Establishing the Right Relationship with Indigenous Communities
Chances are, you’re sitting on indigenous land. What does that mean for your organization? If you’re an asset manager or impact fund, how do you establish the right relationship with indigenous communities?
Talk to Tristan Smyth with Warshield – they are dedicated to advancing the rights and interests of Indigenous communities – helping them with their self-determination journey, which includes economic sovereignty.
They also support ESG and Sustainability efforts, Inclusion, and Awareness training and building mutually beneficial partnerships with industry and government.
From our conversation at The Global Impact Investing Network in Copenhagen for our micro-podcast series.
Podcast Transcript
Jacob: [00:00:00] So I’m here at the GIIN Investor Forum in Copenhagen with Tristan Smyth with Warshield and would love to hear your impact story.
Tristan: So we started Warshield at the start of the pandemic in response to the needs that we were seeing within First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities in Canada. A large part of our work is focused on the sovereignty and self-determination of individual communities.
Canada sits on, you know, the traditional territory of so many nations, and a large part of their self-determination journey comes from being in charge of their own money, and being in charge of their own economic journey. And so that’s where we come into the story.
Jacob: Give me some case studies of things that you’ve done.
Tristan: A large part of our work is negotiating on behalf of nations on their trust settlements. So bringing in tens to hundreds of millions of dollars to the community and then working with those communities to say, what are your needs, whether it’s health care education social [00:01:00] services, cultural, etc.
And so some of our case studies really focus on then developing child and family welfare and services systems for them and working on their economic development strategies. Rather than talking about how do we actually invest those monies in a way that creates. impactful and sustainable returns that then power those communities.
Jacob: What got you into that in the first place?
Tristan: Previously my business partner and I both worked at a national Indigenous charity in Canada, and a part of what we’re seeing was a need to work directly with communities and to have. community members be our bosses. And so that’s where we said we need to actually start this social enterprise to be able to work directly for the community and be accountable to those community members.
You know, so much of the relationship between Canada and indigenous communities has been informed by the Truth and Reconciliation [00:02:00] Commission, which was a process. that produced a report in 2015 and a number of calls to action. And so, a large part of our work is also talking with companies and non-Indigenous organizations and talking about how they can actually move forward on those calls to action in developing the right relationships.
A lot of Canada sits on treaty land, and treaties were negotiated between the British Crown and collections of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people, and those treaties were about sharing the land for some of them, and working together. And so a lot of what we see in our work at Warshield as an Indigenous-owned and led firm, moving back to the right relations that were meant to be established when these treaties were being signed.
And so that’s where we see it as, you know, both a partnership and why we have Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff working with us, is because we are honoring what, you know, leaders [00:03:00] signed back in the 1800s.
Jacob: What’s the business model for what you do?
Tristan: A lot of our work is on, sometimes on contingency. So, we like to see it as profiting as a business when the community profits, and not profiting when the community isn’t profiting.
You know, there is a business model where it is just paying and paying, and not seeing the return and we really believe in the value of we succeed when our clients succeed. And so a part of it is that kind of model of in our economic side, you know, taking equity stakes along with them and some of these investments or on our legal side negotiating and suing and doing it in a way that we succeed when the nation succeeds.
Jacob: And tell me like a good success story.
Tristan: A really great one is some of our work with a tribal council in Saskatchewan, which is a province in Canada. We were successful in securing close to 10 million for them to develop [00:04:00] legislation informed by community values, informed by traditional teachings, community legislation around child and family services, and to be able to bring an Indigenous perspective to that and having it done in a good way.
And so it’s been just phenomenal. Then going out into the community, and seeing the impact. almost immediately. You know, those moments where you almost have to hold back tears when you’re hearing the stories, but then also seeing that change happening. And so I think for myself, I got to meet an individual who, you know, because of some of our work had their first child that wasn’t born with fetal alcohol syndrome because they went through, you know, some healing programs.
And I think that’s where it’s that individual level. I think we’re talking about a need for macro change, but I love seeing that personal individual impact.
Jacob: We connect face-to-face individuals.
Tristan: Exactly.
Jacob: Even though there are big systemic things we need to [00:05:00] shift. Still relate human to human.
What does an ideal client look like for you guys?
Tristan: An ideal client is indigenous communities. And a part of our philosophy is as much as we are based within Canada, recognizing that Canada is this colonial non-indigenous construct. And so we are starting to work with indigenous communities around the world to bring that philosophy and values of our work abroad.
And we also love working with impact funds, working with organizations that recognize that they need to do better. And so we love helping them on that journey of establishing the right relations with Indigenous communities. And so, you know, there’s no one perfect client. I think. You know, the ideal clients are those who have the right value set and want to learn and change.
And those are the people that we love working with.
Jacob: What tends to be the triggers for them of like, [00:06:00] not triggering, but like the things that when they know they need help.
Tristan: I think for a lot of organizations that sit on indigenous land, they immediately have that need whether they recognize it yet or not.
And so it’s about, you know, calling us to help them on that journey. And I think our approach really focuses on guidance and mentorship when it comes to learning and unlearning and moving forward in a good way. And so I think any organization that says, Hey, wait a second, this is, you know, especially within North America, Hey, we’re on the traditional land of someone else.
And many times they don’t know who that is. And so if you don’t know who that is. You know, that’s also when we come into the picture and start to have those conversations and bring in the right communities and community members to establish those relationships.
Jacob: What is the biggest hurdle you face right now?
Tristan: Scaling to the demand that we receive. There are so many challenges that Indigenous peoples are facing, [00:07:00] but there is an increasing social awareness nationally and globally. And so I think it’s just keeping up with that and making sure that the momentum is moving forward. Sometimes we say, you know, two steps forward, one step back.
And I think it’s starting to shift that to just always two steps forward.
Jacob: In coming to the GIIN, what were some of the goals that brought you here?
Tristan: When we look at the challenges and barriers that First Nations, Metis, Inuit, and then, you know, in the U S Native American communities are facing, like access to affordable housing.
That’s not unique. That’s a problem that we see in Africa, India, you know, across the world When we talk about access to affordable food, access to health care, these are not unique to Canada problems. And what I love about coming to global events is hearing how other countries are either solving these same problems or approaching these same problems.
And [00:08:00] it’s been phenomenal just hearing about the work that’s been happening in Africa, you know, in the Sub-Saharan region and saying, hey, this microgrid model that you’re talking about for sustainable energy. That works up in the Northwest Territories. And I think that’s what’s fantastic about this.
It’s just recognizing how we can learn from each other. I think as much as financial capital is, of course, valuable, this is an investing conference, it’s really that social capital. I’ve been having some great conversations around how we as a network can make the connections that need to happen. And so I think there’s an amazing way for social capital to be leveraged at a conference like this. You know, especially when it comes then to public policy change in countries when it comes to even, you know, the social capital of connecting a community with the right investor because that right investor might not be your organization.
So I think that’s where we can see a lot more. We often think about, oh, [00:09:00] money needs to fix this problem, and it does, but there are ways that are non-monetary that we can actually provide equal value.
Jacob: So if someone wanted to connect with you or find out more about Warshield, what’s the best way for them to find you online?
Tristan: They can reach out to me on LinkedIn or visit us at www. warshield. com.
Jacob: Fantastic. Thank you, Tristan. Appreciate it.
Tristan: Thanks, Jacob.
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