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Restoring Our Roots: Land-Based Community by and for Indigenous Youth

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Abstract

Knowledge gathered about the impacts of land-based teachings on Indigenous youth is limited. Many Indigenous people and government commissions have pointed to targeted assimilation and land theft as central to historical and ongoing collective dissociation of Indigenous Peoples from their ways of being in relation with the land. It is thus paramount that Indigenous youth be given the opportunities to (re)connect with their cultures in safe, accessible spaces/places. Demonstrating the many ways learning from the land is beneficial for Indigenous youth, the Restoring Our Roots participatory action research project contributes to the knowledge base in this area to centre Indigeneity and reclaim our cultures by enacting Indigenous methodologies and pedagogies. An Indigenous youth advisory committee developed a four-day land-based retreat, held in July 2018, that focused on (re)connecting Indigenous youth to land-based teachings and ceremony. In interviews following the retreat, youth participants spoke about positive changes related to identity, belonging, well-being, and feeling free from violence in this space that engaged land-based teachings led by Elders, Knowledge Holders, and youth themselves. Some Indigenous youth who identify as Two-Spirit, non-binary, and/or LGBTQIA+ attended the retreat and shared how important it is to have safe spaces that are inclusive of diverse gender roles and identities. Restoring Our Roots created an inclusive community of support, sharing, and learning for Indigenous youth, extending into participants’ everyday lives in the city. This project has since grown into Land As Our Teacher, a five- year research project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, that explores benefits of land-based pedagogies for Indigenous youth.
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Primary Research
Restoring Our Roots: Land-Based Community by and for
Indigenous Youth
Elizabeth Fast, Melanie Lefebvre, Christopher Reid, Brooke Wahsontiiostha Deer, Dakota
Swiftwolfe, Moe Clark, Vicky Boldo, Juliet Mackie, Rupert Mackie, Karen Tutanuak
A R T I C L E I N F O
A B S T R A C T
Keywords:
Indigenous
Youth
Land-based
Urban
Two-Spirit
LGBTQIA+
Trans
Queer
Connection
Cultural safety
https://doi.org/10.32799/ijih.v16i2.33932
Knowledge gathered about the impacts of land-based teachings on Indigenous
youth is limited. Many Indigenous people and government commissions have
pointed to targeted assimilation and land theft as central to historical and ongoing
collective dissociation of Indigenous Peoples from their ways of being in relation
with the land. It is thus paramount that Indigenous youth be given the
opportunities to (re)connect with their cultures in safe, accessible spaces/places.
Demonstrating the many ways learning from the land is beneficial for Indigenous
youth, the Restoring Our Roots participatory action research project contributes
to the knowledge base in this area to centre Indigeneity and reclaim our cultures
by enacting Indigenous methodologies and pedagogies. An Indigenous youth
advisory committee developed a four-day land-based retreat, held in July 2018,
that focused on (re)connecting Indigenous youth to land-based teachings and
ceremony. In interviews following the retreat, youth participants spoke about
positive changes related to identity, belonging, well-being, and feeling free from
violence in this space that engaged land-based teachings led by Elders,
Knowledge Holders, and youth themselves. Some Indigenous youth who identify
as Two-Spirit, non-binary, and/or LGBTQIA+ attended the retreat and shared
how important it is to have safe spaces that are inclusive of diverse gender roles
and identities. Restoring Our Roots created an inclusive community of support,
sharing, and learning for Indigenous youth, extending into participants’ everyday
lives in the city. This project has since grown into Land As Our Teacher, a five-
year research project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada, that explores benefits of land-based pedagogies for
Indigenous youth.
A U T H O R I N F O
Elizabeth Fast, Métis, Associate Professor, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Email: Elizabeth.fast@concordia.ca
Melanie Lefebvre, Métis, graduate student, Concordia University
Christopher Reid, graduate student, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, advisor to Restoring our Roots project
Brooke Wahsontiiostha Deer, Kahnien’kahá:ka, youth advisory committee, Restoring our Roots
Dakota Swiftwolfe, Cree, research assistant and youth advisory committee, Restoring our Roots
Moe Clark, Métis, Restoring our Roots project collaborator and interdisciplinary artist
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Vicky Boldo, Métis, cultural advisor, Concordia University, and Restoring our Roots cultural advisor
Juliet Mackie, Métis, youth advisory committee, Restoring our Roots
Rupert Mackie, Métis, youth advisory committee, Restoring our Roots
Karen Tutanuak, Inuk, youth advisory committee, Restoring our Roots
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the youth participants and their voices, the youth advisory
committee, and the Elders who were a part of this project. Funding for this project was awarded
by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada Insight
Development Grant, 2016.
Introduction
Our Indigenous traditions ask that we locate ourselves in our research, and as authors of
this chapter we would like to begin by acknowledging that this projects preparatory work took
place on the ancestral, unceded territories of the Kanienkehá:ka, people of the flint and keepers
of the eastern door (so-called Eastern Canada), and that the retreat itself took place on the
unceded lands of the Abenaki. Our collaborators are Inuit, First Nations, and Métis, some
identifying as members of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.
Many urban Indigenous youth are living experiences of disconnection from their
communities due to colonialism and the barriers it presents to reconnection. For them, and for
those who are open to sharing their own experiences of connection with other youth, the benefits
of land-based learning range from centring Indigeneity and confronting settler colonial forms of
education to regenerating intergenerational teachings and increasing the spiritual and cultural
well-being of participants (Fast, 2014; Radu et al., 2014; Tuck et al., 2014). Emerging
scholarship has shown that urban and rural Indigenous youth who may have been distanced from
their cultures and communities due to displacement, family separation, and colonial
constructions of identity, among other reasons, are looking for ways to reconnect to their cultures
and have few opportunities to do so in ways that are connected to the land (Carriere, 2015; Fast,
2014).
Conceptions of “land” and “authentic” Indigenous experience are often relegated to
imaginings of tundra, bodies of water, and acres of woodland (Peters and Andersen, 2013), and
yet, with over 40% of the Indigenous population in Canada living in urban centres (Anderson,
2019), a broadening of how we interact with and understand land would be beneficial. While
taking safety into account, reimagining and interacting with cities as sites of cultural connection
and spiritual practice, where we seek out and honour those pockets of visible “land” and also
remember and revitalize what lies under the asphalt, can bring healing and (re)connection for
many (Simpson, 2014; Peters & Lafond, 2013). Too often, urban Indigenous youth in particular,
and those in the margins especially, feel that teachings and ceremony are out of their reach (Fast,
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2014; Wexler, 2009), when in fact, as urban Indigenous Peoples, we are surrounded by those
things, albeit sometimes hidden, that inspired and informed our ancestors to manifest the
ceremonies and teachings we experience today.
In much of the current literature on land-based education, the definition of land is broad
and inclusive of urban spaces (Tuck et al., 2014; Wildcat et al., 2014). In a special issue on land
education, Tuck et al. (2014) frame land education as including Indigenous cosmologies. They
explain that land education acknowledges land not only in its materiality but also in its spiritual,
emotional, and intellectual dimensions, and that it holds interconnected and interdependent
relationships (Styres et al., 2013; Tuck et al., 2014). Manulani Meyer (2008) writes that “one
does not simply learn about land, we learn best from land” (p. 219).
There has been little knowledge gathered to date about the impacts of land-based
teaching and learning on Indigenous youth, their families, Elders, and Indigenous students,
especially in urban contexts. Despite this lack of formal research, our research team recognizes
that Indigenous land-based experiential living and learning is happening, and that it is being done
outside a research-based context that documents experiences and disseminates findings.
