Event

Roundtable on Sustainable Trade in North America: Indigenous Perspectives

Trade between people and communities across the North American region has long defined regional identity and has been the cornerstone of community prosperity. Indigenous Peoples living in the region have traded amongst themselves for thousands of years, establishing extensive networks that have thrived from the exchange of goods, knowledge and cultural traditions. Established through generations of lived experience and relational bonds between people, communities, nature and ecosystems, Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and perspectives on ecological relationships offer transformative and innovative solutions to advance sustainability, which is critical today to address some of the region’s most pressing social, economic and environmental challenges.

This roundtable, co-hosted by the Bieler School of Environment (BSE) and the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), and organized in collaboration with the CEC’s Traditional Ecological Knowledge Expert Group (TEKEG), will bring together Indigenous experts, researchers and conservation practitioners from the private and public sectors, to explore how Indigenous values, relational approaches, TEK, cultural heritage, nature-based solutions (NBS), and the revitalization of Indigenous trade, can help advance sustainable trade in North America.

Agenda Highlights

24 March  – Private Sessions

• Session 1. Indigenous Worldviews and Approaches to Commerce and Trade: Relational Systems and Sustainability (private)

• Session 2. Foundations of Indigenous Trade in North America (private)

25 March – Private and Open to the Public Sessions

• Session 3. Case Studies of Successful Indigenous-Owned Businesses in North America to Learn from and Inspire Others (private)
• Session 4. Barriers and Opportunities to Support Indigenous-Owned Businesses and Sustainable Trade from Coast to Coast to Coast (open session)
  • Online participation in Session 4 is open to the public upon registration. Learn more and register here.