Unifying Corporate and Indigenous Culture with Colby Delorme

Sep 26 2023 • 38 mins

Melanie Nicholson welcomes Colby Delorme, president of the Imagination Group of Companies and co-founder of Influence Mentoring Society, into a conversation about Indigenous inclusion into business. Melanie and Colby discuss unifying Canada with Indigenous history and culture, how corporations can take the lead, and the differences between equity and equality.

Colby Delorme has twenty-eight years of experience in business and, as a Metis person, a personal viewpoint on Indigeneity and inclusion. He addresses Truth and Reconciliation with the idea that many people think the truth part is over when all groups and people are at different stages of truth-telling and many are floundering on reconciliation. Colby and Melanie explore how corporations can include Indigenous people, communities, and businesses into company policies and procedures, how Canada as a whole is not unified and interested in its Indigenous history, and why none of us should wait for a government-led reconciliation effort. It’s an important, and ongoing, conversation that everyone should be part of.

“I think Canada would be better positioned to do the work we're doing today if as a nation we were proud of our Indigenous heritage. I think the problem that we have is that in Canada we believe that we are a free country, we are a leader in the world of representing how good a country can be or is. And we haven't been honest with ourselves in understanding our own heritage and our own history and being able to come to grips with the fact that some of these atrocities that have occurred here, we actually taught other countries how to do it. And I think that has put this really difficult barrier in us being able to say, Well, who are we?” - Colby Delorme

About Colby Delorme

Mr. Delorme has built multiple businesses and is currently president of Imagination Group of Companies. Mr. Delorme’s experience has spanned the construction industry, brand development and marketing, a certification practice, franchise development, tobacco manufacturing, and business consulting.

Mr. Delorme is also a celebrated industry leader; in 2010, he was inducted into the Calgary Top 40 Under 40 and won the Big Idea 2. In 2014, Mr. Delorme received the Dr. Douglas Cardinal Award from the University of Calgary. He has a long and varied career in not-for-profit and corporate governance, sitting on many boards over the past 15 years.

His latest venture has been co-founding Influence Mentoring Society, a non-profit focused on creating mentoring relationships for post-secondary Indigenous students. Mr. Delorme holds an Institute of Corporate Directors Designation from the Rotman School of Management and was recently awarded the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee award in Alberta.

He remains passionate about creating new and sustainable opportunities in business and for Indigenous peoples.

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Resources discussed in this episode:

Contact Melanie Nicholson | Melanie Lynn Communications Inc.

Contact Colby Delorme | Influence Mentoring Society

Transcript

Melanie Nicholson: [00:00:03] Hey, I'm Melanie Nicholson and welcome to It's a Theory. This is such an important conversation we're having today. We're talking with Colby Delorme, the president of Imagination Group of companies and the co-founder of Influence Mentoring Society. Colby's experience has spanned the construction industry, brand development and marketing, a certification practice, franchise development, tobacco manufacturing and business consulting. Colby is a celebrated industry leader. In 2010, he was inducted into the Calgary Top 40 Under 40 and won The Big Idea Two. In 2014, he received the Dr. Douglas Cardinal Award from the University of Calgary. He has a long and varied career in not-for-profit and corporate governance, sitting on many boards in the past 15 years. Colby co-founded Influence Mentoring Society, a nonprofit focused on creating mentorship opportunities and relationships for post-secondary Indigenous students. He holds an Institute of Corporate Directors designation from the Rotman School of Management and was recently awarded the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Award in Alberta. Colby is passionate about creating new and sustainable opportunities in business for Indigenous peoples, and I am excited to dive into the theory behind incorporating Indigenous culture and learnings into a corporate culture with Colby. How does it work? Is it actually working and what can companies do to move their way forward into an Indigenous space? This is a must-listen-to conversation for HR professionals and managers who are really working to gain a better understanding of how to not just talk about Indigenous initiatives, but to embed them into your company. Let's talk.

Melanie Nicholson: [00:01:47] Colby, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm really excited about this conversation. I think it's an important conversation and I wanted to start with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. So there was a clear call out, I believe it's call out 92, that the corporate sector should make more of a commitment to meaningful consultation, building respectful relationships, education to management and staff around the history and legacy of residential schools and more. There's training involved here. There's learning and growing when it comes to Indigenous engagement in the changing environment in Canada for businesses. What does this look like? Are we seeing this happening? Are we seeing this call to action taking place?

