Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit: The role of Indigenous knowledge in supporting wellness in Inuit communities in Nunavut

Source: Shirley Tagalik; National Collaborating Center for Indigenous Health

Year: 2010

Indigenous worldviews are generally holistic in perspective and encompass interconnections amongst all aspects of life and place (Barnhardt & Kawagley, 2005). From this interconnected view of the universe, a sense of cultural identity, collective purpose and belonging is derived. Cultural wellbeing relies on the individual becoming situated within a cultural worldview. For Inuit, being grounded in Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit supports personal wellness, but also contributes to a collective cultural sense of health and wellness which has sustained Inuit over generations. Inuit Elders in Nunavut are documenting Inuit worldview so that the strengths which have always sustained them will still be available to future generations.

Social Determinants of Health: Understanding Racism

Source: Charlotte Reading; National Collaborating Center for Indigenous Health

Year: 2013

This fact sheet is the first of three that will focus on anti-Indigenous racism in Canada, beginning with an exploration of the concept of race, its history and contexts, and continuing with a discussion of the various forms of racism within societies. In order to address racism in Canadian society, we must first understand what racism is, how it became a way to identify people, and the forms it takes.

Corn Tastes Better on the Honor System

Source: Robin Wall Kimmerer

Year: n.d.

“I remember. How their songs drew us up through the warming earth just for the joy of hearing them. How we stretched in the sun and turned air into sugar, my sisters and I, leaves and roots entwined. It’s lonely without them. Grandfather Teosinte has been gone for so long; where is that gentle guidance when we need it most? And our good people—with toes and hoes in the soil, fulfilling the agreement made so long ago? What happened to the songs we knew? I remember how they celebrated my beautiful children with feasting and honor and passed them hand to hand in thanksgiving. I remember when they knew my name. The people have forgotten, but the seed remembers.”

The Honorable Harvest - Robin Kimmerer

Source: Bioneers

Year: 2019

This video is part of a series called "Seeding the Field: 30 Years of Transformative Solutions," which celebrates some of the best moments of the Bioneers conference through the last 30 years. Robin Kimmerer, professor of Environmental Science and Forestry, of Potawatomi ancestry, explores the question: “If plants are our teachers, what are their lessons, and how might we become better students”?

Understanding the value and promise of Indigenous food sovereignty in western Canada

Source: Tabitha Martens

Year: 2015

Food sovereignty has recently emerged as a means of addressing food-related problems that confront many Indigenous and rural communities around the world. It moves beyond access to food, and is grounded in the idea that people should self-determine their food systems and cultural traditions. This is particularly important for Indigenous people who still face threats to their food systems linked to colonialism.

Reclaiming Indigenous Food Relationships: Improving Health with Culture

Source: American Indian Cancer Foundation

Year: n.d.

A slide deck from the American Indian Cancer Foundation to bring attention to American Indian cancer burdens and solutions, covering Indigenous worldviews, the root causes of chronic disease, and going upstream to achieve health equity.

Responsibilities and reflections: Indigenous food, culture, and relationships

Source: Tabitha Martens

Year: 2018

Understanding Indigenous food systems requires positioning ourselves in our own understanding of Indigenous food, culture, and place. The resurgence of Indigenous culture occurring around food, and the protection and revitalization of Indigenous food systems must be documented with a commitment to Indigenous values, worldviews and perspectives. This commentary offers insight into how we can do so.

Seeds of Our Ancestors, Seeds of Life

Source: Winona LaDuke at TEDxTC

Year: 2012

"Food has a culture. It has history. It has stories, it has relationships, that tie us to our food. Food is more than something you just buy at the store. Something that just doesn't have a stamp on it. In our community, we are told long time ago by our prophets, our Anishinabe people lived on the eastern seaboard.And we're related to those people out there, the Wampanoags and others. And we were instructed by our prophets that we should follow a shell which appeared in the sky. And in following that shell, we would arrive at the place where the food grows upon the water. And that food that grows upon the water is minoman, or wild rice."

Administering Colonial Science: Nutrition Research and Human Biomedical Experimentation in Aboriginal Communities and Residential Schools, 1942-1952

Source: Ian Mosby

Year: 2013

Between 1942 and 1952, some of Canada’s leading nutrition experts, in cooperation with various federal departments, conducted an unprecedented series of nutritional studies of Aboriginal communities and residential schools. The most ambitious and perhaps best known of these was the 1947-1948 James Bay Survey of the Attawapiskat and Rupert’s House Cree First Nations. Less well known were two separate long-term studies that went so far as to include controlled experiments conducted, apparently without the subjects’ informed consent or knowledge, on malnourished Aboriginal populations in Northern Manitoba and, later, in six Indian residential schools. This article explores these studies and experiments, in part to provide a narrative record of a largely unexamined episode of exploitation and neglect by the Canadian government.

A Guide to Aboriginal Harvesting Rights

Source: Legal Services Society

Year: 2017

In Canada, Aboriginal rights are protected under section 35 of the Constitution. Aboriginal people may also have treaty rights protected under section 35 of the Constitution. The extent of treaty rights depends on the terms of the treaty. They may apply within the entire traditional territory of your Aboriginal community or only within a certain area described in the treaty. Aboriginal rights are practices, traditions, and customs that are unique to each Aboriginal community. Aboriginal rights are based on traditional activities that: • were practised before contact with Europeans (for First Nations and Inuit) or were practised before Europeans took control over the area (for Métis); • are important to the distinct culture of each Aboriginal community; and • have continued to present day (although they can be in modern form — for example, you can hunt with a gun instead of a bow and arrow). Generally, Aboriginal rights only apply within the traditional territory of your Aboriginal community. This means the area where your Aboriginal ancestors lived. Aboriginal rights are held by:

• First Nations, including status and non-status Indians,

• Inuit, and

• Métis.

