WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE?
For our corporate clients, we breathe life into the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada‘s Call to Action #92:
Business and Reconciliation
92. 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:
i. Commit to meaningful consultation, building respectful relationships, and obtaining the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples
before proceeding with economic development projects.
ii. 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.
iii. 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.
Whether it’s engaging your team on context and history of Reconciliation, developing your Corporate Indigenous Reconciliation Strategy, or something else, we customize our services to suit your needs and help you achieve the outcomes you’re looking for.
These are the building blocks of what we provide. Get in touch to discuss how we can personalize your experience.
Reconciliation Strategy
Let’s design a plan for reconciliation together.
We’ll work with you to develop your organization’s own vision of reconciliation – and see where your opportunities lie. If you need it, we can support you in implementing your reconciliation strategy and evaluating your success.
Workshops
Let us design and facilitate a workshop in which we’ll give you and your team a hands-on experience in reconciliation and engagement. Each workshop is customized to your organization’s interests and goals, comfort and level of experience.
Engagement Planning
Simply put, engaging your Indigenous neighbors in your project makes it stronger. And their support lends to the success of its implementation.
If you want to engage with your neighbors and achieve your outcomes, we can help.
Speaking
Holding a conference or event?
We make the topics of Indigenous reconciliation and engagement approachable and accessible.
Let us engage your audience
Check out these examples of what others are doing to contribute to Corporate-Indigenous Reconciliation
The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund was established by the families of Tragically Hip Frontman Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year old Anishinaabe boy who died after running away from residential school in 1966.
Through the provision of micro-grants to fund Legacy Schools (schools that commit and are supported to teach their students about reconciliation using Downie’s The Secret Path story) and Legacy Spaces in businesses and other organizations (established safe places to support people to gather to talk about reconciliation), the Fund is dedicated to fostering reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians.
Window, siding and gutter-cleaning business AO Home started as a means of providing employment opportunities and inspiring entrepreneurship in Indigenous youth. Within the first few weeks of their launch, they found that customers really responded to the business’s aim of raising money to fund a new Indigenous drop-in centre in their community – an example of how reconciliation is good for business.
Clear Sky Connections is an example of a for-profit enterprise contributing to economic reconciliation. Bringing high-speed internet and related infrastructure to rural Indigenous communities in Manitoba, it’s not only a business opportunity for participants in the joint venture, the product will also help others in the community access economic opportunities.
Including your Indigenous neighbors in your business applies to everyone – even if you’re Amazon. In opening its second office in Vancouver, Amazon partnered with the B.C. First Nations Technology Council to create benefits, including mentoring and coaching opportunities, for Indigenous students and youth.
Halifax’s Barrington Steakhouse and Oyster Bar is one business that has taken advantage of the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund’s Legacy Space program. Owners were motivated to create the Legacy room after realizing their own lack of knowledge and understanding of reconciliation, and suspecting their customers might be coming from a similar place.
According to the article, co-owner Sam Murphy characterizes the room as “part corporate responsibility, part smart business”.
As a business that is very much tied to land, Britco acknowledges the traditional territory of the company’s respective offices on their business cards. It’s just one simple, and yet memorable, expression of the company’s recognition of Indigenous rights and title.
An Alberta Canadian Tire raises the Treaty 6 flag outside of its store as an act of reconciliation and in recognition on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call to action #92 on the corporate sector. A symbol of the company’s respect for their Indigenous neighbors and the land on which they operate, it’s hoped that the flag helps to create a positive and welcoming atmosphere for their Indigenous customers.
Raven Reads is a subscription box business centered around reconciliation. The seasonal boxes – containing books and other items by Indigenous authors and makers – are meant to inspire understanding and dialogue and compel subscribers to participate in reconciliation.
The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has released a new resource for anyone involved in the creation of housing and other facilities in Indigenous communities, or for use by Indigenous individuals. Best practices are gleaned using four case studies from across Canada to illustrate how co-designing architecture can be an act of reconciliation.
This article makes the case that businesses in Canada need to get involved in reconciliation, not only because it’s the right thing to do in a values-based sense, but because it’s fundamental to a business’s long-term success. It also offers some insight on how investors can help to lead the businesses they invest in towards reconciliation.
We’re Here To Help
You can do more than you think
