Canada has a long and troubled history when it comes to dealing with the First Nations of North America. Achieving reconciliation between Canada and the First Nations is an enormous challenge that covers every aspect of life. I'm not sure where the economy sits on the list of priorities, but it's definitely an important factor in reconciliation. Can the business professor offer any suggestions? Irene Henriques trying, she is Professor of Sustainability and Economics at the Schulich School of Business and her research focus is Indigenous entrepreneurship. Her work has profoundly optimistic, but also very realistic about the need to dismantle colonial institutions and build new economic relationships grounded in the agency of Indigenous peoples.

Prof. Dayna Scott, of York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, holds a Canada Research Chair in Environmental Law & Justice. Her work examines the problematic jurisdictional reality that shapes the transition to a green economy, as Canadian mining companies seek to develop resources on land belonging to the First Nations.

Prof. Thy Phu of Western University is an English literature scholar who studies the discursive role of photographs in society. Her exhibit of family photos at the Royal Ontario Museum asks us to reconsider our assumptions about families.

Sen. Kim Pate is a legal scholar who has written extensively on the criminal justice system and Indigenous peoples. She now pursues justice reform from her position in the Senate.

Prof. Celia Haig-Brown is an ethnographer and filmmaker who studies Indigenous education. She works with First Nations communities to understand the stories of residential school survivors and to document how First Nations are dealing with mining companies operating on their land.