Volume 26, March 2014, Pages 127–135
Anishinabe youth perceptions about community health: Toward environmental repossession
Highlights
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- Processes of environmental dispossession have caused significant change in Anishinabe way of life.
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- Sharing of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is significant for Anishinabe youth health.
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- Strong social relationships provide opportunities for sharing IK.
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- Land-based, community driven programs may improve local cultural continuities.
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- Processes of environmental repossession may build from a strong base of cultural knowledge and identity.
Abstract
This
community-based research applied environmental dispossession as a
theoretical framework for understanding Anishinabe youth perceptions
about health, social relationships and contemporary Anishinabe way of
life in Northern Ontario, Canada. Qualitative interviews with 19 youth
reveal considerable worry about their community’s health. Youth perceive
changes in the Anishinabe way of life, including decreased access to
their traditional lands, to be central to poor health at the community
level. Youth emphasized the importance of social relationships for
fostering healthy behaviours and developing community wide initiatives
that will provide opportunities for reconnecting to land, and for
learning and practicing Indigenous Knowledge. This study builds on the
growing body of decolonizing research with Indigenous communities, and
it concludes by offering the concept of environmental repossession as a
way forward for studies on the Indigenous environment–health interface.
Keywords
- Environmental dispossession and repossession;
- Indigenous knowledge;
- Anishinabe youth;
- Community health and social relationships;
- Community based research
1. Introduction
1.1. Background
Environmental
dispossession refers to the processes by which Indigenous people’s
access to their traditional lands and resources are reduced or severed (Richmond and Ross, 2009). Environmental dispossession occurs through direct and indirect forms.1
Direct forms of environmental dispossession involve processes that
physically disable use of land such as contamination events that may
sever access to traditional food systems. Indirect forms of
dispossession occur as a result of policies, regulation or development
whose intent is to sever Indigenous peoples’ links to their lands and
resources and the Indigenous Knowledge it fosters. For example, Canadian
federal policy, regulated through the Indian Act, led to the creation of the Residential Schools which forcibly removed 150,000 Aboriginal 2 children from their families and communities during the twentieth century ( Waldram et al., 2006).
Whether operating in direct or indirect forms, environmental
dispossession has resulted in severed or significantly reduced access to
traditional lands and territories. This physical disconnection from
land has resulted in the inability of affected populations to sustain,
share and practice Indigenous Knowledge. This has had profound changes
for way of life in affected Indigenous communities, with disastrous
consequences for health, culture and social functioning ( Adelson, 2005, Gracey and King, 2009, Luginaah et al., 2010, Mackenzie et al., 2005 and Richmond et al., 2005).
Over time, this has led to drastic change in the meaning and function
of social relationships, whereby the moral values underpinning social
interaction in land-based activities occur less often, leading to
altered community values, and reduced sense of cultural identity ( Ermine et al., 2005, Loppie Reading and Wien, 2009 and Wexler, 2006).
On
a global level, the consequences of environmental dispossession from
traditional lands and livelihoods are a tragic unifying experience among
Indigenous peoples (Anderson et al., 2006, Gracey and King, 2009, King et al., 2009, Morris, 2009 and 〈http://assets.survival-international.org/static/lib/downloads/source/progresscankill/full_report.pdf〉).
In the modern context, these experiences have manifested as glaring
health inequities among Indigenous peoples, including earlier mortality
than non-Indigenous populations, higher rates of morbidity and barriers
to accessing healthcare (Browne et al., 2005, Stephens et al., 2006, World Health Organization, 2007 and Wilson and Rosenberg, 2002).
Many of these inequities can be linked to processes of colonialism,
industrialization and government interventions that have significantly
transformed Indigenous ways of living, including their relationships to
the natural environment, and their own social systems and relationships (Adelson, 2005, Kral, 2012, et al., and Richmond and Ross, 2008). The effects of colonialism in Indigenous populations have occurred most directly through disconnection from land (Cajete, 1994, King et al., 2009, Richmond et al., 2005 and Smith, 1999).
