Bringing you the tools, skills and cultural knowledge needed to advance reconciliation and Indigenous engagement in climate, conservation and sustainability.
Workshop delivered in August 2025
The Indigenous Engagement Institute (IEI) is a collaborative project by Gwen Bridge and James Rattling Leaf Senior. As leading Indigenous experts in North America, Gwen and James have over 50 years of collective experience providing organizations with advice on how to create better relationships with Indigenous People and achieve mutually beneficial outcomes for people and the planet. Their work has been instrumental in driving organizational change in governments, industry, philanthropy and academia.
No matter which option you choose, you can expect to deepen your understandings of:
- Signature and custom workshops
- Negotiations and agreements
- Facilitation
- Strategy and plan implementation
- Strategic advisory services
- Coaching and training
- Curriculum development
- Keynote addresses and speakerships
- Conferences and events
- Mentorship for the next generation
What we bring to our work
- 50+ years of collective expertise
- Indigenous perspectives from two different Nations (Cree and Laktoka)
- Cultural intelligence and protocol, having worked with Indigenous cultures globally
- A deep understanding of multinational and pluralistic legal and policy environments for advancing Indigenous rights in Turtle Island (USA and Canada) and around the world, having worked in many transboundary contexts
- A track record of achieving successful Indigenous engagement, Reconciliation strategies, agreements and co-stewardship solutions between Indigenous Nations and non-Indigenous governments, industry, academic and philanthropic organizations
Our conceptual approach and the purpose behind our work
We believe we have a moral imperative to resolve conflicts that perpetuate inequality. We all need to work to make our society more equal, more just, more enjoyable and fair for everyone in it.
In the US and Canada, we have legal imperatives to ensure that we meet our obligations to achieve the articles set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and honor the existing Treaties, Agreements and Commitments. We recognize that many organizations whose responsibility it is to uphold these obligations are not always clear on the best path forward.
We also have an ecological imperative. We know that the world’s resources and biodiversity are changing because of climate change. At the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Marseille in 2021, the Nation States and others agreed that Indigenous conservation was key to the sustainability and the future survival of our Earth. In 2022, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework recognized the unique importance of Indigenous Peoples and knowledge in preserving biodiversity.
There is a recognition and need to learn from Indigenous Peoples, to have Indigenous Peoples guide both the conservation agenda and the conversation on how to achieve it.
We need new approaches to develop a deep understanding of the knowledge inherent in, and of the challenges that are presented by unique structural and societal differences in Indigenous and non-Indigenous worldviews.