For Indigenous Ears Only - A Space for Reflection and Action (Fall 2025)

When: Tuesdays, October 21, October 28, November 4 & November 11 (1-4 pm ET)
Where: Zoom Meeting (camera and audio enabled)
Cost: Free

Please note, all participants will receive a confirmation email from TicketTailor with a link to join the meetings on Zoom.

The DEFNP workshop series will offer tailored programming designed to match ENGOs on their decolonial (un)learning journeys. In Fall 2025 members of the ENGO sector will be able to choose one of three workshop tracks: Introduction to Decolonization in the ENGO Sector, Advanced Decolonial Theory and Application, or For Indigenous Ears Only - A Space for Reflection and Action. Each series consists of four three-hour sessions.‍

Collectively, Decolonizing ENGO-First Nation Partnerships fosters:

• Awareness of settler colonialism and the ways it potentially harnesses civil society;Understanding about how Canadian law such as the Indian Act and the Income Tax Act has suppressed Indigenous governance systems;
• Awareness that Indigenous peoples have unique inherent political and legal systems, with which ENGOs may want to form partnerships;
• A better understanding about how to navigate partnerships with Indigenous communities that promote decolonial environmentalism;
• A stronger sense about how to identify and explain individual and organization social locations (i.e. positionalities) as part of ethical partnership development;
• Promoting the resurgence of Indigenous self-determination in the Canadian ENGO sector.‍

For Indigenous Ears Only - A Space for Reflection and Action

The Indigenous only space will be collaborative in nature but critical in approach. This track is a space for Indigenous folks within the ENGO sector to come together to discuss their experiences and work, with an eye to taking a position on what the sector might need to do in order to promote decolonization. Participants will use the first session to define our goals for the remaining three meetings. Therefore, session topics named here are proposals only.

Session 1: Naming the Cannibal: Settler Colonialism in the ENGO Sector

Session 2: Proposed topic: Reflections on working in the ENGO Sector

Session 3: Proposed topic: Centering Indigenous Thought in the ENGO Sector

Session 4: Proposed topic: Visioning a Decolonial Environmental Sector

Our Presenter:

Dr. Damien Lee is a member of Fort William First Nation and holds a PhD in Indigenous Studies from the University of Manitoba, and a Master of Arts in Indigenous Governance from the University of Victoria. Dr. Lee has extensive experience facilitating/teaching adult-focused education at the post-secondary level and co-leads Gimiwan Research and Consulting. Gimiwan serves mainly Indigenous communities and Indigenous-led organizations by providing research and workshop services based in decolonial ethics and Indigenous worldviews.

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