06/19/2026
Last week in Ottawa, I shared a stage with my friend and collaborator Johnathon Red Gun. For nearly two decades, we've worked together in employment services - learning from one another, challenging one another, and building bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations.
We spoke about the fact that Indigenous peoples are underrepresented in employment - as well as in employment services. Much of this underrepresentation is structural - a result of segregation, and significant resource disparities between settler and Indigenous people / organizations.
We spoke about successes achieved through collaboration and the ways in which we learned from each other and strengthened our organizations. The value and meaning have been undeniable.
We also spoke about past and ongoing harms, and settler colonial structures, which reduce economic participation, injure capacity, and perpetuate a disconnect between our cultures. Our goal wasn't to assign blame. It was to build understanding.
Understanding creates empathy - and empathy leads to action, and action leads to change.
Without a true understanding of Indigenous experience within the structures of settler colonialism, it is difficult for employers and employment service providers to see the context for equity, and what they must do differently to support Indigenous inclusion, reconciliation and resurgence.
The history we speak about isn't something that gets taught to us in school. That has been strategic - part of preserving the settler colonial structure. It's purposeful.
It's still Indigenous History Month here in this place we've named Canada, (an Iroquois-Huron word meaning village or settlement).
This month - consider the context for Indigenous Equity; seek Indigenous narratives and a deeper understanding of both Indigenous experience, as well as pathways to collaboration and connection.
Connect with local Indigenous Cultural Organizations and organizations like Yellowhead Institute, Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. Community Futures Treaty7, or Indigenous Friendship Centres.
Shaping a collaborative future strengthens us all.
Thank you for reading - nitsiikohtaasi'taki
