A Reconciliatory Pathway for Providing Decent Work for Indigenous Peoples Within the Nonprofit Sector

Abstract

Nonprofit organizations across Canada are advancing reconciliatory pathways in providing decent work for Indigenous peoples. This article explores the area of decent work, offering an Indigenous and reconciliatory lens to reflect upon organizational systems, structures, and policies. When Indigenous self-determination and ways of knowing, doing, or being are better understood and accommodated, a nonprofit’s ability to recruit, employ, support, and retain Indigenous employees can change dramatically. This challenge requires an ongoing practice of listening, learning, and then acting. This paper explores Indigenous rights and self-determination, equity, cultural safety and humility, the roles of Elders and Knowledge Keepers, representative workforces, and policy considerations. As nonprofit leaders and boards champion changes within an organizational culture that outline reconciliatory pathways, these shifts in ways of doing, knowing, and being can become sustainable and lead to long-term, transformational change.