Membership Criteria

Membership acceptance to the Indigenous Arts Collective of Canada (IndigenARTSY) is based strictly on:

1. Contribution to the protection and development of endangered Indigenous art forms,
2. Maintaining the integrity and history of traditional Indigenous art forms,
3. Contributing to the transmission of Indigenous knowledge within our families and sovereign nations.

To be accepted into IACC membership, Indigenous artists must demonstrate the following:

1. A firm understanding of the origins of the Indigenous art forms that they choose to create,
2. A story of learning their art form from Indigenous people via family and/or community,
3. Incentive to teach the next generations of Indigenous artists,
4. Promotion each other equally and fairly - demonstrating respect and gratitude for others.

IACC Membership and Identification

If you can answer the following questions with an honest ‘yes’, you are very likely to be accepted for IACC membership:

• Do you have ID that fits into one of our priority groups?
• Are you Indigenous?
• Can you confirm that you are related by blood to living Indigenous people?
• Are you connected to an Indigenous reserve/community/nation by blood?
• Did you learn your art form from family or community?
• Do you think it’s important to pass Indigenous knowledge to the next generations of Indigenous artists?
• The Indigenous Arts Collective of Canada retains the right to reject membership and vendor application based on the evidence that an artist submits regarding identity as well as the history and integrity of their art form(s). This non profit organization is for Indigenous artists only. We commit our resources to Indigenous artists only, and are very proud of our large artist membership and the services we provide.

Identification

The IACC prides itself in offering membership to diverse Indigenous nations. We put forth every effort to represent Indigenous nations equally and structure our membership so that there are an equal number of individuals representing as many nations as possible.

You will be required to upload a photo of a recognized identification card (Status Card, Band Card/Band Documents).  Métis organizations: Manitoba Metis Federation, Métis Nation-Saskatchewan, Métis Nation of Alberta, Métis Nation British Columbia. Inuit identification is various and widely accepted (land claim organizations).  If you do not have identification, you must explain why and describe yourself in a way that shows you are Indigenous and connected to an Indigenous community and related to living Indigenous people. Once approved, your identification will be deleted from our possession entirely - we do not keep copies of anyone’s identification.

Can you confidently say yes to the questions at the top of this page?

People who have gained Indigenous status/ identity because they married an Indigenous person do not qualify for membership.

Pan-Indigenous organizations and unassociated Métis organizations are not in our priority group and at the present funding level, will not be eligible to access platforms and programs.

Non-Indigenous people whose art forms and practices have been learned from, or are similar to Indigenous art forms do not qualify for membership.

We appreciate your respect of our Indigenous cultures and ask that you allow us to maintain our strong and important cultural identities.

*The funding we are granted is specifically for Indigenous peoples and must be spent on the terms it was granted.

We have seen and acknowledge that many people claim Indigenous identity and/or hold it in high regard but these identities are not up for debate and membership applications will be rejected.

While we cannot define who identifies as Indigenous, we ask that artists belong to, or have a connection to a certain Indigenous territory or community. In some cases, we will reach out to Indigenous communities to confirm these connections.

*Indigenous identity fraud will not be tolerated. Each vendor has claimed Indigenous identity. While we do our best to determine eligibility, we reserve the right to reject/recind membership applications based on evidence provided to us by the artist or others. Questionable identities will be reviewed by the board of directors and a decision made by board vote. Vendors not in compliance may find their IndigenARTSY stores closed and IACC membership suspended temporarily or indefinitely.

*In establishing this non profit organization in 2011, identity fraud was not as prevalent as it is now in 2023. For that reason, we will have marked some membership artists as 'unverified'. This means that at the time of registration, it was not required to submit identification OR the identification submitted was not scrutinized as it would be in 2023. We value all members and while current events will not affect members that are 'grandmothered' in, it will be apparent on their profile page that they met requirements at the time they applied.