Indigenous youth, Elders, community members, artists, researchers, and government
commissions have all pointed to targeted assimilation and land theft as central to the historical
and ongoing collective dissociation of Indigenous Peoples from their governance structures,
economies, communities, languages, ceremonies, and subsistence practicestheir ways of being
in relation with the land. This is why it is paramount that Indigenous youth be given
opportunities to (re)connect with their cultures.
The overarching goal of the Restoring our Roots research project is to better
understand and formally document the benefits of land-based teachings for Indigenous youth
and their families, particularly those who may not have access to these teachings as a result
of colonial disruptions of identities and relationships, and through calculated assimilation,
urbanization, and displacement. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (2014) reminds us that
“Indigenous education is not Indigenous or education from within our intellectual traditions
unless it comes through the land, unless it occurs in an Indigenous context using Indigenous
processes” (p. 9). Through conversational interviews with youth participants, this article
focuses on how the youth experienced the different aspects of the land-based programming in
relation to their sense of identity, well-being, and belonging to community.
Educational research integrating land education should emphasize “acute analyses of
settler colonialism as a structure, a set of relations and conditions” (Tuck et al., 2014, p. 13).
Tuck et al. (2014) explain that land education “puts Indigenous epistemological and
ontological accounts of land at the center, including Indigenous understandings of land,
Indigenous language in relation to land, and Indigenous critiques of settler colonialism,” and
that it “attends to constructions and storying of land and repatriation by Indigenous Peoples,
documenting and advancing Indigenous agency and land rights” (p. 13). A main finding from
one review of the literature on land-based education concluded that decolonization must
involve forms of education that reconnect Indigenous Peoples to land and to the social
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relations, knowledges, and languages that arise from the land (Wildcat et al., 2014).
Additionally, there needs to be greater space given to reflections on the intersections between
gender, spirituality, and decolonizing approaches to land-based learning, as well as to
identifying and creating sources of funding for such initiatives (Wildcat et al., 2014).
Land-based education also provides a platform for more holistic understandings of
physical and mental health. The World Health Organization (WHO) reflects a more holistic
understanding of health and “extends beyond the traditional Western biomedical paradigm and
defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity (WHO, 2007).
In An Introduction to the Health of Two-Spirit People, Hunt (2016) notes that Indigenous
people’s “social determinants of health are rooted in colonialism which has disrupted
[Indigenous] cultures, languages, land rights, and self-determination” (p. 11). With this in mind,
Indigenous youth have identified relationships to land, culture, and community as key social
determinants of their own health (Lines et al., 2019). Furthermore, relationship to land as a
determinant of health and well-being is not restricted to rural- or reserve-based Indigenous youth.
Urban Indigenous youth have also identified relationship to land, even in the context of a city, as
a source of resilience, strength, and well-being (Hatala et al., 2020). Land-based education and
research grounded in Indigenous ethics provide an opportunity to directly challenge the root
causes of health inequitiesnamely, the historical and ongoing violence of colonialismwhich
has been identified as a necessary component of any effective approach to health promotion
(McPhail-Bell et al., 2015; Mundel & Chapman, 2010; Stanley et al., 2020). This highlights
land-based education and methods as an important avenue to be investigated within health
research and beyond.
There are distinct needs in terms of reconnecting and finding safe spaces for Two-
Spirit, non-binary, and LGBTQIA+ Indigenous youth, urban Indigenous youth, and
Indigenous youth who have been disconnected from their families and communities through
processes of assimilation and separation, such as the child welfare system, often experienced
over multiple generations (Fast, 2014; Fast et al., 2019; Hunt, 2016). 2SLGBTQIA+
Indigenous people specifically are at a much higher risk of facing violence and trauma
throughout their lives, and they also experience more negative health outcomes than non-
2SLGBTQIA+ Indigenous people (Balsam et al., 2004; Chae & Walters, 2009; Fraser Health
Authority, 2015). The suicide rate of 2SLGBTQIA+ Indigenous youth is not decreasing, and
there is a need to create safer spaces, especially with the shift to conservatism in many
Indigenous communities, including tendencies to make traditional teachings and ceremonies
binary rather than inclusive (Wilson & Laing, 2018).
While “oral histories reflect widespread respect and honour for Two-Spirit people,
the present situation is one where Two-Spirit people are often met with “targeted violence in
their communities” (Hunt, 2016, pp. 7, 9), as well as exclusion from ceremony and
community as a whole (Hunt, 2016; Meyercook & Labelle, 2004). Two-Spirit youth in
particular might feel the need to move to cities because of hostile heteronormativity imposed
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by colonial influences. As a result, they require spaces of belonging that understand their
cultural and other identities (Fast, 2014). However, Two-Spirit youth who relocate to cities
still face violence and discrimination, highlighting the need for urban Indigenous
programming that is created in partnership with Two-Spirit youth (Depelteau & Giroux,
2015). The importance of Two-Spirit inclusive and specific programming has been
highlighted in Meyercook & Labelles (2004) interviews with Two-Spirit youth:
Part of the importance of [Two-Spirit inclusive and specific programming] is to
reverse isolation. By sharing and meeting more people, we are able to gain strength in
our individual lives. These gatherings also provide us with an opportunity to come
together and mirror the kind of balance keeping and inclusive values we are calling on
our communities to demonstrate. If we cant begin within ourselves, how can we
expect any other outside entity to “get it together”? (p. 46)
In interviews with Two-Spirit people, Brotman et al. (2002) found that people exploring their
Two-Spirit identity created the positive effect of an “understand[ing] [that they] have roles
within [their] community” (p. 76). Having a strong sense of identity and history has been
shown to be “an important factor in supporting resilience and well-being” in Indigenous youth
(Wexler, 2009, p. 272). Chae and Walters (2009) have shown that among 2SLGBTQIA+
Indigenous people, high levels of positive identity actualization serve as a protective factor
against the negative health outcomes exacerbated by discrimination. Land-based education
could offer an important resource to these youth, who may struggle the most to find places of
belonging and cultural connection grounded in decolonized notions of gender and sexual
identity. Furthermore, by bringing together queer and Indigenous scholarship, research can
move into actions that challenge ways of knowing and being that are entrenched in colonial
social relations. The praxis of decolonization and queering is active, interconnected, critical,
and everyday practices that take place within and across diverse spaces and times (Hunt &
Holmes, 2015, p. 156), such as land-based, experiential learning.
Methods
This study is grounded in Indigenous research methodologies (Kovach, 2009; Smith,
1999; S. Wilson, 2008). Briefly, Indigenous methodologies and pedagogies are located within
Indigenous worldviews and community ethics, where researchers are guided by core values of
respect, reciprocity, and relationality (S. Wilson, 2008). These frameworks ensure that research
is done responsibly in partnership with community, and that it results in relevant and concrete
benefits for the community in question (Kovach, 2015; S. Wilson, 2008). Principal investigator
Elizabeth Fast was awarded a SSHRC Insight Development Grant in 2016. An Indigenous
youth and community advisory committee was recruited to oversee the grant and worked for
two years to conceive and implement the inaugural Restoring Our Roots: Land-Based Retreat
for Indigenous Youth, held in July 2018. Ethics approval was received from Concordia
University.
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Youth on the advisory committee not only participated in programming, but also played
an integral role in collaboratively shaping pedagogical content; examining intentions and actions
surrounding research; creating ethical best practices for inclusivity and safe spaces, solidarity,
and safety; overseeing grants; and leading projects based on the needs of their communities.
