Mapping Indigenous Economic Venture Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis [Funder: Carleton University COVID-19 Rapid Research Response Grants]

Indigenous-led economic development initiatives are crucial to achieving greater prosperity for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. The current COVID-19 crisis is threatening to disrupt Indigenous economies and negatively impact Indigenous peoples, communities, and individual health and socioeconomic well-being across Canada. The goals of this project are two-fold: 1) to develop new insights and understandings, through co-creation of knowledge; and 2) to explore and provide insights into the composition of Indigenous economic venture and development corporation responses that mitigate and address risks, issues, and challenges to community health and socioeconomic well-being presented by the COVID-19 crisis. Our expectation is that this research will stimulate further dialogue, innovation, and action on how Indigenous economic ventures, economic development corporations, and their non-Indigenous partners collaborate to practice resilience through adopting practical governance and risk mitigation strategies that address the unique challenges manifested by the COVID-19 crisis.