Business leaders charged with future-proofing their organizations know they need to align their corporate values on sustainability and inclusivity with those of their customers, partners, and employees. An organization’s policies on the three pillars of sustainability—environmental, economic, and sociocultural—are key to determining its growth.
Of those three pillars, sociocultural sustainability might be the hardest to get right because it goes beyond economic benefits. Sociocultural sustainability refers to practices that prioritize cultural understanding, inclusivity, and community well-being through respectful and reciprocal partnerships.
For values-based organizations, one powerful way to create sociocultural benefits is to build relationships with Indigenous businesses and communities. These relationships can support Indigenous communities socially, culturally, and economically, attracting revenue and expanding their reach into new regional and global markets. And they can strengthen non-Indigenous organizations by uncovering growth strategies founded in Indigenous insights and perspectives.
Local Industry, Global Reach
Sociocultural relationships are rejuvenating one business that’s long been a center of gravity in Wendake, an Indigenous community of the Wendat Nation in Québec.
Artisans have made handcrafted moccasins at Bastien Industries for nearly 150 years. Jason Picard-Binet, a member of the Wendat Nation in Wendake, recalls that his grandfather worked there in the 1930s.
When Picard-Binet bought this family-owned business in 2022, his primary background wasn’t in footwear or fashion but in Indigenous tourism, most recently at the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC). His ambitions for building Bastien rely on the principles of sociocultural sustainability in exchanges with businesses across Canada, the U.S., and beyond to help ensure this long-running Indigenous-owned-and-operated business will thrive into the future.
“In the ’30s, about 80% of the Wendake community was related to Bastien,” Picard-Binet says. “It’s a big part of our history. And that motivated me to become an entrepreneur and take this business to the next level—bringing it to the fashion world, where it wouldn’t be seen as an Indigenous business for tourism but as apparel for everyone.”
To that end, Bastien is building relationships with businesses as far afield as Paris, France, and retailers have begun selling Bastien’s moccasins in more and more stores in France and across Europe. That greater demand for the product means greater opportunity for Bastien Industries and the community members of the Wendat Nation.
The more Bastien can expand its business, the more it can share the Wendat culture with others. While moccasins account for almost all of its product line, Bastien recently partnered with Canada’s national tourism organization, Destination Canada, to make luggage tags and passport holders with authentic hide, extending the reach of its products—and Wendat traditions and culture—to places as far away as China and Japan.
“If my vision is to move toward the fashion world and larger retailers,” Picard-Binet says, “the future and growth of my business [are] really toward those partnerships.”
Appreciation or Appropriation?
If the benefits of sociocultural sustainability run in both directions, so do the responsibilities.
When non-Indigenous organizations partner with Indigenous communities and businesses, they’re ensuring authenticity by incorporating products that local artisans make using their own traditions, authentic materials, and specialized craft rather than merely borrowing—and potentially misinterpreting—Indigenous culture without permission. These partnerships also ensure Indigenous communities earn fair compensation for their work.
That guidance differentiates cultural appreciation, which supports and promotes Indigenous culture, from cultural appropriation, which risks representing cultures superficially and without respect, solely for the outside organization’s gain.
“The economic impact of cultural appropriation is huge,” Picard-Binet says. When Canada most recently studied the impact of cultural appropriation, he says, the revenue Indigenous-owned businesses and artisans lost to appropriation was estimated at $1 billion nationally.
“We employ people from our nation, smaller handcrafters who share our culture and our history, so those partnerships have to go beyond business,” Picard-Binet says. “These relationships are primarily cultural because they’re really supporting a whole Indigenous community.”
In a truly reciprocal partnership, both partners share some responsibility for education about what differentiates cultural appreciation from cultural appropriation. To work toward greater equity, non-Indigenous partners establishing values-based relationships should approach these relationships with openness and respect, taking the initiative to learn Indigenous values and knowledge.
This understanding comes from authentic personal connections that go beyond getting a signature on a contract.
“Tourism is one of the major economic industries in our community,” Picard-Binet says. “We have hotels, restaurants, museums, light shows—there are numerous tourism things to do. By sharing our product, we’re sharing part of our history and inviting our partners to stay in Wendake and take the time to understand our business.”
Inspiration for Events
To implement and pursue meaningful sociocultural sustainability practices, non-Indigenous organizations can connect directly with communities and Indigenous organizations when planning business events.
Leaders planning events in Canada can find unique opportunities to collaborate with Indigenous communities to create lasting benefits for both sides of a partnership. Organizations can learn how to respectfully partner with Indigenous businesses in Canada, representing such sectors as fashion, hospitality, dining, and ecotourism, through ITAC and other Indigenous tourism organizations at such events as these.
The Fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5), hosted in Vancouver, established an Indigenous working group of representatives from Indigenous organizations and nations across Canada. The working group contributed to the conference to ensure that its programming highlighted Indigenous Peoples and approaches to marine protection and stewardship and that it created opportunities for Indigenous participants to network, share, and learn from one another about Indigenous marine protection approaches and initiatives worldwide.
The Signature Travel Network Owners’ Meeting in Montréal gathered leaders from top U.S.-based travel agencies with tourism organizations and providers in Canada to showcase Canadian tourism experiences. Organizers partnered with ITAC to highlight Indigenous tourism as must-see experiences for U.S. travelers. The program included an opening protocol led by the Kanien’kehá Nation and an Indigenous marketplace organized by Kahnawà:ke Tourism. Bastien Industries also gifted the delegation with moccasins and handmade leather goods.
IMPACT Sustainability Travel & Tourism Summit in Victoria, British Columbia, partners with ITAC to contribute the program’s key theme of Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsibility. The 2025 program will include Indigenous-led panels such as Indigenous Tourism & Land Stewardship.
For non-Indigenous organizations, practicing sociocultural sustainability may call for a new way of thinking. Successful initiatives depend on building meaningful, respectful relationships with Indigenous communities and organizations, honoring the age-old traditions and practices of their partners while strengthening their economic and social needs today.
To learn more about sociocultural sustainability at events in Canada, visit the Destination Canada website.