IndigenousPolicy.ca

Strategic Indigenous
Policy Advisory

Independent · Canada · Senior Officials Only

Most Indigenous policy fails not because of bad intentions,
but because no one in the room understood what they were walking into.

This is an independent advisory practice for senior officials who need rigorous, frank analysis of Indigenous policy — before decisions are made, not after consequences arrive.

The work is confidential, policy-first, and free of institutional agendas. Engagement does not imply endorsement by either party. My public writing remains independent.

This is not

  • DEI consulting
  • Reconciliation branding
  • Consultation facilitation
  • Communications advisory
  • Capacity building
  • Performative engagement

Service I

Indigenous Policy Risk & Reality Review

Review of draft policies, legislation, strategies, or frameworks before they move forward. I identify political, legal, and Indigenous legitimacy risks — the ones that experienced officials miss because they lack ground-level Indigenous context. Delivered as a written memo and/or a closed-door briefing.

Discrete. Time-limited. No ongoing obligation.

Service II

Consultation Framework Design

Design of Indigenous consultation frameworks that are realistic, legally defensible, and politically honest. I advise on scope, sequencing, language, and expectations. I do not run meetings, attend community sessions, or provide optics. The deliverable is a framework your team can use — built to survive scrutiny, not generate goodwill.

Not facilitation. Not engagement. Architecture only.

Service III

Indigenous Policy Advisory Retainer

On-call senior advisory access for a small number of concurrent clients. Rapid, direct feedback before decisions, announcements, or files move to ministers. Monthly retainer. Confidential. No deliverable calendar — the value is availability when it matters.

Strictly limited. Currently accepting inquiries.

The practice is structured for senior officials with real policy authority — not communications teams, not political staff, not external consultants managing optics.

Primary

  • Assistant Deputy Ministers
  • Executive Directors of Policy
  • Senior Indigenous Relations Officials, federal and provincial

Also Considered

  • Crown corporations and arms-length agencies
  • Major utilities, transportation authorities, health authorities
  • University leadership on Indigenous policy and governance
  • General Counsel and VP Regulatory at industry — senior authority only

Referrals & Legitimacy

  • Indigenous governments and regional Indigenous organizations
I do not work with political staffers, PR firms, or teams whose primary objective is managing perception rather than making policy. If you are looking for someone to validate decisions already made, this is not the right practice.

I am an Indigenous writer and public intellectual with three books on Indigenous issues and a Substack publication, Indigenous Opinions, read across more than half of Canada's reserves. My work has been described as policy-first and independent of government, corporations, and advocacy organizations.

My positions are public: I am pro-Indigenous self-determination, opposed to the Indian Act, and in favour of structured, negotiated exits from colonial governance — not abolition by chaos. These are not positions I moderate for clients. They are the reason serious officials find the analysis useful.

I do not hold government positions, sit on boards, or accept contracts that restrict my public writing. The advisory practice exists alongside, not instead of, the intellectual work.

No contract will restrict my public writing or independent positions. These are non-negotiable terms, not a negotiating posture. Clients engage knowing this; most find it preferable to the alternative.

If this practice is relevant to a file you are working on, the form below is the right place to start.

No attachments, no pitch decks, no RFPs. A sentence or two on your role and the nature of the file is sufficient. I read everything and respond to serious inquiries directly.

Submissions are confidential. Government email preferred but not required. I do not respond to unsolicited pitches or vendor inquiries.