choicesVol. 13, no. 4, August 2007 ISSN 0711-0677 www.irpp.org

Aboriginal Quality of Life

IRPP

Isobel M. FindlayWanda Wuttunee

AboriginalWomen’sCommunityEconomicDevelopment

Measuring andPromoting Success

F ounded in 1972, the Institute for Research onPublic Policy is an independent, national,nonprofit organization.

IRPP seeks to improve public policy in Canada bygenerating research, providing insight and sparkingdebate that will contribute to the public policydecision-making process and strengthen the quality ofthe public policy decisions made by Canadiangovernments, citizens, institutions and organizations.

IRPP's independence is assured by an endowment fundestablished in the early 1970s.

F ondé en 1972, l’Institut de recherche enpolitiques publiques est un organisme canadien,indépendant et sans but lucratif.

L’IRPP cherche à améliorer les politiques publiquescanadiennes en encourageant la recherche, en mettantde l’avant de nouvelles perspectives et en suscitant desdébats qui contribueront au processus décisionnel enmatière de politiques publiques et qui rehausseront laqualité des décisions que prennent les gouvernements,les citoyens, les institutions et les organismescanadiens.

L’indépendance de l’IRPP est assurée par un fonds dedotation établi au début des années 1970.

This publication was produced under thedirection of F. Leslie Seidle, Senior ResearchAssociate, IRPP. The manuscript was copy-editedby Barbara Czarnecki, proofreading was by ZofiaLaubitz, production was by Chantal Létourneau,art direction was by Schumacher Design andprinting was by AGL Graphiques.

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To cite this document:

Findlay, Isobel M., and Wanda Wuttunee. 2007.“Aboriginal Women’s Community EconomicDevelopment: Measuring and Promoting Success.”IRPP Choices 13 (4).

The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IRPP or its Board of Directors.

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over-reliance on quantitative measures that are large-ly focused on inputs and outputs, and insufficientweighting of factors such as the social and culturalcosts and benefits of doing business in Aboriginalcommunities. As a result, those responsible for evalu-ation and policy making “often leave Aboriginalwomen’s work out of the accounting.” The authorsconclude that the full potential of Aboriginalwomen’s enterprise will be realized only if policy andprogram decision making can be redesigned to recog-nize, learn from and leverage the investments ofAboriginal women’s labour, leadership and creativity;respect the cultural values at the heart of their enter-prises; and understand the importance of collective aswell as individual well-being.

IRPP plans to publish a number of other studies aspart of this research program. The authors will pres-ent case studies of innovations in public policies andprograms in a given policy sector, including how theinnovations were developed and implemented; andassess the results — including the impact on outcomesand lessons learned. The studies will be situated with-in a broader context, including historical and consti-tutional factors, and will outline policy directions forfurther improvement within the policy field. It ishoped that, consistent with IRPP’s mandate, thisresearch studies will inform citizen understandingand policy making in this important domain.

C ette publication représente une étape de plusdans le programme de recherche de l’IRPP surla qualité de vie des Autochtones, qui com-

prendra une série d’études consacrées aux innova-tions récentes apportées aux politiques et pro-grammes publics ainsi qu’aux partenariats avec lesAutochtones. Le programme de recherche s’inspiredes travaux menés dans le cadre du projet de l’IRPPsur l’art de l’État, volume III, et en particulier descontributions d’Evelyn Peters, de Joyce Green et IanPeach, et de John Richards à l’ouvrage Belonging?Diversity, Recognition and Shared Citizenship inCanada, publié par l’IRPP en 2007.

La situation d’un grand nombre d’Autochtones estl’une des questions les plus urgentes auxquelles doits’attaquer la politique publique au Canada. Plusieursindicateurs, depuis les niveaux de revenu et de chô-mage jusqu’aux indicateurs de santé, soulignent l’é-cart important qui existe entre de nombreuxAutochtones et les non-Autochtones du point de vuedes chances d’épanouissement. Certes, des progrès

Aboriginal Quality of Life / Qualité de vie des AutochtonesResearch Director/ Directeur de recherche

F. Leslie Seidle

W ith this publication, IRPP continues itsresearch program Aboriginal Quality ofLife, which will include a series of studies

examining recent innovations in public policies, pro-grams and partnerships involving Aboriginal people.This program builds on research on Aboriginal issuescarried out as part of the institute’s Art of the State IIIproject, notably the contributions of Evelyn Peters,Joyce Green and Ian Peach, and John Richards to the2007 IRPP volume Belonging? Diversity, Recognitionand Shared Citizenship in Canada.

The situation of many of Canada’s Aboriginal peo-ple is one of the country’s most pressing public policyquestions. Based on a range of measures, fromincome and unemployment levels to health indica-tors, there are significant gaps in life chancesbetween many Aboriginal and non-AboriginalCanadians. There has been progress in some areas —for example, in the proportion of Aboriginal peoplewho have completed post-secondary education.Nonetheless, measures such as the United NationsHuman Development Index continue to underline theunacceptable disparities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Canada. Self-government agree-ments signed during the past 30 years or so,particularly in the North, hold promise of a betterfuture for the First Nations who have acquired greatercommunity autonomy. But the majority of Aboriginalpeople, notably those who live in cities, are not cov-ered by such agreements; for them, there is a need forother approaches and — above all — renewed politicalwill.

In this study, Isobel Findlay and Wanda Wuttuneeexplore innovation in Aboriginal women’s communi-ty economic development (CED) in Canada. Theirresearch is centred on three case studies of successfulCED in urban, rural and remote settings. The storiesof the dedicated women who have made a significantmark within their communities show that it is possi-ble to pursue business objectives while living the val-ues of their culture and assuming their rightful placein the community. In this context, the authors cri-tique current approaches and tools for measuring theimpact of CED. In their view, there continues to be an

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L’IRPP se propose de publier plusieurs études addi-tionnelles dans le cadre de ce programme derecherche. Les auteurs présenteront des études de casaxées sur les innovations apportées aux politiques etprogrammes publics dans des secteurs déterminés dela politique publique, signalant notamment commentces innovations ont été élaborées et mises en œuvre,et analyseront les résultats de ces innovations, ycompris leur impact sur la situation des Autochtoneset les leçons tirées de ces expériences. Les étudess’inscriront dans un contexte plus large, où serontnotamment évoqués les facteurs historiques et cons-titutionnels, et proposeront des orientations destinéesà améliorer la situation dans ce secteur de la poli-tique publique. On espère que, conformément aumandat de l’IRPP, ces études de recherche con-tribueront à une meilleure compréhension au sein dela population et à la prise de décisions dans cedomaine important.

ont été enregistrés dans certains domaines — en cequi a trait à la proportion des Autochtones qui ontachevé leurs études postsecondaires, par exemple.D’autres indicateurs, tel l’Indice de développementhumain des Nations Unies, continuent néanmoins demettre en lumière les disparités inacceptables quipersistent entre Autochtones et non-Autochtones auCanada. Les ententes d’autonomie gouvernementalesignées depuis une trentaine d’années, en particulierdans le Grand Nord, renferment la promesse d’unemeilleure qualité de vie pour les Premières Nationsqui ont pu acquérir leur autonomie communautaire,mais la majorité des Autochtones, en particulier ceuxqui vivent en milieu urbain, ne sont pas présentsdans ces accords. Dans leur cas, il faudra envisagerd’autres formules et, surtout, faire preuve d’unevolonté politique renouvelée.

Dans la présente étude, Isobel Findlay et WandaWuttunee examinent l’innovation dans le contextede la participation des femmes au développementéconomique communautaire (DEC) au Canada. Leurrecherche est centrée sur trois études de cas faisantétat des réussites remportées en matière de DEC dansdes milieux urbain, rural et éloigné. Ces exemples defemmes résolues qui ont fait leur marque au sein deleurs communautés montrent qu’elles peuvent pour-suivre des objectifs commerciaux tout en vivant lesvaleurs de leur culture et en assumant la place quileur revient dans la communauté. Dans cette pers-pective, les auteures font un examen critique desapproches et outils employés pour mesurer l’impactdu DEC. Elles estiment qu’on continue d’accordertrop d’importance à des indices quantitatifs portantprincipalement sur les données d’entrée et de sortie,et pas assez à des facteurs comme les coûts et bien-faits sociaux et culturels rattachés à l’activité com-merciale au sein des communautés autochtones.Étant donné l’importance qu’ils attachent à cesindices, les responsables de l’évaluation et de la for-mulation des politiques excluent souvent de leurscalculs le travail accompli par les femmes. Lesauteures ajoutent que le potentiel que recèle le tra-vail des femmes ne pourra se réaliser intégralementque lorsqu’on reformulera les processus décisionnelsrelatifs aux politiques et aux programmes dans le butde reconnaître le travail, le leadership et la créativitédes femmes autochtones, d’en tirer des enseigne-ments utiles et de faire fructifier leurs investisse-ments, de respecter les valeurs culturelles qui sont aucœur de leurs entreprises et de comprendre l’impor-tance du bien-être collectif aussi bien qu’individuel.

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Contents5 Quality of Life of Aboriginal Women

8 Aboriginal Women’s CED Contributions

10 Measurement Tools

12 Women’s Community Economic Development:Three Success Stories

19 Conclusion

21 Notes

21 References

About the AuthorsIsobel M. Findlay is an associate professor,Management and Marketing, Edwards School ofBusiness; Scholar, Centre for the Study of Co-opera-tives; and Academic Director, Community-UniversityInstitute for Social Research, University ofSaskatchewan. An associate member of the Councilfor the Advancement of Native Development Officers,she is committed to interdisciplinary and collabora-tive research and publishes widely on Aboriginal andassociative organizations, indigenous women’s com-munity economic development, law and culture, busi-ness communication, and postcolonial education,development and justice.

Dr. Wanda Wuttunee is a member of the RedPheasant Reserve, Saskatchewan. She holds the head-ship in Native Studies at the University of Manitobaand is the director of the Aboriginal BusinessEducation Program in the Asper School of Business.Her research focuses on Aboriginal issues involvingeconomic development, community economic devel-opment, tradition, gender, social responsibility andthe financing of social enterprise.

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W hile some Aboriginal women and men aresuccessfully redefining and implementingnew visions of sufficiency and success for

their communities, for many the struggle to reclaimand retain rights over their lives, lands, labour andknowledge is ongoing. Indeed, the situation has beenaggravated by globalizing processes that endangerAboriginal women and children already disadvan-taged by poverty-perpetuating inequality.

Drawing on our experience with Aboriginalwomen engaged in community economic develop-ment (CED), this research study aims to fill a gap inthe literature on Aboriginal quality of life andAboriginal CED by highlighting the hidden successstories involving the enormous and growing innova-tion and enterprise of Aboriginal women’s CED inCanada. The full potential of such enterprise will berealized only if policy and program decision-making(and the evidence that shapes it) can recognize, learnfrom and leverage the formidable investments ofwomen’s labour, leadership and creativity; respect thecultural values at the heart of their enterprises; andunderstand the importance of collective rather thansolely individual well-being.

