Aboriginal Perspectives on the Social Economy

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Aboriginal Perspectives on the Social Economy
CESD

• By Alice Corbiere
• Rosalind Johnston
• José A. Reyes

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Todays 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

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Community Economic and Social Development

• Applying a holistic worldview to economic
  development

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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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First Nations Social Enterprises

• Local level
• Building Supply Cooperative
• Fuel Operators Cooperative
• Education and Training non-profits
• Economic Development corporations

• Regional
• Child Welfare Agencies
• Cultural Foundations
• Tribal Councils
• Credit Unions

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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

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PROPAGANDA, YES or NO?
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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

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ANALYSIS FROM INDIGENOUS IN COLOMBIA
Death Project
Life Projects
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
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YES to LIFE . . .
NO
DEATH