Canada should be looking for ways to strengthen Indigenous trading networks as it responds to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and considers how to stabilize the economy.

Indigenous nations have been trading amongst themselves since time immemorial, moving goods, services and ideas across North and South America. Long before the Europeans arrived, fish from the Pacific were traded for metals from the Canadian Shield.

However, these extensive trade relationships have been disrupted through colonialism and, more notably, by the Indian Act. Most Indigenous communities, businesses, and entrepreneurs would like the Canadian government to re-establish inter-tribal trade relations across Turtle Island, i.e. North America. Doing this will not only benefit Indigenous Peoples on both sides of the border but also all Canadians seeking ways to work around tariffs in creative ways.

Governments in Canada and the U.S. don’t fully appreciate the full potential of Indigenous trade, but it presents an opportunity to bolster the interdependent economies of both countries and Indigenous nations across North America, especially in this economic chaos.

The federal government should prioritize trade among Indigenous nations as it races to reduce interprovincial trade barriers through Bill C-5, One Canadian Economy Act, which received royal assent late last month after speeding through the House of Commons and Senate.

Beyond a strategy of retaliatory tariffs, Canada should consider the strong benefits of supporting the creation of a North American Indigenous trade coalition.

Such a move would foster on-reserve manufacturing and service-delivery clusters. It would encourage economic partnerships between municipalities and their surrounding communities, and it would establish efficient economic corridors to transport goods to European and Asian markets.

The Jay Treaty advantage

Indigenous people have trading rights rooted in their legal and political status. Those rights are recognized in treaties, constitutions and international agreements. Acknowledging and leveraging them would advance economic reconciliation and respond meaningfully to the calls to action set out by The Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Canada’s Constitution guarantees the Indigenous and treaty right to trade. For its part, the U.S. constitution recognizes tribal sovereignty, allowing Native American nations to engage in commerce with other nations.

The historic Jay Treaty is one important legal guarantee of those rights that dates back to 1794.  The U.S. and Britain signed the treaty after the American Revolutionary War. In it is a provision that recognizes the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples to freely cross what is now the Canada-U.S. border to trade and do business.

The U.S. abides by the Jay Treaty, which means Indigenous people in Canada can freely work, study, invest and retire there. Canada, however, does not recognize the treaty, which pre-dates Confederation.

(When the treaty was signed, the Thirteen Colonies had newly broken away to become the United States – in 1776 – and the North American fur trade was going strong. The Americans wanted free movement of furs north and south. The Crown did not. Indigenous trade going north would help the fledgling U.S. Britain, of course, wanted to limit the growth of its former upstart colonies.)

And so the Jay Treaty was never ratified here. But it should be. The economic benefits would be immense.

Leveraging the Jay Treaty would create bi-national economic opportunities for Indigenous people. They could establish cross-border businesses, engage in direct-to-consumer sales, recruit Indigenous talent without the need for a work permit, facilitate imports and exports, and promote tourism. Indigenous businesses could collaborate across the border to integrate supply chains, source materials, share knowledge, and co-develop products.

It’s time Canada catch up to the United States on this aspect of Indigenous rights and ratify the Jay Treaty.

Competitiveness would improve

An Indigenous trade coalition would create power through unity. Indigenous businesses are relatively small in scale and often operate in isolated markets. By uniting, Indigenous people would increase their bargaining power, negotiate better trade agreements, and strengthen supply chains across North America – ultimately increasing competitiveness and benefitting consumers.

It’s already starting to happen. Last year, for the first time, a U.S. trade delegation of Indigenous farmers and agribusiness owners travelled to B.C. to lay the groundwork to establish themselves in the supermarket sector there.

North American Indigenous trade would benefit the natural-resources sector. When Indigenous people play a meaningful role in the development of their natural resources through equity partnerships, projects are successful. When proponents earn the trust of locals, the regulatory process is smoother, Indigenous rights are respected, Indigenous knowledge is incorporated, and everyone benefits economically.

With recent deals, Indigenous nations are no longer simply subjected to natural-resource projects, they are driving them.