Youth committee involvement in the research process embodies the required community ethics
in Indigenous and decolonizing pedagogies and methodologies (Simpson, 2014; S. Wilson,
2008). Over the course of four days, the retreat provided urban Indigenous youth the opportunity
to connect, learn, and grow on the land in a culturally supportive and empowering environment.
Participants were selected to participate through an open call to urban Indigenous not-for-profit
organizations, college and university Indigenous student centres, and our kinship networks. They
were asked to write a short description of where they were from, including their relationship to
their communities of origin, and why they felt they could benefit from the retreat.
The research aspect of the gathering was meant to assess the impact of teaching histories
of colonialism to Indigenous youth in a way that supported them in responding with their own
stories of resilience, ultimately leading to a strengthening of cultural identity(ies). The goal of
this portion of the project was to better understand how taking part in land-based teachings with
other Indigenous youth impacts those involved, and particularly to see if it helped them feel
more comfortable continuing on their personal journeys of cultural reconnection.
The advisory committee wanted the research component to feel connected to the retreat
and devised several methods for gathering data on how the participants were experiencing the
teachings and activities. During the course of the gathering, a video camera (i.e., a speakers
corner) was set up on site, and youth were invited to answer open-ended questions that were on
display near the camera. On day two of the retreat there was an arts-based session where youth
participants were invited to make a mixed-media collage in response to their experiences with
the blanket exercise,” and to speak about their collage on camera if they wished.
Post-retreat, youth were invited to take part in a longer discussion, through a
conversational method using a semi-structured interview guide, about how they experienced the
teachings. These conversations were audiotaped, and youth were compensated $50 each for
their participation. We also held a sharing circle with members of the youth advisory committee
to hear their experiences as collaborators in the co-creation of the programming and research
design, as well as how they experienced the programming as participants with dual roles.
Led by Elders and in collaboration with artists, community leaders, storytellers, and
other youth, the retreat involved several components, including cultural workshops, ceremony,
and arts-based activities. Some of these activities were teachings about fire and the four sacred
medicines, Sweat Lodge teachings and building with two separate ceremonies, a Sunrise
ceremony each day, a fancy-shawl (powwow) dancing workshop, storytelling with Elders, a
medicine walk, and the blanket exercise followed by sharing circles. These activities were
meant to inspire the celebration and continuum of cultural transmission, land-based teachings,
creative exchange, and ceremony. One Elder came from the local Abenaki territory, and there
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were a number of other participating Elders who were connected to the primary researcher and
collaborators (mainly Plains Cree and Métis). Many of the teachings were from a Nêhiyaw
(Plains Cree) perspective.
While the retreat had an overall structure and agenda, participants could pick and choose
which workshops they wanted to attend, while taking their own capabilities into account, and
could spend their free time however they saw fit (e.g., swimming, mingling with the other
youth, hiking, or spending time on their own). Over and above this, many invited Elders chose
to spend more time with the participants/group and were invited to participate in whatever
activities they wanted, supporting youth to learn from and connect with the Elders in a genuine
and natural way. Throughout the retreat, tobacco and cloth were always available to the youth
as a way to give thanks to Creator; as a mode of honouring and exchange when asking
something from the land, such as harvesting logs for the Sweat Lodge or cedar boughs; and as
an item they could use to make offerings to the Elders whenever they wanted to ask for
guidance or knowledge.
At the core of the retreat were cultural teachings and the acknowledgement that
colonialism tried/tries to strip that away; however, instead of focusing on that colonial history,
the retreat focused on cultural awareness and interconnected relationships (not only between
people and experiences, but also between people and land). This shifted the conversation of
Canadian colonialism from one of victimization to one that highlighted the resilience and
strength of Indigenous youth and Indigenous Peoples and cultures.
Results
Prior to the retreat, youth expressed pre-existing shame, a desire to feel belonging, and a
sense of exclusion from ceremony due to various barriers, such as gender identity, lack of
access to transportation and funding, school commitments, absence of relationships with Elders,
and a general fear of not knowing how to participate. In contrast, many of the youth spoke
about how they felt safe and listened to during the land-based retreat. Being in a safe space and
on the land helped the youth manage pre-existing shame and fear of judgment by inviting them
into a place of empowerment. The youth spoke about having always wanted opportunities to
spend time learning from Elders, participating in ceremonies, and sharing with other Indigenous
youth. The themes resulting from the gathering were the following:
inclusion
accessibility
disconnection
reconnection
teachings
transformation
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Inclusion
Youth shared that in their lives before the retreat, they often felt excluded from
ceremony; they felt they did not belong and had to hide themselves or pretend to be something
other than who they were. Upon arrival at the retreat, youth felt welcomed and accepted.
Participant “M” spoke about navigating ceremony as an Indigenous trans non-binary
youth, how simply being welcomed as he is during ceremony was a positive experience, and that
his inclusion and participation led him to become comfortable identifying as Two-Spirit:
I find in any situation when Im met with somebody whos transphobic at the worst Im
super uncomfortable and want to leave, dont want to be there. I dont feel like I can
share everything about me and I sort of have to dull myself down a lot. And I felt like
especially with ceremony and [the retreat] being very healing oriented, that would have
taken away from it for me. I didnt feel like I had to pretend to be something Im not in
order to participate fully. Im very comfortable with identifying with being non-binary
and trans and at that point I really wasnt sure if the word Two-Spirit was good for me,
and coming out of it I was like: I think thats okay for me.
Participant “C” felt welcomed and included, even though she lacked knowledge of
teachings and ceremony, which in the past had led to feelings of shame and judgment:
As soon as I arrived, I was warmly welcomed everything was very familiar with
everyone. It felt like family. Even the people that Ive seen for the first time it was very
calm. It was very familiar. And comforting. Sunrise ceremonies I had never done. I
never felt judged about not knowing when something was happening. That was a big
thing. I dont feel very knowledgeable or culturally skilled in most of these kinds of
things. Seeing it happen and experiencing it was very much a learning experience and
it was a very comfortable one.
“J” described the community that formed at the retreat as accepting her without
judgment, and the like-minded peers were grappling with the same issues:
I think thats why the retreat was so special to me. I was just totally absorbed by
everybody it was like Ive always been there the community aspect of it was a big
pull for me. And I knew that I would meet people who wouldnt make me doubt myself or
my fears or anxieties, like everybody made me, kind of validated everything that I was
feeling already. Made me feel a little bit more solid.
Cultivating spaces of inclusion and safety, where gender-fluid youth are not only
welcomed but cherished as holding unique and important perspectives, will move them beyond
colonial thinking toward critical stewardship and governance roles in their communities as they
claim their positions at the forefront of imagining alternative futures that hold social and
ecological justice.
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Accessibility
Many urban Indigenous youth search for opportunities to participate in ceremony (some
for the first time), connect with the land, and gather with other Indigenous youth. Although the
desire to learn and experience traditional teachings exists, accessibility to opportunities in the
urban setting, as well as on their remote home reserves/communities, pose a challenge for such
reasons as funding, transportation, scheduling, commitments at school and work that do not
allow for seasonal ceremony breaks, an absence of relationships to Elders, shame, and fear.
Feelings about access to community, access to peer support, and belonging were
expressed by “M,” as well as the desire to take that experience back to his life in the city, post
retreat:
I think definitely being around a bunch of other Indigenous youth who are in similar
situations so Im not the odd one out [was great]. Im not the only one whos like shit out
of luck on connecting with family that was really nice having access to ceremony
and having that experience under my belt and then bonding with other Indigenous
youth and feeling acceptance from them. Its kind of like some external validation which
is really really nice so I dont feel like Im just making shit up and then making me
able to not feel weird about participating in Restoring Our Roots retreat that feedback
loop is very affirming.
