Tara Everett is working to bring community coworking to Winnipeg, the capital of the Canadian province of Manitoba. More specifically, sheโs creating an indigenous coworking space providing workspace, community and a gathering place.
The founder of Canoe Coworking and an indigenous woman herself, Everett recognized the need for an open, community-focused workspace in Winnipeg, a town with an abundance of casinos, smoke shops and gas stations. Allwork.space spoke with Everett about her vision for Canoe, indigenous-focused coworking, and creating a space that respects cultural protocol. Here are the highlights of our conversation.
Allwork.space: Youโve been transparent about every step in the creation of Canoe Coworking. In doing so, you bring the larger coworking community along on your journey of opening a space and building a community. Itโs great to be part of that because thereโs a temptation, among new space operators, to wait until everything is perfect before they introduce their space to the world.
Tara Everett: I didnโt intentionally do it that way. I just realized that I needed to see progress because when Iโm in the midst of a project, I can never see that progress myself. When I shared on social media that I got the key to my spaceโto validate my own thought that Iโve made a big stepโpeople came and offered support, and acknowledged that Iโm doing crazy amounts of stuff, and encouraged me to take a weekend off. Thatโs exactly what coworking is.
Allwork.Space: How is the concept of coworking being received in Winnipeg?
I want to open more minds to coworking because itโs so needed right now. My community has a lot of smoke shops, casinos, gas stations, primary industries like forestry and agriculture. Those are the big economic drivers. There needs to be something different, but when you bring something different to them, theyโre hesitant about it.
People donโt understand what coworking is, but Iโm doing collaborative, educational events before I open to help them understand.
For indigenous cultures here in Canada, weโre extremely marginalized and thereโs a lot of mistrust.
Allwork.space: Old-school coworking people would say youโre doing it rightโputting your community in place before your space is ready. One of the mistakes people make is getting everything just right in isolation, then opening the doors and thinking members will flood in. But it rarely happens that way.
I have OCD, anxiety and depression, so my mental health played an important part in this. I really strongly identified the space as something that I needed to be healthy. There needed to be an already-established community before the doors opened. Without that, there was no purpose for the space.
Itโs funny that you say โold-school coworkers.โ Indigenous people have been coworking since the beginning of timeโweโve been working outside of colonial cultures, in a coworking endeavor, since forever. There was no method of payment with money, or with tradeโeverything was done collectively, as a group. Different groups, or segments of people, had different rules.
Thatโs what weโre going back to now as we move forward with technology: weโre starting to find those niche groups again. I find that exciting. Then everyone can do what they want to do. If youโre a hunter, youโre hunting; if youโre a gatherer, youโre gathering; if youโre a little bit of both, youโre doing that, instead of being forced into these rules where you have to fit in a tiny shoebox.
Allwork.space: Thanks for that perspectiveโitโs an important reminder. Will you tell me your coworking storyโhow you found this movement, and your decision to open a space?
I stumbled upon coworking just over a year and a half ago, so itโs really new to me. There werenโt a lot of spaces within Winnipeg that were what I wanted. Iโve always longed for a space that was a collaborative, welcoming environment. Iโm very social, but Iโm an ambivert, so I do need that time to take myself in and do my work. I havenโt had that anywhereโthereโs never been anyplace comfortable for me to work, that had the right amenities, that was collaborative and that was a community.
I was working full-time with a nonprofit organizationโmy background is primarily nonprofit and economic developmentโand my job was to help other people find jobs. I found that so empowering. People were coming to me in their moment of greatest need. That evolved into program policy and I started getting calls to participate and present to people, then last year I had to leave work very suddenly.
I stumbled across coworking and started doing a lot of research. Once I started reading about it, and the philosophy behind it, I realized the spaces here in our community werenโt quite my segment or demographic or what I would want in a space, so I thought, โWhy donโt I do my own?โ
Allwork.space: How has it been bringing your vision to life in Manitoba?
It was really hard for me to access programming. Manitoba is historically very conservative, which is why it took me so long to start. Theyโre excited about new ideas, but those new ideas take months, if not years, for people to get comfortable with. Our innovation centers are just building up steam now.
