January 21, 2025
1:00-2:00 PM ET
Cost: $25
Zoom Meeting
*Please note, all registrants will be provided with a link and password to the recording and presentation slides following the session. The recording will be available for 60 days.
This session will outline the political landscape of the upcoming federal election. It will cover:
This workshop is for those who have at least some experience with government relations, and want to learn more. The format will be interactive, with opportunities for Q&A and discussion of specific examples. The focus will be on the federal government, although the principles apply at the provincial level, and to some degree, the municipal.
Our Presenter:
Aaron Freeman is owner of Pivot Strategic Consulting, which provides government relations and policy advice to companies, NGOs, and Indigenous organizations. He is also the Founder of GreenPAC, Canada’s organization to build environmental leadership in politics. Between 2009 and 2012, Aaron served as a Senior Advisor to the Premier of Ontario. Prior to joining government, Aaron coordinated several national advocacy campaigns on environment, democratic reform, and human rights issues. He also served as Policy Director for Environmental Defence.
The Hill Times has named Aaron one of the Top 100 Federal Lobbyists in Canada. He has received a Canada Clean50 Award for his work as a Sustainability Champion.
Aaron has taught public governance law at the University of Ottawa and is co-author of The Laws of Government: The Legal Foundations of Canadian Democracy, a book the Ontario Bar Association lists as one of “The Top 15 Books Every Lawyer Should Read.”
Aaron’s new Energy Neighbour initiative is creating buyers pools for homeowners that want to retrofit their homes to be more energy efficient.
Session 1: Settler Colonialism 101
Introduce ENGO representatives to the fact that colonization is a structure and not an event. Identifies key ways that colonialism moves through individuals and organizations.
Session 2: Positionality
ENGO representatives learn how to articulate their social location within a settler colonial state, and in relation to potential Indigenous partners.
Session 3: Inherent Indigenous Governance 101
Introduce the fact that Indigenous nations have their own sources of political authority that they can (and do) draw on when addressing environmental issues. Examples provided.
Session 4: Building Better Relations
ENGO representatives will road test ways they can implement previous workshop key points to re-imagine partnerships with Indigenous nations.
Cost: $100 (or register 4 staff from the same organization for one stream and get the 5th registration free)
All registrants will be provided with a link to access the recordings and presentation slides for 60 days following each session.
Session 1: Diagnosing Settler Colonialism in the Enviro Sector
Participants will be asked to share ways in which they have diagnosed and traced power in social justice movements and/or in the ENGO sector. This workshop will make space for discomfort as part of promoting decolonization.
Session 2: Inherent Indigenous Governance
A mix of advanced and introductory theory, this workshop delves into legal and political pluralism, naming the fact that Indigenous nations have their own sources of political authority that they can (and do) draw on when addressing environmental issues.
Session 3: The Nonprofit Industrial Complex
ENGO participants are introduced to theories and examples describing the Nonprofit Industrial Complex and the “Shadow State.” Purpose is to show how settler colonialism structures civil society.
Session 4: Decolonizing ENGO-First Nation Partnerships
This workshop delves deep into how ENGOs can partner with Indigenous nations beyond the Nonprofit Industrial Complex while promoting deference to inherent Indigenous political leaders.
Cost: $100 (or register 4 staff from the same organization for one stream and get the 5th registration free)
All registrants will be provided with a link to access the recordings and presentation slides for 60 days following each session.
The Indigenous only space will be collaborative in nature but critical in approach. This track is a space for Indigenous folks within the ENGO sector to come together to discuss their experiences and work, with an eye to taking a position on what the sector might need to do in order to promote decolonization. Participants will use the first session to define our goals for the remaining three meetings. Therefore, session topics named here are proposals only.
Session 1: Naming the Cannibal: Settler Colonialism in the ENGO Sector
Session 2: Proposed topic: Reflections on working in the ENGO Sector
Session 3: Proposed topic: Centering Indigenous Thought in the ENGO Sector
Session 4: Proposed topic: Visioning a Decolonial Environmental Sector
Cost: Free
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