Continuing Our Reconciliation Conversation

For the next year, Compass is engaging in a company-wide reading and discussion series on reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Each month, we choose a different topic or reading as the focus of our learning and discussion.

In November and December, we discussed two books: 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, by Bob Joseph, and Indigenous Relations: Insights, Tips, and Suggestions to Make Reconciliation a Reality, by Bob Joseph and Cynthia Joseph. Together, these two books detail many of the historical and ongoing consequences of the Indian Act for Indigenous communities in Canada, and also provide helpful suggestions for building productive and respectful relationships with these communities.

Our intention in discussing these two books as a whole company was threefold:

1. to gain a greater understanding of the pressures First Nation communities have faced and continue to face as a result of Indian Act policies,
2. to better appreciate the ways in which these policies shape – and in many cases, constrain – how Nations are able to participate in environmental planning and decision making processes, and
3. to be more intentional in defining how we as a company can contribute to building equitable and respectful relationships through the processes we design and facilitate.

One of the main outcomes of our discussions was a recognition that though we carefully design and facilitate our processes to ensure fair and even participation, we still have many questions about what more we can do from our position and how we can better set up the organizations participating in our processes to support each other. From our own internal policies around cultural competency training, to changing the ways in which we design entire processes and specific meeting agendas, to more proactively sharing our successes and missteps in advancing reconciliation and relationship building, we are continually looking for ways to play a more positive role in contributing to reconciliation efforts.

Many of these questions will be topics that we address in upcoming sessions of our Reconciliation discussion series.