I’ve Changed, You’ve Changed, The World has Changed

The question isn't whether systemic transformation is needed—it's whether we have the shared language, tools and values to do it together.

I'm Ta7talíya Nahanee, a Squamish creative and consultant. I’ve been on a strategic pause, watching liberation struggles rage. At the same time, aspirations I cared deeply about as an Indigenous critical scholar, including "decolonization," were applied to corporate content, as a new kind of red washing that left me bothered and distant. So, I wrote a new book, created new consulting, and redesigned my role in my community to spend more time and energy within circles of Indigenous Liberation.

K'ay̓áchtn \o/ Welcome to my Systems Shift unveiling

I can’t align with aspiration anymore. I am focused on Transformation with a capital T.

The Moment We're In, you've felt it too?

The patterns keep showing up, the colonial defaults that run so deep they feel like common sense, and the ways systems resist change even when everyone says they want it. You've been in meetings where good intentions hit invisible barriers. You've watched organizations commit to equity while their foundational assumptions remain unchanged.

Maybe it was the meeting where 'budget constraints' killed the equity initiative, but somehow found money for other priorities. Maybe it was realizing your 'inclusive' hiring process only produced the same type of candidates. Maybe it was watching policies being written, while implementation gets delayed indefinitely.

You've seen the 'consultation trap'—asking for input they won't actually use. The 'diversity theatre'—hiring for representation while keeping decision-making power unchanged. The 'good intentions defence'—deflecting accountability by centring their effort over impact.

If you're ready to see the patterns now (read about more of them in my Colonizer Playbook), then you're ready to interrupt them: with strategic resistance, intentional disruption, and transformation rooted in Indigenous knowledge systems that have sustained justice for thousands of years. You don't have to do it alone. Here's how we can do this together.

The How,
the Why
and the What(s)

How I've Changed

I really believed I was offering a way forward, providing critique, and offering tools while maintaining good relations.

I built games and workbooks to guide people through the emotional intelligence needed to move beyond normalized anti-Indigenous racism. I believed that if organizations could better understand the harm of ongoing colonial systems, they might choose to change.

But that was never the job.

After watching "decolonization" get co-opted by the very institutions it was meant to challenge, sometimes with my own words and scholarship, used to mask the gatekeeping of Indigenous resources by people with no connection to culture, just the concepts they took from me. I stepped back. I needed to ground my care and vision for equity in something deeper than dismantling, and reconnect to my roots in Indigenous cultural sovereignty and resurgence.

In Indigenous methods, we build on what is already there. We stand on their shoulders; we don't cut them down and pretend we're the only ones doing anything. I'm part of an ecosystem of social change, and I'm redefining my side of the street.

I also needed to balance my dismantling work with building what I think we need as a community and what I want to contribute to as a scholar and activist: Indigenous-only spaces for cultural learning, lateral liberation, and collective healing.

This work is not reconciliation. This work is redress.

How You've Changed

Thank you for marking this moment with me if you’ve made it this far in reading my text.

You've been in meetings where the "diversity conversation" felt performative.

You've watched your organization announce commitments that never materialized into policy change.

You've seen the gap between intention and implementation grow wider, not smaller.

You're ready for something real.

You understand that transformation isn't about making people feel better about broken systems—it's about building systems that actually hold.

You're here because you know the difference between training and transformation.

The Hard Truth About Systems

Colonial systems aren't broken. They're working exactly as designed.

The patterns that keep your equity initiatives stuck? The defaults that make power redistribution feel impossible? The resistance that emerges whenever real change is proposed?

These aren't bugs. They're features.

Colonial systems were designed to extract, exclude, and maintain existing power structures while appearing neutral. Strategic resistance isn't about fixing what's broken—it's about recognizing what's working and choosing to build something different.

This means:

  • Surfacing what's invisible in organizational culture and decision-making

  • Interrupting colonial defaults before they become policy

  • Designing systems that centre relationships rather than hierarchy and extraction

The work isn't to reform colonial systems. The work is to turn them inside out and rebuild from Indigenous principles.

The Choice

You have options:

Continue working within colonial frameworks that were designed to resist the very changes you're trying to make.

Or surface what's invisible, interrupt colonial defaults, and rebuild from Indigenous principles that have sustained life and justice for thousands of years.

The second path is more complex. It requires seeing patterns you've been trained not to notice. It demands accountability to communities and values beyond profit. It means designing for relationship and reciprocity rather than extraction and control.

But it's the only path to transformation that actually transforms.

Ready to Shift Systems?

I'm Ta7talíya Nahanee, a Squamish systems designer, author of The Colonizer Playbook, and founder of Shift Systems. I have spent decades on the edge of Indigenous and Corporate communications and engagement. I write from an inside perspective and care deeply about our next steps together.

Four Ways We Can Support Each Other

  • Ta7talíya Consulting

    Ta7talíya Consulting

    Nkwayk'an Labs - Indigenous Design Intelligence applied to colonial systems.

    Nkwayk'an isn't just methodology—it's a way to surface the invisible, interrupt colonial defaults, and design systems that centre relationships.

    Each engagement of Nkwayk'an Labs combines:

    • Strategic consultation grounded in Host Nation protocol
    • Context-specific unlearning and skill-building
    • Pattern recognition that names colonial plays in real-time
    • Co-created strategies for material transformation, in partnership with Urszula Lipsztajn https://www.urszula.co/strategy

    We don't diversity-train our way out of colonialism. We turn systems inside out and rebuild from Indigenous principles. It will take time, commitment and investment.

