Regina to host reconciliation economic conference in March

As part of its efforts to honour and implement the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls to action, the City of Regina will co-host a Truth and Reconciliation economic conference in March.

It’s the first such conference held in the city, and its aim specifically is to honour the 92nd call to action: “The corporate sector in Canada to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a reconciliation framework and to apply its principles, norms, and standards to corporate policy and core operational activities involving Indigenous peoples and their lands and resources.”

According to a media release from the city, the conference “will bring together a broad spectrum of Saskatchewan-based individuals, corporations and academics to explore truth and reconciliation in the economic sphere.”

The conference will be a two-day affair, March 19-20, with the first day focusing on truth and the second day focusing on reconciliation.

Regina Chamber of Commerce CEO John Hopkins, who’s helping to plan the conference, says part of that means recognizing how non-Indigenous peoples in the past have inhibited and prevented Indigenous peoples’ economic progress and prosperity.

“We weren’t responsible for what happened back then (100 to 150 years ago), but we inherited that, so we’re responsible for what we do today,” he said Thursday.

Hopkins cited a stat that says Indigenous people’s unemployment rate in the province is more than double that of non-Indigenous people.

“The reality is what happened back then is still impacting us today,” he said.

Fellow co-planner Thomas Benjoe said another aspect of the conference will highlight current Indigenous-owned and -operated businesses making a go of it in Saskatchewan, like his software-testing company, Plato Sask Testing.

“We’re winning a lot of contracts in the market and starting to provide support to government ministries,” Benjoe said.

He’s also president and CEO of File Hills Qu’Appelle Developments, which invested in Plato Sask Testing.

“We want to bring forth and share about some of the successes we have in our community already,” he said.

Benjoe, Hopkins and Mayor Michael Fougere emphasized how young, Indigenous people in the city and the province are a key aspect of growing the region’s economy.