If aggravated inequalities within and acrossregions (Milanovic 2005; World Economic Forum2005) are underplayed in celebrations of economicglobalization and obscured by the abstractions ofaggregate data, a “deficit paradigm” (associatingAboriginal peoples with deficiency and dependence)purveyed by social science research on Aboriginalpeoples (Ponting and Voyageur 2005) has similarlymade it hard to recognize the socio-economic, cultur-al, political and environmental achievements ofAboriginal peoples. The gendered effects of economicglobalization (sustained by insufficiently consideredeconomic measures imposed by First World institu-tions, such as the World Trade Organization andInternational Monetary Fund) both add to the bur-dens on Aboriginal women and activate theirresourcefulness, although their achievements

Aboriginal Women’sCommunity EconomicDevelopmentMeasuring and PromotingSuccess

Isobel M. Findlay and Wanda Wuttunee

been insufficiently respectful of Aboriginal values, theaspirations and needs of communities on and off reserve,and the particular contributions of Aboriginal women.Indicators of cultural sustainability, for example, areimportant considerations in community development yetfind no place in mainstream indicators. In promoting indi-cators that will better serve policy-makers and communi-ties making CED choices, we aim to unpack and displaceoutmoded conceptual boxes and unspoken assumptionsby entering the circle of respect for Aboriginal ontologiesand epistemologies (Stewart-Harawira 2005). In addition,we use a gender lens, refuse to uncouple excellence fromequity and seek to build on the work with performancemeasures that put community values at the heart of things(Findlay and Russell 2005; Wuttunee 2004).

Quality of Life of AboriginalWomen

I f it is not clear that the right questions have beenasked, it is also the case that the concepts of “quali-ty of life” and “well-being” are not as simple or

self-evident as they might appear. Designed to supple-ment gross domestic product (GDP) as measures ofdevelopment, they aim to capture human and socialdimensions of development and allow comparisonsacross national and other differences (Cooke 2005). Yetboth remain contested terms despite efforts to renderthem “more measurable and more reliable” in predictingindividual and social development (Salée 2006, 6). Saléediscusses approaches that variously consider the role ofthe state, the capacity of individuals and communitiesor social capital, psychological or emotional measuresof healing and control, and holistic notions of balanceassociated with the medicine wheel in Aboriginal worldviews — all of which might impact policy to addressAboriginal quality of life. Overwhelmingly, despite goodintentions and talk of equal partnerships, research andresulting policy on Aboriginal quality of life continue tofavour positivist, universalist and individual measuresthat regard Aboriginal people as objects of study, whileundermining Canada’s claims to value diversity, under-valuing Aboriginal world views, eliding “the politics ofAboriginal quality of life” and “the social processes ofexclusion,” and leaving policy and other paradigmsunchanged (Salée 2006, 6-26).1

The limits of current efforts to rethink Aboriginalquality of life are clear in the ambivalent way thatAboriginal people figure in Canadian consciousness.

continue to slip below the radar. If their roles areoften invisible, they are nevertheless vital to thequality of life of Aboriginal communities acrossCanada. Our study aims to (1) interrogate measuringtools that continue to leave Aboriginal women’s workout of the accounting and (2) highlight Aboriginalwomen’s contributions (as typical as they are excep-tional) in case studies representing their voices andexperience in urban, rural and remote settings.

Ten years after the Beijing World Conference onWomen and five years after the UN MillenniumDevelopment Goals were set, the gap between womenand men remains largely undiminished: notably,women represent two-thirds of the world’s poor andilliterate (World Economic Forum 2005). Despite thegendering of inequality, Aboriginal women remainimportant stewards of the world’s linguistic and bio-logical diversity (Lertzman and Vredenburg 2005),active promoters of social change and vital economicplayers where gender equality is promoted (Jones,Snelgrove, and Muckosy 2006). Recognizing that“social ills within our communities are not because ofwho we are but because of what has been done to us”(Muise 2004, 36), Aboriginal women in Canada accepttheir own and their communities’ responsibilities tomake a difference. In the United Nations SecondInternational Decade of the World’s Indigenous People,focusing on Aboriginal women is critical “becausegender inequality is an obstacle to progress, a road-block on the path of human development. Whendevelopment is not ‘en-gendered’ it is ‘en-dangered’”(UNDP 2002, v). While statistics suggest that chal-lenges often come from within their own communities,the traditional way is to devote energies to strengthen-ing communities, providing support for men in healingand showing leadership as family members. Resilient,healthy communities need the full participation ofeach member. In other words, revaluing Aboriginalwomen does not mean devaluing Aboriginal men.

This study focuses on success stories as well as thepersistent barriers Aboriginal women face in their questfor resilience and equity. We draw on publicly availablequantitative measures of the gaps and trends and onqualitative case study measures as well as holistic meas-urement tools that stretch bottom-line accounting.Mainstream statistical and accounting measures of suc-cess have proven powerful drivers of public policy. Theyare widely understood to be objective measures of self-evident realities in the socio-economic and otherdomains and hence the best guides when making deci-sions in the public interest. However, they have also

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These huge disparities persist despite repeated gov-ernment commitments to close the gap in socio-eco-nomic and educational attainment between Aboriginaland non-Aboriginal people. Although between 1981and 2001 the gap in overall UNHDI scores betweenregistered Indians and other Canadians narrowed, thegap in real average annual income increased. In addi-tion, although women within the registered Indianpopulation had higher educational standards andlonger life expectancy than their male counterparts,they continued to earn less ($9,395 compared with$10,849) (Cooke, Beavon, and McHardy 2004).

Moreover, Aboriginal women are often victims ofviolence. The Native Women’s Association of Canada’sSisters in Spirit campaign reminds us that Aboriginalwomen are five times more likely to die as a result ofviolence than any other group of Canadian women.Like Amnesty International in its report Stolen Sisters,Aboriginal women remember, “honour and respect”the 500 or more indigenous women murdered or miss-ing in Canada over the last 20 years — a number thatunderstates violence so routine that it is underreportedand underinvestigated (Native Women’s Associationof Canada 2006). In Canada the violence againstAboriginal women is made worse by official andunofficial responses focusing on women’s “characters”and so-called lifestyle “choices,” rather than the char-acters and choices of (usually) white men inside andoutside the justice system.

Despite Aboriginal women’s increasing educationalattainment and participation in governance, employ-ment and self-employment (Mendelson 2006), statis-tics continue to depict a stark reality of Aboriginalwomen (and men) more likely to endure lives markedby deficiency and dysfunction.

Undoubtedly, such standard social indicators pro-vide some useful knowledge, but averages have ahabit of obscuring important differences among com-munities. For instance, Chandler and Lalonde’s 1998study of suicide rates among Aboriginal youth inBritish Columbia shows some communities with rates800 times the national average while others that areactively engaged in maintaining collective practicesand strong cultural continuity (within which youthcan develop a sense of self) had few or no incidents.

Paternalism and other colonial presumptions Aboriginal women’s roles as primary sources of cul-tural continuity (Hull 2006) remain largely invisible.While in 2001 the “dependency ratio” — a measure ofthose considered dependent because of age (under 15

Inuit art and Aboriginal symbols (inukshuks, canoes,moccasins, totem poles) often represent Canada to theworld in marketing campaigns and souvenir consumergoods, while Aboriginal histories and current realitiesoften remain largely invisible to mainstreamCanadians (Ponting 2000). A 2003 Centre for Researchand Information in Canada (CRIC) survey, for instance,reported 75 percent support for strong Aboriginal cul-tures, while 49 percent (62 percent on the Prairies) feltthat Aboriginal land claims are not valid and 42 per-cent (54 percent on the Prairies) would get rid ofAboriginal rights entirely. The CRIC survey also report-ed that 51 percent of Canadians think Aboriginal peo-ple are as well off as or better off than otherCanadians, and only 48 percent think that poverty isbeyond the control of the Aboriginal people affected.

This pattern of simultaneous visibility and invisibili-ty, valuing and undervaluing, marking mainstreamCanada’s relation to Aboriginal people has proven astubbornly contradictory conceptual box. It has also hada significant effect on the quality of life of Aboriginalpeople in general and Aboriginal women in particular —and on their capacity to effect meaningful change.Framing public policy on the well-being of Aboriginalpeople within public expenditures adds to the problem(Cooke, Beavon, and McHardy 2004). Quantifiable costsand benefits obscure qualitative measures, perpetuatethe “deficit paradigm” and obstruct a “strength para-digm” that might properly replace it.

PovertyCanada enjoys a high standing in the United NationsHuman Development Index (UNHDI), while theAboriginal population would rank 48th, behind Panama,(Stavenhagen 2004) or as low as 78th by some accounts(Anderson 2003). If poverty and its effects are distrib-uted unequally on a global level, they are also indige-nized and felt disproportionately by Aboriginal women:42.7 percent (double the rate for non-Aboriginalwomen) live in poverty (UNPAC 2006). WhileAboriginal people (those claiming “some ancestry”) rep-resent only 4.4 percent of the Canadian population, theproportion of Aboriginal people in most of westernCanada is higher: 13.6 percent in Manitoba, 13.5 per-cent in Saskatchewan, 4.4 percent in BC and 5.3 per-cent in Alberta. And while the economic situation forAboriginal people is consistent with the larger econom-ic picture in the East, the socio-economic situation ofAboriginal people in the West is unique: in westerncities, four times as many Aboriginal people as otherCanadians live below the poverty line (INAC 2006).

workforce participation achievements of Aboriginalwomen (Luffman and Sussman 2006), Aboriginal work-ers are often characterized as “unskilled labour,” whenthe problem is in job opportunities and patterns of dis-crimination and social exclusion rather than in theAboriginal worker (Calliou and Voyageur 1998). Thepersistently colonial constructions of Aboriginal cul-tures as sources of poverty and obstructions to progressin themselves obscure the economic and other achieve-ments of Aboriginal women and men and the waysAboriginal culture can enrich us all (Silver et al. 2006).

The media contribute to such misconstructions bygiving unusual visibility to Aboriginal perpetrators ofcrime while leaving Aboriginal victims and achieverslargely invisible. The media have likewise been slow toabandon spectres of a massive youth underclass and wit-ness the rich resource of a youthful Aboriginal popula-tion — 43 percent of them under 20 years old, comparedwith 26 percent in the aging non-Aboriginal population(Hull 2006). Nor have the media done enough to explodemyths that the poor do not work or do not work hard, orto promote understanding that the world’s working poorare overwhelmingly “small business owners” (Jones,Snelgrove, and Muckosy 2006) and that 40 percent ofworking poor Canadians are self-employed (HRSDC2006). Similarly, the media have not reported the mas-sive inequities in federal spending aimed at welcomingand facilitating settlement of immigrant populations($247 per person) as opposed to the $34 per urbanAboriginal person allocated to Native Friendship Centresfor much the same functions (Silver et al. 2006).

and over 65) divided by the working-agepopulation — was markedly higher in the Aboriginalpopulation (.59) than in the non-Aboriginal popula-tion (.46), this overlooks the resilience of Aboriginalwomen in the over-65 age group of whom 35 percent(50 percent for registered Indian women) maintain anAboriginal mother tongue (Hull 2006).

