Indigenous Relations: Insights, Tips & Suggestions to Make Reconciliation a Reality

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR

Indigenous Relations

I have worked in Indigenous communities for over thirty years, and I wish I’d had Bob Joseph’s book at any point over those years. It would have helped me a great deal. It’s a very important and valuable book for everyone who works with Indigenous Peoples.

Bruce Falstead, Manager, Aboriginal Initiatives, FortisBC

"Fresh off his highly acclaimed and revealing guide to the Indian Act, Bob Joseph continues to build bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people with this insightful new book. A guide for developing both corporate and personal relationships, Indigenous Relations is an excellent primer for everyone who wants to embark on a new journey of reconciliation and collaboration with Indigenous Peoples, but don’t know where—or how—to begin."

Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, Nishnawbe Aski Nation

The insightful, intelligent, and practical information in this book is of critical importance for building bridges between peoples of different backgrounds, allowing for self-examination on our perspectives and understanding, opening minds and sharpening thinking on inclusiveness, and making reconciliation a reality, which will then bring change.

Lillian Hvatum-Brewster, Vice President, Indigenous Community Relations & Development, ATCO & Canadian Utilities Limited

Copyright © 2019 by Bob Joseph and Cynthia F. Joseph

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For a copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1- 800-893-5777.

Cataloguing in publication information is available from Library and Archives Canada.

ISBN 978-1-989025-64-2 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-989025-81-9 (ebook)

Indigenous Relations Press | Page Two Books

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Edited by Amanda Lewis

Copyedited by Tilman Lewis

Proofread by Crissy Calhoun

Cover design by Peter Cocking

Interior design by Taysia Louie

Ebook by Bright Wing Books (brightwing.ca)

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Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books

www.ictinc.ca

This book is dedicated to all those who want to change the world

We must learn to live together... or perish together as fools.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Contents

Introduction: Moving toward Reconciliation

1 Indigenous or Aboriginal: Does It Matter?

2 Cultural Diversity among Indigenous Peoples

3 Indigenous Identity and Governance Structure

4 Circle of Understanding: Recognizing Indigenous Worldviews

5 Working with Communities: Employment Barriers and Other Issues

6 Nation to Nation: Understanding Treaties, Then and Now

7 Isn’t It True That...? Myth vs. Reality

8 RESPECT: A Path toward Working Effectively with Indigenous Peoples®

9 The Personal Side of Reconciliation

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Appendix 1: Pledges of Reconciliation

Appendix II: Terminology: Guidelines for Usage

Appendix III: Glossary

Appendix IV: Additional Resources

Notes

Index

Landmarks

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Table of Contents

Body Matter

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Appendix

Appendix

Appendix

Appendix

Index

Thanks for picking up this book.

Doing so shows that you are interested in joining so many others on the journey to reconciliation. The insights, tips, and suggestions included here are all practical and doable. We’re sure you will have some aha! moments as you read. You may even have some oh no! moments that make you squirm. Don’t feel bad. We’re all on this learning journey together, and together we will make this world a better place.

Gilakas’la

Bob Joseph

Cynthia F. Joseph

INTRODUCTION

Moving toward Reconciliation

After we published 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act , a lot of people asked me what they could do to further reconciliation in Canada. Indigenous Relations is intended to support that goal of reconciliation by offering practical insights, tips, and suggestions for your business interactions and personal relationships with Indigeno us Peoples. While some of this book is intended for the corporate sector, the history, terminology, and advice are of value to all Canadians. It’s important for everyone to understand the background to common issues experienced by Indigenous Peoples and communities, from barriers to employment to why protecting the environment long-term is more important than providing employment short-term.

My wife and business partner, Cynthia F. Joseph, and I think of reconciliation as a journey of learning and discovery. By understanding and respecting our cultural differences, we can move toward full reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. By reading this book and working to improve your personal and business relationships, you’re taking a step on that journey.

Incorporating reconciliation daily in your life and work is the best way to undo the legacy of the Indian Act. The term reconciliation carries a great deal of responsibility for a better future, but it also points to the need to recognize the shameful history of Canada’s past relationship with Indigenous Peoples as well as the ongoing outcomes of those policies. The path to reconciliation began in 1982 when the rights of Aboriginal Peoples were recognized in Section 35 of Canada’s Constitution Act. The next milestone on the journey was in 1998 when the federal government made the Statement of Reconciliation, thereby acknowledging government-inflicted damage on Indigenous Peoples. Ten years later, then prime minister Stephen Harper delivered a formal apology to residential school survivors and their families, saying, The treatment of children in Indian Residential Schools is a sad chapter in our history. However, no substantive improvement in the lives of Indigenous Peoples followed the apology. The government continues to underfund communities and do battle in the courts over Aboriginal Rights, Title, and land claims.

