Themrise Khan has spent more than 30 years working in the foreign assistance and humanitarian aid sectors.
Canada’s international development sector, whose mandate is to eradicate poverty, support human rights and respond to global crisis overseas, has been largely divorced from the cause of Indigenous peoples here in Canada. One can argue that Indigenous peoples have their own Indigenous-led rights-based organizations in Canada, or that advocating for Indigenous communities abroad is enshrined in the work international development organizations already do. But in Canada’s case, those arguments ring hollow.
One of the reasons why the international development sector still lags behind in meeting its mandate is because they have not learned from their own histories of colonialism, racism and geopolitical power. You cannot claim to have an international development sector in the Global North if you are seen as being indifferent toward similar values within your own country. In Canada, this begins with its responsibilities toward Indigenous peoples.
The irony is that the struggle for the territorial and human rights of Indigenous communities across Canada mirrors exactly Canada’s commitments overseas. Social security, education, health, gender-based violence, rights of women and LGBTQI+, clean water, food security, land rights and more are causes Canada seemingly fights for in countries of the Global South though foreign aid, or Official Development Assistance. Much of this is channelled through Canadian organizations. For instance, partnering with Indigenous feminist organizations in the Global South is an important focus of many Canadian NGOs under what used to be the Feminist International Assistance Policy. Yet, when it comes to our own Indigenous populations who endure these very same challenges, they are classified as “Indigenous Affairs.”
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The international development sector has also been accused of remaining disconnected from those it works with in marginalized nations, often wielding power through global NGOs, private sector consulting firms and government-funded advocacy groups. In Canada, the sector demonstrates a similar disconnect with Indigenous-led organizations and their realities. For instance, in 2021, Global Affairs Canada released a four-year Action Plan on Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. One goal was to “increase all employees’ knowledge and understanding of the rights, histories, heritage, cultures, and diverse perspectives of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and the importance of advancing reconciliation.” For a government department supposedly rooted in working with marginalized and Indigenous populations globally to claim that its staff needs to be educated in its own history is a declaration of how it has had the audacity to thus far work uninformed of this history.
This Action Plan could have been an opportunity to bridge the learnings from a global sector to a more domestic one. Or vice versa. Sadly, there has been a serious absence of cross-collaborative solidarity. Despite claiming that working with Indigenous-led organizations forms an integral part of their work, many Canadian international development organizations remain absent in some of the most crucial moments for Indigenous solidarity such as the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. An international tribunal recently held the Canadian government’s current policies responsible for the ongoing genocide of its Indigenous peoples. But the outcry over this is contained within Indigenous organizations and not international development ones. Indeed, the outcry over a $2.3-billion decrease in support to Indigenous peoples in the most recent budget was nowhere near as loud as the very public outcry over the $2.7-billion decrease in ODA in the same budget.
This is not a choice between working for the marginalized outside Canada or within it. But there are now a growing number of domestic concerns that mirror international ones – gender-based violence, discrimination, homelessness, mental health, land rights. According to Statistics Canada, 11 per cent of Canadians have lived under the poverty line since 2023, up from 9.9 per cent the previous year. Though far below Global South poverty data, it is an indication that the world of international development will at some point have to reckon with domestic development. And Indigenous concerns are a key part of that.
We cannot separate a continuing history of injustice within our own country by demanding for justice elsewhere. We cannot advocate for equality for Indigenous groups in the Global South when we see our own Indigenous groups as the “other.” Canada’s international development sector has been up in arms against the “changing face of international cooperation,” as so many conferences and forums within Canada and abroad have been decrying following drastic cuts in ODA and a shift toward military and trade priorities. But there is an opportunity within Canada to create a blueprint on collaborating with Indigenous populations to share with other countries. To truly create the solidarity it keeps talking about.
Canada’s international development community must look inward to be able to once again look outward. And that starts with learning from and building trust with Indigenous peoples.