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

Indigenous Participation in Soccer

I am going to deviate slightly from the subject of directly speaking to economic development. I would like to address the subject of soccer.

Soccer is a sport that invites participation from all peoples. Unlike hockey (for example), where the price of involvement is almost elitist, the cost of participation in soccer is very minimal. As a sport, soccer develops leadership, teamwork, healthy lifestyle, and a sense of confidence that is critical to success in life, generally, and economic development/entrepreneurship, specifically.

Despite the simplicity of the sport, there is not a very high level of engagement within Indigenous communities in Canada. This is something that would not take much to start. Some places in Canada are starting to start things up, such as in BC, with the First Nation Soccer Association (http://fnsacanada.ca/).

They have even established a soccer scholarship: http://www.activecircle.ca/en/news-566-first-nations-soccer-association-announces.

So how do we get things started elsewhere, such as in Manitoba?

1. Tap into the soccer resources already available in the region. These include existing soccer training organizations (ie. World Soccer Academy in Winnipeg: http://www.world-soccer-academy.com/), Manitoba Major Soccer League (http://www.manitobamajorsoccer.com/), Manitoba Soccer Association (http://www.manitobasoccer.ca/), Mini U (http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/kinrec/bsal/miniu/summer/sports/gsoccer.php, http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/kinrec/bsal/miniu/summer/sports/super_soccer.php, http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/kinrec/bsal/miniu/summer/sports/bsoccer.php).

2. Gather community recreation leaders train them on what is required to get soccer started, what resources are available, and who they can connect with for support.

3. Using some of the resources above, organize soccer training camps (determine feasibility of having them hosted in communities, or regional centres, or transporting participants into Winnipeg). Perhaps ask of the resources identified above if any group would be interested in offering a camp free to help stimulate greater interest in the sport. This is what has been happening in BC (with good success): http://www.canada.com/sports/Soccer+camps+offered/6347176/story.html.

4. Spread the word. Share this blog post with your soccer contacts, with First Nation community contacts, with government contacts, with universities, with anyone who will listen.

Ken

International Women's Day and CED

Today is International Women's Day. I thought I would take the time to celebrate this day with a blog post around the crucial importance of women to communities, generally, and community economic development, specifically.

Throughout history, among Indigenous communities, women were honored as equals to men. They held positions of leadership, they took on warrior roles, they hunted as much as the men did, they taught, offered guidance. They were highly valued and respected.

A well known Cheyenne Proverb states, "A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground. Then it is done, no matter how brave its warriors or strong its weapons."

This was level of respect and understanding of the importance of women was disrupted on Turtle Island (aka North America) with the influx of empire-based cultures. Most of such cultures, from 3rd world to 1st world, have treated women as having lesser value, such as:
 - Treating women as property
 - Treating them as children of a lesser god (in some cultures)
 - Viewing them as burdens to their families.
 - Forcing them into marriages.
 - In extreme cases, women are sold as though they were objects of trade
 - In "1st world" nations, they have been often considered less qualified for leadership or positions of influence
 - They were denied the right to vote, left in the kitchens
 - For a long time, rape by their husbands was not recognized

Even today, nations that are so-called champions of human rights, such as Canada, refuse to recognize the value and role women play in the health of a nation and its economy.

We must, as Indigenous peoples and communities, reclaim the esteem of women. Consider community and its economic health if women were not around:
 - Their communication style is one of peace, generally.
 - Communication from women is relational (rather than competitive as with men)
 - They bring forth the future generations into our communities through child birth.
 - They are the first teachers of all our future generations
 - Women are far more likely to care for children even if they are working outside the home.
 - As mothers, they take on the roles of teacher, counsellor, tutor, nurse/doctor, operational manager (managing the complex tasks of maintaining a household)

Pre-contact, women set up and took down camps (I am speaking of Anishinaabe people), hunted small game, cared for the children, taught and trained children in various skills, prepared big game and cooked the meat, made clothing and tools, and so much more that I could list.

Putting this in a modern context.... Not much has changed. Women still take on these roles, often with limited support from us men. If you remove all what women do, economies would simply collapse.

It is time that we strive to honour women for the selfless and tireless work that they do to keep this world afloat. It is time we recognize that our communities can never have a thriving economy without first acknowledging and celebrating our Indigenous women.

CED Capacity Tool

For the past year, I have been working on developing a tool to assist communities in assessing their Community Economic Development capacity. The tool, developed (for now) in Excel, is built according to the this model:


Each of the 'boxes' around the circle have a set of questions that drill down to the concrete level to assist communities in translating the results of the assessment directly into action plans.

