Why Did We Start CAID

As part of historic Canadian policies, most Indigenous communities lack modern infrastructure and economies. Current gaps in Indigenous health care, education, housing, nutrition, policing, safe drinking water, economies, justice and etc. are reflections of infrastructure services available, or not available, to Indigenous communities. 

In this backdrop, CAID's objective is to help Canada's First Peoples rebuild self-sustaining infrastructures.

Traditional leaders and small, remote communities lack human resource capacity to prepare for consultations, negotiations, rebuilding infrastructure or regional developments. As such, indigenous culture, roles, needs and ownership are excluded from regional infrastructure and economies resulting in maintenance of a status quo - colonization. CAID was formed to fill a need for a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization to provide capacity, not consultants, to Indigenous communities and traditional leaders. CAID can provide interim human resource capacity to work with colonial governments and industry for consultation and free, prior and informed consent.

Sustainable Indigenous infrastructures empower permanent solutions to problems plaguing Indigenous communities. By enabling tradition-based infrastructure development, Canada’s First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples can live modern traditional lives with economic developments that are sustainable while integrating culture-based businesses and institutions into a global system. These reestablished societal infrastructures can reverse poverty cycles and empower Indigenous people to choose their own sovereign destiny.

Canada declared an end to its policies of forced Indigenous assimilation. However, through assimilation policies already embedded throughout Canada’s infrastructure, colonial government officials still withhold funds and expertise that block pre-contact Indigenous rights to own and manage modern infrastructure and resources.

CAID was founded on truth that right actions are grounded on freely sharing with those whose rights have been denied. CAID is not a religious organization and is not affiliated with a church. CAID was conceived by people who love God (our Creator), follow Jesus' teaching on love, and saw hypocrisy in colonial government and church dealings with Indigenous people.