1.2. Detachment from Land: implications for Indigenous youth health and social relationships
Among Indigenous populations, land “is more than the physical landscape; it includes the living environment” (Berkes, 2008;
p. 5). Prior to colonization, Indigenous societies could be described
as subsistence cultures, meaning that their daily nourishment was
provided by the physical resources of the lands and waters. This total
reliance of Indigenous peoples on the resources of the land has fostered
a deep respect for the land, but for many Indigenous peoples, this
relationship has also led to a deeper, cognitive and spiritual
relatedness with the land, wherein the land is seen as conceptually
interrelated to humankind. Herein lies an important and often overlooked
inter-relatedness; the health of the land is inseparable from the
health of those whose existence relies so indelibly on it.
For First Nations3 people, land “represents the interconnected physical, symbolic, spiritual, and social aspects of First Nations cultures” (Wilson, 2003).
Scholars from various fields have written about the multidimensional
relationship between First Nations people and the land, and most agree
that it is through the practice and sharing of Indigenous knowledge – or
the cultural traditions, values, and belief systems – that many
generations of First Nation people have been able to practice and
maintain nourishing, healthful relationships with the land (e.g. in the
form of harvesting food and medicines, plants and animals) and with one
another (e.g. family, friends, community) (Parlee et al., 2005, Cajete, 1999 and Ermine et al., 2005).
Access to land, therefore, provides a vitally important link connecting
the health and social relationships of First Nations people. Among the
Anishinabe4 people, the term mino-bimaadiziwin
or “the good life” is a concept that relies centrally on the balanced
relationship between one’s own personal well-being (i.e. physical,
mental, emotional and spiritual), and their relationship to their family
and wider community, including the natural and spirit world ( Malloch, 1989).
The
contemporary base of Canadian research with Indigenous populations
illustrates that health disparities are linked in significant ways to
detachment from land, including reduced opportunities for the
preservation of culture (Chandler et al., 2003, Chandler and Lalonde, 2004, Johnson and Tomren, 1999 and Kingsley et al., 2009).
These health disparities are particularly prominent among the youth
population, evidenced by ruptured social and cultural systems and
intergenerational trauma (Chansonneuve, 2005, Jacklin, 2009, et al.,, Waldram et al., 2006 and Wexler, 2009).
Patterns of youth mortality and morbidity among Canada’s Aboriginal
population are overwhelmingly shaped by accidents, violence, and suicide
(Blum et al., 1992, Findlay and Janz, 2012, Harder et al., 2012, Holmes et al., 2002, Lehti et al., 2009, Oliver et al., 2012 and Oliver and Kohen, 2012).
Elders
in many First Nation and Inuit communities claim that processes of
environmental dispossession are at the root of these problems (Richmond et al., 2005).
As opportunities for being out on the land are reduced, so too are
opportunities for intergenerational knowledge transfer being diminished,
for example from elders to youth (Ermine et al., 2005).
The consequences of environmental dispossession are documented in the
growing body of research dedicated to understanding the concept and
determinants of cultural continuity (Chandler et al., 2003, Chandler and Lalonde, 1998 and Chandler and Lalonde, 2004).
At the community level, cultural continuities include the existence of
community infrastructure like health services, cultural facilities, and
education, among others. Cultural facilities, for example, enable
youth–elder relationships to develop or flourish as elders often
facilitate the ceremonies and gatherings that take place in these
facilities. These continuities provide communities with the foundations
necessary to build positive and healthy relationships, and to share the
social resources that are important for positive youth development and
cultural esteem. The results of Chandler et al. document that an inverse
relationship exists for communities with high levels of cultural
continuities and youth suicide; at least part of the explanation for
youth suicide may be attributable to weakened social relationships,
decreased access to Indigenous Knowledge, and weakened sense of cultural
identity. This corroborates with international research that supports
the hypothesis that Indigenous youth with a strong base of social
support from within their families and communities also have a strong
sense of identity and self-esteem (Cajete, 2010, Colquhoun and Dockery, 2012, Dockery, 2011, Priest et al., 2009 and Wexler, 2009). Further, a strong sense of youth identity is also related to the extent that youth practice their culture (Kenyon and Carter, 2011), and from which this practice fosters sense of belonging (Kral, 2012 and Richmond and Smith, 2012).