Colby Delorme: [00:02:33] Yeah, Thanks so much for having me on, Melanie. You know, I think when we hear about all of these different things, we are, we're contemplating what they mean to us. What is it that we need to do, how are we to position ourselves so that we're doing the right thing, fulfilling our fiduciary duty to our corporations, ensuring that we're being inclusive and I think in a lot of ways, we're making the correlation back to creating equitable spaces for women, maybe 25 years ago, and trying to see how that reflects to where we're at today. And what were some of those best practices? Were they good enough? Were they not? Probably navigating something in a more, maybe in a more difficult space today. We've got sort of this tentative approach where people are trying to figure out what's the right thing to say, how are we supposed to do this? And I think when you look at TRC and the calls to action, these are really difficult conversations and they are just gigantic when you look at the actual calls to action. I think for a lot of people, your end corporations, you're learning about what the history was and you're learning about what needs to be done to not correct history, but to correct things moving forward to ensure that there's equity for Indigenous people within Canada. So when you wrap all of this together, I think it becomes a really big task that people just can't figure out how to get into it. And I don't, I don't think that excludes the Indigenous community either. My community is trying to figure out what, and how do we move forward. But when is the right time? So when we talk about truth and reconciliation, these are two separate things.

Colby Delorme: [00:04:49] So there's the truth-telling. And I think a lot of people felt that the truth-telling actually happened during all of those TRC sessions across the country where people came forward and they talked about their experience and the residential school system. And then they, you know, we finished that. We made the calls to action. So now we're in reconciliation. But that's not what it is and that's not what we are figuring out. And I think Indigenous people have been asking that question too. So how long is the truth phase and when do we move into reconciliation? And this is really tough because we are still in the truth phase. You're probably seeing in the news that there's a group of Metis, Cree Metis people in Saskatchewan, who have just taken the Canadian government to court because they are excluded from all of these settlement cases around the effects of being in residential schools. They don't qualify under the specific rules that were set forward. So my elder happens to be from that community. He was in residential school. He dealt with some incredibly arduous and difficult situations. And, you know, whatever the genocide, whatever it is you want to, however you want to describe it. So he's going through this. So for him, he's still in that truth phase. He hasn't been able to get through that. And I think more than anything, what's occurring is we have got a community that is on the path to reconciliation. We have champions in Canada who have put themselves on the path as well and have decided that they need to do something. And we're all navigating what that is moving forward. So it's not a great answer to your question, but it's probably the reality of where we're currently at.

Melanie Nicholson: [00:07:04] It's that truth and reconciliation are happening at the same time in different stages for different groups and different people. Is that fair to say then?

Colby Delorme: [00:07:11] Yeah. So what we're seeing, the way I look at TRC and the calls to action in a corporate setting, and I don't know what the term is, but about every five years we go through a cycle of what corporations have been doing as what we would now call a part of their ESG strategies. Right? So we're looking at, there has been times where we've looked at environment. Most recently we've been looking at TRC. From TRC we moved into EDI. I'm pretty sure the next five-year window will move into specifically environment with some really hard-hitting things, and corporations sort of take these on as their pet projects and don't mean that to be belittling of the efforts, but it's definitely what we see in the corporate world. I think we see it all around the world. But you know, definitely in North America we go through these five-year cycles. I don't know how good of a job we do with keeping a legacy of the work that we've done. But TRC would drag on the heels of EDI. So it got this, it continued to move along. So when we're, when we're looking at the path that I think corporate Canada's taking, it is in lockstep with what's happening in the Indigenous community around TRC, where it's within its sort of five-year window of incorporating it into corporate Canada, into corporations, into businesses. But everyone is definitely at a different place and people are deciding, well, how do we actually move forward? Typically the best way to evoke change in a corporate environment is to incorporate it into policies and procedures.

Colby Delorme: [00:09:15] So a lot of corporations, that's what they're doing, and they're trying to create or join environments where they can engage with Indigenous people. The two major things that we're seeing right now is, there's organizations like CCAB, the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business. Corporations are joining that organization as members, non-Indigenous members, and they are gaining their PAR certification. So through that process, what they're doing is they're kind of going like through a B Corp certification process where they're ensuring that all of their, all of their policies and procedures, their procurement strategies, everything is inclusive of the Indigenous people, communities and Indigenous-owned businesses. On the other side of it, they are, because they have to do that, say for PAR or, you know, do it just to play into what the call 92 is from TRC, they kind of work together. Some corporations are not going for PAR certification. They are just working on the policies and their procedures. So through that process, they are navigating what they need to do. Most of them are engaging in external party, hopefully it's an actual Indigenous person or an Indigenous organization, to help them along this path. It's no different than changing policies to ensure there's an inclusive environment for women in the work space. Now it's a whole culture, it's a whole people and there's inequities within that as well. So they're trying to navigate all of that and it's not, I don't think there's a rule book.

