Shifting the Burden: Corporate Indigenous Relations and How They Can Go Wrong

McCarthy, Daniel D. P.; Daly, Christine A.; Davies Post, Alexandra; Donald, Gillian; L’Hommecourt, Jean; Arrobo, Bori; Hill, Gregory

doi:10.3390/systems13060452

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Shifting the Burden: Corporate Indigenous Relations and How They Can Go Wrong

by

Daniel D. P. McCarthy

¹,

Christine A. Daly

^1,2,*,

Alexandra Davies Post

¹,

Gillian Donald

³

,

Jean L’Hommecourt

⁴,

Bori Arrobo

⁴ and

Gregory Hill

⁵

¹

School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada

²

School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada

³

Fort McKay First Nation, Donald Functional & Applied Ecology Inc., Calgary, AB T9H 3G4, Canada

⁴

Sustainability Department, Fort McKay First Nation, Fort McKay Rd, Fort McKay, AB T9H 3G4, Canada

⁵

Concurrent Appointments in the Departments of Mathematics and Environmental Studies, University of Portland, Portland, OR 97203, USA

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Systems 2025, 13(6), 452; https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13060452

Submission received: 28 February 2025 / Revised: 29 May 2025 / Accepted: 30 May 2025 / Published: 9 June 2025

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability, Complexity and Resilience: Insights from Complex Systems Approaches)

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Abstract

This paper utilizes the Shifting the Burden Archetype (Senge/Stroh) to document a systemic pattern that is unfortunately, often unconscious to the parties involved and inadvertently leads to the undermining of corporate or government/Indigenous relationships, despite best intentions. Based on over a decade of experience in these contentious contexts, the author(s), document a set of interacting feedback loops that illustrate an unfortunate set of patterns of behaviour, based on starkly different worldviews, in which the choice to engage in more superficial attempts at relationship building actually undermines the ability of the parties to engage in the more difficult but fundamental solution of trust-based relationships. Recommendations for interventions in these typical or archetypal relationships will be made based on an understanding of the dynamics of the system and process design.

Keywords: corporate/indigenous relations; indigenous methodologies; mining; reclamation; system archetypes; social innovation

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MDPI and ACS Style

McCarthy, D.D.P.; Daly, C.A.; Davies Post, A.; Donald, G.; L’Hommecourt, J.; Arrobo, B.; Hill, G. Shifting the Burden: Corporate Indigenous Relations and How They Can Go Wrong. Systems 2025, 13, 452. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13060452

AMA Style

McCarthy DDP, Daly CA, Davies Post A, Donald G, L’Hommecourt J, Arrobo B, Hill G. Shifting the Burden: Corporate Indigenous Relations and How They Can Go Wrong. Systems. 2025; 13(6):452. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13060452

Chicago/Turabian Style

McCarthy, Daniel D. P., Christine A. Daly, Alexandra Davies Post, Gillian Donald, Jean L’Hommecourt, Bori Arrobo, and Gregory Hill. 2025. "Shifting the Burden: Corporate Indigenous Relations and How They Can Go Wrong" Systems 13, no. 6: 452. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13060452

APA Style

McCarthy, D. D. P., Daly, C. A., Davies Post, A., Donald, G., L’Hommecourt, J., Arrobo, B., & Hill, G. (2025). Shifting the Burden: Corporate Indigenous Relations and How They Can Go Wrong. Systems, 13(6), 452. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13060452

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Shifting the Burden: Corporate Indigenous Relations and How They Can Go Wrong

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