Susie Houle: Co-creating values with Indigenous communities

By Laura Mushumanski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(ANNews) – “If one of us succeeds, we all succeed. We have that responsibility to one another to be inclusive of each other and support each other where we can,” shared Susie Houle the current Indigenous Connectivity & Relationships lead with Telus Communications. She was speaking about the importance of co-creation within organizations, that by bringing in Indigenous lived experiences and perspectives we can be inclusive and walk beside each other – in good relations.

Our communities are going through difficult times, says Houle, with mental health epidemics that are taking away our people – drugs, alcohol, addictions. “There is a very humble and compassionate place that I have in my heart for all of us because we’ve all experienced these in some way or another, whether in ourselves or our loved ones, our family, or our neighbour. [We help by] bringing each other along and supporting and not having judgement when we know people are struggling…to support each other, [with] that collectiveness. A lot of this comes from compassion and understanding.”

Houle’s deeply rooted understanding and compassion towards our Indigenous brothers and sisters supports her role working in private and public sectors, to enhance Indigenous peoples’ livelihoods by sharing values of how we can uplift Indigenous communities together.

“As Indigenous people, we could look at our own families or someone we know that has been impacted by MMIW, we would know someone who is a 60s scoop survivor, residential school survivor, day school survivor – all these different things just within our circle. We come from that place of humbleness, because we don’t want this to happen to anyone else and how can we try to heal – whether that be like myself working in public and private sectors, or people working in the communities with families and individuals trying to support. There are different roles for all of us. I think with my role, I have been able to support the same values that the communities have.”

Houle brings perspectives, values and understandings into spaces that have yet to learn about Indigenous Ways of Knowing – by walking and being gentle with people, listening to understand – where it is not about blaming or shaming. Susie shapes her conversations around how she can bring humility into conversation. Within those conversations, co-creation is about community, honour, respect, togetherness, love, and listening. We are “able to listen and incorporate these teachings and values into our professional work, respecting and preserving Indigenous ways of knowing and being. When we were doing these master planning projects, we weren’t putting these specifics in, we were just creating a very high-level importance for Indigenous communities.”

In the knowledge spaces that Houle creates, she understands how sacred the exchange of knowledge is and it’s tied to relationality. In Cree, there is so much depth to understanding reciprocal relationships and how to take care of one another, but it is hard to convey the same message in English.

“With co-creation, you are creating together, and you are meeting each other at this place where you are checking in what you heard, that feedback to the community, and also implementing their knowledge into these non-Indigenous spaces. One of my biggest values is that it’s not just about the individual, it’s about the collective and that’s how I have been raised. My dad and grandfather were both leaders, chiefs, I had the opportunity growing up with them. My dad was a leader till I was a young adult, so I always had the mindset, the community collective of how could we better ourselves to better the community. It’s not just about us or the one person or the one family, the one community, it’s about all our communities and working together. With that knowledge, that value that is instilled in me, I bring that knowledge to the places that I work in the public and private sectors.”

“Enhancing one another – this is how we work together…If you are short on something I will fill it up. You need to build, and you need to know the communities,” Houle said. The root source of her understanding co-creation is that it reduces barriers for Indigenous peoples to being part of the public sphere – within Houle’s current role with telecommunications, she shared, “We are doing a whole lot in regards to working with communities, meeting them where they are at, providing programs to reduce costs, providing services that are reliable so they can do school and online work. This is very meaningful work to me because it is about enhancing one another and then working within our own organizations and counterparts, to bring services to communities that were lacking before.”