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