Melanie Nicholson: [00:11:12] No, but policies and procedures are important. And that's a great first step. How do we then go to that cultural space where you're changing the culture of an organization so it's not just the policy and the procedure, but it becomes part of the company and part of the culture. How do we get from that action step forward so that it's not just, I mean, environmental space they talk about greenwashing. It's great to have a policy, but do you actually action it? How do we action this into culture within companies?

Colby Delorme: [00:11:48] I think that's the big question. For me, where I've seen it done well, and you and I've had this conversation before, I've seen it done well in New Zealand. You see Indigenous people in government, you see Indigenous people in business. You see a country that has taken Indigenous and Maori culture as its own. They live and breathe it there. There's pride within the fact that that is the Indigenous culture for their country. I think Canada would be better positioned to do the work we're doing today if as a nation we were proud of our Indigenous heritage. I think the problem that we have is that in Canada we believe that we are a free country, we are a leader in the world of representing how good a country can be or is. And we haven't been honest with ourselves in understanding our own heritage and our own history and being able to come to grips with the fact that some of these atrocities that have occurred here, we actually taught other countries how to do it. And I think that has put this really difficult barrier in us being able to say, well, who are we? And we hear this a lot when we go to other, like we go to Europe and we see old buildings and we see old churches, we say, Yeah, in Canada it's such a young place, we don't have any of that.

Colby Delorme: [00:13:33] Well, of course that's a Western construct, a Western construct of the idea of what history is. Yet we're not looking at the thousands of years of history that were here prior to. And some of that history was destroyed. Even when we talk about us having an oral history in Canada as Indigenous people, we also had written histories, but that was all destroyed. So we've lost those things. I think we've got to find a way to either create that interest in Indigenous history and culture being Canada's culture in order to move that forward. And if we can't do that as a society, whatever it is that makes that unique sort of driver and that pride, that's what we have to plug into corporations. And there again, I would say that's a really high-level concept. But what's the difference in the concept that someone like a Martin Luther King projected? This was really projecting a new way of thinking, you know, how do we move forward together? And a big part of that is we're getting a big group of people in Canada who want to move forward. But I wouldn't say collectively, both sides are saying we all want to move forward together.

Melanie Nicholson: [00:15:04] And to your point, is there, because the idea is so big and so robust, then you've got a company trying to figure out how to take a call to action and implement it into tangible, tactile things that their teams and their people can understand so that collectively we can move forward. How can a company take some of these larger ideas and learnings which are so important and parcel them into smaller pieces that they can start to educate and start to train and start to move forward? Is there a way to make it into littler pieces?

Colby Delorme: [00:15:50] Well, I think there's two parts to this. One, I think there's a stigma around this conversation, that this should be a government of Canada who does this work, that it shouldn't be pushed down into corporate Canada and having to take on these difficult conversations and try to create these collective agreements, whatever, whatever the different approaches might be. So you've got, people are saying, well, we're not really being guided, you know, where are we supposed to go? And those are the biggest questions. Anytime I speak at an event, those are the questions. How can I do this? Exactly the question you just asked. But I think the first part is understanding the Government of Canada is probably never going to be the one who's going to say, here's the guidelines, here are the hard and fast rules. This is what you need to do. So you need to get over that part. If you can get over that, you're probably halfway to being able to implement. The other part is, I don't think from a cultural standpoint, we love the idea of saying we need to figure out what the benefits are in order to figure out how to incorporate some sort of strategy. But I think if we were to look at business, most businesses run in some sort of Western philosophy.

