*A Mi鈥檏maw concept that means two-eyed seeing
By Lisa Gregoire
Photos by Wayne Hoecherl
Before put a list of distinguished letters after his name from universities in Canada and abroad, and long before he joined 杏吧原创鈥檚 as a professor last year, he taught himself guitar, formed a rock band called Hard Poetry and opened for acts like the Barenaked Ladies.
鈥淚 was always writing and playing music 鈥� that鈥檚 how I made sense of the world,鈥� says Colbourne, an Anishinaabe from the Mattawa/North Bay Algonquin First Nation, who, around the time his band was touring, worked with low-income and homeless people for a non-profit charity on Vancouver鈥檚 Downtown Eastside.
鈥淭he songs I wrote,鈥� he says, 鈥渞eflected what I was experiencing and feeling out on the streets.鈥�
Prof. Rick Colbourne
Yet after releasing albums and playing gigs across the country, Colbourne changed directions. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a certain point when you hit the ceiling in the Canadian music industry,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd it鈥檚 very difficult to move beyond that.鈥�
Considering what followed, perhaps that ceiling was a blessing.
Colbourne went from performing to producing concerts to earning his MBA from Simon Fraser University, then worked on media and entertainment projects for the professional services multinational Accenture. While developing and pitching digital music solutions to record labels around the world, he realized that music executives underestimated the impact that the internet and digital platforms would have on their industry.
Colbourne transitioned to academia when he was hired by the University of Westminster鈥檚 School of Media, Art and Design in London to redesign its Music Business Management master鈥檚 program. These experiences informed his interest in the dynamics of power and learning in corporations, which led to a PhD in management at the University of Cambridge鈥檚 Judge Business School.
Bridging Different Worlds
Curious and nimble, Colbourne discovered at a young age the value of being able to bridge different worlds. He learned how to cope with uncertainty, make new friends, take risks and manage change from his Anishinaabe father, who worked in the Canadian Armed Forces medical corps and was posted 鈥� and brought the family 鈥� to bases across Canada and Europe.
Now, suitably armed with a string of life experiences, a network of multiskilled collaborators and notable academic credentials, Colbourne is settling into Sprott and focusing on managing a different type of change: reconciliation and decolonization.
What do these words mean? Well, it鈥檚 more than 鈥渏ust introducing a case study on selling bannock or crafts,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t involves recognizing that we are all colonized peoples, and that government, post-secondary institutions, businesses and corporations are complicit in colonizing Indigenous peoples in Canada.
鈥淒ecolonization demands that we develop partnerships with Indigenous communities and organizations that legitimize and draw on Indigenous worldviews and ways of being to bring about institutional movement from simple inclusion initiatives to more meaningful reconciliation strategies. And today, this has to include how we consider the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.鈥�
This past spring, in the midst of teaching courses, mentoring grad students and developing partnerships with Indigenous communities, Colbourne found himself, like so many others, struggling with the constraints of economic shutdowns and isolation. This led to intense discussions on the effects of the pandemic with colleagues at , a national non-profit that plays an intermediary role to connect the private sector, Indigenous groups, government and post-secondary institutions.
Those conversations revolved not only around the impacts of COVID-19 on Indigenous workers, entrepreneurs, communities and economic development corporations but also around resiliency, coping and mitigation.
They came up with two projects. One is a series of video podcasts exploring how Indigenous people are coping with isolation and working from home. The second will paint a bigger picture, investigating what鈥檚 happening with Indigenous businesses. Community-owned development corporations are major employers in First Nation, M茅tis and Inuit communities and range from on-reserve gas stations, convenience stores, tourism guides and outfitters to large-scale natural resource operations.
Colbourne鈥檚 study, with funding from 杏吧原创, will compile cross-Canada baseline data on these businesses and chart what has happened to them since March 2020.
This is valuable information because Indigenous economic development corporations contribute back to their communities by supporting initiatives that focus on enhancing health and resiliency among Elders, youth and other community members.
鈥淐anadians often don鈥檛 understand that these development corporations have a strong role to play in Canada鈥檚 economy,鈥� says Colbourne, who in September became . 鈥淲e need to demonstrate this and clearly articulate these contributions, so non Indigenous Canadians can appreciate the value of collaborating with Indigenous economic development corporations.鈥�
In the initial phase of this project, D鈥橝rcy O鈥橣arrell, a Sprott PhD candidate and research assistant who specializes in finance, will source, compile, aggregate and analyze annual reports, financial data and other information from First Nation, M茅tis and Inuit sources. Then a team of researchers will determine which businesses are struggling and which are staying afloat 鈥� and why 鈥� to inform more effective Indigenous, federal and provincial policy making.
This research is guided by the Indigenous principle of reciprocity and OCAP: ownership, control, access and possession. All of the findings will be shared with Indigenous communities and economic development corporations.
Podcasts Are Perfect For Indigenous Storytelling Traditions
The video podcast project is still preliminary and awaits provincial funding but those involved are already busy preparing. , the President and CEO of Indigenous Works, says podcasts are perfect for Indigenous storytelling traditions and will be easily accessible on multiple online platforms. For those lacking a decent internet connection, he鈥檚 hoping libraries and other institutions will download them for public use. Short and sweet, they will offer tips and tools on how to survive and thrive in this stressful, unpredictable, work-from-home lifestyle.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a way to help employees adapt but you can also look at it from a performance lens: now that you are working in a blended or at-home environment, what can be done to ensure you maintain or even improve productivity?鈥� says Lendsay.