“D” expressed some of the logistical factors that have kept him from ceremony in the
past on his home reserve, as well as his appreciation of having access to ceremony and
teachings at the retreat:
If we look at it from a practical way, like getting there can be sometimes an issue
because it costs money. Then there is the matter of scheduling. I cant schedule a
ceremony but, like, I have to work with when that ceremony is. [At the retreat] the
education that I got first from our teachers, our Elders, and then it was being out there
in that space. Being able to be a fire keeper for the first time in my life, I thought that
was very special. I felt like I was part of something you know, part of the collective.
“N” described the retreat as access to an opportunity of reclamation and discovery:
This retreat really greatly helped me in discovering and reclaiming who I am, but Im a
twenty-four-year-old Anishinaabe Two-Spirited medicine person in training. And kind of
behind the motivation in applying: When I was younger, my family and I, like, everyone
knew we were a native, but it was rarely talked about. If at all. So, motivation came
from the not only, like, the desire but also the need to learn what was taken from us. And
also, to honor our ancestors. I found everything was magic. And I felt a feeling of
hope like Ive never felt before. And I also experienced a light ignite in peoples eyes
that seemed buried. And I think the most beautiful thing was experiencing strangers
become community.
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Teachings offered at the retreat were from nehiyawewin Elders perspectives. Youth
expressed their extreme gratitude for having time with the Elders who were present and the
teachings they provided, and commented that the fundamentals of many Indigenous teachings
are similar across nations. Feedback from participants has led the research team to recognize
the desire in the future to include representation from the various nations represented among
participants, while also understanding that this research started with the relationships and
resources that were available for this first gathering.
Disconnection
A common theme was how youth felt disconnected from their own communities and
cultures. S spoke about the impacts of urbanization on her family and how that influenced
feelings of belonging:
My extended family live on a reserve, but my grandparents generation had to go to
residential school, so they were removed from the community and then they had to live
with a Caucasian family off reserve if they wanted to pursue higher education like college
or university. Im the oldest of six, my grandfathers the oldest of 14, so some of the kids
got raised with white families as they went to school off reserve and then the other side of
the family stayed on the reserve. So, I have cousins who grew up on the reserve and then
I have cousins who live off reserve in the city. As adults they didnt go back and stayed in
the city because at that time kids on reserve were still forced into residential school. So
thats where the divide is for me.
“S” is speaking of the impact for many of her family members of growing up outside
their cultures and communities, and the disconnection this creates with their cultural identity(ies)
and sense of belonging.
Similarly, “C,” who is Inuk on her mother’s side and French Canadian on her fathers
side, said, With not being accepted within the Inuit community, in the urban space Ive been
feeling very. Its been very heavy.” “C” was born in her mother’s community but was mostly
raised by her father in southern Quebec and feels excluded or disconnected from her Inuit side as
a result of both the cultural divide and distance from her Inuit family. She was also speaking of
both the real and perceived rejection that many youth of mixed backgrounds experience in
relation to their Indigenous families and communities.
Disconnection was expressed as grief, absence, something missing and lost by “D,” who
never had the chance to learn his culture even though he grew up on his reserve:
Being able to take part [in the retreat] helps me to grasp a little more of the things Ive
lost and things that I did not have passed down to me. I grew up all my life practically
on my reserve and you would think that such a background would entail having the
cultural things to go along with that. But I have none of those things. I have no songs
that I can sing, not really familiar with any dances or I have a little bit of my
language. Theres a lot of absence in my life about the things that I ought to have
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an undercurrent of something missing in me that I couldnt quite put my finger on, that I
dont think I really realized until I started to get older just what it actually was the
absence of my culture. Grief of a life I never lived. Not something that I lost. That I
never had.
Reconnecting youth to land and culture fosters feelings of groundedness, belonging, and
self-sovereignty. Indigenous well-being, cultural vitality, and networks of community are
essential dimensions of the movement toward a future beyond mere survival.
Reconnection
Despite these experiences of disconnection, several of the youth participants shared that
the retreat helped them feel reconnected. For example, when referring to some of the organizers
and facilitators, “K” explained she felt inspired because there were people older than her who
were still learning how to reconnect with their cultures, and it took some of the pressure off for
her and let her feel that she still had time to learn her language:
So I found that very inspiring that wasnt an issue for them, if they wanted to learn
about their culture they were going to learn about it, and now theyre teaching and
theyre educating others about it. Sometimes I feel like Im running out of time to learn
my culture and the language, so seeing how theyre still able to embrace it is really
assuring because it relieves some of the pressure I feel.
“S” explained that she thought she was going to the retreat to participate in cultural
activities, but the teachings allowed her a greater capacity to become self-aware and to get in
touch with her spirituality:
I wasnt expecting that whole level of more awareness and more self-knowledge, self-
awareness and positive messages. The more I am taught about my culture the more I
learn about, like, not only myself but my family. And the more understanding and
patience and forgiveness I have which allows me to see the strength and beauty, in not
only in my family but, like, my extended family, my people and the land and its
inhabitants.
“D” at one point described his reconnection experience in terms of his relationship with
the land, as the land being a part of himself, albeit outside of his present understanding:
Abenaki territory, as I understand it theyre related to the Anishinaabe through kinship.
So for me its still woodland, its still bush. Its still a territory Im familiar with. And
when you think about its also Anishinaabe thats where my people were,, wherever they
are now they were there before. So the territory of this region is familiar to me I think on
a level Im not even able to understand yet. So for me part of being there was good,
because I was already home.
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The act of finding a sense of belonging and identity, piece by piece, and nurturing this is
a (re)connection to culture and community. These acts of reclamation have given youth a chance
to create a wider web of knowledge and resistance to the colonial paradigm, creating deeper
relations within the Indigenous community, speaking more openly with new knowledge, and
becoming more of who they have always been.
Teachings
Land-based activities and oral narratives explored at the retreat provided teachings on
relationships to the land, including fire, ceremonies, medicines, and more to help the youth
experience how a relationship with land preserves cultural heritage, strengthens cultural pride,
centres Indigenous pedagogies, and supports the well-being of Indigenous youth.
Participant “N” conveyed her sense of gratitude for the teachings that were shared by the
Elders and for the restorative nature of the experience:
And also having spent the time with the Abenaki Elder and her grandchildren I think
allowed me to have a connection with, like, the spirit of the land that we are visiting. I
feel that connection. Ive never felt it that strong. And building the Sweat Lodge and
participating in the sweat. Its like one of the most healing things Ive ever done. Ill
always be very very grateful for learning all of the teachings that were shared, will
forever hold that close to my heart.
“J” spoke about how her mothers own journey demonstrated to her traditional
knowledge used in daily life to support others, and she expressed her fascination with the
juxtaposition of Indigenous ways of knowing versus Western knowledge systems:
And its knowledge that Ive watched my mother take and integrate and use to help. And
nobodys ever made her, or me for that matter, feel stupid for asking the questions or for
not knowing which way to pick up the pipe or which way to turn it when youre passing
it, like the little things that you didnt grow up with, thats knowledge thats really
important but theres no aggressiveness to the teaching of it. I do look at it as sharing in
the very literal sense of the word.
