They started with solid Western data, used rigorous methodologies and found interesting patterns. Maggie Cascadden, Emily Block and Devereaux Jennings knew which of 240 Indigenous communities in Canada had signed on to do business with mining companies and which had not. But the three non-Indigenous researchers at the University of Alberta (U of A) were struggling with how to present their findings for peer-reviewed academic publication.
Then they met François Bastien, member of the Huron-Wendat Nation and University of Victoria (UVic) scholar, when he gave a talk at U of A in early 2022. Cascadden, Block and Jennings wondered if Bastien could help them get unstuck.
“I told them I’m willing to develop a relationship and we can see where it goes,” says Bastien, associate professor and associate dean, Indigenous, at the Gustavson School of Business. “At the beginning, most of our conversations weren’t about the paper.”
Instead, they simply got to know each other and as they talked and emailed over months, they assembled the elements of a relationship. Cascadden trusted Bastien with a draft of their original article. Bastien gave it time and consideration. It wasn’t transactional; it was reciprocal.
Maggie wasn’t rushing this. The relationship-build was important. We were moving away from extracting data and generating knowledge toward co-creation.”
—François Bastien, associate professor
That was crucial because what he brought to the conversation was more than his PhD in management studies. His view is that everything is a story — and if it isn’t, it should be.
Metaphor of grass baskets, metal frames
Story makes lessons memorable; metaphors make stories easier to understand. All of it can transform data into a vessel for understanding.
Bastien highlighted that each of the communities in the study had a different history, unique culture and specific needs; not taking those into account rendered the findings opaque. It was no wonder the U of A authors had struggled to express them clearly.
When Bastien suggested a metaphor of grass baskets and metal frames to describe the communities’ decision-making processes, the scholars could, they realized, start weaving a story that would benefit everyone.
Metal frames are common in Western construction: a rigid scaffold supports the building or renovation of a structure. Grass baskets, on the other hand, reflect the varied materials available to, and the character of, each weaver.
“The result,” the four co-authors wrote in their June 2025 Journal of Management Studies paper, “is an interconnected web of nonlinear, braided threads that work together to absorb and react in different ways to the weight and size of the object placed in the basket.”
This gave the researchers an insight into what their data actually showed. They could link specific combinations of community history, culture and business experience (scaffolding materials) to the extent to which that community was likely to engage with an outside corporation. For example, a community with a stronger history of language preservation, cultural entrepreneurship and experience navigating Western governance systems is more likely to partner with an outside mining company than, say, a community with more language loss and fewer inter-nation connections.
And while their findings are significant, the process of getting there is just as meaningful.
Moving forward in a good way
“In identifying the patterns,” Bastien says, “we had to deal with complexity. It was extremely iterative, and we didn’t accomplish something in every meeting.”
The process of moving forward, looping back, then advancing again was co-creation. They wove in and out of Indigenous and Western knowledge, reconciling the two world views.
At the beginning of the process, Cascadden, Block and Jennings were writing about Canada — Homo economicus — while Bastien thought about Turtle Island — a name for North America used by many Indigenous Peoples — where people have kincentric relationships with the natural world. It was the same rock and two very different places.
“With her deep sense of what an ally is, what an accomplice is in this setting, Maggie led the process brilliantly. The paper was born from the relationships.
“It began in a good way,” Bastien says, “and it ended in a good way.”
Read more about Bastien’s role as associate dean, Indigenous.
Learn more about UVic’s commitment to the teaching of Nəc̓ əmaat kʷəns čeʔi | ĆȺNEUEL OL | Work together, one of four Laws and Philosophies that guide the Indigenous Plan.
