Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe: Heartfelt Inclusion

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re striving to be the best human you can be, to treat others the way you’d want to be treated, and leave the world better than you found it. 

Perhaps you also feel overwhelmed at times by the sheer volume of content out there to guide you, wondering if you’re doing enough as an ally or if you’re even on the right track. There are many perspectives out there, but from Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe’s worldview, leading the best lives we can for ourselves and others all has to do with our hearts. 

In November 2022, Hamish Khamisa, Sparx Publishing Group’s Founder and President, attended an event hosted by the BIPOC Sustainability Collective (also featured in this issue of the magazine) and the Vancouver Economic Commission at which Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe spoke and posed a challenge to the audience: to use whatever platforms they had access to in order to create a space for Indigenous voices.

Sxwpilemaát Siyám, also known as Chief Leanne Joe, is one of sixteen Hereditary Chiefs of the Squamish Nation and the first female Chief of her Lackett Joe Family. She’s also the Owner of Siyam Consulting, where she holds space in many organizations, focusing her work on Economic Reconciliation.

After reading Step into the River: A Framework for Economic Reconciliation, which Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe co-authored with Lily Raphael, we wanted to bring her voice and worldview on diversity, equity, and inclusion to the readers of Make The World Better Magazine. To honour her voice and wisdom, we have attempted to present as much of our conversation as the space permits and edited where appropriate for clarity.

During our conversation, Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe reminded us of the importance of not pan-Indigenizing any space, adding that her perspectives reflect where she is from. “My worldview is Coast Salish. It is based in my language, it is based in my ceremony, it is based on my connection as an Indigenous woman born and raised on the west coast of British Columbia. My interconnectedness and my reciprocity is based in that language, based in that place.” 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe’s Worldview

In Step into the River: A Framework for Economic Reconciliation, there’s a powerful statement: “A just world means that all children, families and communities are thriving, not just surviving.” For Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe, this statement is so much more than words on a page; it’s how she was brought up, the teachings as an Indigenous woman passed down to her, her worldview — all deeply embedded in her DNA.

“My teachings as an Indigenous woman come from that place of humility, integrity, all of the values that are in that framework, all of the values that are instilled in us from the moment that we were created and the moment we were brought into this world. And every minute throughout our lifetime is around those spaces, being the best possible human being that you can be. And through that is a place of being in service, consistently, constantly, and again, it’s just my natural state of being. And I have difficulty understanding why you would be otherwise. Why would anybody teach anything other than that?”

She goes on to say, “Every ounce of colonization, capitalism, our current economic structures, just everything is around this constant competition. And through that statement is [that] it doesn’t need to be that way. It’s really that simple. And how do we then be curious about what is possible, what can be done differently, how can it be done differently?”

She adds, “For me, the most important piece in diversity, equity, and inclusion is transforming our economic system. But that can only be done through full-on inclusion of our hearts, if we understand each other — that our equality is based in our humanness.”

Putting Children at the Centre

According to Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe, we are born with love and light, and it is “our education systems and our economic systems [that] constantly suck that love and light out of us.” 

Reconnecting with this part of us is important so we can show up as better humans for each other, Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe recommends, but it’s a journey hinged on consistent unlearning. 

“The longest journey is the length of a feather, from your head to your heart,” Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe tells us. “We have to consistently move out of here,” [points to head], “and move to here,” [puts hand on chest]. “And come from this place, because here,” [puts hand on chest], “when you’re authentically in a place of love and light, all of which we talk about, and what we’re gifted when we come into this world as a human being is already there. It is just pure love and light when you’re brought into this world.” 

Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe would later tell us that the quote about the feather was shared with her by someone within her work who said an elder shared it with them. “And I have quoted this ever since. It is constant mindful quote for us to engage and centre everything we do with love and light.”

With this journey in mind, a core belief that’s reflected in Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe’s work, including the creation of the Step into the River framework, is the notion of putting children first — hers, yours, mine, everyone’s — for seven generations to come. “If we are constantly centring our children, and we’re constantly wanting them to be the best human being possible, then we have the responsibility, we have the accountability in reciprocity to transform our education systems, where we’re constantly teaching this siloed competition, one-world-view perspective on how we do things.” 

