Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Genre of Walking Together?

I suggest it falls within intersecting ground between business genre, specifically a subgenre like business memoir or business leadership, with a focus on Indigenous (remote First Nations) engagement, Indigenous Studies, and memoir . Others see elements of the following genres: business ethics, Industries and Professions, Ethnic and National, Business Motivation and Self-Improvement, and Business Leadership. Walking Together is not a simple fit.

What is the Goal of Walking Together?

1) share the remote First Nations’ engagement expectations and lessons with a wider, non-Indigenous audience, as encouraged by my First Nations mentors; and

2) promote the understanding of remote First Nations’ ways so the reader is prepared to apply the information in whichever way they choose.

Is Walking Together A Business Book?

Walking Together is not typical business book as it does not follow the typical format of a business book with explicit strategies and frameworks. However, I offer insights and lessons applicable to anyone conducting business within or impacting First Nations communities. I learned that building respectful relationships, understanding cultural differences, and collaborating are crucial elements for achieving both business success and reconciliation. Here are examples of the book’s busineee relevance:

1. Business Focus: I frame business activities within the context of engaging with First Nations communities. Note that for simplicity, I define a business to be an organization, enterprise, or government engaged in commercial, industrial, professional, or societal governance activities, regardless of whether it is for-profit or non-profit. I emphasize that building relationships with First Nations people is crucial for businesses to succeed. Building relationships is a sound interpersonal and business investment.

2. Target Audience: I wrote Walking Together for the "wider, non-Indigenous audience", particularly for people with a business focus. That includes people working in or planning to work in First Nations homelands. This includes a range of professions, including leaders, technical people, administrators, and policymakers, who work in various sectors like health science, social science, engineering science, education, environmental science, construction, and political sectors, in government, private sector industry, and academia.

3. Practical Advice: I offer practical insights and anecdotal examples in support of the lessons I receiced that are relevant to business interactions with First Nations peoples. For example, it is important to understand the concept of “walking together” as a foundation for respectful and successful engagement with remote First Nations communities. I provide concrete examples of engagement practices, potential pitfalls to avoid, and the importance of cultural sensitivity, all of which are highly relevant to conducting business in an ethical and honourable manner.

4. Leadership Lessons: Throughout the book, I use anecdotes to illustrate learnings about First Nations engagement practices, underlining the importance of cultural sensitivity, humility and mutual respect. I reflect on my own experiences as a leader of a government science organization, acknowledge my mistakes and highlight the importance of adaptability, humility, communication, and continuous learning. These reflections provide valuable insights for anyone in a leadership position, regardless of their industry.

Who Owns the Learnings?

I am very sensitive to cultural appropriation. Although I interpreted many of the experiences in terms of a lesson, the lessons I share are owned by the remote First Nations own these learnings. But, many of the First Nations people encouraged me to share their lessons to create a broader awareness and understanding of remote First Nations culture, values, world views, community life, and engagement expectations - knowledge that is the foundation to building relationships with First Nations people.

Who Gets the Royalities From Book Sales?

Personally and ethically, I believe that it is inappropriate for me to benefit from the lessons shared with me by the First Nations. The lessons are their intellectual property. For that reason, I shall donate all after tax royalities from book sales to the First Nations bands that chose to work with my team and me. As an aside, the royalty for each paperback copy sold is about $5US, ragardless of the price charged by the retailer.

Who Should Read Walking Together?

Regardless if you are working with, or plan to work with, remote First Nations people, if you are the leader of an organization or a front line staff person, work for government, industry or academia, or are on your own personal reconciliation journey, there are insights in Walking Together relevant to you and your organization. The insights are also relevant to people considering their reconciliation journey - although Walking Together is not a book about reconciliation.

Will I, the Reader, Benefit from the Learnings?

The learnings I share in Walking Together will help you and your business team jointly develop, with the remote First Nations, an engagement strategy and related processes and practices. Therefore, if you are working with, or are considering working with, remote First Nations, there are insights in Walking Together that will be of benefit to you. Some business benefits from engagement include:

• increased mutual awareness and understanding;

• minimized business risk and potentially enhanced mutual business outcomes; and

• mitigated potential infringement of Treaty and Indigenous rights and resultant conflict and legal challenges.

But, be aware there is no silver bullet. There are no guarantees. The best jointly developed engagement strategy includes communication channels, but that does not eliminate the many direct and indirect factors that can undermine a collaborative project.

Does Engagement Guarantee Success?

An engagement process jointly developed with a First Nation band does not avoid all issues. But Walking Together does provide you and your organization with ideas to help:

• prepare you and your organization build relationships with remote First Nations people;

• design and implement jointly with the remote First Nations an engagement strategy and related process and practices;

• create communication channels;

• avoid common mistakes I made;

• establish processes to identify and address issues before they explode into conflict; and

• help reduce project risks and impacts.

Why Did You, Andy Fyon, Write Walking Together?

In 1999, when I started to visit remote First Nations communities, I immediately realized I knew nothing about First Nations engagement. As I gained more experience, and after many mistakes, I realized what I was learning about remote First Nations engagement was of value to others. With the encouragement of some remote First Nations mentors, I decided to write Walking Together as a vehicle to help raise the awareness and understanding of non-Indigenous people about the value of investing in meaningful remote First Nations engagement.

How is the Book Structured?

Walking Together is divided into three parts:

a) Part A: Working with remote First Nations: insights about engaging and working with remote First Nation (14 stories);

b) Part B: What to expect in a remote First Nation community (9 stories);

c) Part C: Life, communication, and collaboration lessons and insights about First Nation values, principles, world views, and community life (27 Stories).

See the Table of Contents for more details about the stories.

Is Walking Together A Narative?

I wrote Walking Together in a storytelling style because that is a style you will encounter in many remote First Nations communities across the northern Ontario.

Does the Book Include Photographs?

Walking Together includes about 55 colour photographs that help bring to life the learnings and life in remote First Nations communities. Familiarity with these realities, through photographs, are relevant to first time non-Indigenous visitors to the far north.