Open Session: Barriers and Opportunities to Support Indigenous-Owned Businesses and Sustainable Trade from Coast to Coast to Coast

Image by Angie Saltman (Red River Métis) representing the essence of the Indigenous trade on Turtle Island (North America).

Join the McGill Bieler School of Environment (BSE) and the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) for an online Open Session, organized in collaboration with the CEC’s Traditional Ecological Knowledge Expert Group (TEKEG), on supporting Indigenous-owned businesses and sustainable trade across North America.

As part of the private Roundtable on Sustainable Trade in North America: Indigenous Perspectives, this session—open to the public—will bring together Indigenous business owners, experts, researchers and conservation practitioners from the private and public sectors. Building on two days of roundtable discussions, the event will explore the barriers and opportunities faced by Indigenous-owned businesses across North America, with an emphasis on promoting sustainable trade practices throughout Canada, Mexico and the United States. By engaging in dialogue and sharing insights, participants will focus on identifying future actionable strategies to support the growth of Indigenous businesses and strengthen trade networks rooted in Indigenous values and sustainability.

Online participation in this session is open to the public upon registration and will include a Question and Answer period. We encourage Indigenous business owners, policymakers, trade experts, environmental and economic researchers, private sector representatives, faculty, students and anyone interested in supporting sustainable Indigenous economies to participate.

This open session will take place in English, French and Spanish with simultaneous interpretation provided in all three languages.