The current minister of Indian affairs and northerndevelopment, Jim Prentice, convinced that “govern-ment will never be able to meet the [housing] needsof an entire segment of society,” is pressing his visionof a brighter future: an end to collectivist under-standings of property and the privatizing of reserveland and property. “It’s important for any citizen inCanada to have the ability in their community to buyand invest in property, mortgage it, service the mort-gage and move forward...Many First Nations are sit-ting on extremely valuable property that is notachieving its highest and best use” (Warick andPacholik 2006, D7). What makes eminent sense to afederal minister widely experienced in negotiatingland claims reads differently for those who value tra-ditional ways and the right to make their own deci-sions and who fear alienation of their lands, theextinguishment of title and the loss of spiritual andcultural ties to the land, in the interests of “progress.”

A Canadian Human Rights Commission study in2003 analyzed the damaging effects of male correc-tional norms, “gender neutral” systems and proceduralequality on Aboriginal women offenders (2). Despiteskills, experience, knowledge and the education and

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Experience of violence• Sixty percent of violent crime against Aboriginal people goes unreported.• Approximately 25 percent of Aboriginal women (compared with 7 percent of non-Aboriginal women) experienced

spousal violence, 1999-2004 (Brzozowski, Taylor-Butts, and Johnson 2006). Life expectancy• Aboriginal women’s life expectancy is 6.9 years shorter than that of the average non-Aboriginal Canadian woman

(74 as opposed to 80.9; for men, 66.9 compared with 74.6).• Reserve residents have an even lower life expectancy (62 years for men and 69.6 years for women) (INAC 2006).Suicide• Suicide is eight times more common among registered Indian young women (15-24) and five times higher for reg-

istered Indian males than for non-Aboriginal youth (INAC 2006).Incarceration• Aboriginal women represent 35 percent of women in adult correctional services (Aboriginal men represent 28 per-

cent of men).• Aboriginal adults in corrections are younger, less educated, less likely to be employed and more likely (90 percent

compared with 70 percent of non-Aboriginal people) to have substance abuse issues (Brzozowski, Taylor-Butts, andJohnson 2006).

• Eighty percent of federally sentenced women report being victims of abuse (Canadian Human Rights Commission 2003).

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this urban migrant group — threats to culture, familyand income, as well as high victimization andcrime — that contribute further to cycles of movementand isolation (Standing Senate Committee 2003).

However, this is only part of the story of theurbanization of Aboriginal people. Identifying “muchmore continuity in the social environment” thanmany commentators have assumed, Ponting andVoyageur (2005, 428-29) point to “a small net inflowof Registered Indian migrants to the reserves,” offer-ing human capital, critical mass and economies ofscale favourable to entrepreneurship. Similarly, Peters(2007) argues for the reconstruction of culture andcommunity within urban centres and an increasingsense of belonging. There are positive signs too thatwomen’s economic participation is being supportedby program and other changes. Together with culturalrevitalization, child care, distance learning facilities,Aboriginal Headstart promoting school readiness,housing and other infrastructure on reserves, andhealing programs to address institutional and familyviolence are all playing a role in building humancapital (Ponting and Voyageur 2005).

Aboriginal Women’s CEDContributions

I f the World Economic Forum (2005) is clearlyfocused on narrowly economic measures of the“global gender gap,” it nevertheless offers an

appropriate caution about wasteful practices:“Countries that do not capitalize on the full potentialof one half of their societies are misallocatingresources and undermining their competitive poten-tial” (1). It points to the systemic barriers in a valuesystem and accountability index that count what isquantifiable and discount elements (including air,water and soil quality) that do not fit the “‘economicnecessity’ tunnel” and the “gospel of efficiency.” Sucha measurement system works by “compartmentaliza-tion and concretization of these complex connections[of social, economic and environmental dimensions]into digestible bundles of information,” with theresult that the World Bank’s goal of halving worldpoverty in a sustainable way is undermined by itsfinancially biased performance indicators(Saravanamuthu 2003, 295-9). As Waring (1999) hasshown, the institutionalizing of invisibilities meansthat women’s contributions have a habit of “counting

Even when studies tell positive stories aboutAboriginal people’s capacities, the mainstream mediahave a habit of translating them into alarming mes-sages. For example, Mendelson’s 2006 study ofAboriginal peoples and post-secondary participationwas described as “A bleak choice for young Indians”by Globe and Mail commentator John Ibbitson, whoadvised any “Indian living on a reserve...to leaveright now...This is the only chance you have to rescuewhat is about to become your wasted life.” At astroke, Ibbitson erased all signs of educationalachievement by those who have overcome languageand cultural difference, left their home communitiesto attend university and succeeded.

Based on quantitative data from the 2001 censusand Aboriginal People’s Survey, Mendelson (2006)presents a balanced and constructive picture, arguingthat all Canadians can gain from increased educationallevels and workforce participation of Aboriginal peo-ple. He also argues that we cannot afford a situationwhere all Aboriginal identity groups have much lowerincomes than the general population (on-reserveincomes, at 49 percent of average total populationincome, are the lowest). Although the educational pic-ture is improving, especially for Aboriginal women,Aboriginal women who graduate from high school arestill half as likely to go to university as women in thegeneral population (13 percent compared with 26 per-cent). The fact that 43 percent of Aboriginal youngpeople (ages 20-24) have less than high school educa-tion remains shocking. As was the case with the gener-al population, the numbers of Aboriginal peoplegaining university degrees fell in 2001, maintaining agap that will not be bridged at current rates. Accordingto Mendelson, both the gap and absolute levels of par-ticipation matter for levels of social cohesion, personalself-esteem and perception of economic opportunity.

Understanding the demographic data used byMendelson and others means understanding themobility of Aboriginal people: one in five moved inthe 12 months before the 2001 census (as opposed toone in seven in the general population), and one in10 moved to or from urban centres (Standing SenateCommittee 2003). Mobility and migration patterns ofAboriginal people in turn aggravate jurisdictionalbarriers to programs and services. For policy-makers,net migration statistics leave an impression of “massexoduses” from reserves and mask the reality ofmovement within and between urban centres.Likewise, the statistics obscure the challenges to theyounger demographic group and to lone parents in

Aboriginal women have some post-secondary educa-tion), and Aboriginal women’s participation rateexceeds that of non-Aboriginal women at each educa-tional level in part because, in a younger Aboriginalpopulation with fewer financial resources, there is agreat need of employment (Hull 2006). In Table 1 wereport the occupations of the experienced labour forceby gender, Aboriginal identity and area of residence.

The 2000 average income for Aboriginal women was$16,519, compared with $23,065 for non-Aboriginalwomen; Inuit ($18,700) and Métis women ($18,100)earn the highest incomes and on-reserve registeredIndian women the lowest, at $14,000 (Hull 2006).

Identifying contributions to CED is harder given theemphases of the data, though some statistics are sugges-tive. In response to census questions about unpaid workin the “reference week” (May 6–12, 2001), more than 90percent of Aboriginal women reported houseworkduties, 59 percent reported child care and 24 percentreported elder care. On housework, the women closelymatched the experience of non-Aboriginal women, butAboriginal women (59 percent versus 41 percent) weremore involved in child care (54 percent spending 30hours or more per week); Inuit and registered Indian on-reserve women were the most engaged, at 75 percentand 72 percent, respectively (Hull 2006).

for nothing.” To end such institutionalized inequityand injustice, Waring (2003) demystifies economicsand makes visible women’s realities and their richcontributions — through their production and repro-duction — to challenge national employment andoccupation data and the United Nations System ofNational Accounts (UNSNA).

In these circumstances, some data on Aboriginalwomen’s economic participation are easier to accessthan others — especially those for labour marketactivity defined in terms of paid employment.According to the 2001 census, the labour force partic-ipation rate of Aboriginal women was 57 percent (61percent among non-Aboriginal women), although theaverage obscures differences among Aboriginalwomen: registered Indian (52 percent; 47 percent onreserve and 55 percent off reserve), Inuit (60 percent)and Métis women (65 percent). The unemploymentrate for Aboriginal women, at 17 percent, was morethan double the 7 percent rate for non-Aboriginalwomen — with registered Indian women and Inuitwomen the highest (20 percent and 19 percent,respectively) — though women’s rates in allAboriginal identity groups were lower than those formen (Hull 2006). Labour force participation rates cor-relate with higher education levels (44 percent of

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Table 1Occupations of Experienced Labour Force by Gender, Aboriginal Identity and Areas of Residence, Canada2001 (percent)

Registered IndianTotal

Gender and occupation (NOC) Aboriginal On Off Other Non-Total reserve reserve Métis Inuit Aboriginal Aboriginal

Women (N) 212,945 111,730 45,815 65,910 66,555 9,315 25,340 7,806,070

Level A 17.9 18.8 20.0 18.0 16.5 22.2 15.6 24.8Senior managers 0.9 1.2 1.9 0.8 0.6 1.0 0.5 0.7Middle managers 4.7 4.2 4.0 4.4 5.3 3.9 5.4 7.0Professionals 12.3 13.3 14.0 12.8 10.7 17.3 9.7 17.2

Level B 25.2 25.7 27.6 24.4 24.9 24.9 24.3 25.9Semi-professionals and technicians 10.2 11.0 13.3 9.4 9.1 11.6 9.3 8.5Supervisors 1.3 1.2 0.7 1.4 1.4 1.2 1.5 1.5Supervisors: trades 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.6 0.9 0.2 1.0 1.3Administrative and senior clerical 7.5 7.4 7.7 7.3 7.7 7.6 6.9 9.7Skilled sales and service 4.4 4.3 4.1 4.4 4.8 3.4 4.4 3.9Skilled crafts and trades 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.3 1.0 0.9 1.3 1.0

Level C 36.5 34.8 32.4 36.5 39.7 27.2 38.9 36.1Clerical personnel 13.0 12.7 11.3 13.7 13.6 11.8 13.3 14.6Intermediate sales and service 18.9 17.7 17.2 18.1 21.4 12.9 19.5 16.3Semi-skilled manual 4.6 4.4 3.8 4.8 4.7 2.5 6.1 5.1

Level D 20.4 20.7 20.0 21.1 18.9 25.8 21.1 13.1Other sales and service 17.6 17.6 16.7 18.3 16.3 24.2 18.1 11.1Other manual 2.8 3.0 3.3 2.8 2.6 1.7 3.0 2.1

Source: Hull (2006), Table 5.5, p. 70.

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ing; less likely to have employees; and more inclinedto see barriers to growth. Typically, they operate inprofessional, scientific and technical, education,health and social services rather than in construction(Statistics Canada 2004).

Despite such levels of accomplishment recorded instatistical accounts, Aboriginal women’s CEDachievements remain largely invisible in the media,or they are seen as exceptional rather than typical ofAboriginal women’s innovation. Nor do the statisticsexplain why Aboriginal women’s engagement in theeconomy takes the forms it does: whether opportuni-ty or necessity is a factor or whether necessity pro-motes opportunity, for instance. There are problemsin both the availability of data and the predispositionto misread the evidence.

Finally, in devolving certain responsibilities tolocal communities, governments have reinforced per-ceptions of a reserve of unproductive, underemployed(women’s) capacity ready to take over (Waring 1999),while adding to the informal work of Aboriginalwomen. They become the unrecognized and unre-warded “shock absorbers” mitigating the burdens ofchange (Elson 2002). If we are ever to reduce barriersto their participation and do justice to the contribu-tions Aboriginal women make in difficult circum-stances, we need to change mainstream measures topromote new understandings of Aboriginal women’sCED performance in Canada.