The intimate journey of being a pipe carrier, and the struggles to adhere to traditional
protocols surrounding that journey, as well as the experience of being mentored by an Elder on
the pipe teachings were voiced by “T”:
Just understanding my responsibility with being a pipe carrier and knowing what it
means to carry a pipe. Because that was the first time I used it with an Elder, and I was
very scared of it for seven years, I was very scared of it. I always kept it up high when
I had been sober enough to touch it, I would put the pieces together. Id often apologize
to it for not being respectful to myself. I think now I am ready and these past seven
months Ive been sober have been the best I have ever had in my whole entire life. Js
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words resonated with me: by honouring myself with sobriety, Im honouring the creator.
And those really really stuck in my head and I realize that me being sober isnt just about
myself. Its honouring the creator and the pipe and the culture.
The teachings provided participants with a newfound sense of purpose and possibility,
healing and gratitude, and a distinct realization of responsibility one has to these stories as they
carry them through their lives.
Transformation
Retreat participants described how positively affected they were over the course of the
retreat as they took the experience back to the city, describing the processes of integrating what
they learned into their day-to-day lives. They expressed gratitude, strengthened identity and
confidence, an excitement to share teachings and knowledge, a personal balance and
groundedness, humility, and hope.
Participant M:
So that was like a really nice way of bringing healing home because you can get your
medicine plants and do it for yourself at home, and thats something you could take with
you anywhere, which I like. Thats been really helpful to me for chronic health issues,
and Ive been hanging out at Native Montreal a lot more lately, and I ended up giving a
medicine plant workshop. So that was super nice to be able to share what I learned.
Participant S:
Its been about two years since Ive been to Mount Currie Mountains. Its clear pristine.
Its like my eyes arent even closed. I saw it. I was surrounded by these mountains at
night and the sky was full of stars and there was the moon like biggest ever, a full moon,
and moonlight and I just felt like I was home. And I just felt like I was like completely
grounded. And what I was able to do is realize at any given time I can tap into home. I
am home wherever I am. And my roots may be from there but I can carry the lessons and
teachings from where Ive come from and use them anywhere I go. But what I realize
is that Im here, I am taking care of myself, and Im doing what I have to do for myself.
And home is where I am this retreat has helped me on so many levels just to stay
grounded, to remember where I came from and respect where I came from and then just
try to be a good role model. Im so grateful for this experience.
Participant T:
Coming back from [the retreat] theres a lot of things I realize I dont know. Like theres
a lot of songs that I wish I could do and I know that will come in time. I think that will
come with me wanting to learn the language. J gave me some pointers on some
protocols. Funny enough I already have everything there with the red cloth, the tobacco
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and to tie a feather to it and I was like, how perfect is it to have a goose feather to go
down south with me, to take it with me.
Participant C:
But going to the retreat it was very positive feeling not healing but I just feel very more
relieved. I started volunteering at La PAQ [an organization providing shelter and
services to homeless and precariously housed Indigenous people]. Its the first time that I
am working with people not in an academic sphere and Im with the community and it
feels good to have the human contact.
Participant N:
Just that I have so much more hope, like I knew decolonizing was possible but to
experience it is something totally different. And its thanks to the retreat that I know that
change is possible and the more I am taught about my culture the more I learn about,
like, not only myself but my family. And the more understanding and patience and
forgiveness I have, which allows me to see the strength and beauty, in not only in my
family but, like, my extended family, my people and the land and its inhabitants. My
words cant describe how thankful I am for the opportunity.
Once back in the city, participants were able to maintain connections made during the
retreat, remembering relationships and teachings, and bringing ceremony into a broader life
context. Decolonizing and Indigenizing became concrete actions instead of mere concepts
spoken about in academic institutions and spaces, and participants were then able to take these
actions and share their new knowledge with the community.
Discussion/Conclusion
This participatory research brings the voices of youth to the fore as they describe their
experiences being taught from the land (Meyer, 2008), what they have learned, how it changed
them, and how they are applying it to their daily lives. By bringing traditional ideas of land as
landscape together with contemporary ideas of land as urban space, and both as sites of
accessibility to Indigenous teachings, Indigenous youth are offered more opportunities to engage
with their cultures after leaving the retreat space. The project intentionally held time and space
for self-reflection by youth on their own lives within the context of land-based education, which
enabled participants to decolonize, collectively and personally, as a return “to ourselves, a
reengagement with the things we have left behind, a re-emergence, an unfolding from the inside
out (Simpson, 2017, p. 17). The self was held as a driving force for collective change with
knowledge of how Indigenous Peoples lived and thrived, brought into today to (re)establish a
status quo beyond settler colonialism.
In November 2019, participants artwork and photos from the retreat were exhibited
in a week-long showing titled Gathering Place at Concordia Universitys 4th Space. Retreat
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participants were invited to a reunion event to open the exhibit, reconnect, and celebrate the
launch of Land As Our Teacher, the continuation of the Restoring Our Roots work through a
separate multi-year grant. During the week, attendees took part in storytelling sessions,
drumming, singing, workshops (such as medicine bag making and screen printing), and the
option to receive traditional tattooing.
The participants shared the lasting positive change their experiences at the retreat have
created in their lives regarding their connection to cultural heritage and identity. Positive cultural
identity and connection are known to buffer the negative health effects of discrimination, so it
would be beneficial for future research to investigate the specific positive health benefits and
their underlying processes for Indigenous youth who participate in land-based education
programs (Wexler, 2009). It should be noted that working in partnership with Indigenous
communities creates health interventions that are “of high priority, sustainable, and a better fit
with cultural values,” as well as “[providing] increased community capacity, local ownership,
and important safeguards on the potential cultural expropriation of Indigenous knowledge and
traditional healing techniques in [health] intervention[s]” (Stanley et al., 2020, p. S18).
Future research, created in partnership with Indigenous youth and focusing on the
relationship between land-based programming and specific health outcomes, would create an
opportunity to inform culturally relevant future programming and policy wherein actual benefit
is given to Indigenous youth. Examples of effective research processes and programming have
been shown by Indigenous-led projects such as Vancouvers Urban Aboriginal Community
Kitchen Garden Project (Mundel & Chapman, 2010), the On-the-Land Health Leadership
Program of Yellowknife’s Dene First Nation (Lines et al., 2019), and the Promoting Community
Conversations About Research to End Suicide (PC CARES) programming developed by and
implemented in some Alaska Native communities (Wexler et al., 2016).
Decolonizing, queering, and creating non-binary inclusive spaces for land-based
teachings where Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+ youth feel safer are all essential to the youths’
overall self-esteem, a sense of much-needed relief, and a greater understanding of themselves as
they relate to their Indigenous cultures. Alex Wilson (2018) has explained “coming in” as “an act
of returning, fully present in our selves, to resume our place as a valued part of our families,
cultures, communities, and lands, in connection with all our relations” (p. 171). This is in
contrast to the western notion of “coming out” to families, friends and the public at large. Wilson
(2018) addresses how norms that reinforce heteropatriarchy and gender binariesconcerned
with the regulation of “the bodies of women and Two-Spirit and trans people” (p. 164)—have
come to shape the social relations of communities, including their ceremonial contexts. Wilson
identifies skirt shaming and the gendered regulation of dress during Sweat Lodge ceremonies
as exclusionary expressions of protocol that betray Indigenous traditions of valuing gender and
sexual diversity. In contrast to the negative experiences many queer Indigenous youth face in
queer-exclusionary cultural spaces, non-binary transmasculine participant “M” articulated a
direct connection between his proactive inclusion in ceremony during the retreat and his
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subsequent self-identification as a Two-Spirit person, both of which contributed to his sense of
being accepted within a community of Indigenous peers.
