Sandi L Boucher, of the Loon clan and Seine River First Nation, explains how to avoid hiring people falsely claiming Indigenous identity. Her advice: hire local. Local candidates are vetted by their community, know the area's specific challenges, and hiring them tests whether your organization can actually work with Indigenous people.
Questions this video answers
Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt), woman of the Loon clan, member of Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory.
Chapters
Bonjour. Bonjour, Bonjour. It's Sandy Boucher here once again. And we got to talk about the steps you're going to take to make sure you do not hire a Pretendian. Because the reality is they may pay the consequences when you figure it out, but you're going to pay the consequences as well. So let's talk about it. Hi everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. Red. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory in Northern Ontario. And I'm here today to continue this learning curve. We're on this, this new path towards Indigenous Canadian reconciliation. And the fly in the ointment are the Pretendians, those non indigenous people who are now seeing opportunities for indigenous people and they want to cash in. So they pretend they're indigenous. And honestly, I do a lot of work with non Indigenous corporations now and I think that is high at the top of their list of their worst fears. They've seen the Joseph Boyden's and the Latimers and the Buffy Saint Marie. They know this is not something they want to get caught up in. So how do you avoid hiring a Pretendian? How do you figure out that this person is authentic? And honestly, the answer is two words. I recently did a keynote speech on this and it was so well recepted it was unreal and I just had to share it with you. So are you dying to know what the two words are? It actually sounds like a Christmas slogan that I'm going to start hearing in a few weeks. I just know it. The two words are higher local. So why is that going to help you? Yes, I have a handy dandy index card. Because there's actually three main reasons. Three? Yes, three main reasons why this is the way of the dough. First off, and what I mean by hire local is hire someone from your local indigenous community. An indigenous community that's nearby or one that you want to work with. I'm going to go off on a tangent for a second. I think that's the problem with so many corporations. Indigenous engagement strategy. They want to think national. They want a pan Canadian solution. They are totally missing the boat that the different nations and even the different communities are completely different from each other. One size fits all. Doesn't fit anyone. Well, ask any woman out there. We can tell you we've dealt with that baloney our entire clothes shopping life. If you hire someone from the local community, they are vetted by that local community. They can tell you who their Family is they can tell you where they got their teachings from. You know that they are known. Which also means they're going to get called out. If they try any bs and not by you, by the local community. It is a safe bet. The other thing, the second thing, you are trying to figure out how best to work with an indigenous community. Well, if you hire from that community, that person is well aware of the challenges that are going on in their community. They also know the strengths. They are the ones with the the knowledge to help you build not just a bridge, but a sustainable bridge. One that's going to last and really reward you for the effort you put in. That is something you're definitely going to want to do. And the best part, it really, really is the remedy to this Pretendian thing. Because I honestly believe a lot of pretendions get hired because they seem almost like mainstream. They're indigenous, but they're so easy to work with. Okay, of course we know now they seem easy to work with and seem like they're almost mainstream because they are. But if you can focus in on having an amazing working relationship with this one indigenous person you hired, consider that the trial run for working with the community. If it's frustrating working with them, you shouldn't even attempt working with the community. You got to iron out some kinks here first. But if you can build a trusting, open, transparent communication with this one person, well, they'll tell you when you're ready. But I would say that's a really good sign that you've come far, you got a really good chance and successful indigenous engagement. So as I mentioned, if you want to avoid the risk of hiring a Pretendian, hire local. You could even go as far and this would be a great step. You could go as far as asking the local community who they would recommend for the position because they know who has what you need. Isn't that awesome? I now have a community on YouTube. I have a membership on YouTube and I cannot wait. The members already have access to every video I've shot and mastered long before the release date. And I get to talk with them and they'll be identified so I can make sure to get back to you. I would love it if you join my community or my membership or both. Not really sure how that works. Kind of new to this stuff. I would love to see you at my kitchen table so we can continue these conversations. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye Bye.