Measurement Tools

A s indicated earlier, the gross simplifications ofaggregate data have tended to misrepresentthe Aboriginal “problem” and obscure the

capacities and successes of Aboriginal women, menand youth — with profound implications for policy.To counter these reporting trends, we draw on quali-tative measures to supplement the statistics with sto-ries that Aboriginal women tell about the barriers andopportunities they face, and the achievements inwhich they take pride.

When financial accounting measures dominate thedata, a range of benefits (less tangible but no less realin people’s lives) fail to register in the cost-benefit cal-culus. In particular, indigenous women (and men) arecalling for new development models and new meas-ures of poverty, rejecting United Nations and WorldBank versions that focus on poverty as subsistence on

Where cooperative enterprise is the CED approachof choice for Aboriginal people, the data are com-pelling, though not disaggregated on gender lines.According to Hammond Ketilson and MacPherson(2001), there are 133 cooperatives in Canada with pre-dominantly Aboriginal membership, the largest num-ber of which are in the Arctic regions. In 2005, inaddition to reporting $130 million total revenue formember cooperatives, consolidated net savingsincreased to $5.4 million and $3.7 million in patron-age refunds to member cooperatives, Arctic Co-opera-tives Limited (representing 33 member cooperatives inNunavut, Northwest Territories and northern Manitoba)worked proactively with the Government of Nunavutto develop a new Language Act (Arctic CooperativesLimited/Arctic Co-operative Development Fund 2005,3-7). In the history of Arctic co-operatives and thedevelopment of enterprises sustained for over 45 years,Inuit women have played a key role in formal andinformal, paid and unpaid labour (Smith 2004).

The cooperatives also return profits or surpluses totheir member-owners, while being major employers ofAboriginal people (18 people on average per coopera-tive), offering training and education opportunitiesand honing leadership skills. Indeed, Aboriginal peo-ple are more likely to be members of cooperativesthan other people in Canada. Interestingly, more thanhalf of the members of the Nunavut legislature havehad leadership training in their local cooperatives. Inother words, as we discuss further below, cooperativeshave made valuable contributions to the physical,social and personal infrastructure of their communi-ties (Hammond Ketilson and MacPherson 2001).

The 1996 census identified over 20,000 NorthAmerican Indians, Métis and Inuit who now havetheir own businesses in primary and traditionalindustries as well as the knowledge economy.Between 1981 and 1996, the Aboriginal business sec-tor grew 2.5 times faster than all business nation-wide, with marked growth among Aboriginal youthand women. This growth generated 48,502 new jobs(Industry Canada 1998). According to the 2001 censusand the 2002 Aboriginal Entrepreneurs Survey,Aboriginal women represent 37 percent of 27,195self-employed Aboriginal individuals. Of these 9,930individuals, almost 60 percent live in urban areas and88 percent live off reserve. These entrepreneurs,largely college- and university-educated, are morelikely to be in partnership and less likely to incorpo-rate; more likely to run businesses that are fewer thanfive years old and that required less start-up financ-

are unusually advantaged as well as insufficientlyaccountable (Gibson 2000). These views persist eventhough, as Ivanitz (2001) has shown in the Australiancontext, 95 percent of Aboriginal organizations werecleared for funding, while “roughly half the 490Australian companies surveyed had experienced signifi-cant fraud in the last two years” (15). In Canada, anAssembly of First Nations (2004) report showed that fol-lowing 557 financial management audits of FirstNations for 2002-03, only 3 percent of the organiza-tions required remedial action. Even the AuditorGeneral of Canada, Sheila Fraser, has argued that anundue (overlapping and duplicated) reporting burden onFirst Nations (and a lack of outcome-based performancemeasures) means that resources are used that “could bebetter used to provide direct support to the community”(Office of the Auditor General 2002, chap. 1, 1.3).

Moreover, accounting not only reduces inputs and out-puts to those exchanged in the market, it also preservesWestern assumptions about human identity and societyand especially the individualist assumptions of whatcounts for success and happiness (Findlay and Russell2005). The result is that it puts GNP or GDP above systemsthat others prefer to promote: for instance, new measuresof well-being such as the Genuine Progress Indicatorsdeveloped in 1995 by Redefining Progress (a San Franciscothink tank), Alberta’s Genuine Progress Indicators (GPI)Sustainability Circle and the Genuine Progress IndexAtlantic (Bakshi 2005). Herman Daly and John Cobb’sIndex of Sustainable Welfare likewise measures costs (ofwater, air and noise pollution and resource depletion, forinstance) as deficits, not benefits (as in the UNSNA), inproduction and consumption (Waring 2003). As the Maorischolar Graham Smith (2000) has argued, neoclassical eco-nomics has been especially threatening to indigenous waysof knowing because it “begins to switch our thinking fromthe circle to square boxes. It initiates a positivist worldviewthat is fundamental to the New Right economic thinkingthat puts emphasis on competition rather than on coopera-tion, on the individual rather than on the collective, onregulations rather than on responsibility” (211).

In this context, current efforts to expand and refineaccounting models and practices can learn from NewZealand experience and incorporate Aboriginal valuesand views on governance, markets, community devel-opment and the land (not as a commodity but as a spir-itual connection that supports a respectful, responsibleunderstanding of relations between humans and theirenvironment). Canada can learn from the Maori experi-ence of the impact of the Treaty of Waitangi within theNew Zealand public sector and from the resulting

less than a dollar a day and on development as a mat-ter of increasing incomes, while condemning develop-ment that alienates indigenous peoples from theirlands and resources and data collection that fails todisaggregate indigenous people from the general popu-lation (Kyriakou 2005). Similarly, they reject WorldBank assumptions about gender equality being a by-product of economic liberalization and growth. Theyare equally clear that economic globalization aggra-vates inequalities and that gender inequality outlastsimprovements in education and occupation (Molyneuxand Razavi 2005). Policy-makers must thus evaluatethe range of available qualitative as well as quantita-tive measures, related to particular women and places,so as to better identify areas and means of change.

Mainstream accounting has been a powerful tech-nology in the history of colonial oppression — aspowerful an instrument as any military hardware (Neuand Therrien 2003). If people suspect the seductiverhetorical power of words, they typically respect num-bers as objective measures of our realities, our respon-sibilities to one another, our successes and failures.Relying on such associations, accounting has proved“central in maintaining the imbalance of powerbetween settler society and Indigenous peoples, whileallowing bureaucrats to govern from afar” (Neu andTherrien 2003, 31). Such bureaucratic practices havethus had a devastating impact on Aboriginal commu-nities, isolating them geographically and destroyingcommunal and cooperative practices.

Ironically, this empiricist system, which is investedin observation as knowledge — in the value of quanti-fying, verifying, standardizing and predicting — ren-ders so much invisible. Missing from traditionalaccounts, for instance, are non-economic costs —those that are “not directly quantifiable in moneyterms” (Boyce 2000, 27-28). Similarly invisible are theeconomic contributions of “nonmarket work,” whichthe 1995 United Nations Human Development Reportestimates at $16 trillion worldwide, with the officialtotal global output being $23 trillion (Quarter, Mook,and Richmond 2003, 1). Thus, there has been growingrecognition in development studies that improvedGDP or gross national product (GNP) does not equatewith higher quality of life and that development can-not be measured by production and consumption pat-terns (Cooke, Beavon, and McHardy 2004).

Such restrictive accounting measures actively con-struct “realities” (Chew and Greer 1997; Collison2003; Gibson 2000), entrenching the “deficit para-digm” by leaving the public feeling Aboriginal groups

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privileges) and constructing more flexible and sus-tainable measures of success in the name of justicefor all (Smith 1999). Like the indigenous entrepre-neurs interviewed by Hindle and Lansdowne (2005),Aboriginal women entrepreneurs tell us of the waysthat they resist those who fear their strength anddraw on their rich heritage in pursuing innovationand enterprise in the name of community success andnot the individual success measures of programrequirements (Newhouse and Peters 2003). Reframingpublic discourses, they tell Strong Women Stories(Anderson and Lawrence 2003) and overturn the“deficit paradigm” (Ponting and Voyageur 2005).

For some Aboriginal women, CED success meansstruggling from one short-term project grant to anoth-er, cobbling funding together from different sourceswith different reporting requirements, and creativelynegotiating the terms of government program andfunding requirements — across 11 federal departmentsand agencies delivering 27 different economic devel-opment programs targeting Aboriginal people(Standing Senate Committee 2007). It means stretchingthe terms and categories to make space for their ownvisions. It means educating those in administrativesilos about the value of cultural knowledge and theimportance of culture in socio-economic development.As it did for Francine Parent, an 18-year-oldAboriginal woman trained as a community researcherin inner-city Winnipeg, it means learning to see theworld differently: “I just thought seeing poverty it wassomething that was just normal...that it was the par-ent’s fault” (McCracken 2006). It means challengingfederal policy that considers Aboriginal economicdevelopment funding discretionary and that spends 92percent on social programming and only 8 percent oneconomic development. Moreover, this low level offederal investment is delivered through uncoordinatedand often duplicated programming. To avoid the enor-mous costs of a growing underclass of young and dis-enfranchised Aboriginal people, the Standing SenateCommittee recommended working with provincial andterritorial governments to establish regional economicdevelopment funds, renewing policy frameworks andestablishing a central economic development agency(Standing Senate Committee 2007, xi).

In addition to teaching and motivating, reachingand radicalizing, it means building on the work toachieve a just society of groups such as theAboriginal Women’s Action Network, a Vancouver-based grassroots organization (Blaney 2003). Forsome (especially charitable organizations), it means

accountability measures, including obligations to“develop policies and procedures that lead towardsclosing the economic and social gaps between Maoriand non-Maori” (Jacobs 2000, 366).2 Following theNew Zealand lead might help Canada and its publicpolicy-makers live up to constitutional obligations;respect Aboriginal norms, expertise and perspectives;and address barriers to economic development (FirstNations Fiscal Institutions Initiative 2005).

In this work, such standard-setting bodies as theCanadian Institute of Chartered Accountants can use-fully build on the work of the First Nations FinancialManagement Board (FNB) on financial managementand accountability. The FNB is working toward devel-oping financial management standards and adminis-trative capacity within First Nations. It is but one offour institutional innovations — a finance authority, atax commission and a statistical institute are the oth-ers — associated with the First Nations Fiscal andStatistical Management Act, which received royalassent on March 23, 2005. The FNB is designed toadd credibility and achieve “greater integration ofFirst Nations governments and their organizationsinto the Canadian fiscal framework” (FNFII 2005).