Indigenous queer scholar Sarah Hunt and queer scholar Cindy Holmes (2015) discuss
how queer is not merely a term referring to gender and sexuality, but extends beyond to action
where we challenge ways of knowing and being that are entrenched in society by the settler state.
The praxis of decolonization and queering involves active, interconnected, critical, and
everyday practices that take place within and across diverse spaces and times (p. 156). This
research seeks to provide time and space for Indigenous youth to develop these everyday
practices of decolonization. With this scholarship and youth expertise in mind, this research
moves forward with Two-Spirit representation on the Indigenous youth advisory board and the
broader Indigenous community advisory board to ensure inclusion and accessibility to safe
spaces offering land-based teachings. The strong positive impacts of cultural programming that
is accessible to and inclusive of 2SLGBTQIA+ Indigenous youth are further demonstrated by the
robust positive feedback and widely expressed excitement from queer Indigenous youth when
they learned that this programming will be continued.
As the Restoring our Roots project continues and expands into the longer-term SSHRC-
funded Land As Our Teacher, queer Indigenous youth are consistently engaging with the
planning process and are actively guiding the ways in which it can move toward centring, rather
than simply including, queer Indigenous experiences and needs. 2SLGBTQIA+ Indigenous
people experience higher rates of violence, discrimination, and negative health outcomes than
non-2SLGBTQIA+ Indigenous peopleit is imperative that future research into the benefits of
land-based learning, decolonial approaches, and the protective effects of positive cultural identity
considers the unique needs and experiences of queer Indigenous people (Balsam et al., 2004;
Chae & Walters, 2009; Fraser Health Authority, 2015; Wexler, 2009).
With renewed funding from SSHRC for the next five years, seasonal gatherings are being
planned that will deepen and broaden the relationships created during our inaugural gathering.
Queer Indigenous youth participants and community members are looking forward to the
planned retreat dedicated to queer Indigenous youth in the summer of 2021, and are
enthusiastically guiding the preliminary processes. The youth advisory committee and
collaborators will focus on integrating what we have learned in terms of continuing to give space
to Indigenous youth to connect and explore diverse aspects of identity and belonging in
ceremony with the land and one another, as well as potentially acquiring land for a dedicated
space/place for youth and community to gather.
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Our children are our future. As noted in the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), “There is no resource that is more vital to the continued existence and integrity of Indian tribes than their children”. Native Americans have always fought for and prioritized child wellbeing and will continue to strive for self-determination. Primarily focusing on Indigenous people in the area now known as the United States, this article first discusses the historical underpinnings of Native American experiences in child welfare systems and the ways Native Americans have historically exercised self-determination in child protection matters, including resistance to boarding schools and child removal, and strategies to retain authority with ICWA. Next, it offers examples of exerting self-determination to repair past harms of child welfare systems and relational severance, and prevent future harms, through efforts involving truth and reconciliation, homecoming ceremonies, child-environment reconnection and protection, legal systems, and social work education initiatives. Centering content in ways that are relevant for Indigenous Peoples, it then explores how child welfare systems can be transformed to ensure Native Peoples’ rights to raise our children within our families, cultures, and communities, with emphases on cultural strengths and relational understandings.
... Successful transition to college for native students requires "the maintenance of a positive attachment to one's Native heritage" (Rodriguez & Mallinckrodt, 2021, p. 111), but decades of disenfranchisement and dispossession has negatively impacted attachment to their native identity for many Indigenous students, even before transition to higher education. As Fast et al. (2021) noted, "targeted assimilation and land theft" have led to the "historical and ongoing collective dissociation of Indigenous peoples from their ways of being" (p. 120). ...
... Yet, evidence suggests Indigenous youth want to connect with their culture (Fast et al., 2021), and helping them do so can help attenuate these harms of cultural genocide and increase overall wellness, resilience, and positive self-concepts overall, and in relation to education (Kana'iaupuni et al., 2017;Wexler, 2009). As native youth are often left without access to language or land-based teachings and engage with a noticeable lack of native American educators in both K-12 schools and on college campuses (National Center for Education Statistics, 2023; Teach for America, 2023; U.S. Department of Education, 2015), much of this cultural reconnection is taking place via intentional community-and schoolbased interventions. ...
... Participants reported increases across a range of metrics of personal, cultural, and social development. Other research exploring the utility in reconnecting youth to landbased teachings and ceremony via a youth participatory action research (YPAR)-led 4-day retreat noted similar impacts, including reported increases in sense of belong and ability to engage safely in cultural exploration (Fast et al., 2021). Further highlighting the value of culturally relevant, youth-driven programming, Price and Mencke (2013) examined the impacts of a 10-year-long participatory action research partnership between native youth and a local university, and found that a mix of guided research projects and community building experiences helped student participants feel empowered to "break the cycle" of harm in educational spaces (p. ...
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The Indigenous Education Youth Collective brings together native youth, community members, and researchers to promote identity development, community engagement, and educational imaginings to address chronic issues with college access and well-being among native youth. Grounded in Indigenous methodologies and frameworks, our findings suggest culturally relevant programming supports participants’ native identity exploration, and in turn, how participants view educational spaces and their own educational pathways. Connecting native identity with college imaginings for middle- and high-school students early in their postsecondary planning may be particularly impactful. We offer additional implications for education policy and practice and for future research leveraging Indigenous approaches in collaboration with native communities.
... Land-based education and learning is one such approach, as it centers Indigenous knowledge and the interconnectedness of life forms through acknowledging the land as a material, social, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual being [19][20][21]. In the context of advancing sexual health among Northern and Indigenous youth, being on and engaging with the land fosters reconnection to community, to culture, and to the self through activities including traditional storytelling, ceremony, and drumming [20][21][22]. ...
... Land-based education and learning is one such approach, as it centers Indigenous knowledge and the interconnectedness of life forms through acknowledging the land as a material, social, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual being [19][20][21]. In the context of advancing sexual health among Northern and Indigenous youth, being on and engaging with the land fosters reconnection to community, to culture, and to the self through activities including traditional storytelling, ceremony, and drumming [20][21][22]. For instance, research on various landbased retreats with Indigenous youth in Canada and the United States have reported that Indigenous youth may feel a sense of shame and cultural disconnection prior to retreat participation, yet may feel safety and inclusion during the retreat, leading to a sense of empowerment [21][22][23]. ...
... In the context of advancing sexual health among Northern and Indigenous youth, being on and engaging with the land fosters reconnection to community, to culture, and to the self through activities including traditional storytelling, ceremony, and drumming [20][21][22]. For instance, research on various landbased retreats with Indigenous youth in Canada and the United States have reported that Indigenous youth may feel a sense of shame and cultural disconnection prior to retreat participation, yet may feel safety and inclusion during the retreat, leading to a sense of empowerment [21][22][23]. Landbased learning can also enhance wellbeing and resilience through its focus on relationality, reciprocity, and a holistic approach [24,25]. Thus land-based retreats [21][22][23] have the potential to nurture empowerment through building self-esteem, self-efficacy, and confidence-which are key to realizing sexual wellbeing [7]. ...
