THUNDER BAY – Founders of the Indigenous Anti-Racism and Inclusion Accord are reaching out to the local business community to sign on to the movement.
City manager and accord co-chair Norm Gale on Wednesday spoke to members of the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce, urging them to embrace the idea, adding it could be a game-changer in a community under the national spotlight for its poor handling of race relations in recent years.
“The original members of the coalition were large, public-sector employers,” Gale said. “What we want to do now is have it expand to other public-sector employers, but also the private sector, the volunteer sector, the not-for-profit sector.
“Imagine the impact of Thunder Bay employers, most of them, or many of them, signing onto the accord, then taking demonstrable action, and not just the people who work in these organizations, but their families, their friends.”
Gale, who said the city has taken definitive action on 25 of the 30 recommendations directed at the municipality following the Seven Youth Death Inquest, added Thunder Bay is working diligently on the other five.
The accord, which launched a year ago, is just one of many efforts sparked as a result of the report.
“Our hope is that this expands and leaders will emerge,” Gale said.
Initially started by the city, the accord included the likes of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, St. Joseph’s Care Group, Lakehead Public Schools, the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, Lakehead University and Confederation College.
Gale stressed businesses that sign on won’t be dictated as to how to proceed.
Instead they’ll be encouraged to forge their own paths forward.
“Employers and organizations are diverse. There is no attempt by members of the coalition to shoehorn or force members of the coalition into saying something specifically or doing something specific,” Gale said. “By signing onto the accord, you commit publicly to doing something in your own way about racism, and then committing to it.
“What that is, is up to the members of the coalition.”
Signees do get a toolkit, which will be developed in part by the city’s new manager Indigenous relations and inclusion.
Matawa First Nation CEO David Paul Achneepineskum, who joined Gale on Wednesday, said when he first moved to Thunder Bay in 1988, he often felt awkward and unwanted, adding he took it as a challenge to change attitudes and misunderstandings that often exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
The accord is a way to further that line of thinking, while giving his organization a chance to do their part to sow good relations and clear up myths that tend to encourage age-old stereotypes.
“Being citizens of Thunder Bay, we have to do our part as well. You cannot be sitting outside and demanding that things improve. You’ve got to ... take it by the hand and be involved in the change. And I believe that that’s happening more and more,” Achneepineskum said, explaining why Matawa was quick to sign onto the accord.
Melissa Hardy-Giles, owner of the Indigenous education and job training service Origin, said with so many young teens coming into the city for schooling from outlying communities, they need to feel safe. The accord is one way to make it happen.
“It’s very important that the business owners take this very seriously,” Hardy-Giles said. “Because anyone can say that they’re inclusive. Anyone can say anything actually, until they take action ... I love that Thunder Bay is standing up, because we don’t really have a great name across the nation, so I think it’s very important that we start showing some positivity in our city.”