Women’s Community EconomicDevelopment: Three SuccessStories

S o what are the realities facing Aboriginalwomen engaged in community economicdevelopment? What are the effects of current

measures? If statistics reinforce women’s disadvan-tage and associate them with deficiency and depend-ence, qualitative measures, including the particularstories women tell, give a strong sense of women’scapacities to identify and address a range of barriersthey face: • Invisibility of women’s work• Gendering and undervaluing of formal and infor-

mal labour• Lack of cultural acceptance of strong women leaders• Under-resourcing of women’s initiatives• Conflicting demands on women to satisfy a range

of community and family needs When we talk to the women themselves, they

speak, write and research in multiple ways, producing“counter-stories” that promote women’s contributionswhile challenging dominant institutions (and their

Canadian Arctic Co-operative Federation, whichallowed local co-ops to consolidate their buying powerand access services such as accounting, audit, educa-tion and management support to promote business effi-ciency. These two federations joined together in 1981 toform Arctic Co-operatives Limited (ACL), whose mis-sion is in part “to develop and safeguard the ownershipparticipation of our member owners in the business andcommerce of their country, to assure control over theirown destiny” (ACL 2006). To achieve this mission, localemployment opportunities are critical, as are partner-ships and joint ventures, effective technical supportservices and clear communications. Lobbying effortswith government and governing organizations focus onculture, customs, the law and environmental andsocially responsible behaviour.

The contribution of cooperatives to their communitiescan be seen in the words of a woman member and for-mer board member of the Great Bear Co-operativeAssociation in Déline, Northwest Territories: “Co-ops aregood in Aboriginal communities since they provide ben-efits when the communities run their own businesses.Co-op values work well together with Aboriginal valuesbut there is a need for more information and education.Schools should teach about co-ops. In a kindergartenclass, there was a big lesson plan where all the exampleswere based on the Northern Store [the retailing divisionin the North of the North West Company]. ‘I can go tothe Northern and buy such and such, for example.’ Theco-op should be substituted for that.”3

Cooperatives also provide the power to make choices(based on one person, one vote). ACL, one of the largestcooperative federations in Canada, and its 33 northern-based member-owned cooperatives subscribe to valuesof self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality,equity and solidarity. Honesty, openness, social respon-sibility and caring for others are the ethics that bindcooperatives together, according to ACL. The coopera-tives are significant contributors to the northern econo-my and contribute importantly to the socio-culturalhealth of their communities.

The importance of these contributions can be seen inthe activities of the Great Bear Co-op. Established in1963, by 2006 it had 323 members (Déline’s total popu-lation is 570) and assets of some $2.7 million. Of par-ticular interest here are the perspectives of its womenmembers with diverse and long-standing associationswith the co-op. One is a former board member wholives in a community where many follow a traditionalDene lifestyle. She is proud of her community, includ-ing the fact that the people can hunt and trap and fish

facing persistent barriers (despite 2003 clarificationsof Canada Revenue Agency rules) to acts of advocacy(Canadian Women’s Foundation and CanadianWomen’s Community Economic Development Council2004). For yet others it means investing time in rela-tionship building and skills training on a scale that isnot matched by the short cycles of government pro-gramming or that is disallowed by conditions of wel-fare support for disadvantaged women.

The case studies here are selected to demonstratethe real challenges and responses to successful CEDin Aboriginal communities. Like the examples above,they are exceptional, though also typical ofAboriginal women in their capacities and commit-ments to community. Whether in rural, remote orurban settings, on or off reserve, the women findopportunities to recreate not individual success butresilient communities through a sustaining “web ofinstitutions” (Newhouse 2003, 252). In these exam-ples, we aim to underline what Aboriginal womenshare while respecting their many differences.Women play a vital role in each of the cases, as weshall see from the achievements of the Great Bear Co-op in Déline (Northwest Territories), Neechi Foods inWinnipeg and ET Development, a trucking companyoperating in northern Manitoba.

Great Bear Co-opCooperatives began to be formed in northern Canadain the late 1950s as the first locally owned and con-trolled businesses. Local leaders and missionariesimmediately recognized the potential synergy betweenlocal values of sharing and goals of ownership, con-trol and employment. Early cooperatives were built onthe traditional ways of life of arts and crafts produc-tion, fur harvesting and commercial fisheries. Retailstores were added to meet the consumer needs ofmember-owners, while tourism has meant opportuni-ties in hotel ownership and tour businesses. Facingobstacles of remoteness, high shipping and food costs,and economic leakage to the south, the cooperativeshave helped keep the opportunities where their com-munity is, adding services to meet community needs,including construction, cable television, post offices,airline agencies and coffee shops.

As co-ops grew, they needed technical support forthe success of their expanded operations, and in themid-1960s a federation called Canadian ArcticProducers was formed to market art and craft prod-ucts created by members (Arctic Co-operativesLimited 2006). This was followed in 1972 by the

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Neechi Foods Co-operative LimitedNeechi (“friend” in Cree and Ojibway) Foods, a work-er co-op based in the North End of Winnipeg, startedin 1989. It built on Aboriginal economic developmenttraining in 1985 and subsequent community projects,planning and pilots conducted by volunteer labour inthe inner city. Louise Champagne has been involvedsince the beginning, first as a support person andthen as manager and president. She is proud to walkinto Neechi Foods and be greeted by Aboriginalstaff.4 From the start, the co-op received help andsupport from the community. For example, St.Boniface Co-op, true to the principle of cooperationamong cooperatives, sold products to Neechi andstored them until Neechi could use them. Manyyoung people have been involved over the years asvolunteers and have seen the ethic promoted byNeechi, which balances commercial viability withsocial responsibility and economic and social well-being. Helping stabilize community by serving resi-dents, reducing income leakages and lesseningdependence on external markets, Neechi promoteshealthy living, contributes to economic development,nourishes a supportive workplace, encourages mem-ber participation and strengthens Aboriginal pride.

In particular, Neechi workers define their CED con-tributions according to these principles:• Use of locally produced goods and services• Production of goods and services for local use• Local reinvestment of profits• Long-term employment of local residents• Local skills development• Local decision-making• Public health • Physical environment• Neighbourhood stability• Human dignity• Support for other CED initiatives

Each is in turn further defined. Public healthstretches the categories within which health is typi-cally conceived to include physical and mentalhealth, healthier community residents, more effectiveschooling and a more productive workforce; whilephysical environment speaks to a healthy, safe andattractive neighbourhood and ecological sensitivity.Human dignity is understood in these terms:• Self-respect• Community spirit• Gender equality• Respect for seniors and children• Social dignity regardless of physical, intellectual

together. Her elders are important for sustaining cul-ture, and women play a vital role in the communityas homemakers and caregivers.

She takes pride in her work with the co-op, whichsponsors cultural events and sports teams, trains boardand staff members, builds physical infrastructure(including telecommunications) and increasinglyengages the youth in ownership of their co-op. Hercommitment goes well beyond the annual dividends:“We need to explain to people that the co-op is not justa store. If you put your money where your mouth is andshop there, then you can bring profits and benefits thatwould be reinvested to create new things...Despite anumber of price comparisons, community members per-ceive the Northern Store as having lower prices. Everyannual general meeting, we explain to the members, it’stheir store, and if they buy, then all will benefit.”

Education is one of many challenges facing GreatBear Co-op. This member’s perspective is that thewhole community leadership should support the co-op’s survival by purchasing supplies from the co-op.She is supportive of a proactive board going to speakto individual members and non-members about sup-porting the co-op. This attitude can permeate manyimportant issues, with some community leaders evendescribing it as a form of self-government.

Such commitment and the example of the genera-tion that built the co-op inspire another womanmember: “My dad passed away a long time ago, and Isaw his name on a board of directors on a paper, andI thought, Gee, my dad’s name is on there and heworked for the co-op. My dad probably worked sohard to have this place open and continuing to pro-mote the community...I should be following his foot-steps and trying to do the same thing for mycommunity. And so I joined the board ofdirectors...and we only shop at the co-op.”

ACL member co-ops employ women as staff, as elect-ed board members and as board presidents; they attractwomen as members and thus consumers and decision-makers. Their contributions are immeasurable and areillustrated by these women members’ dedicated approachto their co-op. The personal link to the community isstrong and clear, and the co-op benefits are identifiedover and over for family members and the community.These attitudes conquer challenges and are integral toco-op (and community) survival and strength. In thisand other cases described here, we need to ask how thequalitative aspects of these contributions can be includedin the success scorecard, and how we can better measurethe range of outcomes of co-ops’ CED.

ship. Groups of people are ‘targeted for destruction’ bystatistics that support expectations that I will, for exam-ple, smoke, be diabetic and die young. I take leadershipover my health and fight those statistics.” Neechi hasbeen recognized with a national award for a programthat combines a consciousness-raising campaign againstdiabetes with a fun education program on the illness(including store signage educating about diabetes andgood dietary choices).

While Neechi has not had the resources to conduct asystematic analysis and record of performance along thelines of its 11 principles, it is possible to use the princi-ples to identify indicators of success. This is the kind ofevaluation that is and can be most useful for planning,according to Champagne. Neechi Foods regularly useslocally produced goods and services wherever it can,with spinoff benefits to the local producers. Making surethat local people are using Neechi products means thatNeechi is developing many linkages that support con-sumers and producers in a beneficial continuous cycle ofactivity. The third principle, reinvestment of profit local-ly, guides Neechi’s reinvestments in its own business tocontinue to support and offer community benefits in theinner city. Employment and training opportunities buildconfidence and skills: “You build a co-op and it is reallyabout learning to work together. That is what Neechiemployees gain,” Champagne notes. These impacts bene-fit the larger community as workers move from Neechito other employment opportunities. Steady employmentopportunities are offered in the community and a num-ber of Neechi employees have chosen to stay on, withimpressive years-of-service records.

Indeed, participatory decision-making has been a keyto success. As worker co-op members, workers are incontrol of the quality of their work life and their contri-butions are respected. Within the co-op form of associa-tion, Neechi Foods has successfully operated in a contextof social crisis for the past 18 years. “It’s a building-community process because people work together,” notesChampagne. While the worker members of the co-opmake the decisions, they make better decisions that suitthe local business. Where another business might decideto close in poor business conditions, these membersdecided to take a pay cut so they could maintain theemployment opportunities offered by Neechi to the over-all benefit of the community. Neechi worker membersbenefit from a long-term communication strategy toeducate and involve them in the process of understand-ing all aspects of Neechi success in a consensus-buildingenvironment. And participation on the board is encour-aged by, for example, alternating those who read the

or psychological differences and regardless ofnational or ethnic background, colour or creed. In other words, people are at the heart of Neechi.

Many come and go as sickness, family responsibilitiesand personal burdens affect them. A core of workersstay, but Champagne notes that readiness to deal witheach person and his or her situation is part of the lib-eration process from the oppression Aboriginal peoplehave suffered. Peer counselling is key as is consensusdecision-making (Tupone 2001). When people enjoyincreased self-confidence and go on to other employ-ment, Neechi counts it not as a loss but as a success inits efforts to support its community. One woman start-ed soon after Neechi opened and was so shy that shewould do her work and then leave quickly for home.Over the years, she gained self-assurance and wasable to act as the operations manager for several yearsuntil ill health required her to take a leave of absence.

The challenge of balancing the quality of socialrelationships with business profitability is delicate butone Neechi regularly engages in as its members workto encourage consensus and people’s involvement inthe business, dealing inevitably with costly mistakesthat may be made. Champagne suspects the oppres-sion of Aboriginal people makes them much harderon one another than on outsiders who have not hadthe same experience. The oppression is acted out aspeople work out their built-up distress, and thisbehaviour causes conflict and undermines projects.Champagne sees part of the answer in an alternativeeconomy that nurtures Aboriginal people as individu-als, which means the pain people feel has to be takenon and not ignored. For example, where some busi-nesses might let workers go because of sickness,intrusive family responsibilities or personal burdens,Neechi supports and encourages them to become orcontinue as fully participating members.