Colby Delorme: [00:17:17] I think even Indigenous businesses run in the same way. And if you look at anything that gets implemented effectively, there's some benefit to the corporation in doing it. So if you look at a corporation in the future who is trying to reduce carbon emissions, they are going to get some sort of tax relief for making some major impact on it. My organization, we have a tobacco, ceremonial tobacco, manufacturing facility. We put solar on that building. We use a fair bit of power when we run the equipment. So I look at it and say, I want to do something good for the earth. I don't know that this is going to be the best way to do it in the future, but it's what I can do today in a cost-effective way. It's still kind of expensive, but I actually have a benefit every month because I'm not spending electricity. I'm paying my panels off, but I'm doing something where this was an energy that was just pulled out of thin air, like literally pulled out of thin air. So I think the same thing has to be true to large corporations, the ones that we're really going to hear that they're doing this work. So I think if you look at telecommunications companies, one of the major issues that Indigenous people have in Canada in rural areas is connectivity.

Colby Delorme: [00:18:51] They don't have access to fiber. A lot of them don't have access to really good cell service. So there is a barrier to entry into education. There's a barrier to entry into business employment during COVID. This would be massive issues, as most of us are working from home. Well, there's a benefit to telecommunications companies running fiber or putting cellular into areas. Because they can tell the story that we've made a difference. We've removed the connectivity issue, but they also make money immediately on those individuals paying on service. Do they make money back as quickly as they normally would? No, but there is a benefit to it. So even over time, they could say the ROI on this is 10, 15, 20 years, but we will make our money back. And in the meantime, we'll have an amazing story. We've done something good and we'll feel good about ourselves having done it. I think if we're going to push the needle, that's going to be the approach, whether it's an individual in Canada, a corporation in Canada, a proprietorship, and I think even the government. What do I get out of this as I move forward?

Melanie Nicholson: [00:20:12] But I would also argue that how many hours a week do we spend at work? We spend the majority of our week at work engaged with a company. So if the company is taking a leadership role and taking steps to be more inclusive and to bring the culture into the workplace, does that not then have the impact on the individual? More so than potentially a government announcement.

Colby Delorme: [00:20:41] Yeah I think so. I think that's a really good point. I think when we look at corporations, we've always had this belief, maybe misconception, that best practices are being had in corporations and that everything is, you know, we do it the right way and we've got the best of intentions. And we had this rude awakening over the last 40 years and say, no, we've been polluting. We've been, you know, we've been marginalizing people around the world. We've implemented NIMBYism. And, you know, we'll do anything we possibly can to not be faced with sort of the outcomes of the outputs that we're creating. So I think you're absolutely right. We're in the workplace the majority of the time. This pressure seems to be building. We tend to only have really specific rules and guidelines in the workplace and in the government, whether we're paying taxes or driving our vehicles. But in the workplace, we're getting paid. So there's another thing saying, well, I got to follow the rules, but I'm getting paid to follow the rules. And I think with a corporation, they more easily can reflect the cost-benefit to doing these things. And whether it's recycling or it's putting in energy-efficient light bulbs or maybe incorporating Indigeneity into their, into their policies and procedures and hopefully into the people that they employ, that we will have a better understanding. And I think that's why so many of these organizations that are helping to bridge between these two different worlds, that we try to describe them as two different worlds, are really trying to bring people together to say, are we that different? You know? And I would argue - because I'm a Metis person, I'm riding both worlds - I would argue that we're not that different. We probably have a different way of approaching some things, but fundamentally, we're not that different. And probably the corporate environment, like you said, if you're there for 8 or 10 hours a day or 40 hours a week, you're probably more likely to see those similarities in an environment like that.

Melanie Nicholson: [00:23:06] You've said the Indigenous community and other marginalized individuals are currently experiencing what you've called a transformational wave of change. What does that look like to you? Tell me more about that.

Colby Delorme: [00:23:20] I believe right now that we are on, if you're sitting on the shoreline, you see a wave form way out in the distance, right? When you watch surfers in a competition, they're sitting on the surfboards and they're watching. Right? And they can see the roller coming. They know if it's going to be a big one or a small one. You know, they made some decisions. We can see that roller happening and it's just some movement in the water. I think what we have been seeing, so I've been in business for 28 years. Indigenous engagement with Indigenous people in business has been going on for well over 30 years. Some people would argue hundreds of years if you look at the Hudson's Bay Company and groups like that, but I think in terms of a more equitable environment, we, you know, we look over 30 years, set aside things of that nature that first came out were probably at a place where I'd say maybe it's a little bit stagnant, where there was some movement but was for a very select few. This movement in terms of a number of people and, you know, a greater part of the community being a part of it, I think is really been over the last 10 or 15 years. And we are on a rolling wave. We're riding the wave. There's movement. Maybe we're still kicking, too, in order to stay on the wave. But the wave is moving forward, and it's getting to a point where we're starting to see a crest.

