Aboriginal Perspectives on the Social Economy

1. Aboriginal Perspectives on the Social Economy CESD By: Alice Corbiere Rosalind Johnston José A. Reyes

2. Today’s Presentation • Why not the social economy? • Contrasting worldviews • Developing a holistic response • Expanding the definition of the social economy 3. Indigenous perspectives beyond Canadian borders

3. Community Economic and Social Development Applying a holistic worldview to ‘economic development’

4. Applying a Holistic Worldview to Development N. – physical - economic W. – mental – legal/political E.- spiritual – cultural S. – emotional - social

5. Addressing People’s Needs Holistically • Community Economic and Social Development (Hons. BA) program: encompassing the holistic perspective on development • Interdisciplinary program • Developed a ‘learning community’ to facilitate completion by Indigenous learners • Developed alternative delivery formats to improve access by learners • Accreditation by Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers’ (CANDO)

6. First Nations’ Reality • First Nations have been and continue to be on the margins of society. • We have been blocked from accessing resources to sustain our economies • We have not enjoyed the same level of prosperity as most Canadians

7. Reality • We are faced with individual and systemic racism and discrimination • Has created significant social, economic, political and cultural problems • Development in First Nations is motivated by the need to address socio-economic conditions regardless of the sector

8. First Nations’ Development • Difficult to address the causes of social and health problems until we address poverty • Difficult to encourage education and training when there are no jobs • Difficult to develop our economies if we do not have healthy and skilled workers.

9. Development • We cannot help our environment if our culture is lost. • Addressing our social and economic needs, while a new concept just being examined in mainstream – is what we have always done.

10. First Nations’ Social Economy • Mainstream – groups establish non-profits and cooperatives; do not require local government approval • First Nation - entrenched need to involve First Nation local government • Result – while initiatives may have been grassroots driven – becomes an initiative of the “public sector” • Restricted access to resources for private sector development – result reliance on local “public sector” to develop

11. Local level Building Supply Cooperative Fuel Operators Cooperative Education and Training non-profits Economic Development corporations Regional Child Welfare Agencies Cultural Foundations Tribal Council’s Credit Unions First Nations’ “Social Enterprises”

12. Challenges • Relationships between social enterprise governance and First Nation governance and community members • Population size • Community locations and knowledge of local successful social enterprises • Lack of familiarity with not-for-profits and cooperatives

13. PROPAGANDA, YES or NO?

14. SOCIAL ECONOMY QUESTIONS ? • Economy as an Objective or as an instrument? • Economy as a variable of life ? Or Life as a variable of economics? • Local economy and global economy? • Social economy as a dual dynamic ?: Indigenous model and colonizer model

15. ANALYSIS FROM INDIGENOUS IN COLOMBIA Life Projects Death Project Life Under Threat Accumulate to be Life as an end Genocide, Ecocide and Ethnocide for accumulation Global Popular Resistance Web of Autonomies and Life Plans In Colombia, Latin-America and the World “Being to Accummulate” SIEGE For wealth

16. YES to LIFE . . . NO DEATH