Neechi’s wide-ranging impact on the inner-citycommunity includes employment, business ownershipopportunities through co-op membership, and stimu-lus to other small businesses as well as organizationof community meetings and neighbourhood activismto combat prostitution, gang activity and poverty..From Neechi’s “kids only” fresh fruit basket sold atcost (Rothney 2001) to unique features such as itsegalitarian work culture, Champagne is proud of theco-op’s nurturing of leadership in the broadest sense:“Every human being is capable of leadership. Bigthings get in our way and prevent us demonstratingour leadership so we have to know how to help eachother. Helping is leadership. Getting healthy is leader-

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for-profit co-op. It has remained true to its principleseven when it meant turning down governmentmoney for a pilot project because it excludedAboriginal economic development officers who hadhelped formulate the Neechi philosophy in favour ofarm’s-length consultants producing feasibility studies(Rothney 2001). While women on the board and staffare integral to the success of the co-op, communitysupport has allowed Neechi Foods to survive whilepractising employee empowerment and consensusbuilding and fostering in turn a healthy, resilientcommunity in the workplace and in the inner city.

ET Development Pat Turner and her family have operated ETDevelopment, a family-owned trucking company, inGrand Rapids and northern Manitoba for 23 years.5

The Turner family has diversified the company, andnow ET Development also does road building, smallsalvage operations and community infrastructureconstruction. Pat Turner’s business is 97 percentstaffed by Aboriginal people (Wuttunee, Loustel, andOverall 2007). She makes every effort to hire peoplein the community first, but because of the very spe-cific skills in heavy equipment that are required as acore-certified company in the construction industry,she regularly hires from the larger community in herarea. This helps build a strong positive relationshipand opens the door to the type of employees sheneeds to be successful. She encourages training sinceyoung people are the future for the business and itscontinuing activity. Policies accommodate the needsof her staff in ways that are not common in main-stream business. For example, time off for a funeralof a cousin might not be possible in some businesses,but Turner’s company acknowledges intertwined andextensive family relationships and the need for flexi-bility in this company policy.

Turner is also willing to make room for people whoare not typically employable. She has hired severalworkers who had not held steady jobs. One employeewas given a challenge when he said to Turner that sheshould hire him even though he had been drinking;she told him to come back when he was in bettershape. One year later he did, and he has worked forthree years without missing a day. He has gained newskills, and his eagerness to work is obvious.

Turner balances her sensitivity to her employeeswith a no-nonsense attitude about the level of attentionto quality service she expects from her staff. Anotherexample of her visionary practice is the training of

minutes at meetings and assessing financial reports insmall-group discussions (Tupone 2001).

Public health campaigns have included choosingnot to sell cigarettes, in order to combat the youthhealth problem. The community reacted, since thestore was in their community, and many smokers hadissues with the initiative. Champagne met with thesecommunity members and explained the grounds forthe policy, and the community came to supportNeechi’s efforts — as they have in educating storecustomers about diabetes and proper eating.

When many businesses moved to the suburbs andabandoned the inner city, Neechi Foods offered acost-conscious alternative to the choices that wereleft. Contributing to neighbourhood stability, Neechiprovided options for better quality food at reasonableprices. Indeed, Neechi has become an institution forinner-city residents who cannot afford high-pricedfood. Neechi buys blueberries from regional CED-based businesses on reserves and wild rice fromKagiwiosa Manomin, an Ojibway cooperative innorthwestern Ontario, thus supporting other CED andcooperative enterprise (UNPAC 2006).

Financial health is critical to Neechi Foods’ future,but each of the other elements discussed above alsoconstitutes a form of success, according to Neechimembers. When a retired human resources personfrom Canadian Executive Service Organization inter-viewed each employee and developed job descrip-tions, her major comment was how jovial and happyeach employee was. With all her years in the field,this stood out for her as impressive, and that unique-ness flows from the work environment.

The impact of Neechi CED principles on otherorganizations — for example, Assiniboine CreditUnion, Supporting Employment and EconomicDevelopment (SEED), the general Manitoba CED com-munity and the government CED secretariat — hasbeen significant (Sheldrick 2005). Indeed, someorganizations have adopted the Neechi framework toassess their own initiatives. Similarly, others havebeen inspired to create their own enterprises consis-tent with Neechi values: a security company, a cater-ing business and a business that makes and sells starblankets (Loxley and Wien 2003). The principles wereeven adopted by the Manitoba government in its2006 budget (Manitoba 2006).

Despite all its difficulties in securing financial sup-port and especially in meeting the criteria for grants(Tupone 2001), Neechi remains an excellent exampleof how community in all its facets is at the heart of a

Turner takes another important role in the communi-ty when she encourages people to take ownership of thenew buildings in their community. These buildings aretheirs but they need to feel it and tell their children andgrandchildren to respect the buildings, because that istheir grandparents’ legacy to them. Turner makes thiseffort because often leaders do not take positive actionon matters of importance in the community. The com-pany is taking a stand on environmental protection byhaving a waste oil management program that is a vol-untary effort but one that will benefit the people ofGrand Rapids and their grandchildren — and beyond.

Turner shares the ET Development success story in anumber of ways. A co-sponsored two-day career fairfor children was one valuable means of telling thecompany’s story and creating new opportunities foremployment. ET invited a number of local organiza-tions and businesses, and several participated from theregion. Turner had a booth and spoke about her busi-ness to the young people and warned about employ-ment and economic leakage: “I told them that jobswere being held by people outside the community sothe money left too. ET Trucking paid $400,000 insalaries, of which only $100,000 to $150,000 stayed inthe community. They needed to get the training so thatmore money will stay in the community.” Building pos-itive attitudes in young people is a challenge and soTurner took the common label “youth at risk,” translat-ed it into much more positive terms as “youth withpotential” and put it on T-shirts to remind the youngpeople that they are winners. Such acts of recognitionare themselves low-cost yet hugely motivating.

When the Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce wasstarted in Winnipeg on December 10, 2004, Pat Turnerbecame its first president: “I think we need an AboriginalChamber of Commerce as I feel the Canadian public atlarge does not realize that there are many Aboriginalbusinesses and entrepreneurs in Manitoba and acrossCanada. I think that it is time for people like myself tostep forward and say I am Aboriginal, I am an entrepre-neur, and I am proud of it.”

Such visibility is important to Turner: “It is impor-tant for our future to know that Aboriginal people havesucceeded in the mainstream business world. Canadiansneed to be educated about how much we have con-tributed to the economies of our provinces and it is upto us to educate them. I hate being brushed with thesame brushstroke every time they call down our peopleand say that we are nothing but a hindrance on theirtaxes. We pay as much tax as any Canadian does. Weare taking care of our own, but we have to educate

community people to service a piece of equipment thatthe community has purchased or that is left after a jobis completed. She makes sure that at least two peoplefrom that community understand how to operate theequipment before ET Development leaves the commu-nity. This is good business sense but uncommon prac-tice within the industry. Too often, communities are leftfeeling powerless and abandoned by corporate intereststhat have moved on to other territory. Turner notes: “Ifeel that it is very important that communities startrelying on and depending on themselves.”6

Turner measures her own success by how well heremployees do on the job.7 The impression they leavein the communities that they work in must be posi-tive. She pursues success by making surprise visits toher employees while they are completing projects. Ithas not been an easy road. Turner recalls that whenshe started the business, the other company presidentswere cautious with her; it was as if they expected herto say that they owed ET a living. This never hap-pened and Turner worked very hard to build the com-pany. Such care with relationships and reputation haspaid off. Now these same company presidents treatTurner as an equal, as ET completes contracts onbudget and on time. They let her know when con-tracts are coming up or they offer to share a plane.8

It is also important that clients return to use com-pany services regularly. This is a key indicator that ETis getting the job done properly. Manitoba HeavyConstruction Industry sends auditors twice a year toreview the practices of ET Trucking (part of ETDevelopment) and ensure that the company meetscertification requirements. This attention to standardsensures accountability and credibility are maintained.

Financial statements reflect one aspect of the suc-cess of her private company and are shared only withTurner’s business partners, her husband and son, herlawyer, her accountant and ET’s bonding company.Success goes beyond financial measures. The impactof her company in the local community and in thebroader community includes employment, modellingentrepreneurial behaviour for the young people andmaking opportunities available to unemployable peo-ple — all of which are important qualitative indicatorsof success consistent with a number of Neechi’s CEDprinciples. Such success is nourished by regular —and highly personal — conversations with chief andcouncil as with mayor and council about businessimpacts. Pride in having jobs and in the communitybuilds significantly as people feel good about theeconomic activity and its broad impacts.

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oneself and others. Life may then be lived in anatmosphere of security, peace, dignity and freedom”(Wuttunee, Loustel and Overall 2007, 22). These valuesare qualitative, culturally integrated measures of suc-cess that are at the heart of their enterprises. TheStanding Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples(2007) similarly acknowledges that Aboriginal eco-nomic successes, “driven almost entirely by the peopleand communities themselves,” are “for the most parthidden from the broader public domain,” adding thatsuch successes need to be better known because theyare “a benefit to the overall Canadian economy” (4).

Articulating and acting on their values are, asthese cases show, the beginning of reclaiming“authority and rightful place in the community” andachieving “a sense of belonging” that some had “longforgotten” (Muise 2003, 35). Like Inuit communitiesbuilding their cooperatives, these enterprises bearwitness to Aboriginal people’s transformation fromunheralded victims to agents of community develop-ment: “The Co-operatives...were great places whereInuit could express their aspirations, their profoundwishes for their communities and their region...Therewas a very definite seed that was planted in the firstCo-op meetings where people started talking aboutdoing things for themselves, running the show,expressing self-determination...People were becomingaware of their identity, and their rights as a collec-tive” (Hammond Ketilson and MacPherson 2001, 219).

Like the urban Aboriginal women with the vision tobe involved in the birth of the Aboriginal HealingMovement despite “terrible experiences,” the womenwhose stories we have related meet the challenge withtheir creativity; through activities such as beading andquilting, bake sales and volunteering, those urbanwomen have helped create Friendship Centres, placeswhere their families could belong. What began with “teaand talk” developed into the “sophisticated counselingand referral agencies” we know today (Maracle 2003, 72).

These cases also provide important evidence of thecultural dimension of both CED success and quality-of-life indicators. These women succeeded not becausethey abandoned traditional cultural values for eco-nomic progress but because they used their values todefine economic participation and prosperity in theirterms. New Zealand, a world leader in well-beingreporting, has been working to incorporate Maoridiversity into its measures of quality of life, to recog-nize that well-being has different meanings withinand across its diverse populations. Similarly, theCanadian Index of Wellbeing is attempting to develop

taxpayers and the public. We are proud to beAboriginal.” Her message to new businesspeople is tobe honest, be accountable to yourself and reinvestmoney in order to ensure ongoing business success.

When considering the role of community leadersin supporting business, Turner firmly believes theycan only do so much. She says that it is time forbusiness leaders to take up challenges in ways theyhave never done before. Otherwise, there will bemany missed opportunities for new business.