Colby Delorme: [00:24:59] I don't think it's a full-blown crest that's crashing over and everything's moving at a fast pace, but it's moving. I think it's not only Indigenous people, it's the black community. I think women are still on that wave. I think trying to find equity in Canada or North America, even amongst blue collar or the farming community and, you know, white collar, the business community, I still think we're trying to find equity there and seeing how we're equal, how we all play a role in moving forward. But that conversation is there. You know, when we look at, say, the push for B Corp certification or we're looking at ESG. That conversation doesn't seem to be going away. And I think people more than ever have got more power to say, maybe I don't want to buy your product because you're not on this journey. You're not on this journey that we're on. I don't think my age groups, I'm 47, I don't know that my age group is really pushing the envelope. I think we are a part of the city at the board table and having those conversations may be a part of the decision-makers. I think the people right now who are really pushing the envelope are these the millennials, people who are, you know, that 20 to up to 40, I think they're the ones who are drawing a line in the sand. I'm not exactly certain if they understand the intricacies of everything, but I definitely believe that they will be the most likely to invoke the change as quickly as it could be made or it should be made.

Colby Delorme: [00:26:54] I think we're all together, but we're all trying to fight for that wave. We're all fighting to drop into the wave and say it's my wave versus saying, let's spread out on the wave. Let's all ride it. Let's all decide to go the same direction so we can all ride it as long as we can. And hopefully we get to the point of saying we've evoked change. The conversation of equity is one that is just talked about as a theory and a place we used to be, and we are now in this end state that continues to evolve. But I think when we talk about, we've got Black History Month, you know, we have Orange Shirt Day, we have Indigenous Awareness Month, we have all these different things, we're still doing it in silos. I don't think we're talking about it as a collective. And I think this is the problem for whether you want to call it the old guard or maybe individuals who are concerned that, well, all people are equal. You know, whoever's going to make that kind of statement, they probably feel like they are bombarded with this idea that, well, now it's my turn to be recognized. You know, now things need to be equal and really not understanding that we're all starting from different areas. Have you ever seen that, uh...

Melanie Nicholson: [00:28:23] The cartoon, right? The cartoon with the different... And I saw a different variation the other day actually, that had, that also incorporated a wheelchair and a whole different space and I think that's the most visual representation that people can understand. So I want to describe this cartoon really quickly just so everyone knows what we're talking about. So there's the one that's been around for a long time. There's a fence and there's three children that are standing on boxes to look over the fence to watch a baseball game. And it says on the left side, equality and the the boxes are the same. The kids are all different heights. So there's still a child that cannot see over the fence. And then they've got the equity side where you've got one person without a box because they can see over just fine. One person with two and one person with one. There's also a variation that has a ramp up for a wheelchair, and I think it's a really beautiful representation for people who still don't quite grasp the concept between equality and equity.

Colby Delorme: [00:29:28] Absolutely. And, you know, I don't know how it is I can just naturally understand that, it just made so much sense when I saw it. But I even know as an Indigenous and black person, that with my European heritage as well, that I start at a different place. I'm not as black as my black community. I'm not as Indigenous as my Indigenous community in physical appearance. I grew up with a mother who, you know, came from poverty and from an area where she had to really create opportunity. But she created that opportunity and allowed me to start from a very different place. So even though I come from marginalized communities, I'm a very privileged person. I'm well aware of that. I went to a conference for two days last week that I spent $3,000 for two days to be in a conference with other groups of people who all spent the same amount of money, 1500 of us. And if anyone there argued with me that we weren't all privileged to be there, that's probably a miscarriage of justice and not understanding that, you know, we are all in a different place.

Melanie Nicholson: [00:30:49] I want to end with what is a tangible, if a company or an individual, they want to move forward, they want to stay on the wave - we talked about trying to stay on the wave kicking forward - what's one thing someone can do today to help continue the movement of the wave and the momentum forward?

Colby Delorme: [00:31:14] I think there's a couple of things. One. When we look at how most organizations implement any kind of strategy, they're doing it through a strategic process, whether it's strategic planning or they put a marketing strategy in place, a communication strategy. They do it because those become the KPIs for them. They make real actionable items that move them a little bit closer to their goals or their KPIs. I think until you do that, until you take a real specific move and say this is something we are going to achieve this year or over the next five years, you're never, it's never going to be on your list, right? Where, you know, we make grocery lists and we say we're absolutely making nachos tonight. So we have to have cheese and nacho chips and salsa and all these different things. And we, and we know we're going to get it. We're going to make it happen. But I think the strategic processes are exactly the same. So this is where corporations or even small businesses, I think we think about all this has to be small business. It doesn't. It should be so big business, small business, medium-sized business. Everyone should be playing a role in this.