In May, Enbridge announced a partnership with 36 First Nations in B.C for a stake in the Westcoast natural gas pipeline system. Chief David Jimmie, president and chair of Stonlasec8 Indigenous Alliance and chief of Squiala First Nation, one of the signatories to the agreement, explained: “Now, our Nations will receive sustained economic benefits from this asset, funding critical investments in housing, infrastructure, environmental stewardship and cultural preservation. People often ask what economic reconciliation for Indigenous Peoples looks like. This is it.”

A trade coalition would supercharge this sort of progress, facilitating stakes in projects that cross borders.

An act with meaning

Indigenous entrepreneurs are actively looking for ways to use Indigenous treaty relationships between Canada and the U.S. to reduce trade obstacles. As an Indigenous business consultant, I hear every day from Indigenous businesspeople trying to overcome those barriers, which include limited access to capital, gaps in the quality of infrastructure and educational attainment and exclusion from the circles of financial elites.

Like other Indigenous businesspeople, I am working to foster trade relations that span borders and nations. The Jay Treaty could bring a competitive advantage to non-Indigenous businesses, too, through partnerships with Indigenous rights-holders on both sides of the border. The opportunity is there for those who recognize it.

North American Indigenous trade is integral to economic reconciliation. Encouraging wealth creation among Indigenous nations is a way Canada can and should move beyond symbolic actions of reconciliation.

Renaming a street is meaningful but it is not enough. Supporting trade is a concrete measure toward self-determination. Wealth generation gives Indigenous nations the power to determine their own futures.

Other countries have lessons we can learn from. As president of Acosys, I have taken part in Indigenous trade missions, including one to New Zealand organized by the Canadian federal government in the fall of 2018.

New Zealand’s Māori businesspeople and other Indigenous entrepreneurs are far ahead of Canada in terms of wealth generation. However, it is at risk. Some of New Zealand’s political leaders want to renegotiate the Treaty of Waitangi, the country’s founding document set out by the British Crown and Maori representatives. Right-wing conservatives feel it disadvantages the Pākehā settlers.

Here, Bill C-5 itself is a fresh example of fragile treaty relations.

Indigenous leaders have opposed the fast-moving legislation for The One Canadian Economy Act. They are concerned that non-Indigenous economic interests will be prioritized over Indigenous rights and opportunities. The Carney government has a constitutional duty to consult with Indigenous leaders, something that has been missing from the push for Bill C-5. At the two-day First Nations Summit last week in Gatineau, Carney promised prosperity but received a mixed reaction from Indigenous leaders in attendance.

These are reminders that continual innovation among Indigenous nations is essential because widespread support for economic reconciliation cannot be taken for granted.

In Oklahoma, I have met with the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and the Chickasaw Nation to explore increasing Indigenous-to-Indigenous business between Canada and the United States.

Trade brings wealth in the conventional Western sense. But for Indigenous nations, wealth is something to leverage, expand and redistribute through circular economies and sustainable practices. Among Indigenous nations, trade brings wealth to nations, not only individuals.

Corporate Canada’s obligation

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission laid out a path for all Canadians to improve relations with Indigenous Peoples including in business dealings. Call to Action 92 mandates corporate Canada to build respectful relations with Indigenous Peoples in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak has said: “Economic reconciliation is a vital foundation for a prosperous and equitable future. Until there is a strong First Nations economy, there will be no vibrant national economy.” Woodhouse Nepinak is the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

However, economic reconciliation is not one-size-fits-all. It is systematic engagement with the goal of reaching consensus on what is wealth generation and value creation between settlers and the Indigenous people in a post-settler colonial state.

Canada, the U.S., New Zealand, and Australia have similar histories as settler colonial states. The movement toward economic reconciliation will likely lead one of them to operate “nation-to-nation.”

Will the tariff crisis galvanize Canada to be the first one to reshape itself for the next seven generations?

Advancing economic reconciliation is good for Indigenous people and all Canadians. When Indigenous nations are self-sufficient, Indigenous communities can determine their own futures and become less reliant on government funding.

Canada needs to invest in economic reconciliation and inter-Indigenous-national trade. A North American Indigenous coalition would promote trade solutions that allow Indigenous businesses to thrive in the global economy, becoming powerful drivers of economic reconciliation and securing a better future for the next seven generations.