ET Development has made a positive impact innorthern Manitoba despite early challenges in theconstruction industry. Success is judged by theimpact its employees leave in communities strivingfor independence. They are judged on their recordand on their principles, including honesty. Giving tothe community is important, and Turner is supportingAboriginal business success through her work withthe Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce. Government’srole is to support successful businesses and acknowl-edge when grant recipients actually provide returnsequal to or greater than the original grant. The busi-ness community and policy-makers have to rise tothe challenge of achieving self-sufficiency.

Lessons learned In summary, these case studies demonstrate that likethe Mi’kmaq woman Gertie Mai Muise (2003),Aboriginal women put faith not in government but inthemselves and their communities: “Nothing willchange the condition of our lives until we educateourselves, change our attitudes and continue to healourselves” (30). But they could do so much more withthe right kind of help, the right policy environment,the right value system that accords with rather thanoffending their own holistic values. The womenacknowledge and live the values of their culture as thebasis for and measures of their enterprise successes.

Those values, articulated in numerous ways,include “caring, kindness, hope, harmony and cooper-ation...Caring and sharing are shown to one anotherwith an ethic of generosity, collective/communal con-sciousness and cooperation, while recognizing theinterdependence and interrelatedness of life.Recognizing the valuable gifts of the individual, thecommunity and all nations leads to harmony andcooperation. Honoring the individual and the collec-tive by thinking for yourself and acting for others.Courage and bravery is demonstrated in facing chal-lenges with honesty and integrity...The goal is to pro-tect the quality of life and inherent autonomy of

(increasingly on Aboriginal people’s own terms) arechanging the ways to do business and measure success.New tools better attuned to indigenous and local knowl-edge are assisting those involved in Aboriginal commu-nity economic development to adopt alternativeeconomic strategies — such as cooperative approaches —and make clearer “what counts” (Quarter, Mook, andRichmond 2003) in a fuller range of social, environmen-tal, cultural and economic costs and benefits.

New forms of social accounting and social auditing,including triple bottom-line (Elkington 1998), quadruplebottom-line (External Advisory Committee 2006) andeven multiple bottom-line approaches (CanadianWomen’s Foundation and Canadian Women’sCommunity Economic Development Council 2004), offeranother set of tools to measure performance. These toolsallow community development “change agents” a wayto value and bring into the equation “externalities” thatwould otherwise be left unaccounted for — includingthe environmental, social and cultural costs and benefitsof doing business in Aboriginal communities.

New measures need to recognize Aboriginal rightsand relevant laws and build on the Maori successes inmaking treaty obligations auditable (Jacobs 2000). Theyneed to account for the value of women’s enhancedroles in cultural and political revitalization; in resist-ance and radicalization; in healing and health, as wellas economic development; in the traditional, treaty andsocial economy; and in land claims agreements, self-government and self-determination. Indigenous knowl-edge can expand the accounting discourse, so thatAboriginal enterprises and decision-makers can “see”opportunities and value hidden from sight when viewedfrom a mainstream perspective.

Aboriginal measures rightly value relationships andlocal and experiential knowledge, and work to recon-nect what has been disconnected or fragmented bycolonial thinking. In developing indicators that willbetter serve policy-makers and communities makingCED choices, we have worked to unpack and displaceoutmoded conceptual boxes by entering the circle ofrespect for Aboriginal ways of knowing and doing, forthe visions and values that count in the lives of com-munities. That means learning from and promoting thework of the First Nations Development Institute, theFirst Nations Statistical Institute, Alberta’s GPISustainability Circle, and Genuine Progress IndexAtlantic, among others.

Through our work in and with Aboriginal communi-ties and institutions, it is clear that many of the valu-able human resource practices, features of

a more thoroughly representative measure by record-ing what well-being means to Aboriginal people andbuilding on work by Mark Anielski for Nunavut(Landon 2005). This work can profit from the women’sexamples and their enterprising commitment to cul-tural continuity and equity, while refusing mainstreameconomic development’s entrenching of inequity. Thewomen’s stories make clear that culture is a prerequi-site to economic and other success.

Similarly, the cases highlight the ways in whichAboriginal women’s CED is not only an alternativemodel of development but also what Sheldrick (2005)calls “an alternative model of state-community rela-tions” (7), one that underlines the productivity oflocal democratic decision-making and partnerships inbuilding healthy communities and sustainableeconomies. While policy emphasizes education, train-ing and income support for individuals to compen-sate for labour market failures, the women’s examplesshow the potential for new state-community relation-ships that are less about enabling people to adjust tothe market and more about empowering them to par-ticipate as full citizens.

Likewise, policy-making typically depends on socialscience expertise and methodologies applied to “prob-lems,” reducing people to objects of policy discussionrather than enabling them as active participants.Neechi’s principles and commitment to active partici-pation have not only inspired other enterprises butalso shaped the policy tools of the Community andEconomic Development Committee of Manitoba’s cabi-net. However, traditional policy frames have provenhard to dislodge (with some notable exceptions,including those of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs),and practices have often continued to emphasize tradi-tional economic development while claiming benefitsfor local communities (Sheldrick 2005).

Conclusion

M ainstream fields of inquiry and action arebeing challenged from many fronts, expos-ing the historical privileges of First World

capital and economic individualism. Although con-ventional measurement frameworks have underminedindigenous peoples and communities, the Aboriginalrenaissance (the political, cultural, legal and economicresurgence of Aboriginal peoples since the 1960s) andgrowing Aboriginal participation in the economy

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• Coordinate Aboriginal economic development pro-gramming; streamline application and reportingprocedures

• Ensure legislative and regulatory requirements aresensitive to the broad range of CED outcomes

• Ensure long-term core funding rather than short-term project support

• Support network building and infrastructure sharingbeyond silos such as urban-rural, cultural-economic

• Amend employment insurance and welfare policiesthat bar training or asset building and impede thetransition to independence

• Remove legal barriers to charitable organizationsengaging in advocacy

• Support accessible, affordable child care and elder careBy promoting these changes and dismantling colo-

nial structures that distort or devalue our legitimate dif-ferences and reproduce disadvantage, we can all gainfrom a truly knowledgeable economy. We — and theSeventh Generation — cannot afford the economic,social, cultural, environmental and other consequencesof the status quo. We cannot afford to perpetuate mythsthat damage us all while continuing to indigenize andfeminize the face of poverty. We cannot afford tofavour positivist, universalist and individual measuresthat leave policy and other paradigms unchanged.

We can all benefit from new tools to expandcapacities to evaluate effectively, from new standardsof evidence and new ways of reading the evidence.We can all benefit from learning from and leveragingthe formidable investments of Aboriginal women’slabour and leadership. We can all benefit fromAboriginal ways of being, knowing and doing andbecoming as self-sufficient as Aboriginal communi-ties once were. By renewing relationships, under-standing our interdependence and working togetherto reframe issues, we can reconstruct a truly justsociety, a Canada in which the capacities and contri-butions of all citizens count.

organizational culture, Aboriginal traditions and rela-tionships with their broader communities need to bebrought to the heart of the measurement toolbox tosupport and not subvert their vision. It neverthelessneeds to be recognized that refining and using thosetools effectively will, in the short term, add to theburdens faced by Aboriginal women who juggleresponsibilities inside and outside their CED enter-prises — unless they are adequately resourced to eval-uate and document performance by these measures.

As Yalnizyan (2006) has argued, women have agi-tated, increased their education and workforce partic-ipation, created businesses, worked longer hours andentered non-traditional professions; yet many ofthem still live insecure lives, earn less and receivefewer rewards than men. In this context, reframingpolicy that will make a difference in Aboriginalwomen’s CED means recognizing the responsibilitiesof mainstream Canada and economic globalizationfor disadvantaging and impoverishing Aboriginalcommunities. Expanding policy-making capacitiesmeans the following:• Using a gender lens• Respecting and internalizing in policy and pro-

grams Aboriginal world views in all their diversityand engaging Aboriginal people in decision-making

• Recognizing and supporting CED organizations as keyplayers in employment and economic development

• Learning from Maori successes in making treatyobligations auditable and thus increasing the visi-bility of Aboriginal actions and perspectives

• Exposing the overinvestment in outside expertiseand the underinvestment in the valuable resourcesof Aboriginal women’s knowledge and CED practice

• Supplementing quantitative measures with qualita-tive measures of success that put community val-ues at the heart of things

• Recognizing that improving Aboriginal quality oflife will require political commitment (Salée 2006) Attending to what quality of life means for

Aboriginal women is integral to rebuilding relation-ships, to following their leadership and learningabout the needs they regard as fundamental to sus-tainable, healthy communities. Drawing on the les-sons learned from Aboriginal women supporting CEDinnovation across the country, we recommend thatpolicy-makers address the following to enable furthercapacity building, recognize barriers specific towomen’s experience (including access to financing)and help share their stories in order to promote fur-ther successes:

Racialization of Poverty in Canada.” Presentation toSubcommittee on Children and Youth at Risk of theStanding Committee on Human Resources Developmentand the Status of Persons with Disabilities, March 19.Accessed August 22, 2006. www.ccsd.ca/pr/2003/aboriginal.htm

Anderson, Kim, and Bonita Lawrence, eds. 2003. StrongWomen Stories: Native Vision and Community Survival.Toronto: Sumach Press.

Arctic Co-operatives Limited (ACL). 2006. Web site. AccessedSeptember 15, 2006. www.arcticco-op.com

Arctic Co-operatives Limited/Arctic Co-operativeDevelopment Fund (ACL/ACDF). 2005. Annual Reports.Winnipeg.

Assembly of First Nations (AFN). 2004. Federal GovernmentFunding to First Nations: The Facts, the Myths, and theWay Forward. Accessed September 19, 2006.www.afn.ca/cmslib/general/Federal-Government-Funding-to-First-Nations.pdf

Bakshi, R. 2005. “Gross National Happiness: New Ways toMeasure Human Wellbeing.” Resurgence 228. AccessedSeptember 19, 2006. www.resurgence.org/2005/bakshi228.htm

Blaney, Fay. 2003. “Aboriginal Women’s Action Network.” InStrong Women Stories: Native Vision and CommunitySurvival, edited by Kim Anderson and Bonita Lawrence,156-70. Toronto: Sumach Press.

Boyce, Gordon. 2000. “Public Discourse and DecisionMaking: Exploring Possibilities for Financial, Social andEnvironmental Accounting.” Accounting, Auditing &Accountability Journal 13 (1): 27-64.

Brzozowski, Jodi-Anne, Andrea Taylor-Butts, and SaraJohnson. 2006. “Victimization and Offending among theAboriginal Population in Canada.” Juristat. CanadianCentre for Justice Statistics. Statistics Canada, Catalogueno. 85-0020XIE, vol. 26.3. Ottawa: Minister of Industry.

Calliou, Brian, and Cora Voyageur. 1998. “AboriginalEconomic Development and the Struggle for Self-Government.” In Power and Resistance: Critical Thinkingabout Canadian Social Issues, edited by Les Samuelsonand Wayne Anthony, 115-34. 2nd ed. Halifax, NS:Fernwood.

