Founder and CEO at Nationsfirst Technologies | Empowering Indigenous autonomy through blockchain technologies.
Last night, I had the honour to learn from and discuss with a group of Coast Salish hereditary chiefs about how we can unify our people and truly move beyond colonialism. We concluded that true progress doesn’t come from sitting at the colonizer’s table, but by creating our own. If corporations and governments want to work with us or on our land, they should come to our table, respecting our terms and traditional laws. Too often, we see Indigenous “representation” in corporate and entertainment spaces, mistaken for reconciliation, when in reality, it’s merely assimilation. Large corporations that “celebrate” our culture while simultaneously perpetuating the arrests of our land protectors and ongoing policy discrimination are not allies. The entertainment industry, despite its glitzy displays, is still very publicly riddled with abuse and exploitation, the same type of abuse that our girls and boys had endured in residential schools up until 1996, and continued in new forms to this day. It's crucial to understand that true sovereignty and progress lie in building our own platforms and institutions, guided by our traditional protocols and laws, and not colonial law. Representation without genuine empowerment and autonomy is merely assimilation.
President & CEO @ AME | (JD, MBA)
2moThank you for sharing this insight Ethan. I look forward to any opportunity to learn, engage and chat with you and your colleagues.