The existence of social and cultural resources that bolster youth
identity appear to be the key to the maintenance and transmission of
Indigenous Knowledge, and central to youth well-being (〈https://129.242.170.252/munin/handle/10037/2934〉, Bals et al., 2011, Thomas et al., 2010 and 〈https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/10199?show=full〉).
Despite
the graveness of these health statistics, it is promising to note that
many Aboriginal communities in Canada are presently engaging in research
as a form of healing. They are drawing from their own local
knowledge(s), stories, and cultural practices as a way to bring about
positive change in their communities. And in doing so, many communities
are flourishing in their fight to reverse the effects of colonialism (Kovach, 2009). Building on a small base of Canadian literature examining First Nations’ youth perspectives on health and well-being (e.g. Cargo et al., 2007, Tiessen et al., 2009 and The McCreary Centre Society, 2005),
this paper applied environmental dispossession as a framework for
understanding youth perceptions about health, social relationships and
contemporary Anishinabe way of life in Northern Ontario, Canada. We drew
from a community-based study, framed by qualitative interviews, with 19
Anishinabe youth at Pic River First Nation. Our study was framed by
three objectives; (1) to explore Anishinabe youths’ perception of
community health; (2) to examine youth perceptions of social
relationships; and (3) to examine what health and social relationships
mean to the Anishinabe way of life.
1.3. Study location
The
Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation, or Begetekong “where the rivers
meet”, is located on the northern shore of Lake Superior, roughly half
way between the cities of Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie, in the
province of Ontario, Canada. The mouth of the Pic River was historically
used as a trading post due to its convenient location as a half-way
point along the Northern shore, and northward access to James Bay by
travelling along the Pic River. In 1914, the community became a treaty
reserve (PRFN, 2010).
Northern latitude and proximity to Lake Superior have influenced local
climate resulting in very cold winters and warm summers Fig. 1.
- Fig. 1.The Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation.
With a population totalling 1007; approximately half (511) live on-reserve, of which 241 are male and 270 female (AANDC, 2010b).
The small size and relative remoteness of the community has limited the
number of local employment opportunities available to community
members. Many community members work on-reserve in public
administration, in the nearby town of Marathon, for local mining
corporations and other industrial developments, as well as a nearby
National Park. In the last three decades, Pic River has created a strong
base of economic development on-reserve, for example through the recent
creation of the Pic River Development Corporation, which fosters job
creation and economic development in areas such as forest fire fighting,
tourism, and hydroelectric development projects. This development is
one foundation for creating a strong, self-sustaining and
self-determining community.
Pic
River has been affected by unique forms of environmental dispossession,
including water contamination, extensive mineral and forestry-based
development, and attendance at residential schools, among others. Local
community elders have expressed deep concerns that, over time, these
processes pose threat to the maintenance and transmission of Indigenous
Knowledge. These elders were the driving force behind the development of
a multi-year, community-based participatory study whose overarching
goal was to preserve local Indigenous Knowledge as a means of protecting
environmental resources and improving community health.
2. Methods
2.1. Indigenous methodology
A
hopeful and exciting research paradigm is presently taking hold in the
international body of Indigenous health research, particularly those
focused on Indigenous relationship to land (Tobias et al., 2013, Kingsley et al., 2009, Castleden et al., 2012, Richmond and Ross, 2009, LaDuke, 2005, Louis, 2007 and Panelli and Tipa, 2009). Building on Smith’s (1999)
seminal work on decolonizing methodologies, Indigenous communities from
around the globe have engaged in research on issues of importance to
them. This important research has been guided by a common goal of
achieving self-determination in research: “to centre our own concerns
and worldviews, and to come to know and understand theory and research
from our own perspectives and for our own purposes. (Smith, 1999, p. 39)”
Clearly such methods require meaningful research partnerships between
Indigenous communities and researchers from universities and other
organizations, the ultimate goal being to design and carry out research
that will lead to improved local conditions. These partnerships are a
method of decolonisation as the Indigenous communities involved are
placed at the centre of the research, empowering their local knowledge
and influence on research topics and debate, and prioritizing local
influence in the research design and subsequent development of community
programs.
