Ethical Space-Based Negotiations: Protocols in Practice for Indigenous Nations

Description

This interactive two-day workshop for Indigenous Wilburforce grantees and partners will introduce you to the practice of Ethical Space, a powerful conceptual framework designed to support the reconciliation of Indigenous and western worldviews. Experience from Indigenous negotiators and Indigenous negotiations knowledge and theory will be explored. Ethical space provides a strong starting point to advance your particular nation’s protocols regarding relationships establishment and building and supporting agreements based on cultural knowledge and protocols.

We will explore how to create both negotiation processes and outcomes which reflect your Indigenous knowledge and culture and share examples. We will also explore how you define what you are hoping to achieve in your agreements through your own cultural references.

Led by Gwen Bridge and James Rattling Leaf of the Indigenous Engagement Institute, in partnership with COMPASS’s Sarah Sunu and hosted by TREC, with Indigenous negotiator guests, this workshop is a unique opportunity to add a new approach/framework to your negotiation skillset and learn from experienced Indigenous leaders.

Participants will learn

• How to create both negotiation processes and outcomes which reflect your Indigenous knowledge and culture and share examples.
• How to define what you are hoping to achieve in your agreements through your own cultural references.

This 2 day workshop is for

• Wilburforce grantee’s who identify as indigenous.
• Those who are familiar/work in negotiations with indigenous communities or who desire to learn more about negotiations from an indigenous perspective and who identify as indigenous.
• Spots are limited. Please register to attend, and we will confirm your attendance and send you the call information after you register. Please commit to both sessions, if something comes up and you cannot attend both let TREC know ASAP at trec@trec.org

Registration Closes on October 7, 2025!

Presenter Biography

Gwen Bridge

Gwen Bridge is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation and has been working for over 20 years with First Nations, all levels of government, and the private and nonprofit sectors, across North America, developing relationships and strategies that advance reconciliation. Gwen has been negotiating initiatives and advising on strategies and policies that recognize and implement Indigenous Knowledge, such as in the proposed South Okanagan Similkameen National Park Reserve. Gwen has also recently advised the BC government on better considering indigenous knowledge in collaborative land use planning and forestry-related climate change considerations. Supporting local governments includes developing strategies and principles for becoming “Cities of Reconciliation” and advising on climate change policy and economic development engagement strategies. Indigenous-led conservation focuses recently include the Smelqmix Protected Area and caribou habitat conservation advancement in the territory of the Okanagan Nation Alliance. A recent focus is advancing an understanding of the ecological, economic, and equity-based partnership mechanisms to support our collective reconciliation agenda through training. Other clients include First Nations and First Nation organizations, Parks Canada, US National Parks Service, National Geographic Society, additional nonprofits, regional and municipal governments including Metro Vancouver, other consulting firms, the University of Washington, Blue Quills University, BC Ministries of: Environment, Indigenous Relationships and Reconciliation, Forests, and Land, Water and Resource Stewardship. 

Gwen is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Forestry at UBC. Gwen has a Master of Science in Forest Hydrology from the University of Alberta. 

James Rattling Leaf Sr.

I am a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. My work is centered at the Wolakota Lab, LLC, which works to serve and support Indigenous peoples’ nation rebuilding efforts through the effective and respective application of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western science. I have over 25 years’ working with the U.S. federal government, higher education institutions and non-profits to develop and maintain effective working relationships with federally and non-federally recognized American Indian tribes, tribal colleges and universities and tribal communities. I specialize in supporting Indigenous engagement strategies, teaching Cultural Intelligence (CQ) methods and developing programs that utilize the interface between Indigenous people’s traditional knowledge and Western science. I see a greater vision of human knowledge that incorporates the many insights of human cultures and provides a context for our better understanding of the planet and the world.  

I am a founding member of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Indigenous Alliance that was established at GEO Week 2019 in Canberra, Australia, to foster a continued, effective, respectful, and reciprocal relationship with GEO and representatives of indigenous communities from around the world. Currently, I serve in leadership roles with the University of Colorado-Boulder; North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center; Rosebud Sioux Tribe; GEO Indigenous Alliance; and the Ecological Society of America Traditional Ecological Knowledge Section. I was born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation USA and I have a degree in Lakota Studies from Sinte Gleska University.