Isadore Day, Wiindawtegowinini (Win-daw-teh-go-nini) is an Anishinabe from beautiful Serpent River First Nation. He and his beautiful wife Angela raise their beautiful daughters in the beautiful north shore of Lake Huron in the Robinson Huron Treaty territory.
Isadore is the former Regional Chief of Ontario, and the founder and CEO of Bimaadzwin, a newly established entity that strives to become the leader in indigenous business development. With a consecutive run as an elected First Nation leader, in the summer of 2018, Chief Day stepped into the private sector and social innovation world with an eagerness to address Nationhood imperatives as a key pillar in his carefully formed business pursuit.
Bimaadzwin means life in Anishinaabe language. Isadore believes all societies on our planet have an affinity and unique perspective for life and seek to have a sustained quality of life for their citizens. The Bimaadzwin team focus is on the quality of life and the advancement of our nations by working with Indigenous communities and willing partners.
Chief Day’s background in the fields of public administration and governance, business administration and social work uniquely position him towards building on a strong foundation moving forward on the cannabis sector in Canada. The lack of consultations with First Nations on the cannabis file will need to be addressed moving forward to ensure benefits from this emerging opportunity are shared over the long term. He has a keen sense of both broad and specific challenges in the various phases of this aggressively moving lifting of prohibition on cannabis.
Since the beginning, Chief Day has been at many tables on the policy development on this important file. There are many challenges facing indigenous people who wish to be included in this fast moving sector. Bimaadzwin is well positioned to be a supportive vehicle to assist in the development of this sector, identifying the unique strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing Indigenous Peoples and Communities as cannabis industry participants.
Chief Day is adamant that Indigenous Peoples must lead with their culture and ensure that the ‘green push’ does not overtake the preservation of Indigenous values, worldview, protocols, and ceremonies that are vital to our way of life; while at the same time benefiting from the health and economic opportunities that seem to be a growing prevalence in this flourishing market.