One thing I will say, some of the words I have used in this model can be slightly misleading. For example, when I write "Industrial Site," it is not intended in the traditional mainstream sense of big cities. An industrial site could be a gravel pit, forestry (selective harvesting), a sweet grass field, etc. The site, for the purposes of considering this model does not need to be a profit (financial) generating site either. Direct financial gain is not the only form of value. The cultural and spiritual value of a site is equally important and definitely important to note in planning so that they are not interfered with by any potential developments.

In any case, if any of my readers are interested in receiving a copy of this tool, subscribe to my blog with your email and I will send it to you.

Ken

Human Resources in Indigenous Country

Systems, companies, businesses, service organisations, community governance offices are all only as good as the people working within them. This is something we seem to forget about all too often. People, in any organisation or office need to be trained to be the best they can be in their role. Of course, that is precisely a human resources issue.

However, it goes beyond training and employee development. It goes beyond payroll and compensation. The gap that many of our Indigenous organisations and communities face is one of Human Resource policy. Many of us can recount a story of a manager hiring relatives who are clearly less qualified than other candidates or cases where people are fired by a new chief because they hadn't been among his supporters during elections. When we begin to consider this, a number of questions come to mind.

How many offices in Indigenous country have a solid understanding of employment standards?
Are there any workplace harassment policies in place?
Workplace health and safety standards?
Does office policy and practice meet up to Human Rights requirements?
How about duty to accommodate?
Have compensation levels been researched for fair market value?
Are there performance measurement strategies in place?
What employee orientation processes are there?
Does every position have job descriptions?
What is the office policy on sick leave, maternity and paternity leave, family leave, vacation leave?
What about statutory holidays? Are there other holidays the office will recognise?
What about funerals?
Is there a policy around child care or care for other family members?
What is the policy around equipment, furniture, and offices? Is it a fair process?
Is there a conflict of interest policy?
What accountability checks are in place for staff and managers? Ie. If a manager harasses an employee, what recourse does the employee have?
What is the hiring process? Is it fair?

There are many more questions that could be asked, but my point is made. We need to begin to consider HR policies and systems. Proper HR systems and policies will result in a greater level of governance capacity and therefore, greater accountability.

The National Centre for First Nations Governance established a principle, titled Human Resource Capacity and a related initiative called First Nations Public Service Initiative. In this document (found here), the Centre makes the argument for the critical importance of human resource capacity to successful governance of our communities and nations. They call for professional certification, which includes the ability to establish proper and fair system to manage human resources.

Slowly, more communities and organisations are recognising this and beginning to seek help in developing this area of Human Resources. This is good. However, there is a danger if this is not done properly.

There are hundreds of consultants and companies that are more than happy to make money doing this type of work. There is nothing wrong with being properly compensated for quality work. Unfortunately, not all the work out there is of good quality. Many consultants or HR companies that are great at what they do in mainstream urban centres, try to apply their typical products and tools to Indigenous organisations and communities without ever considering whether they are even culturally relevant.

A set of HR policies written for Corporation XYZ in downtown Toronto will not be particularly relevant to a band office in remote ABC First Nation. It is very important to answer all the right questions (including, but not limited to all those I listed), but more important to consider the culturally relevant responses to those questions. Some companies can do this, if, when they are contracted, it is clear that they must listen to the cultural and geographic reality of the community or organisation and then apply those in the development of policies.

There are also some Indigenous companies/consultants who understand the importance of this mapping of HR policy needs to culture. That being said, just because a consultant is Indigenous doesn't guarantee that he/she will understand the culture/policy dynamic.

On the other hand, a consultant or company that understands the cultural side of things, but is weak on understanding of policy and standards, will leave your workplace open to liability. If a policy is written that goes against the human rights code (recently extended to on-reserve), your workplace can be held accountable and can suffer lawsuits.

Clarity in the contract at the outset will help ensure proper understanding of this, but also monitoring the end product before signing off is important. The end product must be examined to ensure it meets the requirements of the contract. Seeking advice from other professionals in the HR realm can be helpful in this.

At the end of the day, there are some considerations for both company/consultant and community/organisation.

1. HR policies and systems are an important component of proper governance
2. HR policies need to be custom written to meet the unique cultural requirements of each organisation/community

One thing communities or organisations can do to help in this process is to document the cultural norms of the comunity and workplaces in the community ahead of time. This will ensure that a consultant or company will be supplied with some of the essential knowledge they require in order to ensure policies can be custom developed for cultural relevance.

Ken