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) released its Final Report; the first volume is titled Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future.1 The report, based on the statements of tens of thousands of survivors, shocked many Canadians, who then asked, Now that I know, what can I do to help right these wrongs? The TRC’s Final Report included ninety-four Calls to Action, guidelines for moving forward together in a spirit of reconciliation. The Calls to Action cover many sectors such as education, media, and sports. The 92nd Call to Action focuses on how respectful business dealings can contribute to reconciliation.

Business and Reconciliation

We call upon the corporate sector in Canada to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a reconciliation framework and to apply its principles, norms, and standards to corporate policy and core operational activities involving Indigenous peoples and their lands and resources. This would include, but not be limited to, the following:

Commit to meaningful consultation, building respectful relationships, and obtaining the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples before proceeding with economic development projects.

Ensure that Aboriginal peoples have equitable access to jobs, training, and education opportunities in the corporate sector, and that Aboriginal communities gain long-term sustainable benefits from economic development projects.

Provide education for management and staff on the history of Aboriginal peoples, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal–Crown relations. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.

Reconciliation needs to pair intention with doing in order to be effective. So this book offers practical tips for carrying out that 92nd Call to Action. Active reconciliation (sometimes referred to as ReconciliACTION) in Canada consists of honouring treaties and acknowledging and respecting Aboriginal Rights and Title—which could mean returning lands or accepting Indigenous models of self-government.

Many people worry that the common use of reconciliation in discussions about decolonizing educational institutions, government agencies, and the legal system, as well as in corporate mandates, could result in it becoming a mere platitude. Without action, reconciliation is yet another empty promise, and over the decades Indigenous Peoples have heard plenty of those—such as to honour the treaties, ensure access to safe drinking water and adequate housing, and establish equity in employment, education, and health care.

This book explores crucial background material, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), terminology, and treaties. It will also give you concrete steps for appropriate relationship building, including making land acknowledgements and following protocols, what to do or say, and what to avoid doing or saying. All of this information is practical and effective. Much of it stems from my decades as an Indigenous relations trainer; much of it stems from being an Indigenous person who has had the benefit of spending time with chiefs, elders, and other prominent Indigenous people; and much comes from being an intergenerational survivor of the residential school system and an Indigenous person who has witnessed and experienced the systemic racism that is the Indian Act.

A key first step on your reconciliation journey is to be culturally competent. Many of the TRC’s Calls to Action include the common element of training in cultural competency, which means having the knowledge, skills, and attitude to work across cultures. You might also know this element as intercultural communication or as a commitment to multiculturalism. If you haven’t taken Indigenous cultural competency training, such as our training courses, or haven’t lived in an Indigenous community, you may lack essential understanding of how integral cultural competency is to reconciliation. This book will help you become more culturally competent by increasing your knowledge of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Incorporating reconciliation into your work and daily life means acknowledging and letting go of negative perceptions, myths, and stereotypes, so we’ll also do some myth busting in this book.

Really, reconciliation means respect—for other people and for yourself in the learning process. To that end, I’ve included a model of RESPECT© (see chapter 8), a step-by-step process that we created and have taught to government at all levels, Fortune 500 companies, resource development corporations, and financial organizations in Canada and around the world. Living respectfully and in alignment with the spirit of reconciliation means taking responsibility—as an individual, parent, student, employee, or employer—to never utter, accept, or ignore a racist comment or stereotype about Indigenous Peoples. Reconciliation means respecting Indigenous individuals, beliefs, cultures, traditions, worldviews, challenges, and goals. It means recognizing and supporting the deep connections Indigenous Peoples have to the natural world and their reclamation of identity, language, culture, and nationhood. Reconciliation is an act of conscious decolonizing of your thinking, actions, and words, and it offers healing for all Canadians and an opportunity to move forward with humility. Let this book be your next step on that journey.

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Indigenous or Aboriginal: Does It Matter?

Does it matter if you say Indigenous or Aboriginal? Well, the short answer is that it does, but terminology can be confusing, and I don’t want to bog you down just when you’re getting started. So, the section at the end of the book, Terminology: Guidelines for Usage (appendix II ), goes into which terms to use in which context.

However, you do need to understand why both Aboriginal and Indigenous are used in this book, so let’s tackle that right up front.

Both terms are derived from Latin and refer to the original inhabitants of the land. And indeed, Indigenous Peoples’ creation stories place them here since the dawn of time. Although Aboriginal is the term used in the Constitution Act, 1982, many Indigenous Peoples prefer the term Indigenous as an expression that their communities and