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The Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada has high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STI) that elevate HIV acquisition risks. We conducted a mixed-methods study to explore the potential of land-based peer leader retreats (PLR) in building HIV prevention enabling environments among Northern and Indigenous youth in the NWT. PLRs are grounded in Indigenous principles and ways of knowing, acknowledging the land as a physical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual being with the potential to facilitate (re)connection to culture, community, and self. We conducted one-week PLRs between 2016 and 2021 with adolescents aged 13–17 in the NWT. PLRs addressed HIV/STIs, safer sex, and gender equity. We conducted post-retreat focus groups (FGs) and pre/post-retreat surveys with youth participants (n = 353), and post-retreat FGs with PLR facilitators (n = 252). We applied thematic analysis to FGs and assessed pre/post-retreat changes in HIV/STI knowledge and safer sex efficacy (SSE) using paired sample t-tests. We assessed factors associated with post-test SSE and HIV/STI knowledge using multivariable linear regression. Youth participants (n = 353; mean age: 14.5, standard deviation [SD]: 1.3) were mostly Indigenous (71%) and women (66%). Participant narratives revealed PLRs enhanced technical communication (e.g., correct condom use). There were significant post-retreat HIV/STI knowledge increases; change score increases were lower for Indigenous participants. Qualitative narratives described how PLRs fostered transformative communication (e.g., sexual consent). There were significant post-retreat increases in SSE, and these were lower among men and sexually diverse (vs. heterosexual) participants. Land-based PLRs offer the potential to build technical and transformative communication to facilitate HIV prevention with youth in Canada’s North.
... In a similar way, Hatala and colleagues (2020) found that urban youth understood nature as a spiritual force that could guide people away from harmful directions in life; without access to sacred spaces, transmission of spiritual guidance can be obscured or harder to find. When participants in land-based healing and education programs interact with sacred spaces, they report feeling greater responsibility toward the land, which often comes with the desire to renew and pass on their knowledge to the next generations, an impulse which when violated, can have devastating consequences on the health of entire communities and Nations (Cooper et al., 2019;Corntassel & Hardbarger, 2019;Danto et al., 2021;Fast et al., 2021;Hansen, 2018;Lines & Jardine, 2019). ...
... Indigenous Peoples are more likely to experience minority stress and sequalae health repercussions in colonized spaces, but the opposite is true of Indigenous protected sacred spaces (Aamar et al., 2015;Bowra et al., 2021;Cooper et al., 2019;Fast et al., 2021). Fast and colleagues (2021), for example, extended sacred sites to mean ceremonial space and community space that is accessible, safe, free from violence, and inclusive for those who identify as Two-Spirit, non-binary, and/or LGBTQIA+. ...
... Fast and colleagues (2021) explored how ceremony retreat space activated and affirmed positive feelings, including community spirit, solidarity, belonging, identity, and purpose for youth participants. Youth participants reflected on this distinct positivity in sharp contrast to being in typical academic space, institutional space, and colonial space (Fast et al., 2021). Participants discovered that sacred spaces enabled them to be taught directly from the land, that sacred sites are in fact teachers, and that sacred sites empowered new-ancient Indigenous ways of thinking and being with the land (Fast et al., 2021). ...
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This study analyzes the literature on Indigenous sacred sites within the larger topic areas of land-based education and healing, as per the guidance of Anishinaabe (a group of Indigenous Peoples from the Great Lakes and the Great Plains areas of contemporary Canada and USA) Elders and community leaders in eastern Manitoba, Canada. A scoping review was conducted to identify the size, scope, nature, and key themes of existing research in seven databases, inclusive of gray literature which is a key source for Indigenous organizations. In total, we analyzed 35 articles and documents. The emerging themes included: (1) sacred sites and the promotion of health and wellness; (2) sacred sites as places of knowledge; (3) the desecration and protection of sacred sites; and (4) legal battles between Indigenous Peoples and the state. Recommendations to advance understandings and correct colonially imposed imbalances are discussed, and health and legal implications are outlined.
... Intentionally developing relationships with land/place can restore and develop connections to family, ancestors, community, and culture (Fast et al., 2021;Nightingale and Richmond, 2022). Social workers can collaborate with Indigenous/Tribal communities to consider ways to promote environmental connectedness for reconnecting adoptees, as has been done for children in foster care (Grant et al., 2021;Oliver, 2020) and boarding/ residential school survivors (Redvers, 2020;Walsh et al., 2018). ...
Article
The Indigenous Connectedness Framework (ICF) describes mechanisms that help or hinder Indigenous children’s development of family, community, environmental, intergenerational, and cultural/spiritual connectedness, or belonging, and healthy identity. It has been applied in considerations of child welfare system-involved youth and alumni and studies of Indigenous mental health, but not yet to Indigenous adoptees who may not have experienced child welfare involvement prior to adoption and are reconnecting to their origins as adults. Although various factors influence the extent of (re)connectedness, Indigenous adoptees’ reunification with biological family, community, land/place, ancestors, and culture is generally linked with increases in their senses of connectedness, or belonging, and Indigenous/Tribal identity. To gain initial insights into the suitability of the ICF to describe components of Indigenous adoptee (re)connectedness, this study used a Two-Eyed Seeing approach with Indigenous storytelling and narrative inquiry methodologies to explore experiences and perceptions of reunification with four Indigenous adults who experienced adoption by non-Indigenous families as children and were raised in non-Indigenous communities. Stories about reconnection with family, community, and land/place after adoption, as well as stories of perceived supports for, and challenges of, reunification were obtained during conversational interviews conducted via Zoom or phone and then mapped onto the ICF. Disconnectedness mechanisms, (re)connectedness mechanisms, and themes related to adoptees’ internal worlds and resilience, relational identity development, and contributions to intergenerational connectedness were revealed. Suggested pathways for social work to support (re)connectedness or belonging for Indigenous adoptees and implications for future research are provided.
... As Indigenous Peoples have lived in close relationship with the planet for millennia, the context of having Western health professionals prescribing nature is not often considered in current nature prescription programs. Indigenous-specific nature programs have been increasingly platformed from within Indigenous communities in Canada; however, they have been most often situated within the context of Land-based healing, cultural, and education programs, and not necessarily within healthcare settings [16][17][18][19]. Given this, we sought to listen to the perspectives of physicians working with a high proportion of Indigenous patients, as well as a group of Indigenous Elders within the Northwest Territories (NWT) on "patient-planetary health co-benefit prescribing" [20]. ...
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Nature prescription programs have become more common within healthcare settings. Despite the health benefits of being in nature, nature prescriptions within the context of Indigenous Peoples have received little attention. We therefore sought to answer the following question: What are circumpolar-based physicians’ and Indigenous Elders’ views on nature prescribing in the Northwest Territories, Canada? We carried out thirteen semi-structured interviews with physicians between May 2022 and March 2023, and one sharing circle with Indigenous Elders in February 2023. Separate reflexive thematic analysis was carried out to generate key themes through inductive coding of the data. The main themes identified from the physician interviews included the importance of cultural context; barriers with nature prescriptions in the region; and the potential for nature prescriptions in the North. Reflections shared by the Elders included the need for things to be done in the right way; the sentiment that the Land is not just an experience but a way of life; and the importance of traditional food as a connection with Nature. With expanding nature prescription programs, key considerations are needed when serving Indigenous communities. Further investigation is warranted to ensure that nature prescriptions are appropriate within a given context, are inclusive of supporting Land-based approaches to health and wellbeing, and are considered within the context of Indigenous self-determination.