Coworking is like building a hotelโyou try to build a hotel, but you donโt know your costs and you canโt get those costs without spending money. I saw that the shoestring budget model wasnโt going to workโI couldnโt do it that way. I needed the expert opinions and the backgrounds.
It was suggested to have people purchase memberships upfront, but that doesnโt happen here. Iโm dealing with a lot of First Nations, which are indigenous people, and they follow the government fiscal year. They canโt write-off work expenses like that and, at the end of the day, a lot of these people arenโt going to be in control of their money.
When I started looking for other indigenous spaces, I found Songhees Innovation Centre, which is in Lekwungen (Songhees) territory in British Columbia, but theyโre run by three major partnerships. Iโm the only one doing this solo, as far as I know. Itโs exciting, but terrifying. People ask if I want to franchise, and the answer is no. I always want the ownership of the coworking space to be within the community. Thatโs really important to me.
Allwork.space: Will Canoe be strictly for indigenous people?
Absolutely not. There will be a safety net thoughโa community atmosphere. If a non-indigenous person wants to come in and ask questions in a respectful, thoughtful and open way, come on in.
Allwork.space: How do you describe the space? Weโre hearing a lot more about women-focused spaces. Is there a phrase youโve landed on to describe what youโre doing with Canoe.
Everyone will have a different experience based on who they are as a person. It also depends on cultural aspects. Iโve thought about describing it as culturally-open, or relevant, or a safe space. There hasnโt been anything yet, and I donโt think there will be. I choose to use the word indigenous, which is the newly accepted word for First Nations.
Colonization separated the peoples into three pillars and the funding is different for each pillar. My big goal is to try to bring all three of those pillars into my space. Even though we canโt necessarily access the same funding or programs, weโre all just people within the space. But we have enough knowledge about each otherโs cultures that we donโt feel that we have to explain everything. Itโs exhausting for people to have to explain their culture over and over again.
Allwork.space: Where are you in the process of opening?
Iโm currently doing our five-year business plan. We had a mayoral visit recently, our first event in the space and coverage from three different news outlets. Itโs completely unfinished right now. Once I have the space open, Iโll qualify tenants. Thereโs a potential cornerstone tenant coming in who will take one-third of the space at the end of the month, and a lot of interest in membership.
Allwork.space: How will Canoe be designed? Will you have open workspace and offices?
Itโs a three-story building and Iโm converting the third floor into private offices. I like open workspaces, but the reality is, a lot of indigenous people are very respectful of one anotherโs space.
There are certain cultural protocols that need to be followed. A lot of the independent freelance workers tend to work on very sensitive issues, like missing and murdered women, which is a huge issue here in Canada. And things like the residential school survivors. Thereโs a greater need for private or semi-enclosed spaces, but the main floor will be more openโa flexible, drop-in and event space. The basement will be more private offices and a couple of team workspaces for two people.
Weโll have an elder lounge, which is unique to our space as far as I know. That allows cultural protocol to be followed, which is really important to me. You can agree to disagree with the elders, but thereโs an aspect of making sure theyโre always taken care of. They can rest or, if thereโs someone who needs their guidance, theyโll be here.
There will be a quiet space, because thatโs what people sometimes need. If youโre having a rough day because youโre working on some really dark stuff, you can go in there and meditate, or quietly listen to music, or just take a minute for yourself.
From my market research, I found thatโs what my people need. Itโs not my choice, itโs theirs. Itโs their space, not mine. I feel really strong about that. Thatโs why I didnโt go with a nonprofit modelโI donโt want a board of directors determining what they think is right for the space, because they wonโt be there every day.
Allwork.space: How are you funding the space? ย
When I started looking for investors, it was through programs the government offered. Because of my barriers to entry and I didnโt have the capital they required, I was excluded from 12 different programs. Iโm currently looking for outside investors.
Allwork.space: Thanks, Tara. Any big picture thoughts about Canoe or coworking youโd like to share?
Indigenous people tend to be very holistic in their approach to policies and looking at all sides of things, not just dollars. We look at how something will make people feel and how it will impact our community. Thereโs so much more to coworking than just coming into work.