In the spirit of
decolonising research, our research utilised a community-based
participatory approach framed by in-depth interviews, to examine youth
perceptions of the links between health and social relationships at Pic
River First Nation. The work in this community was developed and
undertaken using the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR)
Guidelines for Health Research involving Aboriginal People 2007. We
utilised this method as one of the key values of the community based
participatory approach is to “support the development of research
questions that reflect health issues of real concern to community
members” (Minkler, 2005,
p. 5). Our research received ethical approval from the Non-Medical
Ethics Research Board of Western University. A larger project had
already been developing since 2007 by the second author, a First Nation
researcher with close ties to the study community. The larger project
had secured funding and significant community support. This assisted the
lead author, also a First Nation researcher, on many levels including
the ability to tap into pre-existing relationships, access to financial,
material and social resources needed to travel to Pic River to conduct
the research, participant recruitment, and greater ease with circulating
project advertisements. A community member currently enroled in
graduate studies was hired as a Research Assistant (RA) to co-conduct
the interviews with the first author. Her knowledge of the community,
both geographically and socially, was essential in many steps of the
research for example, gaining trust of community members and participant
recruitment (de Leeuw et al., 2012).
The
development of the interview guide was an iterative, community-based
process. The first draft of the interview guide was produced by the lead
and second authors, the RA, and the Lands and Resources Coordinator of
Pic River First Nation. In the weeks leading up to the research, the
interview guide was honed through readings by community collaborators,
participating youth and Elders, and focused generally on four thematic
areas relating to: youth’s ideas about health, social relationships and
culture, relationships to land, and education. The opportunity to work
on the interview content with our community collaborators was critical
for ensuring that the questions were meaningful in an academic sense,
but also accessible and meaningful to the youth themselves. One of the
on-going debates in the early stages of the interview development was
whether or not we should ask youth directly about what Indigenous
Knowledge means to them. After lengthy collaborative discussions with
our community partners, we made a deliberate decision not to do so.
There was consensus that the youth might find the term Indigenous
Knowledge too abstract and instead, we focused our questions on various
concepts that comprise Indigenous Knowledge, and asked much more youth
centred questions, such as “What does it mean to you to be an Anishinabe
youth?”.
In July 2010, an
introductory meeting was held to invite interested youth (between the
ages of 18 and 30) to participate in the research. The age constraint of
participating youth (age 18–30) was predetermined through our research
development and agreements with the community – all full time students
who had been hired by Pic River First Nation for their summer student
program were invited to be part of this research. Practically, this
means that all interviews occurred during the work hours of the summer
students. A total of 19 youth (15 female, 4 male) expressed interest and
were interviewed. Ages of participants ranged from 18 to 27, the
average age being 21.
One
hour interviews were conducted by the first author and RA in August
2010. The first interview was co-conducted by both interviewers, in
order to ensure consistency in interview style, and the remaining
interviews were completed one-on-one. To maintain research validity in
the interviewing, the interviewers met daily to debrief. The interviews
were scheduled (with the assistance of a community collaborator) to
occur during the summer work hours of youth. Interviews were recorded,
with the permission of youth. To protect the identity of the youth, each
individual chose a pseudonym, which was used to accompany their direct
quotes in the results. Participants were provided a small honorarium, in
the form of a $30 mall gift card, for their participation. The success
of this project hinged significantly on the contribution of its
community collaborators, who were essential to the garnering of
community support, identification of research themes, development of
interview questions, participant recruitment, meetings, and subsequent
thematic analysis and dissemination of the results.
2.2. Analysis
Thematic analysis was conducted using NVIVO qualitative data analysis software (Bazeley, 2007).
A thematic analysis of the data was guided by our research objectives
and theoretical constructs on Indigenous Knowledge, health, and social
relationships. Following Strauss and Corbin (1990),
we conducted line-by-line coding to produce textual elements that
provide a means for explaining the data. The key categories under each
theme were reviewed several times in order to ensure that concepts
pertaining to the same phenomena were coded in the same category. To
ensure a consistent analysis of the data (Patton, 1987),
we made use of a topic list. This enabled different investigators to
independently code portions of the transcripts, and discuss any
discrepancies in the coding process.