Adults may have fond memories of papier-mâché art classes and muddy games of tag, but education systems, as Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe suggests, are also where children first learn to fall in line. And for those in a position to attend a post-secondary institution, they find themselves in a competitive space that often isn’t inclusionary, equal, or diverse in its worldviews, and as Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe also puts, doesn’t “[come] from a space of love and light.”

Essentially, as children move through the education system, they learn to uphold oppressive systems, like capitalism and the heteropatriarchy, before they may even enter the “real world.” 

“What are we teaching our young ones? From the moment that they’re born, around just, gender identity. And how do we create inclusion around the diversity of gender identity, or, again, just humanness. We come from such a bias of ‘you need to be this, you need to be that’ or everything else is exclusionary. It begins with breaking the barrier,” Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe shares.

The Importance of Uplifting Indigenous Women 

When it comes to the intersecting systems of colonial oppression for historically-excluded groups, there are ways of thinking from Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe’s worldview we could embrace for more meaningful diversity, equity, and inclusion in Canada, including the concept of rematriation. Contrasted with the more familiar “repatriation,” which reflects the patriarchal and colonial perspective of reinstating the proprietorship of things lost, rematriation is about “a restoration of relationships of care and connection,” as discussed in Step into the River.

“One of my core values in this framework is rematriation. And the reason it is such, for me, personally, it being a core value is the notion of uplifting, centring, and creating, intentionally, space for Indigenous women. And the whole purpose of that intentionality of uplifting Indigenous women is, you then, all of which we speak about follows after that. Because being in service, centring children, centring families, centring Mother Earth, being a water protector, a land protector, being a decolonizer, being a mother, being an aunt, being a wife, being a daughter […] centres all of that wellbeing. All of the intentionality comes from allowing that particular worldview. And I’m not saying it because I think we’re better than; we’re not greater than. I’m just as human as the next person. I’m just as gifted as the next person. I’m just as powerful as the next person,” Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe says.

Indigenous women continue to bear the brunt of persistent and deliberate rights violations and abuses, due in part to the Indian Act which consistently causes oppressive spaces for them. Additionally, there are currently 231 Calls for Justice for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S) epidemic directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries, and all Canadians, outlined in The National Inquiry’s Final Report. 

Indigenous women also continue to be excluded from decision-making bodies and economic spaces. About 1 in 10 women executives belong to a visible minority group, according to the exploratory estimates in an archived 2021 Statistics Canada study, but very few Indigenous women were identified. And as Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe discusses, embracing rematriation and centring Indigenous women in the diversity, equity, and inclusion conversation will not only be a step to reconcile past and ongoing injustices, but it will allow Indigenous women to lead us in the transformation of these exclusionary systems. 

“If you allow women all across Turtle Island, all across the globe, to bring in their hearts to space, then we intentionally create and embed that knowing, that way of being, that way of doing into these systems, and we can create more intentional heart-led spaces around both economic transformation, around inclusivity, around diversity, around equity, and really look at embedding multiple worldviews. Because those women know what it is to be oppressed and will be able to create a space for other voices to be uplifted, to be heard, to be amplified — and that includes every woman of colour, every diverse being,” Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe states.

She goes on to say, “We will speak on behalf of all living things because […] many non-Indigenous people speak about having a voice for those that don’t. Well, they do have voice — we’re just not listening. We’re not connected in ways that our spirit can speak to the water, to the trees, to the land, to the animals. Our origin stories, what we were once, prior to us being in this current state as human beings, we were able to transform. We were able to speak with the animals and be with them. We followed the natural law of all of those teachings, so if we can consistently create space for Indigenous women to lead, like wholeheartedly lead, and transform our systems, then I don’t see it being a difficult place to go where we all want to be. And, in particular, where our children are crying for us to be.”

