Separating Politics from Business
Presenting Organization: Cando
Description
One of the biggest problems that First Nations encounter is separating business from politics. This workshop will provide an overview of how to separate business from the political and still have valuable political input and some level of cooperative effort. We will review some examples from First Nations and powerpoint slides taken from such academic research such as the Harvard Project on Indigenous Sovereignty
Speaker
- Vaughn “Tehoweesonte” Sunday
Speaker Bio
Vaughn Sunday was born and raised in the Akwesasne Mohawk First Nation in Ontario. He is the son of a Mohawk Ironworker and residential school survivor father and a Mohawk Language teaching mother. He is a Mohawk language speaker and a member of the wolf clan in the longhouse.
He has worked in First Nation Administration for nearly 30 years first at his home community at the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne for 25 years, working as the Director of Economic Development for over 20 years. Akwesasne is a very large and sophisticated First Nation with a budget over 100 million dollars.
He also worked with Chief and Council directly for five years working with elected leadership on agreements with Provincial and Federal Government, nation building and self governance initiatives while using Mohawk on a daily basis. He also worked as the Executive Director at the Adams Lake Indian Band for 3.5 years, and he worked at the AFN in Ottawa.
Vaughn has worked as a consultant with many First Nations and First Nation organizations. He has led many First Nation projects such as housing subdivisions, a strip mall, a health facility, a waterline, a couple of development corporations and in such areas as strategic and operational planning. He as led workshops for Council and staff members on various First Nations. In terms of formal education, Vaughn holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Queens University in Ontario and is a CAPA with AFOA Canada.