Matt Vickers (Gunaatsk) has been at the forefront of establishing links in a cross-cultural business environment in Canada for more than 40 years. In October, he received an honorary doctorate from University Canada West for his contributions to Canada and Canada’s Indigenous people.
In the nearly seven years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada issued 94 calls to action in its final report in 2015, the term “reconciliation” has become ubiquitous in Canada.
Big companies have made even bigger promises and launched shiny ad campaigns promising reconciliation. But reconciliation is a word that falls too easily from the lips of corporate Canada. What is really needed is something I like to call reconcili-action.
I have spent the better part of my career in the public, private and non-profit sectors seeking to help non-Indigenous businesses understand Indigenous communities and I am often asked what is the most important thing that companies, big and small, can do to make a tangible difference when it comes to truth and reconciliation.
My response is always the same: Indigenous awareness training.
One of the main reasons I got involved with corporations in Canada is to help build bridges with Indigenous communities – in other words, working together for the benefit of all.
How are First Nations communities approached? If we don’t know the history, how do we know how to act?
Trust is something that must be earned; it is not something given freely. And the best way to start earning the trust of Indigenous people and communities is to recognize their history and honour their culture and traditions.
For example, a non-Indigenous person walking into a boardroom for a meeting will typically claim an empty seat. But in First Nations communities, you should first make sure that you’re welcome and that there is a place for you. The first thing you should do when entering the boardroom in an Indigenous community is ask, “is there a place you would like me to sit?”
Knowing the cultural protocols and traditions of the host nation and honouring them – those are the things that are crucial to Indigenous communities. But it can be difficult for non-Indigenous people to know where to start. The factors at play when developing a relationship with Indigenous communities are complex and challenging.
Indigenous awareness training provides a baseline of understanding, from which genuine engagement and eventually, reconciliation can grow.
An Indigenous awareness training program aims to create greater understanding and awareness, which will help enhance communications between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and is the first step in establishing trust. Learning how to effectively partner with Indigenous people and businesses will benefit both sides.
If you don’t have that, it’s like going fishing with the best fishing rod in the world but leaving your bait on the dock. If you are not totally aware of the history of Indigenous peoples, and why they react the way they do to non-Indigenous people, you are not going to be successful in dealing with Indigenous communities.
We have made major strides toward reconciliation in recent years, but we still have a long road ahead, and Indigenous people are still subject to systemic racism daily.
Historically, it was more overt – Indigenous people were excluded from equal citizenship through legislation (the British North American Act and the Indian Act), and the residential school system and other laws and policies have marginalized them since contact.
Today, systemic racism is a little more subtle; it’s under the table, but it is still there.
The leadership in most Indigenous communities today are survivors of the residential school system – either directly or through intergenerational trauma – that’s the experience they have in life. You often hear the expression that someone “has a chip on their shoulder.” Well most of our people have a huge cedar log on their shoulders because of the residential schools.
We hear so much talk about reconciliation, but the key for corporate Canada is to turn all that talk into action. And that action can’t begin without awareness and understanding of the shared history we must work together to redress.