YouTube video by Sandi L Boucher discussing Indigenous-centered versus mainstream-centered spaces and the harmful corporate practice she calls the "Indian in the Cupboard" — hiring a single Indigenous person for token engagement while excluding them from decision-making. Sandi explains the resulting burnout and relational harm, then flips the critique to Indigenous organizations: she describes running an Anishinaabe/Ojibwe-led company that includes non-Indigenous staff who are fully involved in vision and operations (example: graphic designer and social-media manager). The video urges organizations to avoid tokenization and include Indigenous-engagement staff in decision-making.
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So if you followed my work for any length of time, you know I love turning the tables. I don't talk about mainstream and Indigenous being marginalized. I talk about Indigenous and non Indigenous. I talk a lot about Indigenous centered spaces as opposed to mainstream centered spaces. And if you've been around for a while, you might even have heard me talk about the Indian in the Cupboard and why that is definitely something that mainstream corporations should not be doing today. I got to turn the tables a little bit and we got to talk about our Indigenous organizations and corporations that are now coming more into the forefront. And we gotta make sure we don't have any white people in the cupboards. Let's talk about it. Diane. Hi everybody. My name is Andy Boucher. 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 don't know about you, I don't want to be stuck in a cupboard. Pretty sure you don't want to be stuck in a cupboard. So what am I talking about? Well, the. Let's start with the original the Indian in the Cupboard, as I mentioned in previous blog posts, that was those mainstream corporations, usually really big and they want to up their Indigenous engagement game. Maybe they want to hire some Indigenous people. They definitely want to retain them. They realize maybe they don't have the skill set to do this or maybe they're not the ones to be doing the recruiting. So they hire an Indigenous person one and this person tends to be tasked with developing relationships with First Nation communities in the hopes of either selling them goods or recruiting employees or both. The problem this person is rarely involved with the the vision setting or the direction of the company. Worse, they're usually brought out of their office only to answer Indigenous related questions and then they're put back into their office just like the Indian back into the cupboard in the movie by that name. Problem. Huge burnout in that position for Indigenous people. They quickly realize that the Indigenous people in the communities that they're building relationships with trust them as one of their own. Just as quickly they realize that they have no say over what this corporation does and it may do things that are detrimental to first nations people. The first nations people they're building relationships with are not going to turn on the corporation. They're going to turn on the person they built a relationship with. The Indian in the Cupboard. Now, I promised you today we were going to turn the tables a little bit. I am Anishinaabe. I am an Ojibwe Female. I run my company in line with my teachings and traditions. I wouldn't have a company if I didn't. I actually realized to be successful, I had to be who I am and remember who I am, not pretend to be someone else. But if all of my staff were indigenous, in my mind, that would make me a hypocrite because here I am preaching that we can build bridges and we can work together. Well, if I don't practice what I preach, you shouldn't be listening to me. Good news. I have worked with non indigenous people for a long time in my company. My most amazing graphic design designer who makes all those images that pop up in my videos, she's non indigenous. She happens to be a beautiful, humble woman who was so respectful of my work and easy, therefore easy to work with. And now we've worked together for so long, she knows exactly where I'm coming from and and I tell her why. She also realizes that everything has a meaning. The color in a poster, the color of the text image that I want, all has significance in true Anishinaabe style. But recently I added some. Not recently. A year ago, I added someone new to my core team and she's my social media manager. Her name is Anna and she's effing amazing. There's no other way to put it. And what she does, she is phenomenal. She takes my blog posts and adds some epic graphic to it and just blows my flipping mind every single time. And again, the humility is beautiful. How often have you heard me say humility builds bridges, Egos burn them. My staff proved that. And Anna knew of my work and so loved the work that I was doing that she still asked me to pre approve anything she releases. Her work is amazing. It's not anything I lose sleep over. But in line with today's video, I was like, holy moly's. She a white person in the cupboard? Is she involved with the operations and the plans and visions for this company? Well, I asked the question and I'm happy to say that yes, yes she is because we have core team meetings once a month and I've made it crystal clear this year with my team that I want to hear from them. I want to hear their ideas, I want to hear their suggestion, I want to hear their feedback on the suggestions I have. And all of the core team is just so incredibly amazing. The suggestions, the wisdom they carry, the vision they have is phenomenal. So in the case of my company, I don't have anyone in the cupboard. I am. It is most definitely an indigenous corporation, therefore no white people in the cupboards. And now I'm throwing it back on you. Where do you work? Is it indigenous or non indigenous? And depending on what that answer is, do you have anyone in the cupboard? Do you have anyone who's brought out just for engagement and not involved with company decisions? And isn't it time to change that? If you do, I hope you understand why actually keeping someone locked in their office or cupboard, it's denying you so much wisdom that could help with those company decisions. Just like Anna, my amazing teammate. I hope that made sense. If you have questions, comment below. I'd love to see them. Don't forget to subscribe. And again, if you would rather see these videos pop up in your inbox, head over to sandy boucher.com and get on my email list. I love you. Take care. See you tomorrow. Bye bye.
