Even as Canada’s Justice minister and attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould persistently confronted herself with a blunt question that rose above all others: what can I do to further Indigenous reconciliation?

She shared that revelation during her 45-minute keynote speech delivered Tuesday morning before scores of delegates attending the 2023 Arctic Indigenous Investment Conference.

While it can be difficult to know what to do about a dilemma that has stubbornly lingered for many generations, she told her Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre audience, “this is what I expect you as business leaders to be asking every day.

“How do we move our non-Indigenous partners into an understanding of true reconciliation?

“ ... The answer is not as complex as we sometimes imagine it to be.”

Stronger regional and national economies “will only exist when Indigenous economies are stronger,” said the Vancouver-born former minister.

“You continue to be leaders across the Arctic and Canada,” said the 52-year-old career lawyer.

It was Wilson-Raybould’s first visit to Whitehorse since she attended an Assembly of First Nations gathering here as B.C.’s regional chief in July 2013 – some 2 1/2 years before being summoned into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s maiden cabinet.

She said she wished she could have attended the past February’s local celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Together Today For Our Children Tomorrow – as her sister Kory Wilson did.

As vice-chief, she said, “I worked with many Indigenous leaders and had tremendous admiration for them, and that admiration continues to grow.”

Establishing proper relationships by entering into land claims agreements or other formal understandings is “only the starting point” for realizing Indigenous aspirations, she told the packed longhouse.

“We see massive shifts taking place in the understanding and awareness of Indigenous issues and new political and economic dynamics involving First Nations people.”

Canadians are watching First Nations leading their economies “free from racism and discrimination at any time,” she added.

Progress in the reconciliation cause, she said, “only seems to come about through decades and decades of advocacy on the ground.”

Meanwhile, as waves of societal pressures seem to do nothing but intensify, she said, the scourge of opioids use is “killing our youth at rates we have never seen before. It is a crisis.”

Indigenous people are also witnessing “an escalation of conflicts around some natural resources projects, she noted, touching on the treaty rights debates prompted by the current rewriting of the Yukon’s major mining legislation.

There is an urgency to “act and face the reality we are all here to stay,” added Wilson-Raybould, who represented the riding of Vancouver-Granville from 2015-21 and who has authored three books.

Courts and lawyers can play “oversized roles in addressing Indigenous issues,” she said.

“While those institutions have important roles to play in society,” she told her listeners, the courts, lawyers and politicians “can’t improve communities’ well-being and quality of life. Only we can do that.”

That can be expressed in how we respect one another’s personal and family lives, she said.

“This is not work that requires a particular expertise.”

Facing down the consequences of colonialism “requires everyone to play their roles,” Wilson-Raybould added. That includes non-Indigenous businesses building relationships with Indigenous people as partners.

She offered her audience three important observations. The first one is to focus on and learn from reformative reconciliation.

“Words matter. Ensure the meaning of the words remains true. This was a constant struggle I saw in government,” she said.

“When everything is called reconciliation, this is effectively the same thing as nothing being reconciliation. All actions are not equal, and not everything equates to reconciliation.”

There are examples of governments espousing reconciliation for “short-term political gain,” she said.

“While there are some real leaders in economic reconciliation, there are others who tend toward tokenism.”

While lowering a flag or wearing a reconciliation-themed T-shirt have some meaning, she acknowledged, “there is a direct co-relation between economic issues, good governance and reconciliation.

“Only by Indigenous people and their governments being recognized and supported will we address the realities of poverty, addiction and violence,” as well as economic insecurity and climate change, she said.

“When you promote the social and economic development of the Yukon, continue to ask yourself: ‘does this work move beyond symbolism, and is it tangible?”

Her second observation involves simply learning the unvarnished truth: “You need to know what has transpired through history and why.”

She told how her grandmother was forced to resort to secrecy to keep the tradition of potlatches alive in B.C.

When “federal agents” or the RCMP approached, she said, her grandmother and others would swiftly switch to such Christian hymns as Onward Christian Soldiers – before furtively reverting to the potlatch activities after the police departed.

“She had to be invisible to lead,” Wilson-Raybould said.

Today’s leaders have an opposite course, she said.

“We need to make the invisible visible. There is no reconciliation in the shadows. For there to be reconciliation, there must be truth.”

Wilson-Raybould also raised the “destructive” effects of building silos, such as the way Canadian history – including the realities behind the nation’s founding – has traditionally been taught.

“When Canada was created, we were left out; not welcomed; a silo story.”

Problems ensue, she told the audience, when “we fail to understand each other’s experiences ... when decisions are made on false accusations rather than a real understanding of each other. Silos are all around us, even at the cabinet table.”

In a rare reference to her time in government, she related how, after some meetings during which she tried to promote the cause of reconciliation, she would declare to her staff, “Either we are speaking a foreign language or everyone else is.”

It’s crucial to “find ways to tell stories from your community that break down the silo,” she said.

Her third observation was the importance of being an “in betweener” who constantly works to communicate and translate among the various silos.

“I like to think, in some ways, I was one ....

“You,” she told the delegates, “are doing it as you build wealth through sustainable economic development.”

She shared how many Indigenous people tried to dissuade her from entering federal politics, “including here in Whitehorse.”

She stressed to the audience members that the cause of reconciliation needs their contributions.

“We have the opportunity to help bridge old attitudes in some parts of society.”

Success can generate acceptance and trust, and encourage the recognition and respect of diversity, she said.

“We can all lead. Ask yourself: ‘are we an in-betweener organization?’”

Countless Canadians from coast to coast to coast are striving to propel her three observations into daily practice, she said.

After taking two questions from the audience, Wilson-Raybould moved into the corridor to greet a long line of delegates looking to have her sign their books.