3. Results
This
section is organised around our three key findings, (1) youth are
worried about community health; (2) social relationships are strong; and
(3) community needs to refocus on Indigenous Knowledge. While youth
were not directly asked about Indigenous Knowledge, it was a significant
cross-cutting theme across the interviewees, as demonstrated in the
results, below (Table 1).
- Table 1. Summary of results.
Objectives Key findings Youth examples Significance Theme 1. To explore Anishinabe youth perceptions of community health Youth are worried about community health Poor health conditions of community members (e.g. diabetes, cancer, addiction) Contemporary patterns of poor health are the result of processes of environmental dispossession, which have led to change in Anishinabe way of life Indigenous knowledge 2. To examine Anishinabe youth perceptions of social relationships Social relationships are strong High levels of social support (e.g. family, community) Strong social relationships may work in a protective way to encourage and promote healthy behaviours 3. To examine what health and social relationships mean to the Anishinabe way of life Community needs to refocus on Indigenous Knowledge Community programs developed to get people back out on the land Community's strong social relationships should be used to develop more opportunities for land-based activities and sharing of IK
3.1. Youth are worried about community health
In
their interviews, youth demonstrated considerable worry about what they
perceive to be significant changes in community health. They spoke with
particular prominence about a change in the Anishinabe way of life as
key. Youth generally perceived health to have been better in the past
than in present day, and they articulated the role of changing health
behaviours (e.g. less physical activity, eating more processed foods)
and environmental concerns (e.g. local mining development) as key
factors of these changes. Their interpretations of the change over time
related to two key factors: (a) reduced time spent on outdoor
traditional activities and (b) the contemporary diet of community
members is based less so on traditional foods and more so on
store-bought foods. Denali spoke of the higher activity levels in the
past and changing food choices:
It seems like they did more [physical activity] you know, they were always out all the time. Unlike us, we have the choice to stay in… It seems like they were out more and they were more in with the land and eating healthier compared to what we are now. (Denali)
Along
these same lines, White Light spoke of the high diabetes rate as a
result of community members’ inability to access nutritional foods or
the knowledge to properly exercise:
The rate of diabetes on this reserve is abnormally high compared to other places. And that’s due to the fact that– a lot of people on the reserve don’t have the means to be able to eat, or the knowledge that they need to do their exercises and whatnot. (White Light)
Youth
identified their main health concerns to be related to chronic health
problems, such as cancer and diabetes, and they were fearful that these
incidences to be growing over time:
I have big concerns about my community’s health.… We do have the high rate of diabetes, and especially lately with kidney disease, or other types of organ failure. … There’s more cancer out there. I don’t know if there’s a month that’ll go by that you don’t hear that somebody, either they’ve been diagnosed with a tumour or some form of cancer. And then of course there’s liver cirrhosis because of the amount of drinking that a lot of the older generation participates in. I’d imagine that once my generation gets older, they’ll be facing the same problems from alcohol abuse (White Light)
In
the previous quote, White Light points to another important health
issue discussed by youth – that of addictions, including alcoholism. In
their discussions around alcoholism, many youth explained this behaviour
as a means for community members to deal with their emotional or mental
health issues, particularly those they perceive to be related to this
changing way of life:
Well, they’re slowly trying to improve themselves big time. They just don’t look happy. They have their own issues to deal with, but I don’t really know how they feel because my family doesn’t talk about how they feel. Or they don’t explain what’s wrong with them, they had a shitty life, growing up, too. So, they have their own issues to deal with. (Little Blue Bird)
Youth articulated the prominence of attendance at residential school as a defining moment of change in Anishinabe way of life:
