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Sault Ste. Marie Learning Circle

July 16th, 2009 Notes

Algoma University
11 am to 1 pm

Eight of us gathered today. Eric introduced a new participant to the group, Zoltan, who brings with him dynamic perspectives on identity; geography & mobility; and, local professional experience in youth economic development.

We responded to the question posed from last month’s circle: ‘Who are urban Aboriginal people’ and recognized that we each have our own understanding and that any ‘definition’ will shift depending on the perspective of who is defining (i.e. non-Indigenous Canadian citizen, co-worker, government, new resident to the city vs. long time resident, pedestrian observing her/his surroundings, the urban Aboriginal person self-defining, etc.) This prompted the question of ‘why are we defining?’ and gestures towards a deeper understanding of our initial and present purpose. Where defining is intended to be and can be helpful, the re-asking of it in the new context, suggests there are limitations of ‘defining’; that it may be necessary to understand who is defining, why, and how this serves the purpose of economic development. We have begun to answer the question of ‘why define?’ (i.e. Canadian government defines who Aboriginal people are for many reasons). We also discovered that the national Aboriginal economic development strategy is, for the most part, not presently or in the near future going to be focused on urban centres. This raises the potential for tension or problem around ‘competition for resources’ between First Nation communities and urban communities. It was shared that the same theme of ‘competition for resources’ was identified at the last National Network’s ‘Learning Circle of Learning Circle’s’ and suggests the need to always be thinking of building relationships between communities of people despite geography, being aware of how resources might create divisions, and engaging with the worldview/value of ‘competition’. A presentation was made that provides a possible way of understanding Indigenous people’s work, an important component of economic development, in a contemporary setting. While the research was focused on Indigenous women, the themes can be generalized to Indigenous people and include: Indigenous and Euro-Western systems of work; mutual reciprocal nature of social and economic institutions; identity; colonial, government, and legal interference; and, activism, strategy, organization, and action. The question posed for discussion in the next learning circle is “What are the possibilities for economic development projects?” A decision will be made via email dialogue about this circle presenting a panel discussion to a provincial gathering of Economic Development Officers in SSM in August 2009. The next circle is August 13, 2009.