Written by Noah Cote, Communications Manager, The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce
Saturday was National Indigenous Peoples Day, when communities across Canada recognize and celebrate the cultures and contributions of our First Nations, Inuit and Métis (FNIM) people.
At The Chamber, we understand this is a priority for our members every day, and we’re committed to understanding and promoting practical ways our business community can make it happen.
Earlier this month, we sat down with Circles for Reconciliation Cofounders and Chamber members Ingrid Dowan and Grace Schedler, who shared how we can better support FNIM people in our community and bring FNIM talent into our economy – two critical steps to building a more vibrant and prosperous Winnipeg.
But they also shared how important it is to weave Indigenous perspectives into the fabric of your organization.
So, we connected with Denise Tardiff, one of this year’s cochairs of our Truth and Reconciliation Advisory Council.
This is our advisory board of 22 community leaders from the Indigenous community and/or organizations provides strategic oversight and guidance to our efforts advancing reconciliation. They also inform our Truth and Reconciliation information and programming that we make available internally and externally, to help you on your journey.
We asked Denise to share her personal journey, her vision for the Council, and how our members can tackle genuine, action-oriented reconciliation.
Sanjana Vijayann: Can you tell us about yourself and what inspired you to take on your role as cochair?
Denise Tardiff: I grew up in Saint Boniface in a Métis working-class family. My grandparents were hardworking, with my grandfather managing multiple jobs to provide for their children. Mamère always said “We may not have much, but we have a lot of love.” My aunties, uncles, and dad would joke about getting dressed under the covers before they got out of bed because the house was so cold. So even though they had rich memories, they were also driven to be successful in business and improve their circumstances, which allowed me to be raised with significantly more opportunities.
In terms of identity, it was still difficult to be looked down on for not being “white enough,” or to not be accepted for being “too white,” but walking in two worlds is what the Métis have always done. So, I try to make holding both perspectives an asset and use it to build bridges. It can be a useful tool to help educate the business community on how reconciliation efforts and economic development are not at odds or mutually exclusive but should always be intertwined so that prosperity is no longer attained for stakeholders at the expense rightsholders.
SV: What do you hope the Council achieves over the next year?
DT: Something bold, beyond tokenistic gestures. I don’t want it to just become another aspirational initiative without action. The Winnipeg Chamber can truly lead the way in meaningful reconciliation, setting an example for chambers across Canada.
With 2,000 members, we have a platform to mobilize and genuinely engage the business community in practical, actionable reconciliation. Of course, specifics will be decided by the larger group, but ideas that come to mind are helping provide companies an opportunity to respond to Call to Action 92 in tangible ways that benefit Indigenous communities in real time.
I recall a Chamber luncheon where an someone asked about avenues for urgent funding for a paramedic student from a northern community. He was at the tail end of successfully completing his training, but his community did not have funds to support his coming to Winnipeg for the final few weeks of residency. Airfare from fly-in communities is costly.
I could not think of a single source or program that could help him, but I could not let it go; he had come so far and all he needed was transportation and temporary living accommodations. On my drive home, I thought: Among all the business owners at the luncheon who have expressed that reconciliation is a priority for their organizations, surely, they collectively have the resources (a vacant rental property, hotel room, vehicle…) that they could and would offer, if they were only made aware of the need that existed.
Manitoba’s business community could rally and change the trajectory of this person’s career, which would in turn fill a critical need for paramedic services in that particular community. Ultimately, this helps achieve their goal of responding to call to action 92 in a way that would not cause undue hardship for their businesses or the employees that depend upon it- they could even write off the expenses. Truly a win-win scenario.
SV: How can Chamber members support the Council’s work?
DT: Besides ensuring that best practices and strict adherence to guiding principles like Ownership, Control, Access and Protection (OCAP) and United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDRIP) are the standard within their organization, Chamber Members can get engaged by participating in feedback through workshops, surveys and listening sessions. The Truth and Reconciliation policy we’re creating will be a living document, that’s going to evolve as we learn, communicate and grow together. Leaders can help us identify and lend resources to close gaps such as providing practical support to students or Elders.
Many Elders’ are on a fixed income and their homes are in disrepair, there’s drywall falling from the ceilings, their electrical doesn’t work. In the winter, they can’t get in and out of their house because of the ice, but there is an increasing expectation that they will give their time to sit on councils, advise and attend events to give greetings and prayers. Sure we pay them honorariums, but this does not replace a steady income, and because they’re not living in their communities, they don’t have a community looking out for them the way they traditionally would in the sense that Elders who were occupied with the spiritual guidance and wellbeing for the people, were not necessarily out hunting, it was in turn the community’s job to care for them in other ways.
So, I would just ask businesses interested in participating to help us identify those gaps, because simple actions like offering an electrician for an afternoon or a rental car for a week, something you can afford, could genuinely transform someone’s life forever.
SV: Can you share an example of reconciliation in action?
DT: One memorable example came from Bob Hastings from Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters. While visiting my class at Neeginan College where I was teaching trades students trauma-informed soft skills, we were discussing how some companies who are truly invested in working with Indigenous communities have taken steps to shift how they do business.
Having worked to gain a true understanding of kinship systems and protocol around bereavement, one company planned ahead for the eventuality that when a member of the community passes away, it will be a priority for the rest of the community members they employ to go home to support the family.
The timeline for this does not necessarily adhere to the standard westernized 3-day bereavement leave of most policies and Indigenous kinship systems and family ties also do not conform to what is typically accepted as “qualifying” for leave. For example, when the auntie who raised me passed, this would not have warranted bereavement leave because she is not a 1st degree relative. Had I been forced to choose; I would have left regardless of being penalized or losing my job.
Rather than avoiding hiring people from the same Indigenous community because it would be problematic to lose the majority of their workforce for a period they can’t predict. This company knew that investing in their relationship with this community was valuable enough to build a contingency plan into their HR policy to bring in temporary labour to maintain productivity while still preserving the positions of their Indigenous employees.
SV: What brings you hope?
DT: We’re in a time where we seem to be going backward, politically, in the media, where there’s fear mongering and hate, human rights violations and so on. It all seems like it’s ramping up right now.
But what gives me hope is that, at the same time, many peoples’ understanding is growing. There’ve never been so many allies that are so well informed as today.
It also seems like a wider range of people from different segments of society are informed. In the past, the voices of far left-wing liberals, activists or fringe groups were more easily dismissed as the minority group of the month and relegated to the corner.
I think a lot of the hate you see now is actually a backlash, because as soon as you acknowledge the rights of the powerless, it shakes up the people who hold all the power. So while it is discouraging, I hope it is actually an indicator of undeniable progress.
Seeing all this parallel growth and informed support gives me hope we’re moving forward, even if we still have a long way to go.