They [grandparents] were in residential school; we’re in high school. You get treated equally at high school… They were bullied. It’d affect their health because it changed their ways pretty much, like they gone from totally respectful and traditional type of people that now … thinking they’re subtracted out of their lives (Whistling Dixie)
Environmental
health (e.g. a new mine and chemicals) was also identified to be
directly linked to community health and particularly, to the health of
future generations:
Why are we going to put in this mine that could potentially harm us and our future generations? The earth ain’t going to get better no matter which way we look at it … So is money really worth it enough for the community’s health that we need a mine or whatever? Or should we just be trying to work with what we got and not take any more away from it. (May Mary)
[Land] means everything, its life! We get everything from here whether it be hunting, whether it be blueberry picking, as Anishinabe youth this is home! It’s important … you don’t stop and realize … until you’re told … blueberry picking, you can’t do because they spray insecticides … couldn’t do it the last couple of years because of that and now you go out and you find little patches here and there, that just kind of concerns me for the future, you know what’s it going to be like 20 years from now? (Lydia)
3.2. Social relationships are strong
In
spite of the considerable worry that youth expressed around
contemporary patterns of health in their community and the change in
Anishinabe way of life, they spoke with great pride and excitement about
the strength of social relationships in their community. They
identified social support (within families or at the community level) as
playing an important role for fostering these social relationships:
It’s the family, not even family support, but community support. I remember growing up and always having people helping you out, always pushing you. That was one of the things I learned in school and why education was a big part of my life is because of community….but you always knew that if anything ever went wrong in your life, you always have here to come back to. (Lydia)
Youth
characterized their community as kind and compassionate, particularly
in times of need. Jane illustrated her perceptions about community
closeness through an example of the death of a community member. She
purports that while community members may not always get along, they
still come together in times of grieving in order to support one
another:
I think overall, despite the gossip, when something happens we are still a pretty tight knit community. I think there are certain times when our community knows how to put everything aside. Like if there’s a death in the community, we have a funeral and we have the wake. And nearly everyone attends and everyone shares in the grieving. (Jane)
Tia
described illness to be another example of a time wherein the people of
the community come together to offer support to the person and/or
family in need:
I think it’s just like the support that everybody has, and everybody is so kind to each other. If one person is sick, then everybody is praying for that person. And everybody is supporting the family however they need. And I think that this community has a lot of respect for each other. (Tia)
The
youth also described social relationships as essential for the
communication and expression of feelings. They explained this as a way
to balance their mental and emotional well-being. Walking Turtle
discussed the importance of releasing built up emotions by sharing them
with someone:
[Relationships] are important because it’s not good to hold anything in. Holding everything in just builds up anger, depression, stuff like that. You need to – in order to be healthy, you have to let that stuff out [by talking]. So having all those relationships do help. (Walking Turtle)
Storm
explained that expressing your emotions and feelings to a friend also
allowed that friend to support you, especially in times of need:
It’s good to just let it out and just let someone know how you’re feeling and it’s good to have people there to help you. Especially when you’re struggling, it’s definitely a good thing. I think that it’s really important to have friends and talk to people and just go for a walk and talk about anything. (Storm)
Despite
youth’s worries about the various unhealthy behaviours they see their
fellow community members engaging in, as described in the first section
of these results, they identified their social relationships as a
positive way to overcome their own unhealthy tendencies. With the
support and encouragement of her relatives, for example, Little Blue
Bird described how she was able to overcome her struggle with addiction.