鈥淧odcasts provide a storytelling platform and share peoples鈥� experiences. Listeners trust those voices because they鈥檙e authentic.鈥�
While it鈥檚 true that Indigenous peoples have embraced social media 鈥� 鈥渢he talking stick on steroids,鈥� Lendsay calls it 鈥� he鈥檚 hoping the podcasts will offer another layer of support, featuring stories from urban, rural and remote locations addressing challenges such as connectivity, technology fatigue, productivity, self-care and loneliness. Indigenous Canadians have faced devastating biological and social afflictions before and the coronavirus might be triggering bad memories, especially for Elders, which is another theme to explore.
To assist this work, Colbourne has solicited the podcasting skills of one of his students, Joel Flynn, who is doing a PhD in management at Sprott and shares many of his supervisor鈥檚 interests, including social justice and the intersection of culture, technology and music. Along with running a podcasting and recording studio in Vancouver, Flynn is a singer who, prior to COVID-19, hosted community-driven live music events involving local musicians and singers. With their common interests, student and professor appear to be kindred spirits.
As if these pandemic projects aren鈥檛 enough, Colbourne has another ambitious goal: tackling the world鈥檚 鈥渨icked problems鈥� with etuaptmumk, a Mi鈥檏maw concept meaning 鈥渢wo-eyed seeing.鈥�
With a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant submission in the queue, this unique Indigenous-led research initiative has assembled a team of more than a dozen leading Indigenous and non-Indigenous thinkers from around the world who are committed to using two eyed seeing to frame understandings of and responses to the wicked problems of sustainable development, social justice and urban inequity.
鈥淚ndigenous peoples are keepers of holistic knowledge generated over thousands of years of adaptation to global forces,鈥� says Colbourne, 鈥渢hrough which they have the capacity to foster the transformations necessary to respond to grand challenges.鈥� In other words, Indigenous peoples have a lot to offer in the wake of failed capitalist and neoliberal policies regarding the climate, our environment and the economy.
This project reflects Colbourne鈥檚 self-described role as an activist business prof. 鈥淚鈥檓 trying to reframe how we see things,鈥� he says. 鈥淚nstead of thinking about organizations and ventures created purely for profit 鈥� to exploit or extract from communities 鈥� how do we reframe this from an Indigenous perspective? How do we think about ventures from a values orientation?
鈥淚 provide a critical voice and, in the past, sometimes I鈥檝e been the only critical voice,鈥� continues Colbourne.
鈥淏ut at 杏吧原创 and at Sprott I am excited to be working with faculty and staff who share the same values and perspectives and are wanting to change the world for the better. That鈥檚 why I鈥檓 here. I鈥檓 aligned with our dean, Dana Brown, and her vision for building a business school that values social impact and social innovation and is committed to engaging in reconciliation and Indigenization.鈥�
It comes down to sharing wisdom and moving forward together, as equals, says Colbourne. Lendsay agrees and praises 杏吧原创鈥檚 commitment to flipping the research model to promote community-led, needs-based projects instead of the outdated academic tradition of indulging esoteric notions, disembodied from the people and communities being studied.
Sprott is not just talking the talk. It was the first of dozens of post-secondary faculties to sign the Indigenous Works鈥� , a proposed multi-year strategy to advance Indigenous innovation and research collaboration through partnerships with businesses, universities, research agencies, Indigenous businesses and communities. The charter is essentially a commitment from powerful mainstream players to support and amplify Indigenous-led research and innovation projects with expertise and money driving economic transformation and jobs.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking for more long-term relationships and long-term benefits coming out of research that engages Indigenous communities and resonates with their needs, values and perspectives,鈥� says Colbourne. 鈥淚ndigenous-led research has to contribute to community socio-economic health and well-being by facilitating self-governance and self-determination. It cannot be extractive. It has to be collaborative.鈥�
Lendsay likens this to organizing a sports league: all you have to do is show up and play. 鈥淭hese partnerships are going to be powerful because everyone is so stressed and busy,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople want to do this, they just don鈥檛 have the time to be part of building networks. So that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e doing 鈥� building an infrastructure and ecosystem to support these collaborations.鈥�
Igloolik Project Shows Potential of 杏吧原创鈥檚 Approach
One need only consider what鈥檚 happening in Igloolik, Nunavut, more than 2,500 kilometres north of 杏吧原创, to see just how powerful this approach can be.
Igloolik residents want to use excess construction materials currently languishing at the dump to build a meat and fish processing plant and possibly a hydroponic greenhouse to grow vegetables. But they have neither the money nor the research expertise to design such things, says the town鈥檚 mayor, Merlyn Recinos. So Colbourne is teaming up with 杏吧原创 colleagues in Industrial Design, Information Technology and Neuroscience to bring their knowledge to the North.
Upcoming community consultations with Elders, youth and others in Igloolik will determine project priorities and design elements and then 杏吧原创 graduate and undergrad students will work on shaping community objectives into reality. And, in the process, they鈥檒l have an opportunity to learn about Arctic environments and Inuit innovation.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very refreshing for us, at the community level, to hear this,鈥� says Recinos.
鈥淚f you really want to create change, what you need to do is come to us as an empty vessel with the skills that you have and listen to the community to find out what we want. Communities truly want to create their own change and they want to be part of it. For this to happen, co-creation and collaboration needs to be at the forefront.鈥�
Recinos uses the word 鈥渞efreshing鈥� because this is not something he expected. 鈥淚t鈥檚 surprising to think of a business school caring about culture, community and the environment,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 what reconciliation is all about: not just trying to understand the other side but working with the other side to ensure that, at the end of the day, we鈥檙e all benefitting.鈥�
Monday, November 23, 2020 in Features - Fall 2020
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