Date: July 8, 15 & 22 from 1-2:30 PM ET.
Cost: $50 for a single spot, $75 for two staff from the same ENGO, $90 for teams of three. Multiple registrants per organization are encouraged.
*All registrants will be provided with a link to the recording and presentation slides following the session. The recording will be available for 60 days.
This series will take on selected and specific real-world ENGO Government Relations (GR) challenges raised by the participants who will be asked to define their scenarios through responses to seven questions upon registration.
Participants will outline the challenges they are facing upon registration. These real-world ENGO GR challenges will then be workshopped by Aaron in each session, following background information presented on applicable GR principles and the current political landscape. Each session will outline some principles, perhaps some context on the political landscape, and then get into a fishbowl type of exercise where a selected challenge (1-2) will be addressed. All participants will benefit by seeing how to work through GR challenges. Sessions will be 90 minutes each, including a highly interactive mix of training, a drill-down on specific participant case studies, and discussion.
Registrants will be asked to lay out their specific ENGO GR challenges via responses to seven questions they will see upon registration. We estimate these scenarios will require one page (two pages max) to describe. There's no need for comprehensive answers, recognizing that sometimes, campaigns may still be figuring things out. We may as well ask some supplementary questions. If you have multiple registrants from your organization you can submit multiple scenarios or concentrate on one for the team. This information needs to be submitted at least one week before (July 1) and ideally 2 weeks prior (June 24).
This series is for those who have at least some experience with GR, and who have had challenges navigating an issue through government. The format will be highly interactive, with opportunities for discussion of specific examples. The main focus will be on the federal government, although there will be the opportunity to raise issues participants are dealing with at provincial or municipal level.
This online workshop series will take place on Zoom Meeting with cameras and audio enabled. All registrants will be provided with a link to the recording and presentation slides following each session.
The recordings will be available for 60 days.
About the Presenter
Aaron Freeman is a Managing Partner and Founder of Pivot Strategic Consulting, which provides government relations and policy advice to companies, NGOs, and Indigenous organizations. He is also the Founder of GreenPAC, Canada’s organization to build environmental leadership in politics. Between 2009 and 2012, Aaron served as a Senior Advisor to the Premier of Ontario. Prior to joining the government, Aaron coordinated several national advocacy campaigns on environment, democratic reform, and human rights issues. He also served as Policy Director for Environmental Defence.
The Hill Times has named Aaron one of the Top 100 Federal Lobbyists in Canada. He has received a King Charles III Coronation Medal, and a Canada Clean50 Award for his work as a Sustainability Champion.
Aaron has taught public governance law at the University of Ottawa and is co-author of The Laws of Government: The Legal Foundations of Canadian Democracy, a book the Ontario Bar Association lists as one of “The Top 15 Books Every Lawyer Should Read.”
Aaron’s new Energy Neighbour initiative provides homeowners with no-cost, one-on-one expert guidance and qualified contractor referrals to make clean energy retrofits easier.
Session 1: Settler Colonialism 101
Introduce ENGO representatives to the fact that colonization is a structure and not an event. Identifies key ways that colonialism moves through individuals and organizations.
Session 2: Positionality
ENGO representatives learn how to articulate their social location within a settler colonial state, and in relation to potential Indigenous partners.
Session 3: Inherent Indigenous Governance 101
Introduce the fact that Indigenous nations have their own sources of political authority that they can (and do) draw on when addressing environmental issues. Examples provided.
Session 4: Building Better Relations
ENGO representatives will road test ways they can implement previous workshop key points to re-imagine partnerships with Indigenous nations.
Cost: $100 (or register 4 staff from the same organization for one stream and get the 5th registration free)
All registrants will be provided with a link to access the recordings and presentation slides for 60 days following each session.
Session 1: Diagnosing Settler Colonialism in the Enviro Sector
Participants will be asked to share ways in which they have diagnosed and traced power in social justice movements and/or in the ENGO sector. This workshop will make space for discomfort as part of promoting decolonization.
Session 2: Inherent Indigenous Governance
A mix of advanced and introductory theory, this workshop delves into legal and political pluralism, naming the fact that Indigenous nations have their own sources of political authority that they can (and do) draw on when addressing environmental issues.
Session 3: The Nonprofit Industrial Complex
ENGO participants are introduced to theories and examples describing the Nonprofit Industrial Complex and the “Shadow State.” Purpose is to show how settler colonialism structures civil society.
Session 4: Decolonizing ENGO-First Nation Partnerships
This workshop delves deep into how ENGOs can partner with Indigenous nations beyond the Nonprofit Industrial Complex while promoting deference to inherent Indigenous political leaders.
Cost: $100 (or register 4 staff from the same organization for one stream and get the 5th registration free)
All registrants will be provided with a link to access the recordings and presentation slides for 60 days following each session.
The Indigenous only space will be collaborative in nature but critical in approach. This track is a space for Indigenous folks within the ENGO sector to come together to discuss their experiences and work, with an eye to taking a position on what the sector might need to do in order to promote decolonization. Participants will use the first session to define our goals for the remaining three meetings. Therefore, session topics named here are proposals only.
Session 1: Naming the Cannibal: Settler Colonialism in the ENGO Sector
Session 2: Proposed topic: Reflections on working in the ENGO Sector
Session 3: Proposed topic: Centering Indigenous Thought in the ENGO Sector
Session 4: Proposed topic: Visioning a Decolonial Environmental Sector
Cost: Free
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