CBU’s Purdy Crawford Chair to Release Indigenous Business Textbook & Announce Significant RBC Funding

May 12,  2016

On Tuesday, May 17, 2016, Cape Breton University’s Purdy Crawford Chair in Aboriginal Business Studies will release its first textbook titled Indigenous Business in Canada: Principles and Practices. The textbook was edited by Dr. Keith G. Brown, VP International and Aboriginal Affairs and Purdy Crawford Chair in Aboriginal Business Studies; Ms. Mary Beth Doucette, MBA-CED, P.Eng., Executive Director of the Chair; and Dr. Janice Esther Tulk, Senior Research Associate with the Chair. Also during this event, there will be a significant funding announcement from RBC Royal Bank by Regional Vice President of Cape Breton and Eastern Nova Scotia, Steve Wadden.

The textbook has been a three-year long project and includes 14 chapters written by 20 authors from across Canada and the United States. Indigenous Business in Canada addresses contemporary concerns and issues in the practice of Aboriginal business in Canada, reveals some of the challenges and diverse approaches to business in Indigenous contexts from coast to coast to coast, and demonstrates the direct impact that history and policy, past and present, have on business and business education. The format of this volume is a hybrid, somewhere between a book of collected essays and a textbook.

“In 2012 we reached out to dozens of Aboriginal post-secondary students from 19 universities in nine provinces in a series of roundtables. The students told us they did not exist in any textbook or case,” says Dr. Brown. “They were, in fact, invisible to anyone who studied business in Canada. The driving force behind this book was to give voice to these students and all future students about the realities of Aboriginal business in Canada.”

Indigenous Business in Canada: Principles and Practices is published by Cape Breton University Press, which under the leadership of editor-in-chief, Mike Hunter, has gained a reputation for publishing notable works in the area of social, economic, and community development. Print versions will be available for purchase for $27.95. An E-Book and Kindle version will also be available this summer.

The textbook launch event will take place on Tuesday, May 17 from 2-4pm in the Jenu Room at the Membertou Trade and Convention Centre. Copies of the book will be available for $25.00 on this day only.

In addition to the textbook launch, the Purdy Crawford Chair will also be hosting a panel discussion, Why Indigenize? A national student perspective on business education. The panel discussion will include four current and former Aboriginal business students, several of whom participated in the roundtable discussions in 2012, which informed the production of this textbook. At this event, attendees will have the opportunity to learn first-hand from Aboriginal students from across Canada about their experiences in business degree programs, what they felt was missing from their course content, and why Indigenizing business education in post-secondary institutions is critical. This event will take place on Monday, May 16, at 4:30pm in CS104 of the Verschuren Centre at Cape Breton University. All are welcome to attend.

For more information on both events, visit our website: www.cbu.ca/ibcbook

NT5