation and starting point for our Indigenous nations and our Indigenous economies.

Indigenous Thinkers

Over the past few months I have been inspired, honoured with learning from so many great Indigenous thinkers.

For starters, there has been so many great discussions in my LinkedIn Group, Indigenous Economic Development. Generally speaking, everyone is in agreement that economic development is important. However, there are many different approaches to this.

For starters, the word "development" itself carries colonial baggage - often used to mean resource development or development of mechanisms by which a financial profit can be gained from the Earth. Terminology and baggage aside, there is also a tension between colonial (aka mainstream or Western) approaches and culture/tradional ways of life.

In fact, many people often believe that culture and economy are disjoint. The fact is that they are not. Even colonial nations have culture embedded within their economies. The first problem is that economy takes the driver seat and priority over culture. The second problem is that colonial culture intentionally places a greater importance on profit and financial gain than culture, environment, people.

What has set Indigenous peoples apart is that their approach ensures that economy is NOT the driver. Rather each sphere of life plays an interconnected role. Culture, Social, Recreation, Economy, Health, etc., all play a role, holistically, to ensure balanced prosperity of person, spirit, nature.

When you really think about it, what price are we willing to pay for "successful" economic development? Are we willing to adopt colonial practices at the cost of our cultures, our ways of life?

What if we didn't have to adopt colonial practices to be thriving, people, fully meeting our potential? What if we didnt have to sacrifice our culture, our ways of life, our spirits to be "successful?"

Here is what I'm thinking. First we need to define what success means to us. Then we need to articulate how we can meet our needs (core meaning of economy) in a way that honours our ways of life, our cultures, our languages even.

In a future post, I would like to begin diving into this in greater detail. Through your comments/feedback, and through learning from the many great thinkers and leaders I am blessed to be contact with.

Learning Opportunities

I have been a little less active posting and on my LinkedIn account lately. Spring has come with many new opportunities for me to learn and gain new experiences.

For starters, I have my black belt test in Taekwondo coming up at the end of May. The lead up to this has been many new responsibilities in the club - teaching beginners classes, leading warm ups, acting as referee for sparring matches, and, of course, my own training. My instructors have at least given me ample warning of the test structure - 2.5 hours of non-stop gruelling paces that include drills, full contact sparring (without protective gear), defence against multiple attackers, live knife defence, technique demonstration, board breaking, patterns, and of course, grappling.

Already, just in preparation I have learned two lessons:

1. Focus - in the face of intense challenge, if I allow myself to be intimidated, I cannot succeed.
2. Life hurdles - there is never a good time for anything. Life will always offer many examples of why you should quit, give up, or postpone. "Do it later, things are busy now."

I also have become the team manager for my son's premier developmental league soccer team. I have been learning a lot of the administrative end of leading a team, plus training the goalie to push his skills up a notch. This whole soccer part of my life takes up seven evenings a week. One game per week, 2 practices, plus administrative paperwork, plus additional training for my son in a special elite academy.

My experience in working with a group of young kids in a more serious level of sport has given me two lessons:

1. The power of words - while all people generally acknowledge that children are sensitive to words, they typically believe, wrongly, that as adults, they are no longer affected by words. People... period - are affected by words in powerful ways. Sincere praise can motivate an individual to push harder, run faster. Harsh criticisms can crush the spirit of a person and drain their energy and motivation to even try.
2. If you aren't enjoying playing the game, don't. It is not about the most goals, the most cars or money, or position in the organisational chart, its about whether you enjoy what you are doing and making a positive impact on the team (society in general).

Finally, I have been given an Acting Director role of a unit of Business Analysts. This has come with many great learning opportunities and the chance to put to practice many of the things that I have already studied and researched on leadership. Some of the lessons so far, include:

1. Direct reports are more likely to respect you if you also respect them
2. Staff were hired because of their strengths - leverage those strengths, rather than simply pointing fingers at their deficits
3. Staff want a leader that will stand up for them and sincerely keep their best interests in mind
4. Don't make staff do anything you wouldn't do
5. Communicate, communicate, communicate

Some of these lessons I am learning, I can see broad application for even in community economic development. In fact, CED requires a lot of leadership principles and skills. Adapting what we learn through a variety of sources are important.

Happy learning everyone.

Ken