Len Pierre | Navigating the Tyranny of Efficiency

Decolonization is not a buzzword; it is an active, living practice in which Indigenous ways of existence are prioritized over the colonizers. It is dismantling and unlearning our notions of governance, health and knowledge. Decolonization is Indigenous led. It is the act of being in solidarity with Indigenous sovereignties on their own terms. Decolonization is not a box you can check off on a list of diversity practices.

In this country, we are governed by institutions that are anti-Indigenous at their core, having real consequences for real people. Indigenous peoples all over these stolen lands are subjected to cruel and dehumanizing treatment from law enforcement, the education system, the healthcare system, and various government bodies; the very systems we rely on to help our society “function”. There is an urgent need to interrogate how these systems are contributing to the displacement and disenfranchisement of Indigenous peoples that goes beyond scratching the surface.

At this event, Len Pierre discussed what it means to center cultural safety through an Indigenous world view, within, what he called the “tyranny of efficiency”. This tyranny refers to the way in which institutions prioritize quick fixes over meaningful change, leading to surface level approaches and virtue signaling. Len’s dialogue explored the detrimental repercussions of using shallow approaches that do not prioritize cultural safety. He established the foundational tenets of cultural safety through his perspective as a Coast Salish Katzie man and explored how to move forward in more informed ways.