Canadian Human Rights Commission. 2003. Protecting TheirRights: A Systemic Review of Human Rights inCorrectional Services for Federally Sentenced Women.Accessed September 22, 2006. www.chrc-ccdp.ca/legislation_policies/consultation_report-en.asp

Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF) and CanadianWomen’s Community Economic Development Council(CWCEDC). 2004. From Poverty to Empowerment: AResearch Report on Women and Community EconomicDevelopment (CED) in Canada. Accessed January 10,2007. www.cdnwomen.org/eng/pdfs/en-report.pdf

Centre for Research and Information on Canada (CRIC). 2003.“Canadians Want Strong Aboriginal Cultures But AreDivided on Aboriginal Rights.” Accessed September 18,2006. www.cric.ca/en_html/guide/aboriginal/aboriginal.html

Notes1 In his excellent analysis of the issues, Salée makes clear

that concepts of quality of life (and what they are madeto legitimate) remain problematic. Just as claims about“common sense” and what is or is not “natural” havebeen shown to conceal narrow and competing interests,so the contested definitions of quality of life (and thesubtle and not so subtle exercises of exclusionary prac-tices) reveal the political and ideological interests thathave an impact on public debate, political will and pol-icy intervention. Definitions and debate reflect andreinforce the state’s capacity and willingness to providefor all its citizens. Disinterestedness in this domain istoo often a fiction damaging to those who lack theresources to counter the claims of the powerful.

2 Reviews of service delivery to Maori and the review bythe Office of the Auditor General helped emphasizedepartmental (though not parliamentary) obligations toMaori in health, education, employment and resourcedevelopment, while enhancing the visibility of Maoriperspectives, challenging existing departmental cul-tures and focusing on process rather than on quantify-ing outcomes (Jacobs 2000).

3 Permission to quote this member as well as the otherwoman member was given so long as anonymity wasprotected. Interviews were conducted from 2004 to2006 by Isobel Findlay and Wanda Wuttunee in thecontext of research on Co-operative Membership andGlobalization: Creating Social Cohesion throughMarket Relations, a project supported by the SocialSciences and Humanities Research Council and hostedat the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, Universityof Saskatchewan (Professor Brett Fairbairn, principalinvestigator). Special thanks to members, board mem-bers and staff who participated in interviews.

4 Unless otherwise noted, quotations and summaries ofLouise Champagne’s comments come from an inter-view for this project and from research interviews con-ducted from 2004 to 2006 by Dr. Wanda Wuttunee inthe context of research on Co-operative Membershipand Globalization: Creating Social Cohesion throughMarket Relations, a project supported by the SocialSciences and Humanities Research Council and hostedat the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, Universityof Saskatchewan (Professor Brett Fairbairn, principalinvestigator).

5 Quotations and summaries of Pat Turner’s commentscome from interviews conducted by Wanda Wuttuneein 2007.

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festations de bon sens (avec tout ce que ce terme peutdissimuler) ;

• respecter les perceptions des Autochtones relatives à laréalité ainsi que leur approche de l’apprentissage etleur façon de faire les choses ;

• adjoindre aux indicateurs quantitatifs des indices quiévaluent le succès en donnant la priorité aux valeurscommunautaires ;

• employer une lentille sexospécifique tout en refusantd’établir des oppositions entre excellence et équité, etentre valeurs économiques et valeurs humaines,sociales, politiques, culturelles, écologiques et autresvaleurs communautaires ;

• montrer en quoi la société canadienne au sens large etla mondialisation de l’économie contribuent au défa-vorisement et à l’appauvrissement des communautésautochtones et continuent de dépendre massivementdu manque de ressources consacrées aux compétencesdes femmes autochtones ;

• tirer des enseignements des succès remportés enNouvelle-Zélande par les Maoris, qui ont obtenu quesoient vérifiées les obligations souscrites en vertu destraités, ce qui a accru la visibilité des actions et desperspectives maories ;

• dénoncer l’insuffisance des investissements dans lesressources précieuses que représentent les connais-sances et l’expérience en DEC des femmes autochtones ;

• conseiller les décideurs au sujet des pratiques coû-teuses, des généralisations et simplifications dom-mageables et de la nécessité d’accroître les capacitésen élaboration des politiques.En encourageant l’adoption de tels changements, en reje-

tant les postulats paternalistes et en démantelant les struc-tures coloniales qui déforment ou dévaluent nos différenceslégitimes et perpétuent les privations, nous pouvons tous tirerprofit d’une économie véritablement basée sur le savoir. Nouspouvons tous bénéficier de nouveaux outils qui peuventaccroître l’aptitude à évaluer de manière efficace les nou-velles normes relatives aux données et les nouvelles façonsd’interpréter ces données. De plus, nous pouvons tous béné-ficier des leçons qu’offrent les investissements considérablesen DEC que représentent le travail et le leadership desfemmes autochtones et faire fructifier ces investissements.Nous pouvons tous bénéficier des façons autochtones d’être,d’apprendre et de faire qui ont soutenu les communautéspendant des générations. En renouvelant les relations, encomprenant les liens d’interdépendance qui nous unissent eten travaillant ensemble pour réexaminer les problèmes, nouspouvons reconstruire un Canada dans lequel les capacités etles contributions de tous les citoyens comptent.

D ans un contexte où les disparités continuent de s’ag-graver dix ans après la Conférence mondiale sur lesfemmes tenue à Beijing et cinq ans après l’adoption

par l’ONU des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le développe-ment, cette étude de recherche se penche sur les succèsméconnus remportés par les femmes autochtones grâce àl’énorme esprit d’innovation et d’entreprise dont elles fontpreuve dans le cadre du développement économique com-munautaire (DEC) au Canada. L’accentuation des inégalitésentre les sexes engendrée par la mondialisation, si elleaccroît les fardeaux spécifiques auxquels les femmesautochtones doivent faire face, a en même temps stimuléleur esprit d’initiative. Bien qu’on continue d’attacher tropd’importance aux faiblesses et à la dépendance plutôt qu’à lavigueur, à l’autonomie et à la viabilité, le leadership mani-festé par les femmes continue d’améliorer la qualité de viedes communautés autochtones à travers le Canada.

L’étude vise à combler une lacune dans les recherchessur la qualité de vie et le DEC des Autochtones en attirantl’attention sur des exemples concrets de la réussite desefforts de DEC de femmes autochtones dans des milieuxurbain, rural et éloigné, et en remettant en question lesindicateurs quantitatifs employés à l’heure actuelle, quisouvent ne tiennent pas compte du travail des femmesautochtones. Ces exemples concrets du leadership exercépar les femmes autochtones démontrent que les valeurspropres à leur culture sont à la fois le fondement et lerésultat mesurable du succès de leurs efforts d’entrepre-neurship. En s’inspirant de ces valeurs, les dirigeantesd’entreprise et leurs employés assument la place qui leurrevient au sein de la communauté, laquelle se trouve dumême coup renforcée par leur apport. Par ailleurs, cesexemples montrent également que le potentiel que recèlel’esprit d’entreprise des femmes ne pourra se réaliserpleinement que lorsqu’on aura reformulé le processusdécisionnel relatif aux politiques et aux programmes (etles données qui alimentent ce processus) dans le but dereconnaître le travail, le leadership et la créativité desfemmes autochtones, d’en tirer des enseignements utileset de faire fructifier leurs investissements considérables,de respecter les valeurs culturelles qui sont au cœur deleurs entreprises et de comprendre l’importance du bien-être collectif plutôt que du seul bien-être individuel.

Faisant valoir la nécessité de recourir à des indicateurssusceptibles de mieux servir les responsables politiques etles communautés qui doivent choisir une stratégie deDEC, et de tirer des innovations les plus fructueuses lesleçons qui s’imposent, l’étude dit qu’il faut :• déconstruire et rejeter les cadres conceptuels dépassés

et les postulats implicites qui passent pour des mani-

RésuméAboriginal Women’s Community

Economic DevelopmentMeasuring and Promoting Success

Isobel M. Findlay and Wanda Wuttunee

26

• entering the circle of respect for Aboriginal under-standings about the nature of reality and forAboriginal ways of knowing and doing things

• supplementing quantitative measures of success withqualitative ones that put community values at theheart of things

• using a gender lens, while refusing to uncouple excel-lence from equity and the economic from human, social,political, cultural, ecological and other community values

• demonstrating the responsibilities of mainstreamCanada (and economic globalization) for disadvantag-ing and impoverishing Aboriginal communities whilemassively depending on and yet under resourcing theskills of Aboriginal women

• learning from the successes of the New Zealand Maoriin making treaty obligations auditable and thus increas-ing the visibility of Maori actions and perspectives

• exposing the underinvestment in the valuable resourcesof Aboriginal women’s knowledge and CED practice

• educating policy-makers about wasteful practices,damaging generalizations and simplifications, andabout the need to expand policy-making capacitiesIn promoting changes such as these, discarding pater-

nalistic presumptions and dismantling colonial structuresthat distort or devalue our legitimate differences andreproduce disadvantage, we can all gain from a trulyknowledgeable economy. We can all benefit from newtools to expand capacities to evaluate effectively, newstandards of evidence and new ways of reading the evi-dence. Moreover, we can all gain from learning from andleveraging the formidable investments of Aboriginalwomen’s labour and leadership in CED. We can all learnfrom Aboriginal ways of being, knowing and doing thathave sustained communities for generations. Renewingrelationships, understanding our interdependence andworking together to reframe issues, we can reconstruct aCanada in which the capacities and contributions of allcitizens count.

I n the face of aggravated inequality ten years after theBeijing World Conference on Women and five yearsafter the UN Millennium Development Goals were set,

this research study focuses on the hidden success storiesinvolving the enormous and growing innovation andenterprise of Aboriginal women’s community economicdevelopment (CED) in Canada. The gendering of inequalityunder globalization both adds to the special burdens onAboriginal women and activates their resourcefulness.Although too much attention is still paid to deficiency anddependence rather than strength, self-reliance and sus-tainability, women’s leadership continues to improve thequality of life of Aboriginal communities across Canada.

This study aims to fill a gap in the literature onAboriginal quality of life and Aboriginal CED by showcas-ing case studies of successful Aboriginal women’s CED inurban, rural and remote settings and questioning currentmeasuring tools that often leave Aboriginal women’s workout of the accounting. These concrete examples of theleadership of Aboriginal women show that the values oftheir culture are both the foundation for and the measuresof their enterprise success. Acting on their values, thewomen leaders and their employees assume their rightfulplace in the community, which, in turn, is strengthened asa result of their contribution. At the same time, these casesdemonstrate that the full potential of women’s enterprisewill be realized only if policy and program decision-making (and the evidence that shapes it) can be redesignedto recognize, learn from and leverage the formidableinvestments of Aboriginal women’s labour, leadership andcreativity; to respect the cultural values at the heart oftheir enterprises; and to understand the importance of col-lective rather than solely individual well-being.

In arguing for indicators that will better serve policy-makers and communities making CED choices and forlearning from successful innovations, the report focuseson the need for• unpacking and displacing outmoded conceptual boxes

and unspoken assumptions that enjoy the status (andpractise the concealments) of common sense

SummaryAboriginal Women’s Community

Economic DevelopmentMeasuring and Promoting Success

Isobel M. Findlay and Wanda Wuttunee