Karine Awashish

Talking about leadership may sound simple, but it’s not that easy; you have to take a step back, stop, and look around and within yourself. Taking the time to look at your personal and professional journey to highlight leadership characteristics is an exercise everyone should do. I’m convinced that we all have the profile or features of a leader in our own way, but first we need to ask ourselves and better understand what leadership means, what being a leader means. Leadership is a trendy concept, especially right now, and one I find is very often overused. The idea of being a leader, for a woman, is the same in 2022 as what used to be described as an accomplished woman in the nineteenth century. Some things don’t change. In that sense, being a leader is above all about being an accomplished person perso¬nally, professionally, and socially. Basically, I agree that leadership is first of all about self-confidence; it’s also about being confident that you’re doing work that has meaning for the community; and above all, it’s being a person who knows how to inspire and mobilize others around collective action for the common good. All of that is based on the values of humility, respect, and justice. For me, a leader has to have those characteristics, or at least aim for them.

Coming back to myself and my background, I think that the development of leadership qualities was mostly driven by my thirst to go further in life—even through very mundane, day-to-day things, like going for a walk far from home. Going farther, climbing mountains, discovering forests or cities, or exploring new paths, that’s pushing yourself, too. For me, leadership is all about the self and what you control, like wanting to see the world around you. You shouldn’t underestimate those small gestures. Coming from the Atikamekw community of Obedjiwan, I’ve travelled many roads to get to where I am, and now there are other paths that are opening up for me. The opportunities I’ve been offered and that I’ve taken up weren’t handed to me on a silver platter, I earned them through hard work. Experience has shown me that, in life, perseverance and believing in yourself is worthwhile, and bears fruit. Because of my nomadic spirit and my desire for discovery, I’ve had the privilege of travelling through several countries, including Switzerland, Brazil, and Tunisia. Beyond my native village, I also got to know a large part of the Indigenous territories of Quebec at a young age. When I travel, I spend a lot of time contemplating, imagining, and reflecting on the world around me. And I have a lot of appreciation for the people I meet during my adventures.

Driven by my growing interest and curiosity about the world and my thirst for knowledge, my personal leadership was first expressed through that desire, but it was mainly because I’ve always been sure, since I was very young, that education was the way to enrich my personal and professional background. I’ve always wanted to go further, so it’s no coincidence that I got my PhD. I don’t necessarily consider myself to be super smart to have reached this level; it’s just the road I built that’s brought me there. My experience and my interest in social cooperation led me to think about a model of socioeconomic and cultural development that could make sense for our communities. I’m very active at work, and I’ve always had an enthusiasm for creativity and innovation, which is why I’ve been drawn to cooperative movements for several years. Better understanding how cooperative communities work, rooted in collective work, participatory democracy, and a solidarity-based economy, makes me want to enrich knowledge and practices for the development and socioeconomic autonomy of Quebec First Nations.

For over ten years now, I’ve been honing my knowledge of collective entrepreneurship and the social economy in an Indigenous context. Through my master’s degree tudies and my experience in the field, I could consider a different model of socioeconomic development that agrees with our communities’ values and vision of collective well-being, as taught by Elders. I’m convinced of the benefits of the collective organization model, and I developed my entrepreneurial spirit and leadership skills based on that model. I’ve worked in social enterprises and with Indigenous organizations that are committed to the social and cultural development and economic autonomy of First Nations, and I’ve been able to raise awareness of collective entrepreneurship among Indigenous communities in Quebec and elsewhere. Combining my knowledge, experience, and goals, I co-founded Nitaskinan, a solidarity coop focussed on the development of Indigenous communities through various cultural, social, and economic projects. The coop allows me to work on the ground and gives me the opportunity to create and implement initiatives that have concrete benefits. We hope that our coop will inspire other collective enterprises to be more prominent, in the communities and in urban centres or even internatio¬nally. Coops are so interesting: they’re only limited by what people bring to them, and they can be whatever their members want them to be. Isn’t that a beautiful way to imagine a new form of development for groups and for individuals? 

Even before starting my PhD, I was already thinking about how a coop can become a vehicle for affirmation and self-determination in Indigenous civil society, whether on a large or small scale. I have this ambition to see how identity and cultural expression can be deployed through a collective model. But even more than that, I see my current journey as a step from the development and dissemination of knowledge about Indigenous cooperation to the emergence of engaged and informed Indigenous development workers. I aspire to a career that will contribute to the education and intergenerational transmission of cooperation in Indigenous communities. I believe that research and teaching are essential contributions to the common good, and a collective legacy for our societies. That entrepreneurial spirit, which comes from my desire to go further, is most likely the source of my leadership. I realized that not too long ago. I believe that being a leader means first being a leader for yourself and your own life.

As a committed Indigenous woman, I’m very sensitive to the issues and opportunities in the social and cultural environment of First Nations, particularly with regard to youth and cultural development. In a way, I believe education is essential to improving Indigenous living conditions, which is why I was driven to pursue higher education, in order to dedicate myself to the deployment of the capacities and potential of individuals and groups. Alongside my academic career, I’ve been active in various fields. Working with youth (and the not-so-young!) is very stimulating for me, because I believe in the impor¬tance of passing on knowledge and experience. I am committed to encouraging, in my own way, the desire to go far in life. Through arts and cultural projects, among others, I’ve been able to strengthen my motivation to work for the socioeconomic and cultural development of Indigenous people by carrying out mobilizing initia-tives. I am rigorous, determined, and dynamic in the projects I undertake, and I know that my enthusiasm is contagious. Over the years, I’ve surrounded myself with wonderful people who, like me, aspire to change the world. In Atikamekw, we use the word pimatisiwin to refer to culture: it means ‘‘our culture and our way of life’’. That vision of the world, which is rooted in our values, our traditions, and our aspirations in connection with our territory and environment, is a teaching that was passed on to me by my family and which I cherish enormously. The connections to the territory is a great source of knowledge and it inspires me a lot. Cultural affirmation and identity are a fundamental part of what I do. I want to instill that pride in my community, and especially in my five-year-old son.

To be able to sustain my strength through the various journeys and projects I undertake, I draw much of my inspiration from the medicine wheel, particularly the circular vision of a multidimensional world, which is dynamic and often represents the conception of humans as divided into the spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical. Through that vision, I rely on my values of respect and justice, guided by my motivation and passions, without being distracted by my fears, but using my creativity—this is my personal medicine wheel, which allows me to be confident in my endeavours and to keep a sense of balance throughout my journey. I humbly believe that my leadership qualities are becoming a valuable attribute for me, along with my objectives and the pursuit of my professional commitments. The key to maintaining leadership is balance. We have to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others. We have to take care of our own motivation before we can motivate others. And, above all, we have to take the time to transform, to change the world, whether around us, in our families, our communities, our nation, or our country. Every step helps strengthen the courage, compassion, and power to act on ourselves, for others, and for the better. And we should never let anyone tell us what we are or are not: the answer lies within ourselves alone.