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.