    For organizations ready to move:
    → From awareness to redesign
    → From performative equity to relational accountability
    → From intention to implementation

    Investment: Strategic consultation rates based on organizational capacity
    Timeline: 3-12 months, depending on the scope of transformation

    Every engagement begins with a 1-hr Strategic Consultation with Ta7talíya, the fee is $500, you can access her calendar and booking site through this link to ta7taliya.com

    Ta7talíya Nahanee, Squamish Changemaker,
    Decolonial Designer & Facilitator, and Critical Indigenous Scholar
    Want to know how to pronounce Ta7talíya? Click here

    Learn more about Nkwayk'an Labs and Book a Strategy Call with Ta7talíya Nahanee
  • The Colonizer Playbook cover

    12 Days of Redress

    We're celebrating National Indigenous Peoples History Month 2025 with an array of new and old offerings that Teach, Interrupt, and Fund the Future.

    The Colonizer Playbook Series - A three-volume tactical guide for identifying and interrupting colonial behaviours—before they become policy, culture, or harm. Presale is now open, and shipping or pickup will be available in July and August.

    Decolonize First Workbook - A step-by-step guide for the emotional work of grieving colonialism. Develop your foundational Why it Matters before applying decolonial methods to resistant systems.

    Walking in Good Relations Board Game - A completely redesigned version of Ta7talíya's award-winning Sínulkhay & Ladders. More universal language and examples that apply across Indigenous Territories, helping you relearn how to relate to Host Nations, local languages, and histories while caring for yourself and each other

    Reframing Redress—The Canvas Series—These canvases don't just hang—they reframe. Each piece offers a visual intervention: slogans as soft weapons, walls as sites of accountability, ancestral forms, Salish motifs, cutting truths in cursive, designs that interrupt the aesthetics of comfort, with clarity.

    The Pattern Is the Message – The Poster Series - Ta7talíya Atelier is a matriarchal print shop offering functional art for systems change. These are soft weapons of redress—made to reclaim beauty as power and turn everyday items into acts of resistance.

    Soft Weapons: Tees That Tell the Truth - Rooted in Indigenous values and made from organic cotton, each tee challenges the aesthetics of neutrality and the comfort of silence. Whether you wear Good Vibes ≠ Good Relations or Live Laugh Land Back, you're not just making a statement—you're joining a movement.

    These offerings embody clarity, care, and collective action. Every purchase supports the Listening, Liberation & Legacy Labs at the Salish Circle Centre.

    Shop Ta7talíya Atelier - Canvas Prints, Poster Series and Organic Tee's to start

  • Support the L.L.L.Labs

    The Listening, Liberation & Legacy Labs, designed and Hosted at the Salish Circle Centre for Social Change Through Education and Empowerment (SCC), are decolonial Unlearning Labs for Indigenous participants, weaving Urban Indigenous values with Host Nation values to build accountability, lateral liberation, and cultural resurgence for collective healing and systems transformation.

    Your support funds:

    • Honoraria for Indigenous facilitators leading the Labs
    • Materials and meals for community learning sessions
    • Free access for Indigenous community members
    • Infrastructure for the Salish Circle Centre for Social Change

    Ways to support the L.L.L.Labs:

    Shop and Share the 12 Days of Redress- every purchase directly contributes

    Book sessions at Salish Circle, our social enterprise venue rental that funds our L.L.L.Labs too

    Subscribe to Shift Systems E-News and share resources with your networks

    Or, you can become an official SPONSOR of our LLLLabs, check out our sponsorship tiers, then go to the SCC website for full details.

    Legacy Partner – $20,000+
    Resilience Partner – $10,000-$20,000
    Strength Partner – $1,000-$10,000
    Ally Partner – Up to $1,000

    We also have donation options set up! There's no time like the present to shift from coloniality to redress and reconstitution. By supporting us, you're helping uplift and empower Indigenous communities to rise above and beyond.

    This is redress in action.

    Learn more about the L.L.L.Labs and/or Become a Sponsor]
  • Indigenous Inclusion Academy

    Learning & Speaking

    I wrote and produced the Indigenous Inclusion Academy to offer informative, on-demand courses that can be completed in 60 minutes or less. The courses are available for $40, $80, and $120. Grounded in Critical Indigenous Scholarship and Squamish Teachings, each contributes to what I believe is the foundational knowledge needed to redesign systems that actively continue colonial oppressions.

    All six courses are available for individual enrollment or live delivery as part of Nkwayk'an Labs' context-specific unlearning and skill-building. Organizations can also license SCORM files for internal team training.

    To prepare yourself or your team for systems work, check out Indigenous Cultural Protocols, Empathy and Safety, Etiquette for Allies, an Anti-Colonial Communications Overview, Awareness to Action, an Indigenous History course, Activating Critical Allyship with Indigenous Peoples, and Activating Critical Allyship with Host Nations. Not sure where to start, take the Pathfinder Quiz!

    Corporate Training at Salish Circle: Immersive workshops and training programs delivered at our Vancouver location, combining classroom learning with cultural grounding on traditional territories.

    Keynote Speaking & Presentations Disrupting conferences and organizational retreats with frameworks challenging foundational power, relationship, and accountability assumptions.

    Topics include:
    • Surfacing Invisible Patterns in Organizational Culture
    • From Decolonization to Indigenous Resurgence
    •The Colonizer Playbook: Interrupting Colonial Defaults
    •Lateral Liberation and Collective Power-Building

    Delivery options: In-person, virtual, and hybrid formats are available.

    [Take Pathfinder Quiz] [Explore Academy Courses] [Request Speaking] [Corporate Training Inquiry]

    Reach out for pricing on speaking and corporate training.

    Connect about speaking or corporate training here