Colby Delorme: [00:32:39] And I think the first step is, you know, making or ensuring to review policies and procedures so that you have the tools in order to implement or to Indigenize your organization. I think the other part is to create and keep the conversation alive. If you don't have an Indigenous person there, how can your organization learn about that? What do you need to implement? Well, in many corporations they implement things like sexual harassment training. You know, they say everyone's got to take this. You know, we've got to learn about these different things. Well, maybe we have to put in place Indigenous awareness training, not to try to make people feel bad, not to create problems, but just for people to get this base level of knowledge and understanding so that maybe their curiosity can be evoked so that there is this place of understanding how to move forward and maybe to demystify what that, what this really is. Because I think that's another problem, is that we've heard our elders in the past tell us certain stories. Well, this is what it is. And we've got all these stereotypes that we don't understand. And I think it comes from both sides.

Melanie Nicholson: [00:34:04] So generational messaging is a huge component in how we grow up.

Colby Delorme: [00:34:09] Yeah, absolutely. Look at countries in the Middle East, these are groups of people who have been warring for 2000 years. And it's like, I really wonder if anyone could truly explain why. You know, why is that still occurring? So I think those are two tangible steps to move forward, and maybe a third is to actively go out and engage in Indigenous ceremony. What most people don't realize is the Indigenous community is so open to non-Indigenous people coming to ceremony, powwows, round dances, sweats, powwows, all of these different things and just go and experience it. Just get some appreciation for how unique this is. The number of people who I hear say, Oh, I just love the haka when that's done before the All Blacks play. Or you see people doing it in like a TikTok meme or something like that. Well, that's identical to the types of things that we do in Canada. And you get this appreciation. I'm someone who's a part of the traditional side of our community, and I think I'm a junior traditionalist. But, you know, even I see things and I'm like, that's so amazing. And you just have to get exposure to it. And we don't get any appreciation without that exposure. I think that's why so many of us love traveling. We love just seeing something we've never seen before.

Melanie Nicholson: [00:35:41] Which is amazing. And I think that to your point, we can continue to expose and keep the conversation going. I think where I always get stuck is there's these days, as you referenced, there's Orange Shirt Day, there's Truth and Reconciliation Day, but it shouldn't just be a conversation on the day. It needs to be all year round. And it just needs to be part of our community conversation, which I think is so important.

Colby Delorme: [00:36:06] Absolutely. And I think that idea where we say we have to do a certain spend with Indigenous people or an Indigenous business, I think that's great. I think those should be in place. But look at all of this. Most of us in business get business because we're friends with someone or someone likes us or they have, we have something in common. Well, can you imagine approaching engagement from a lens of respect and appreciation? You wouldn't have to have a rule or a KPI to do a certain Indigenous spend. You would do it because it's just the person you want to do business with and it would just happen to be an Indigenous person who's fantastic at delivering their product or service. I think that's the part we need to move to.

Melanie Nicholson: [00:36:59] And I think that through conversations like this, I hope, I hope we can get there. I think it's so important. Thank you for taking the time to have the conversation today.

Colby Delorme: [00:37:09] Oh, no problem. Thanks for having me. I wouldn't call myself an expert, so take everything I delivered with a grain of salt. But, you know, I think all these different perspectives are really important. It really creates that whole picture.

Melanie Nicholson: [00:37:25] And it brings different community groups together to be open-minded and having conversations about something you might not understand. And that's okay. I think that's what people need to realize, that it's okay if you don't get it. Try and learn and we'll continue to grow together.

Colby Delorme: [00:37:41] Absolutely.

Melanie Nicholson: [00:37:42] So, thank you so much.

Colby Delorme: [00:37:44] Thank you.

Melanie Nicholson: [00:37:49] Thank you so much to Colby for joining us today. This is such an important conversation around incorporating Indigenous culture into our workplaces. I think it's a conversation we need to keep having over and over and over again. I really am so grateful to be able to have such a candid conversation with Colby today. So thank you to Colby again. Thank you for listening. Please like, subscribe and consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts and we'll catch you next time on It's a Theory.