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In National Indigenous Peoples Day: 10 ways to celebrate we have suggestions for celebrating this important day. Most of the suggestions involve attending an event or visiting a site. What a difference a year makes. National Indigenous Peoples Day 2020 celebrations are among the many events that have been cancelled due to the pandemic. We didn’t want you to miss out so we’ve compiled a list of 10 activities you can enjoy at home. 

The world is a challenging and rapidly changing place right now and all indications suggest that it will remain as such for quite some time. Government leaders are adapting policies and creating new ones to address the impacts imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations, corporations, small and large businesses have all been thrown the same curve ball and adapting where possible to continue serving their clients and customers. It’s as though we are all “boom cats” running on logs trying to avoid slipping under. 

Amidst all the dire news about the trajectory of global and local COVID-19 case numbers and mortality, hoarding of necessities, fights in grocery stores it was a joy to receive a question from a follower asking how they could help remote or vulnerable Indigenous communities. 

As providers of a suite of Indigenous relations training, we frequently are asked if we offer “blanket exercises.” The short answer is “no, we don’t.”

The longer answer is we don’t provide blanket exercises because the courses we develop and deliver provide the knowledge, skills, and attitude or competency-based training that changes attitudes and behaviours and equips non-Indigenous Canadians to have respectful relationships with Indigenous Peoples.  

In an earlier article we took a look at why companies should protect their Aboriginal relations strategy in a recession. In this article we offer a suggestion on how individuals can recession proof their careers.

Indigenous Peoples believe they have held title to their traditional lands or territories from the moment their Creators placed them on that land (time immemorial) and bestowed them with the responsibility to care for it……...forever. But then European explorers arrived, planted flags, and laid claim to all they saw. How was that possible?

Land acknowledgements are increasingly present at the beginning of meetings in board rooms, lectures, classrooms, entertainment events etc. Land acknowledgements are also appearing on an impressive number of websites and in email signature blocks. I have been advocating for land acknowledgements for over 25 years as an Indigenous relations trainer so it is rewarding to know that corporations, organizations, and individuals are making the effort to research the history of the Peoples on whose land they are meeting or working in order to draft the acknowledgement. It’s an important contribution to reconciliation and decolonization. 

During the 2019 federal election, the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (the Declaration) was included in four (absent from the Conservative platform) of the five party platforms but did not garner the degree of discussion it warrants. Canada, as an official supporter, without qualification, of the Declaration carries a responsibility to honour that commitment.

The minds and hearts of most Canadians are opening to the severity of colonial practices that helped shaped this country and how those policies continue to impact the socio-economic well-being of Indigenous Peoples. Improving the socio-economic well-being of Indigenous Peoples is key to reconciliation and will benefit the entire country. 

Advisory committees can be invaluable to the success of a business, organization, or social enterprise. But not all advisory committees are created equal. Those committees that include a diverse range of individuals provide a broader scope than committees on which everyone shares the same history, education, life experience, and worldview.