Indigenous and Ecological Economics are rooted in the similar values - relationships and interconnections with ecosystems. As society grapples with a growing climate crisis and faltering economies Indigneous peoples across the globe are proposing a return to the sacred, a return to relationships with each other and the lands. At this gathering we will dive into discussions, workshops, panels and presentations led by Indigenous leaders, practitioners and scholars to redefine ecological economics from an Indigenous perspective. By empowering our communities to reclaim our economic systems built on millenia of knowledge and practice we can help craft the needs and direction of what new Indigenous-led climate policies and economic paradigms call look like. The gathering will involve:

• Indigenous and participant-led discussions in breakout sessions,
• Indigenous ceremony and workshops,
• “problem labs” to articulate Indigenous views on “ecological economics”,
• Indigenous keynote speakers and experts, and
• safe spaces for Indigenous peoples to discuss, strategize and reclaim our relationships with each other and our lands and territories. 

Why an Indigenous gathering on “Ecological Economics”?

Ecological Economics is the study of relationships and interactions between economies and the ecosystems that support them. It brings together research in economics, ecology and other social and natural sciences that aim to understand how environmental sustainability and economic abundance can emerge together. Ecological economics is a relatively new discipline, and increasingly, researchers in this field are turning towards Indigenous Peoples’ traditional knowledge.

In 2019, Indigenous Climate Action’s Executive Director, Eriel Deranger, was invited by CANSEE to offer reflections as a keynote at their “Engaging Economies of Change'' Conference. The conference was filled with hopeful discussion, workshops and presentations on ecological economics but lacked strong participation and leadership from Indigenous peoples. Deranger found this troubling as many of the presenters were taking from Indigenous knowledge systems and repackaging what Indigenous Peoples have been doing for thousands of years as a new discipline. Deranger challenged CANSEE to take a new approach and re-centre Indigenous voice, leadership and peoples in ecological economic and the discourse leading the way. CANSEE rose to the challenge to partner with ICA. The result is this event - engaging Indigenous scholars and leaders, more broadly, in an Indigenous-led space to discuss the concept of ecological economics from the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples. 

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Join Calgary’s Mayor Naheed Nenshi, and more than 300 cities reducing poverty.

Prior to COVID-19, Canada experienced the most dramatic drop in poverty in recorded history. Between 2015 and 2018, our national poverty rate dropped from 14.5% to 11.0% and one million Canadians were lifted out of  poverty.  

Child poverty rates followed a similar downward trend, with 566,000 fewer children living in poverty in 2018 than in 2012, and Alberta announcing a 50% reduction in child poverty. Poverty rates amongst seniors have been reduced to the lowest of three age brackets. Join virtually from May 5-6, 2021 to explore proven and impactful pathways to ending poverty. 

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How Evaluation Can Help Drive – Rather Than Hinder – Transformative Efforts to Address Climate Change, Equity and Human Survival

Join Michael Quinn Patton and Mark Cabaj for this new virtual workshop series, running on April 20, 22, 27, and 29, 2021
Transforming evaluation for evaluating transformation examines the contributions that evaluation can make to addressing crises like the coronavirus pandemic, the global climate emergency, and related threats to human survival looming large in Earth’s future.

The three questions this workshop addresses are:

Transformation - What is it? How to do it? How to evaluate it?

This applies beyond climate change mitigation and the global pandemic to related problems of food security, agricultural transformation, equity issues, governance transformations, and the connections between local and global changes. The premise is that evaluation must be transformed if it is to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Traditional project and program evaluation won’t suffice to address transformational systems changes across sectors on a global scale. Indeed, traditional approaches to project and program evaluation can create barriers to transformative change.

The event will look at examples of transformative initiatives and their evaluations, or lack thereof. In so doing, the series will distinguish a theory of transformation from a theory of change. This series will offer principles for global systems transformation as a framework for assessing the likely adequacy of an initiative or intervention to be transformative.

Given that transformational changes are multi-faceted and occur in complex dynamic systems, traditional evaluation concerns about attribution, effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability have to be reframed. For example, systems transformation is different from program outcomes — different in the degree of change, the nature of change, the pace of change, the direction of change, the scale of change, the interconnectedness of change, and the implications for sustainability and systems resilience.

Evaluating transformation requires new ways of conceptualizing and conducting evaluations. That is the focus of this workshop.

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Communities Building Youth Futures (CBYF) is a five-year pan-Canadian project to work with up to 13 communities to develop system-wide solutions for supporting youth as they build and act upon plans for their future. Working in partnership with the Government of Canada, through the Goal Getters program, Tamarack Institute is committed to improving outcomes for youth who face barriers as they pursue their education and transition to employment and understands that this work requires collaborative, community-championed solutions with youth leadership and youth engagement.

Features of the Learning Agenda

• Building Youth Futures is a critical step in Ending Poverty in Canada – Investing in and supporting young people through their education to employment journey includes building youth resiliency, youth voice, and youth leadership. Creating communities which meaningfully engage young people is essential to ending poverty in Canada.    The May 6th plenary will be held jointly with Tamarack's Cities Reducing Poverty practice area
• Renowned Keynote Speakers – featuring Melody Barnes, who worked directly with President Barack Obama, who will share her expertise with an emphasis on Ending Youth Poverty and Building Youth Futures
• Creating Space for Youth as Change Makers – Change is already happening.  Across Canada, 13 communities are focused on amplifying youth voices.  These youth have something to say and through youth-focused CBYF workshops they will share their progress, lessons learned and advice
• Community-Developed Projects that Build Pathways to Education & Employment – Innovation is at the forefront of Communities Building Youth Futures.  Communities will be showcasing emergent and innovative practices developed through their work. 
• Learning that is Emerging through the Work of Supporting Youth – highlighting the work and stories of communities, youth and partners as they build youth resilience and engagement, community mobilization, social innovation, bridging the digital divide, and collective impact
• Daily Small Group Discussions creating space for networking, discussion, brainstorming and troubleshooting amongst event registrants
• Inspiring Workshops building foundations and allowing learners to dive deeper into the latest thinking and practice around youth engagement, collaborative leadership, community engagement:
  • Collaborative Leadership for Systems Change
  • Evaluation – how developing our meaning of evaluation can increase the benefits
  • Developing Meaningful Youth Engagement
  • Engagement in a Virtual World
  • and more …

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A growing network of Canadian organizations and professionals are exploring Social Acquisitions for Business Recovery (SABR), a strategy that sees conventional enterprises transition into social purpose enterprising forms (like a co-op, a social enterprise, a charity, a non-profit, or any combination of the same).

This burgeoning community was inspired and supported by the Government of Canada's Investment Readiness program ecosystem-mobilizer partner, Legacy Leadership Lab. Since September of 2019 we have convened, formed, and sustained an evolving and rapidly-mobilizing collection of stakeholders from a wide range of disciplines to pursue the social acquisition solution as a succession and recovery strategy for Canada's small businesses and a tool for sustainable economic vitality and inclusion for the under-serviced and under-represented within our country.

L3 welcomes you for a final semi-interactive 90-minute webinar with simultaneous English-French translation as we conclude our government-funded efforts and look to the future of the movement.

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