How Indigenous Treaty Partners is “Indigenizing” corporate Canada

Enter Indigenous Treaty Partners (ITP) Opens in a new window.. Corey Mattie and Houston Barnaby, J.D., founded the company in 2020. They were joined by partner Rebeccah Slaunwhite in 2022.

Treaty Partners, which is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, seeks to promote reconciliation by leading “organizations through approachable and guided knowledge sharing on what it means to be Indigenous in Canada.” Ultimately, Treaty Partners wants to “Indigenize corporate Canada” by:

• Relentlessly pursuing and supporting industry in adopting the Calls to Action set by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) Opens in a new window.
• Building trust and confidence
• Cherishing the relationships we build along the way

Before they launched their business, Mattie shares, “we had been getting requests to do cultural training as both myself and Houston work in the Indigenous space. We knew the industry well and we were able to speak to the points, but both Houston and I didn’t have the capacity, it wasn’t a job of ours, it wasn’t a business at the time. We searched for cultural trainers on Google because we knew that they existed and what we had found was that no one in Atlantic Canada was actually offering Indigenous cultural training. Houston and I realized this wasn’t just about business. It’s really important and it’s a valuable thing and the right thing for all Canadians to be more aware of Indigenous Canada and the Indigenous experience here in Canada.”

Following this revelation, Mattie explains, that they got to work. “We had started putting together a curriculum that took about a year to design. We had interviewed, researched, spoken with Elders and business owners, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, and we put together a really great curriculum and started presenting it to organizations. It went really well. And then at the end of the presentation, they were asking, ‘how can we pay you?’ The idea was never to do this for money. We just wanted to do it because it was the right thing to do and people were wanting to learn about our culture.”

One important factor for the ITP team is that they wanted to be able to present the information in an easy-to-understand and approachable manner for small-to-medium sized businesses, which in turn, can encourage other companies to seek out this type of training. Mattie shares that “the curriculum doesn’t really change much as it’s relevant to all businesses. The only time that we would kind of adjust our curriculum is depending on the business function, such as an energy company or healthcare company.”

Since their launch, Mattie and Barnaby’s hard work and interesting approach to cultural training has earned them an award nomination for New Business of the Year from the Halifax Chamber of Commerce Opens in a new window..

To date, ITP has provided workshops to 58 companies, including CIBC, Nova Scotia College of Pharmacists, EllisDon, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), EverWind Fuels, and Payworks.

One of ITP’s core beliefs is that “Education has gotten us into this mess, and education will get us out.”

Barnaby explains, “that quote is from Justice Murray Sinclair, who was the Chief Commissioner of the TRC. When he says education got us into this mess, he’s really talking about the residential school experience. Children at those schools didn’t actually learn anything. I’m very reluctant to call them a school, but that’s what he’s referring to and, especially with the TRC, it’s really focused on getting the truth of residential school survivors and what really happened at those institutions.”

To build on that sentiment, Mattie adds that “education got us into this with the residential schools and education will get us out. Organizations like ours, Indigenous Treaty Partners, are necessary to help companies looking to foster this healing.”

To that effect, ITP offers a variety of services, including online and in-person workshops, speaking services such as panel expert, keynote speaker, land acknowledgement and more, and research services such as consulting services, business analysis, duty to consult support, strategic planning and more. 

The workshops are popular and consist of breakout sessions and presentations. Mattie highlights that “during the breakout sessions, both in-person and online, we found that people really learn best when they’re brainstorming and engaging with their colleagues. It’s one thing to listen to us talk, but it’s another for people to learn and grow together.”

Mattie goes on to explain that there are three areas of focus during the breakout sessions, including “hiring and opportunities. So we post a call to action on the screen and then we get people to brainstorm together how their organization can meet that call. And what we’ve found is that after the session, the business owner or the manager will actually go around collecting the notes. Lastly, we also focus on recognizing some of one’s own settler privilege, because we all come with settler privileges. We get people to self-reflect on that and how they can use their privilege, how they can use the things that they have gained, their benefits, hobbies and skills they have, to give back to Indigenous people.”

ITP’s trainings and other services are engaging and help to dismantle decades of cultural wrongdoings. However, what makes ITP’s offerings unique is their use of the two-eyed seeing approach.

Barnaby reflects that “in Cape Breton, they call it Unama’ki, the Land of the Fog. The Elder Albert Marshall coined the term ‘two-eyed seeing’ where one uses both a scientific and Indigenous lens to analyze a particular problem or situation. Two-eyed seeing is reconciliation in action because it combines both worlds equally. We’re taking Indigenous knowledge that was gained through thousands of years of existence and experience, and combining it with what Western knowledge has to say about business improvements and processes. This makes us far more competitive and allows us to see a fuller picture.”

In addition, Barnaby shares, “an amazing example of this is white sage, which is used for smudging. Smudging is a spiritual practice of burning medicines to cleanse one’s spirit or one’s space. So that’s knowledge. They knew it cleansed their space. Additionally, through Western science, it has been proven that white sage smoke actually has antimicrobial properties, which means it literally cleans the air. How did my ancestors know that? They’re very much sensitive and connected to all life. So combining the ancient knowledge of thousands of years of existence from these territories, as well as what we can prove through scientific study provides a richer picture. Which is a metaphor for our two nations. We are better together.”

Mattie adds that the two-eyed seeing approach “is like a pair of glasses and one lens is the Indigenous lens and the other lens is Western science. And you’re using both lenses to look at something. We encourage businesses to use these lenses by hiring Indigenous people or by having an Indigenous Advisory Committee or Elder Circle. These things help to bring knowledge into your organization when you’re working on a project or a program, for example.”

All in all, ITP’s unique learnings work to add value to your company by intertwining key Indigenous teachings.

If you want to start educating yourself or provide some resources to your employees and start “Indigenizing” your business, Barnaby and Mattie have some tips on where to start:

• Read reports from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Commission Opens in a new window.
• Review the reports from the Commission of Inquiry Opens in a new window.
• Visit a Nation or a cultural event near you
• Visit the Indigenous Treaty Partners Resources page Opens in a new window.

Mattie and Barnaby didn’t intend to turn ITP into a business. They simply set out to spread their knowledge and do the right thing. However, they found themselves being asked to accept payment following their workshops. It quickly dawned on them that they needed to set up a business bank account, as these presentations were becoming more frequent.

Mattie explains that they placed calls to banks and other financial institutions in Nova Scotia, but “no one got back to us except for CIBC, Craig McCullough, Director, Business Banking, who said, ‘just come in and we’ll chat.’” At the time, “we didn’t have a business plan. We didn’t have an accountant. We didn’t have anything. We just had a product.”

McCullough had the mindset of doing whatever he could to help this business succeed. Claudine Revert-Gravel, Senior Business Advisor, also stepped in to help. With their guidance, Mattie and Barnaby opened a business operating account. McCullough also recommended forms for Mattie and Barnaby to complete to get their business established. Mattie explains that McCullough also provided information on “becoming incorporated and introduced us to great people at CIBC like Sharon Zhu, Market Vice President. We learned a lot from him from just a few meetings.” 

Barnaby shares that “the partnership with CIBC and mentorship we’ve received has been one of the most fundamental and foundational partnerships that we have.”

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