She subsequently began to attend traditional Ceremonies with her
relatives. Through their support, and her attendance at Ceremony, she
began to heal from her addictions:
Yeah, well I hit rock bottom – been two years. I went through the whole depression. I was my lowest –I was drinking every day and doing the drugs. Then, my [family] came to my bedside and they told me, “You need to change.” and they guided me through my whole spiritual way…I screwed up my school. I fell behind. I lost friends a little bit, but me returning to the whole spiritual way is like– I love myself more. I’m more healthful. I’m so awake. I’m so friendly now…Now, I do attend Ceremonies. I do go there. I feel so high in my life. I love it. (Little Blue Bird)
3.3. Community needs to refocus on indigenous knowledge
In
the first section of results, as youth were describing their
perceptions around pressing community health problems, they spoke about
residential schools and other ways through which the Anishinabe way of
life has been threatened. When youth were questioned more directly about
the links between health and their culture, meaning “the importance of
being Anishinabe”, they tended to speak more openly about the importance
of spirituality and maintenance of Indigenous Knowledge for improving
health. For example, Jane believes this loss of knowledge is directly
related to the health problems prevalent in the current generation of
adults and youth. She outlines that Anishinabe people traditionally were
of good health, and she links loss of spirituality to the current
diabetes and obesity epidemics, as well as alcoholism. She suggests that
Anishinabe communities refocus on their own forms of Indigenous
Knowledge and spirituality to rebuild the health of their communities:
If you look at the way things were in the past… Anishinabe people used to be really healthy people, and we used to be really active and spiritual. They just had a really great well-being. Now, there’s been so much like our kids are diabetic and overweight. I don’t think it’s just the junk food. I think it’s a lot of that our spirituality and everything is kind of dying out, and we’re getting attacked by all these diseases like alcoholism and all these things. I think if we start to build up our own traditions and a lot of that kind of stuff, we can get stronger and overall having more healthy living. (Jane)
Another
significant factor influencing a change in culture is the loss of
knowledge keepers (i.e. Elders). As discussed by youth, the Elders hold
vital information and teachings that are important for health (e.g. how
to use traditional medicines, where they are grown). Jane worries that
once the Elders pass on, so will their teachings:
We don’t have that much Elders left in our community that would be great teachers for us. And in the past couple of years, we’ve had Elders pass away. And their teachings weren’t properly passed on. And …pretty soon there’s not going to be anyone… And you know, who are we going to go to even if we wanted to? There’s nobody. …I think it would [impact community health] because there’s a lot of teachings that come from them even just like say for instance different medicinal plants that are out in the bush that nobody is going to know about once Elders are gone. (Jane)
The
final key finding highlights the implications of losing Indigenous
Knowledge and the subsequent impact this has had on the health of the
community. Youth identified that the Anishinabe way of life appears to
be changing as a result of both losing Indigenous Knowledge over time
and because knowledge keepers (i.e. Elders) are passing away. This means
that people are not practicing the activities that they once did, and
over time, the community’s link to Indigenous Knowledge is quickly
deteriorating. The loss of Indigenous Knowledge, particularly as it
relates to traditional ceremonies and spirituality was viewed as
detrimental to the preservation of the Anishinabe way of life.
While
youth demonstrated an acute awareness of the implications of what
losing land and Indigenous Knowledge means for the preservation of the
Anishinabe way of life; they were still optimistic about their future
and provided solutions for community-wide programs that might mitigate
the unhealthy path they perceive their community to be on. In
particular, the youth spoke about the need for all generations of the
community to get involved in becoming part of the solution for enhancing
opportunities for sharing Indigenous Knowledge, but also for developing
health promotion programs at the community level. In this first
example, Walking Turtle spoke of the need for community members to take
responsibility for community action, and get involved with teaching the
children and youth about their culture:
It’s basically involvement. The community needs to get more involved [with teachings]. They say “There’s a problem!” Well, we all have to deal with it. They say, “Oh, the youth are so bad on this reserve.” Well, what makes the youth so bad on this reserve? It’s not just the youth… Who did we learn it from? I’m not saying it’s a certain amount of people to blame. It’s the community to blame because it’s everybody. Like I said, it takes a community to raise a child…So, it’s gotta be the whole community’s involvement. (Walking Turtle)
In
this second example, Walking Turtle suggested the implementation of
community exercise programs that may help to curb patterns of obesity
and chronic disease:
Getting more active, making it more of a community thing.. Not saying that you can’t go for a walk [alone] if it’s – like the whole Get Up and Get Active thing that’s going on right now. I think that’s cool, but I think it should be a thing where the community does a walk around the big block every year – every week, or every two weeks. Where it’s not always singling out the people who need to lose weight, but it’s [everyone]. (Walking Turtle)
In
order for these programs to succeed, Walking Turtle identifies the
importance of building on the support and involvement from the entire
community, for building excitement and momentum for events like these
and being careful to make these inclusive events. Regarding addiction,
Victoria emphasizes the need for a similar approach, but is adamant that
prevention and education are key to building community health:
What I really think is a big focus that we should put on is the children. I mean, I was told once that if you wanna really change a community, you really have to start with the children… something based around the children would definitely help with the changes of the alcoholism and the drugs and other addictions people often have. (Victoria)