Article
Indigenous Communities worldwide stress the vital role of Land in their health and identity. Colonisation has intentionally disrupted this connection; however, Indigenous Communities are reclaiming and reviving their cultures by resisting colonial influences and enacting Indigenous methodologies and pedagogies. This scoping review aimed to understand the ways in which Land-based healing is conducted and understood globally by Indigenous Communities. Two reviewers searched five databases to identify records eligible for inclusion. Principles of content analysis were used to synthesise patterns across the data. The systematic search located 9,018 unique articles, of which 27 fully satisfied the inclusion criteria. Findings represented 13 Indigenous Communities across four countries. The included articles collectively applied a set of seven shared principles in their practice. Based on the evidence discussed in this review, combined with the wealth of global Indigenous Knowledges the significance of Land-based healing for the well-being of Indigenous Peoples is indisputable.
Article
The COVID-19 pandemic had devastating effects on Indigenous communities worldwide. However, communities continued in various ways to preserve cultural connections and practice land and family-based activities central to health and well-being. This study was a collaborative effort between a university, a community agency, and a Haudenosaunee community to explore how culture and identity promoted mental health during the pandemic. A cultural program, Firekeepers, was delivered to promote and maintain connections and wellness. Semi-structured interviews with 19 community member participants focused on how knowing about your culture and identity helps you be mentally healthy. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, and six themes were identified. Results add to the growing literature on the health restoring and affirming effects of culturally based belonging and participation in Indigenous cultural communities.
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Using the ‘Next Seven Generations’ as a conceptual framework, this article highlights Indigenous perspectives on sustainability and intergenerational responsibility in response to the A World Fit for Children declaration report. Through an analysis of Indigenous children's rights, the article emphasizes the importance of recognizing Indigenous land sovereignty in fostering a sustainable future for all children. Additionally, the disparate impacts of climate change on Indigenous children, lands, and resources will be explored with proposed mitigation strategies. The authors argue that upholding Indigenous rights can lead to improved outcomes in protecting the earth for children and stress the benefits of a rights-informed approach. Challenges and opportunities in implementing recommendations from child rights frameworks are explored, advocating for collaboration between Indigenous communities and stakeholders. In conclusion, sustained efforts are urged to create a world fit for the next seven generations of children by adopting a rights-informed approach to environmental protection. Keywords: Indigenous Childhoods, Children’s Rights, Environmental Protection, Sustainability
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Background: Population and environmental health research illustrate a positive relationship between access to greenspace or natural environments and peoples' perceived health, mental health, resilience, and overall well-being. This relationship is also particularly strong among Canadian Indigenous populations and social determinants of health research where notions of land, health, and nature can involve broader spiritual and cultural meanings. Among Indigenous youth health and resilience scholarship, however, research tends to conceptualize land and nature as rural phenomena without any serious consideration on their impacts within urban cityscapes. This study contributes to current literature by exploring Indigenous youths' meaning-making processes and engagements with land and nature in an urban Canadian context. Methods: Through photovoice and modified Grounded Theory methodology, this study explored urban Indigenous youth perspectives about health and resilience within an inner-city Canadian context. Over the course of one year, thirty-eight in-depth interviews were conducted with Indigenous (Plains Cree First Nations and Métis) youth along with photovoice arts-based and talking circle methodologies that occurred once per season. The research approach was also informed by Etuaptmumk or a "two-eyed seeing" framework where Indigenous and Western "ways of knowing" (worldviews) can work alongside one another. Results: Our strength-based analyses illustrated that engagement with and a connection to nature, either by way of being present in nature and viewing nature in their local urban context, was a central aspect of the young peoples' photos and their stories about those photos. This article focuses on three of the main themes that emerged from the youth photos and follow-up interviews: (1) nature as a calming place; (2) building metaphors of resilience; and (3) providing a sense of hope. These local processes were shown to help youth cope with stress, anger, fear, and other general difficult situations they may encounter and navigate on a day-to-day basis. Conclusions: This study contributes to the literature exploring Indigenous youths' meaning-making process and engagements with land and nature in an urban context, and highlights the need for public health and municipal agencies to consider developing more culturally safe and meaningful natural environments that can support the health, resilience, and well-being of Indigenous youth within inner-city contexts.
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Background: Social determinants of Indigenous health are known to include structural determinants such as history, political climate, and social contexts. Relationships, interconnectivity, and community are fundamental to these determinants. Understanding these determinants from the perspective of Indigenous youth is vital to identifying means of alleviating future inequities. Methods: In 2016, fifteen Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN) youth in the Canadian Northwest Territories participated in the 'On-the-Land Health Leadership Camp'. Using a strength- and community-based participatory approach through an Indigenous research lens, the YKDFN Wellness Division and university researchers crafted the workshop to provide opportunities for youth to practice cultural skills, and to capture the youth's perspectives of health and health agency. Perspectives of a healthy community, health issues, and health priorities were collected from youth through sharing circles, PhotoVoice, mural art, and surveys. Results: The overall emerging theme was that a connection to the land is an imperative determinant of YKDFN health. Youth identified the importance of a relationship to land including practicing cultural skills, Elders passing on traditional knowledge, and surviving off the land. The youth framed future health research to include roles for youth and an on-the-land component that builds YKDFN culture, community relations, and traditional knowledge transfer. Youth felt that a symbiotic relationship between land, environment, and people is fundamental to building a healthy community. Conclusion: Our research confirmed there is a direct and critical relationship between structural context and determinants of Indigenous Peoples' health, and that this should be incorporated into health research and interventions.
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Health disparities exact a devastating toll upon Indigenous people in the USA. However, there has been scant research investment to develop strategies to address these inequities in Indigenous health. We present a case for increased health promotion, prevention, and treatment research with Indigenous populations, providing context to the recent NIH investment in the Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health (IRINAH) network. We discuss the disproportionate costs and consequences of disparities borne by Indigenous groups, the limited evidence base on effective intervention for this population, how population uniqueness often makes transfer of existing intervention models difficult, and additional challenges in creating interventions for Indigenous settings. Given the history of colonial disruption that has included genocide, forced removal from lands, damaging federal, state and local policies and practices, environmental contamination, and most recently, climate change, we conclude research that moves beyond minor transformations of existing majority population focused interventions, but instead truly respects Indigenous wisdom, knowledge, traditions, and aspirations is needed, and that investment in intervention science to address Indigenous health disparities represent a moral imperative.
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This chapter critically examines the notion of Canadian Indigenous youth leaving care by arguing that all forms of separation, including adoption, should be analyzed through the lens of ongoing colonization of Indigenous peoples. Several immediate and long-term practices are examined, some of which call for greater support for Indigenous ways of caring for children, urgent measures to address poverty in Indigenous communities, cultural planning for Indigenous children who are currently separated from their families and communities, and ways of supporting Indigenous youth in transition to adulthood who are looking to reconnect with their families, communities, and cultures.
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It is critical to develop practical, effective, ecological, and decolonizing approaches to indigenous suicide prevention and health promotion for the North American communities. The youth suicide rates in predominantly indigenous small, rural, and remote Northern communities are unacceptably high. This health disparity, however, is fairly recent, occurring over the last 50 to 100 years as communities experienced forced social, economic, and political change and intergenerational trauma. These conditions increase suicide risk and can reduce people’s access to shared protective factors and processes. In this context, it is imperative that suicide prevention includes—at its heart—decolonization, while also utilizing the “best practices” from research to effectively address the issue from multiple levels. This article describes such an approach: Promoting Community Conversations About Research to End Suicide (PC CARES). PC CARES uses popular education strategies to build a “community of practice” among local and regional service providers, friends, and families that fosters personal and collective learning about suicide prevention in order to spur practical action on multiple levels to prevent suicide and promote health. This article will discuss the theoretical underpinnings of the community intervention and describe the form that PC CARES takes to structure ongoing dialogue, learning, solidarity, and multilevel mobilization for suicide prevention.