New think tank will promote Indigenous voices on policy and governance
TORONTO — A think tank launching in Toronto this week hopes to give Indigenous researchers the opportunity to provide greater input on policy issues relevant to their peoples.
Hayden King, an Anishinaabe writer and academic from Beau Soleil First Nation on Georgian Bay, will be leading the Yellowhead Institute at Ryerson University and sees it adding to the growing presence of Indigenous voices in Canada’s conversations on governance.
“We’re hoping to reverse the very long history of excluding Indigenous people from policy decisions and legal decisions that affect our communities,” King said. “It should be Indigenous people themselves that make decisions about their future.”
The institute — named after William Yellowhead, an early-to-mid 19th century Anishinaabe chief who promoted unity amongst Indigenous nations and resisted heavy-handed colonial policies in Southern Ontario — will launch Tuesday with a research paper analysing the Indigenous-related policies that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has enacted or planned since taking power.