Women with vision target Native capacity building

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Niagara Falls added another first to its history June 26 and 27, as the site for the Aboriginal Women in Business conference. Sponsored by Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres, Grand River Employment and Training Initiative, and O-GI, with support from the Native Affairs Secretariat, Staples Business Depot, and Spirit 91.7 FM, the conference aimed to unite and encourage women in business.

Conference developers Spring and Ginny Carter of Milestone, a new event-planning and consultation firm located in Brantford, and conference chair Donna Messer of Connect/Us Communications kept things moving. Speakers offered advice, personal stories, and business contacts, and delegates enjoyed good weather and good food.

Shauna Simpson of Creative Choices and Resources, said, "It's amazing what women can do." A believer in positive thinking, Simpson pointed out that "The average person has 60,000 thoughts a day and most are negative." She reminded delegates that internal messages can be very harsh. Being "scared of starting, scared of failure, scared of losing benefits" challenges entrepreneurs, but Simpson sees "so much opportunity for entrepreneurship in Canada."

Susanne Shawbonquit also spoke plainly: "We want a future as First Nations ... "We need people with vision."

An independent consultant doing strategic planning for businesses, Shawbonquit added, "Capacity-building means increasing something ... within Indian Country and in non-Native society, technology and demographics force change on us." She stressed being prepared for that change. According to Shawbonquit, "We spend only three per cent of our time on future-based planning, and that's where we need to go."

Hazel Hill and author Helen Hill from Six Nations shared personal experiences. (Another member of the Hill family, Elizabeth, performed Thursday evening at the banquet.)

"You have gifts that you take for granted," Hazel told delegates. She said she draws strength from her spiritual beliefs, "There is nothing we can't do without the Creator's help." She gained "ideas for marketing" at the event and found it "very helpful, even for a writer. It's a wonderful idea."

Hazel, owner of a gift basket business, worked in offices since she was 18, but later stayed home with her children. When her husband became ill, she assumed financial responsibility for the family.

"Owning and operating a business is a challenge in itself." It demands she "think ahead, at least six months in advance." Hazel believes "mainstream society has a lot to learn about us," and tells the audience "behind every strong man is an even stronger woman."

With experience in manufacturing, sales, crafts, property development, teaching and law, Susan Hare (Ojibwa, Bear Clan, Mississauga First Nation) shared the insight gained from her varied background. She knows how things get done. "Law," she said, "is a product and a business. Lawyers understand how mainstream Canada works. They can use the laws to your communities' advantage."

Speaking of the challenges facing Native women, she said, "Native women have been stereotyped in a way that holds us back in business." In traditional societies, "women were very important." Hare added, "When we talk about Aboriginal women, we have to tell the true story. Be involved in politics," is her advice. "We have to make sure our own Aboriginal organizations don't forget women and youth."

Mary Jamieson (Mohawk, Six Nations), spoke passionately about her career and a recent project, Journey to Success, a business development guide for Aboriginal women. Her consulting career included "working to increase the number of Aboriginal health care professionals serving in our own communities" and sitting as the only Aboriginal member of the Canadian Environmental Panel on Nuclear Waste. "They call me a battle-axe. I've earned it."

Aboriginal women, she said, "are mentors and role models for our sisters, our children and our communities, and we should onceagain be proud of our important role in Aboriginal society."

If asked what she is most grateful for, said Alice Sabourin-Nowegejick of Beedaubin Services, it would be "to go to university.

"It's very important to have people who believe in youth," she said, and while "education demands discipline and focus" young people need "someone to talk them through their discouragement."

Other speakers included Brenda Chambers, producer of APTN's Venturing Forth program.

Filmmaker Darlene Naponse attended the event to show her film, Cradlesong. Sarah Hopkins from the Access Centre for Native Business, and representatives from the Ontario and federal governments discussed their services. Delegates practised creative problem-solving with Carol Rusak of Confederation College. The presentation was "intriguing" according to Gale Foster, who said the conference helped her "step out of the comfort zone."

Organizer Spring Carter met Suzanne Shawbonquit last year in Timmins, and said her "support, and telling me her story and how to balance personal life and work" reassured Carter about her own choice. She plans a promotional DVD to advertise the conference, and would like it to become a truly national event.