EN:

This is a joint work between my Mom and I. It begins with a story passed down to my Mom about my grandfather’s experience at an Indian Residential School. My Mom asks me questions about the story and I respond, learning more as we talk. We ended up writing back and forth to one another over a few days to complete this. I found it very emotional and hard to talk about.

We share this story fully acknowledging it is only one story, and it is shared with the intent for learning. I have heard many people say Residential Schools happened a long time ago. My mom started to share this story several years ago with primarily non-Indigenous social work students to demonstrate how Residential School and the Sixties Scoop impacted the five generations she speaks of in the story. My brother’s first day of school became a much bigger moment for her and my Mushum.

We share this story with deep respect for all the families who were impacted by Residential Schools and the Sixties Scoop. We stand with you and support all of your voices and recognize many of you have lost far more than we have. For all our non-Indigenous family and friends, we share this with respect for you as well, and to foster better understanding and as a step towards reconciliation. This is our truth.

EN:

In this article, we share our experience conducting research with Métis women as Métis women researchers. We engaged in promising research practices through visiting, ceremony, and creative methods of art and writing embedded in what we identify as a learning-by-doing practice. Through collaborative and Indigenous relational methodology, we sought to support a culturally safe, nurturing space where Métis women could learn from one another and express Métis knowledge about the specific roles and responsibilities of Métis Aunties within our respective kinship system. This inquiry into the roles of Métis Aunties included a creative art and writing dialogue event in the Métis river community of St. Louis in Saskatchewan, attended by women who were Métis Aunties or nieces. The purpose of the event was to learn more about our Métis Aunties, building on Dr. Kim Anderson’s (2016) extensive research on women’s roles in the governance, care, and wellness of our healthy/balanced kinship systems. We chose this specific region because of its historical significance to Métis people as a river place, and our own personal connections to Métis families in this area. We share our processes in learning with and from other Métis women in order to contribute to the growing literature on relational approaches to research.

EN:

A language nest is an early language learning program for young children from infancy to five years of age. Language nests have the potential to reconnect young Indigenous children to their languages and cultures within the heart of their communities. The first author, a settler scholar and mother and grandmother of language nest children, shares some insights and experiences from her doctoral research with community members who have been involved in developing a language nest in nḱmaplqs, the Head of the Lake Okanagan Indian Band community in Vernon, British Columbia. The second author, an Okanagan Indian Band community member and Language and Culture Lead for her community, describes the language nest in the present day. We offer these stories and words of language nest development to encourage other Indigenous communities who are engaged in their own journeys of reclamation.

EN:

nêhiyaw kesi wâhkotohk (how we are related) is a relationship mapping resource based in the nêhiyaw (Cree) language and worldview. The relationship map was developed incrementally through a five-year process of connecting nêhiyaw worldviews of child and family development with the wisdom and teachings from nêhiyaw knowledge-holders. Over time, in ceremony and with many consultations with wisdom-keepers, the authors began connecting the nêhiyaw teachings into a resource that would allow (mostly non-Indigenous) human service providers working with nêhiyaw children, families, and communities a means to understand and honour the relational worldview and teachings of the nêhiyaw people. This kinship map came to include nêhiyaw kinship terms and teachings on wâhkohtowin (all relations) in order to recognize all the sacred roles and responsibilities of family and community. In addition, the vital role of isîhcikewin (ceremony) and the Turtle Lodge Teachings (nêhiyaw stages of individual, family, and community development) became embedded within this resource, along with the foundational teachings that create balance and wellbeing that enable one to live miyo pimâtisiwin (the good life).

EN:

The health and wellness of Indigenous peoples continue to be impacted by the harmful colonization practices enforced by the Government of Canada. While the long-term health impacts of the Indian Residential School (IRS) system are documented, empirical evidence elucidating the relationship between the IRSs and the risk of offspring experiencing other collective childhood traumas, such as the Sixties Scoop (1950-1990) and the inequities within the child welfare system (CWS), is needed. Through an online study, we explored the links between familial (parents/grandparents) IRS attendance and subsequent involvement in the CWS in a non-representative sample of Indigenous adults in Canada born during the Sixties Scoop era. The final sample comprised 433 adults who self-identified as Status First Nation (52.2%), non-Status First Nation (23.6%), and Métis (24.2%). The study found that adults with a parent who attended IRS were more likely to have spent time in foster care or in a group home during the Sixties Scoop era. They were also more likely to have grown up in a household in which someone used alcohol or other drugs, had a mental illness or a previous suicide attempt, had spent time in prison, had lower mean levels of general household stability, and tended to have lower household economic stability. Moreover, the relationship between parental IRS attendance and foster care was explained, in part (i.e., mediated) by a higher childhood household adversity score. These findings highlight that the intergenerational cycles of household risk introduced by the IRS system contribute to the cycles of childhood adversity and increased risk of spending time within the CWS in Canada. This is the first study among Indigenous adults from across Canada to demonstrate quantitatively that being affected by the CWS during the Sixties Scoop era is linked to intergenerational cycles of risk associated with the IRS system.

EN:

Human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is undoubtedly occurring in Northeastern Ontario. However, there is a lack of information, resources, coordination, and collaboration on the issue in comparison to Southern Ontario. Furthermore, urban-based programming from “down south” does not necessarily fit the unique circumstances of Northeastern Ontario: specifically, the isolation and underservicing of rural and remote communities, the presence of francophone communities, and diverse Indigenous communities. The Northeastern Ontario Research Alliance on Human Trafficking is a community-university research partnership that takes a critical anti-human-trafficking approach. We combine Indigenous and feminist methodologies with participatory action research. In this paper, we first present findings from our eight participatory action research workshops with persons with lived experience and service providers in the region, where participants identified the needs of trafficked women and gaps and barriers to service provision. Second, in response to participants’ calls for collaboration, we have developed a Service Mapping Toolkit that is grounded in Indigenous cultural practices and teachings, where applicable, and in the agency and self-determination of persons experiencing violence, exploitation, or abuse in the sex trade. We conclude by recommending seven principles for building collaborative networks aimed at addressing violence in the sex trade. The Service Mapping Toolkit and collaborative principles may assist other rural or northern communities across the county.