Opening Up Our Hearts 

So, how can we all transform our systems and show up as better allies for each other? Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe believes it “begins with our personal responsibility to be in that space to be open in our hearts to all of this.” And when we do this, she says, we begin to see what’s wrong with our systems and how we can work together to deconstruct them so that all of us can live a good life. 

She builds on this by adding, “If I truly see myself as a human being that is living with you on this planet, to lead a good life, then our goals are really not that different. […] That’s where my heart is always in space, in my reality of being a spiritual being, having a human experience in this lifetime.”

And it really is that simple, according to Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe. “We as human beings have a real tendency to over-over-complicate, when at the end of the day, what makes this world go ‘round [is] our love for each other.” 

“Rather than go in circles and go into many different spaces, I’ll leave it at we just have to embed love and light into everything that we do, how we think, how we educate. And, also, if we got out onto the land and connected more. That’s the other thing — education does not connect with those things that it’s trying to have an impact on. I think that’s another important piece, as well,” she adds. 

And she’s not alone. There are many others who share similar values of love being included in their space. Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, whom we also spoke with for this issue of Make The World Better Magazine, has a goal of revitalizing the Indigenous economy by investing in relationships first. Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe also highlighted Jeff Ward, Founder & CEO of Animikii Indigenous Technology (also a company in Raven Capital’s portfolio), a values-driven Indigenous digital agency that uplifts Indigenous peoples and communities. 

The Reconciliation Journey

For settlers, or non-Indigenous people, wondering what they can do to uplift Indigenous peoples, and thus, make Canada a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive place, a crucial piece is reconciliation. 

“Reconciliation is every settler’s responsibility because we are literally the First Peoples of this land. Prior to us, there were no human beings here. And so, that puts us in a very unique position as being the First Peoples of this land because my identity is truly based in my place, where I was born, where I was raised. My language is based on the geography and my reciprocity and relationship to that space, to the waters, to the mountains, to the four seasons, to all other resources and the sustenance that was brought to us, to the relations in all the four directions of us,” Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe states. 

The reconciliation journey for settlers isn’t going to be easy or comfortable, nor should it be; however, it’s important to take the leap and keep pushing through. In the words of Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe, “Be brave and be willing to learn as well as unlearn in this journey. Grandfather Google knows a lot, I’ve stated this many, many times. Don’t be shy to do your homework. And you have to wade deeply into this space; you can’t just read one report and say, ‘I’m done in my reconciliation work.’ There’s so much out there, to educate, to learn.”

She also says of reconciliation, “I try to make things simple, but at the end of the day, the truth is reconciliation is very hard work. It’s not easy, it’s very uncomfortable, there’s copious amounts of healing that have to take place, there’s a ton of forgiveness, there are going to be tears, you are going to trip and fall. But you have to be able to be uncomfortable to take the first step. You’re in the infancy, you’re in your toddler stage of the relationship. And be brave like a toddler and take those first few steps and be willing to pick yourself up and begin again and to try again. Toddlers don’t see themselves as failures — when they trip and fall, they just get up and they do it because they’re ready, they’re ready to conquer the world. They want to explore; their curiosity overrides everything.”

If you’re just starting your reconciliation journey, it’s important to first learn about the truth of the injustices toward Indigenous peoples in Canada, according to Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe, then the real work can begin. “Once you learn the truth about the history of Crown-Indigenous relations in this country — and not only the history but this is an ongoing space — then the reconciliation journey [actually] begins because then you need to be in relationship once knowing that truth. Then you can begin these relationships with Indigenous people in a very different way moving forward.”

To check if you’re on the right track with your reconciliation journey, Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe poses a simple but thought-provoking question: “Do you have relationship with First Nations or Indigenous peoples? If not, why not?”

She elaborates with, “Be in relationship, honour that relationship, assume you know nothing when you’re going into the relationship, and let the Indigenous people lead. And then we’re going to have true allyship and true reconciliation happen in all of our spaces.” 

We are grateful to Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe for sharing her time and wisdom with us. 

To our readers, we encourage you to check out Siyam Consulting and to download and read Step into the River: A Framework for Economic Reconciliation as part of your own reconciliation journey. 

This story was featured in the Make The World Better Magazine: