The ‘Red Deal’: an Indigenous-led Discussion
This video and blog is part of a series sharing the themes from ICA's "Reclaiming the Sacred" Indigenous Economics online conference held June 10-12 2021. This conference was held in partnership with the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics.
Artwork in video courtesy of Corinna Keeling and Christi Belcourt.
Each of the panelists of the ‘Red New Deal’ panel discussion brought a nuanced view of climate policy and its limitations. Ananda says that environmental and economic policies have continually left out Black and Indigenous communities, who are the most impacted. Factories, mines, and other contaminating projects are being built and are already established near where these communities live.
Ananda also spoke about the history of racist policies in the United States. For example, the “New Deal” during the Great Depression was only designed to benefit white people; the policy cut out anyone who was Black, Brown, or Indigenous – this was referred to as “red lining” and was used to cut out anyone who wasn’t white from job opportunities.
In advocating for a critical lens guided by local, place-based knowledge, Ananda mentioned the Red, Black, and Green Deal, which is centered around anti-Black racism and environmentalism.
Rebecca Sinclair and Jen Gobby shared stories of their efforts to work on the report, Decolonizing Climate Policy in Canada. They noted that current policy practices have serious limitations and fail to address and acknowledge the importance of Indigenous leadership and expertise.
They offered these ways forward:
Acknowledge that the exclusion of Indigenous climate leadership and denial of rights to self-determination actually forecloses on some of the most powerful forces for transformative, systemic change in Canada
Recognize that climate policy can be made more just and effective through the meaningful and full inclusion of Indigenous peoples, and by upholding of rights, knowledge, and sovereignty
Address the climate crisis by requiring the transformation and undoing of colonial relations and structures in Canada in your work
Meaningfully co-create climate policy, rooted in Indigenous self-determination. This will require deep and broad relinquishment of power from settler colonial structures and systems to address both the climate and inequality crises in Canada
Panelists focused on policy measures and invited the audience to learn more about undoing colonialism in an applied, everyday manner.
What you can do:
Ananda recommended that everyone look into the original people of the land where you are.
Purging ourselves of white supremacist culture; decolonizing ourselves first.
Speaking in a way that our grandmothers can understand.
Ananda, Jen, and Rebecca also engaged a conversation about systemic change needed to find everyday actionable items. They offered these resources for further understanding of systemic factors and analyses:
Climate False Solutions https://climatefalsesolutions.org/
The Red, Black, and Green New Deal https://redblackgreennewdeal.org/
Decolonizing Climate Policy in Canada Report https://www.indigenousclimateaction.com/entries/new-ica-report-critique-of-federal-climate-policy-plans
Pollution is Colonialism, by Max Liboiron https://www.dukeupress.edu/pollution-is-colonialism
Indigenous Food Sovereignty https://www.indigenousfoodsystems.org/food-sovereignty
Pueblo Action Alliance https://www.puebloactionalliance.org/
Speaker Biographies:
Ananda Lee Tan is the son of migrants who identifies home as a community in South Asia.
Jen Gobby is a settler climate activist and researcher based in Abenaki territory in rural Quebec. She completed her PhD at McGill University in 2019 and is a postdoctoral fellow at Concordia University. She is the author of the book More Powerful Together: Conversations with Climate Activists and Indigenous Land Defenders.
Rebecca Sinclair (Merasty) is a nêhiyaw-iskwêw, mother of three, she is originally from Barren Lands First Nation and a member of Little Saskatchewan First Nation. She was born and raised in Treaty 5 in northern Manitoba. Rebecca moved to Winnipeg, Treaty 1 territory, to obtain a Bachelor’s degree (Environmental and Native Studies) from the University of Manitoba. Rebecca is the Program Coordinator for Lake Winnipeg Indigenous Collective and works as an Independent Researcher working on Indigenous rights and climate justice. Rebecca pursues higher learning that comes from the land, language and through learning alongside knowledge keepers. Her childhood spent on the land in northern Manitoba, has shaped her understanding and guided her efforts to protect and preserve the great gifts of our sacred Earth.