Listening to Indigenous Voices: Moving Towards Justice and Right Relationships

November 28, 1:00-3:30 PM ET on Zoom Meeting (camera and audio enabled)‍

Cost: Free

*All registrants will be provided with a link to the recording of the main presentation and slides following the session. The recording will be available for 60 days.

Join us for this two-and-a-half-hour workshop as we introduce and explore Listening to Indigenous Voices: A Dialogue Guide on Justice and Right Relationships. ‘LTIV’ explores Indigenous worldviews, examines the history of colonization in Canada, and reflects upon righting relationships, decolonization, and indigenization.

This resource was produced by the Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice in partnership with Indigenous people and in the spirit of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. It features reflections from Indigenous authors such as Arthur Manuel, Beverly Jacobs, Lee Maracle, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, Sylvia McAdam Saysewahum, John Borrows, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, along with works from a variety of Indigenous artists including Christi Belcourt, Diane Montreuil and Kent Monkman.

Listening to Indigenous Voices arose through the partnership led by the Jesuit Forum on Social Faith & Justice and many Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners, including Jayce Chiblow, a member of the Garden River First Nation, Novalis Publishing, KAIROS Canada, Centre Justice et Foi, and through the advice of an extensive advisory circle, including Marie Wilson, former Commissioner, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

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During the first part of the workshop, Noah MacDonald and Trevor Scott SJ will give us an overview of the LTIV guide and how it can help us engage in dialogue, growth and change in the spirit of the TRC - all the while enacting justice and right relationships from the visions, stories, and words of Indigenous artists and knowledge keepers

After the overview, the presenters will focus on Session 3 of the guide: ‍

The Land is Us

Land plays a central role in the worldviews of most Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island. Land, however, is not understood as a piece of dirt, as real estate, as property, or as a resource. The animals, the plants, the mountains, the hills, and the rivers are a community to which one belongs. Places are often associated with stories, meaning that the land is a teacher and the wellspring of meaning. To be separated from one’s land, one’s territory, then, is to be separated from one’s culture, spirituality, and sense of self.

Small breakout groups will follow the large group presentation. We will explore such questions as:

How would our ways of life change if we understood land as “a source of belonging” rather than “a source of belongings”?
How might environmental issues be seen from a perspective that perceives land as a sacred community rather than as a resource to be used?
How does your ENGO work with Indigenous communities in the conservation of land that has cultural and spiritual importance to Indigenous people?

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About the Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice

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The Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice is a social and ecological justice organization of the Jesuits of Canada. It strives to intellectually engage all peoples of all faiths and backgrounds in reflection, discernment, and willingness to share upon the realities and issues of our time for the purpose of more just societies in reverence for our Creator and all of Creation.

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About the Presenters

NOAH MACDONALD is an Anishinaabe PhD Student and Canon Lawyer belonging to Michipicoten First Nation. He works with the Toronto Regional Tribunal at the Archdiocese of Toronto. His research at Regis College (University of Toronto) aims to explore “Paths Towards an Indigenized Ecclesiological Framework: Listening to the Voices of Indigenous Catholics and Turtle Island Theologians to Shape Reform in Canada”.

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TREVOR SCOTT SJ is a member of the Canadian Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Trevor is the Director of the Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice in Toronto. He also teaches at the University of Toronto’s Regis College as a sessional professor focusing upon the relationship of Ignatian spirituality and contemporary culture.

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How to choose your stream:

‍ENGO representatives may self-select from the three workshop tracks based on their previous learning experiences with decolonization content.‍

‍Introduction to Decolonization in the ENGO Sector is designed for first-time learners and those with limited comfort exploring the Session topics. Sessions will be lecture-style making limited space for group discussion. Breakout rooms will be used intermittently to encourage first-time learners to practice discussing topics and gain confident understanding of materials.

‍‍Advanced Decolonial Theory and Application is designed for ENGO representatives who have experience with session topics and are ready to take chances by participating in potentially uncomfortable conversations to expose the root issues at play. These spaces are designed with safety of participants in mind with the goal of exposing the potential reproduction of colonial thinking/doing within the ENGO sector. Sessions will be conversational while making use of lecture-style teaching.

‍For Indigenous Ears Only - A Space for Reflection and Action is designed for Indigenous people who work within the ENGO sector and seek to connect with others to discuss experiences and vision decolonial pathways forward. These session agendas will be co-developed with participants.

Introduction to Decolonization in the ENGO Sector - `SOLD OUT!`

Thursdays, October 3, 10, 17, 24 (1-3:00 pm EST)

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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.

Instructor:

Dr. Les Sabiston (Red River Métis) is from Aswahonanihk (Selkirk), Manitoba. Working at the intersections of political, legal, and medical anthropologies, as well as Indigenous Studies, Les’ work brings together critical social theories of colonialism, race, class, gender and sexuality with the political commitments of decolonization and aspirations of realizing alternative worlds informed by Indigenous futures. A guiding principle to his work has been to develop a more robust understanding of the ongoing process of encounter with Indigenous peoples in Canada, that is, how the state and its people interact with and understand themselves in relation to the original peoples of this land.

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Advanced Decolonial Theory and Application - `Sold out!`

Wednesdays, October 16, 23, 30, November 6 (1-3 pm EST)

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.

Instructor:

Dr. Damien Lee is a member of Fort William First Nation and holds a PhD in Indigenous Studies from the University of Manitoba, and a Master of Arts in Indigenous Governance from the University of Victoria. Dr. Lee has extensive experience facilitating/teaching adult-focused education at the post-secondary level and co-leads Gimiwan Research and Consulting. Gimiwan serves mainly Indigenous communities and Indigenous-led organizations by providing research and workshop services based in decolonial ethics and Indigenous worldviews.

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For Indigenous Ears Only - A Space for Reflection and Action

Tuesdays, October 22, 29, November 5, 12 (1-3 pm EST)

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.

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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

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Cost: Free

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