Is the Crown at war with us?

Author: Alanis Obomsawin

Year: 2002

In this feature-length documentary by Alanis Obomsawin, it's the summer of 2000 and the country watches in disbelief as federal fisheries wage war on the Mi'kmaq fishermen of Burnt Church, New Brunswick. Why would officials of the Canadian government attack citizens for exercising rights that had been affirmed by the highest court in the land? Casting her cinematic and intellectual nets into history to provide context, Obomsawin delineates the complex roots of the conflict with passion and clarity, building a persuasive defence of the Mi'kmaq position.

Make Food a Part of Reconciliation, 5 Big Ideas for a Better Food System

Author: Food Secure Canada

Year: 2017

A national food policy for Canada must acknowledge the history and ongoing legacy of colonialism and prioritize reconciliation and decolonization as key guiding principles of our food system. Food was often used as a tool of oppression and marginalization, including through the use of starvation and malnutrition in residential schools and the assumption, upon the arrival of European settlers, that Canada was largely an empty, uninhabited land (“terra nullius”). For many years, it was the Canadian government’s practice to provide only enough food to Indigenous communities on-reserve for basic survival. In addition, policies were implemented with the intention of limiting Indigenous people’s ability to engage in hunting and fishing activities, thereby eroding the food sovereignty and food security of many communities.

Exploring First Nation Elder Women’s Relationships with Food from Social, Ecological, and Historical Perspectives

Authors: Hannah Tait Neufeld, Chantelle Richmond, and The Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre

Year: 2020

The ongoing negative health effects of colonization have disproportionately affected Indigenous women, who are disproportionately affected by diabetes, food insecurity, and undernutrition. Indigenous women also perceive their health less positively than men do. This article draws theoretically from the socio-ecological model to explore health inequalities experienced by Indigenous women associated with the intergenerational effects of the residential school legacy, specifically related to food practices.

Ignored to Death: Systemic Racism in the Canadian Healthcare System

Source: Brenda Gunn

Year: n.d.

Widespread health disparities continue for Indigenous peoples in Canada. Indigenous peoples experience lower health outcomes than non-Indigenous peoples in Canada, which is exacerbated by the lack of access to quality health care and lower socio-economic situation (as confirmed by the social determinates of health). Indigenous peoples also lack access to adequate health services, especially in remote communities. In 2015, the Auditor General in Canada concluded that “Health Canada did not have reasonable assurance that eligible First Nations individuals living in remote communities in Manitoba and Ontario had access to clinical and client care services and medical transportation benefits as defined for the purpose of this performance audit.” There is a failure to implement existing policies and strategies.

In Plain Sight: Summary Report

Source: Addressing Racism Review

Year: 2020

In June 2020, claims surfaced about a “Price is Right” game allegedly being played in some B.C. hospital Emergency Departments, in which health care workers were guessing blood alcohol levels of Indigenous patients. The Minister of Health commissioned an independent Review to investigate the “Price is Right” allegations and whether this game or other forms of Indigenous-specific racism are being experienced by Indigenous people using the provincial health care system, make findings of fact, and “to make any recommendations it considers necessary and advisable.”

In Plain Sight: Full Report

Source: Addressing Racism Review; Government of British Columbia

Year: 2020

In June 2020, claims surfaced about a “Price is Right” game allegedly being played in some B.C. hospital Emergency Departments, in which health care workers were guessing blood alcohol levels of Indigenous patients. The Minister of Health commissioned an independent Review to investigate the “Price is Right” allegations and whether this game or other forms of Indigenous-specific racism are being experienced by Indigenous people using the provincial health care system, make findings of fact, and “to make any recommendations it considers necessary and advisable.”

Health and Health Care Implications of Systemic Racism on Indigenous Peoples in Canada

Source: Indigenous Health Working Group of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada

Year: 2016

Family physicians know that supporting a patient’s health requires trust, compassion, and mutual respect. For Indigenous patients and their families, this is not always achieved. Systemic racism has been identified as a major barrier to positive relationships between physicians and Indigenous patients and the best care of Indigenous peoples. This brief guide for physicians helps you understand better the role that systemic racism can play in shaping an Indigenous patient’s clinical experience, and what you can do about it. As Indigenous patients, Indigenous physicians, and allies, we are appealing to you to help us address this pervasive and harmful problem.

Cultural Mindfulness

Source: George Couchie

Year: 2019

The first step toward understanding other people is learning about their past. George Couchie takes us through some of his Indigenous culture and history, educating us about the impacts of residential schools. Inspiring youth Angel Armstrong, Mckenzie Ottereyes Eagle, and Miigwan Buswa share their connection to the past and show us how they are stopping those negative cycles by embracing culture.

Land Back

Source: Yellowhead Institute

Year: 2019

The Red Paper follows a tradition of Indigenous analysis and agenda- making reports, like the first Red Paper released in 1970 by the Indian Association of Alberta in response to Canada’s 1969 White Paper. Our report, “Land Back,” breaks down the current status of land dispossession in Canada, focusing on alienation through resource extraction. We examine various forms of redress and recognition by governments and industry to incentivize Indigenous participation in resource development, while pointing to the gaps in these models. Finally, we consider meaningful Indigenous economies outside of federal and provincial policies and legislation to foreground examples of land reclamation. This report is ultimately about Indigenous consent.

Relational Systems Thinking

Source: Melanie Goodchild

Year: 2021

We explore the notion of the need to decolonize systems thinking and awareness. Taking a specifically Indigenous approach to both knowledge creation and knowledge sharing, we look at awareness-based systems change via a Haudenosaunee (Mohawk) two-row visual code. The authors explore the sacred space between Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of thinking and knowing, to identify pathways for peaceful co-existence of epistemologies.