Aboriginal Health in Canada by
Numerous studies, inquiries, and statistics accumulated over the years have demonstrated the poor health status of Aboriginal peoples relative to the Canadian population in general. Aboriginal Health in Canada is about the complex web of physiological, psychological, spiritual, historical, sociological, cultural, economic, and environmental factors that contribute to health and disease patterns among the Aboriginal peoples of Canada. The authors explore the evidence for changes in patterns of health and disease prior to and since European contact, up to the present. They discuss medical systems and the place of medicine within various Aboriginal cultures and trace the relationship between politics and the organization of health services for Aboriginal people. They also examine popular explanations for Aboriginal health patterns today, and emphasize the need to understand both the historical-cultural context of health issues, as well as the circumstances that give rise to variation in health problems and healing strategies in Aboriginal communities across the country. An overview of Aboriginal peoples in Canada provides a very general background for the non-specialist. Finally, contemporary Aboriginal healing traditions, the issue of self-determination and health care, and current trends in Aboriginal health issues are examined.
Accessing Jordan's principle : A resource for First Nation's parents, caregivers, families and communities. by
Jordan’s Principle is a legal requirement resulting from the Orders of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) and is not a policy or program.
Jordan’s Principle is a child-first principle that aims to eliminate service inequities and delays for First Nations children. Jordan’s Principle states that any public service ordinarily available to all other children must be made available to First Nations children without delay or denial.
All Our Relations by
In this vital and incisive work, bestselling and award-winning author Tanya Talaga explores the alarming rise of youth suicide in Indigenous communities in Canada and beyond. From Northern Ontario to Nunavut, Norway, Brazil, Australia, and the United States, the Indigenous experience in colonized nations is startlingly similar and deeply disturbing. It is an experience marked by the violent separation of Peoples from the land, the separation of families, and the separation of individuals from traditional ways of life -- all of which has culminated in a spiritual separation that has had an enduring impact on generations of Indigenous children. As a result of this colonial legacy, too many communities today lack access to the basic determinants of health -- income, employment, education, a safe environment, health services -- leading to a mental health and youth suicide crisis on a global scale. But, Talaga reminds us, First Peoples also share a history of resistance, resilience, and civil rights activism, from the Occupation of Alcatraz led by the Indians of All Tribes, to the Northern Ontario Stirland Lake Quiet Riot, to the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which united Indigenous Nations from across Turtle Island in solidarity. Based on her Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy series, All Our Relations is a powerful call for action, justice, and a better, more equitable world for all Indigenous Peoples.
Applying Indigenous Research Methods: Storying with Peoples and Communities by
Applying Indigenous Research Methods focuses on the question of "How" Indigenous Research Methodologies (IRMs) can be used and taught across Indigenous studies and education. In this collection, Indigenous scholars address the importance of IRMs in their own scholarship, while focusing conversations on the application with others. Each chapter is co-authored to model methods rooted in the sharing of stories to strengthen relationships, such as yarning, storywork, and others. The chapters offer a wealth of specific examples, as told by researchers about their research methods in conversation with other scholars, teachers, and community members. Applying Indigenous Research Methods is an interdisciplinary showcase of the ways IRMs can enhance scholarship in fields including education, Indigenous studies, settler colonial studies, social work, qualitative methodologies, and beyond.
Braiding Sweetgrass by
Called the work of "a mesmerizing storyteller with deep compassion and memorable prose" (Publishers Weekly) and the book that, "anyone interested in natural history, botany, protecting nature, or Native American culture will love," by Library Journal, Braiding Sweetgrass is poised to be a classic of nature writing. As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer asks questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces indigenous teachings that consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers. Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take "us on a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert). Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices.
Bridging Two Peoples by
Bridging Two Peoples tells the story of Dr. Peter E. Jones, who in 1866 became one of the first status Indians to obtain a medical doctor degree from a Canadian university. He returned to his southern Ontario reserve and was elected chief and band doctor. As secretary to the Grand Indian Council of Ontario he became a bridge between peoples, conveying the chiefs' concerns to his political mentor Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, most importantly during consultations on the Indian Act. The third son of a Mississauga-Ojibwe missionary and his English wife, Peter E. Jones overcame paralytic polio to lead his people forward. He supported the granting of voting rights to Indians and edited Canada's first Native newspaper to encourage them to vote. Appointed a Federal Indian Agent, a post usually reserved for non-Natives, Jones promoted education and introduced modern public health measures on his reserve. But there was little he could do to stem the ravages of tuberculosis that cemetery records show claimed upwards of 40 per cent of the band. The Jones family included Native and non-Native members who treated each other equally. Jones's Mississauga grandmother is now honoured for helping survey the province of Ontario. His mother published books and his wife was an early feminist. The appendix describes how Aboriginal grandmothers used herbal medicines and crafted surgical appliances from birchbark.
Clearing the Plains by
Revealing how Canada's first Prime Minister used a policy of starvation against Indigenous people to clear the way for settlement, the multiple award-winning Clearing the Plains sparked widespread debate about genocide in Canada. In arresting, but harrowing, prose, James Daschuk examines the roles that Old World diseases, climate, and, most disturbingly, Canadian politics--the politics of ethnocide--played in the deaths and subjugation of thousands of Indigenous people in the realization of Sir John A. Macdonald's "National Dream." It was a dream that came at great expense: the present disparity in health and economic well-being between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, and the lingering racism and misunderstanding that permeates the national consciousness to this day. This new edition of Clearing the Plains has a foreword by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Elizabeth Fenn, an opening by Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, and explanations of the book's influence by leading Canadian historians. Called "one of the most important books of the twenty-first century" by the Literary Review of Canada, it was named a "Book of the Year" by The Globe and Mail, Quill & Quire, the Writers' Trust, and won the Sir John A. Macdonald Prize, among many others. "Clearing the Plains is a tour de force that dismantles and destroys the view that Canada has a special claim to humanity in its treatment of indigenous peoples. Daschuk shows how infectious disease and state-supported starvation combined to create a creeping, relentless catastrophe that persists to the present day. The prose is gripping, the analysis is incisive, and the narrative is so chilling that it leaves its reader stunned and disturbed. For days after reading it, I was unable to shake a profound sense of sorrow. This is fearless, evidence-driven history at its finest." --Elizabeth A. Fenn, author of Pox Americana "Required reading for all Canadians." --Candace Savage, author of A Geography of Blood "Clearly written, deeply researched, and properly contextualized history...Essential reading for everyone interested in the history of indigenous North America." --J.R. McNeill, author of Mosquito Empires
A Cree Healer and His Medicine Bundle by
With the rise of urban living and the digital age, many North American healers are recognizing that traditional medicinal knowledge must be recorded before being lost with its elders.A Cree Healer and His Medicine Bundleis a historic document, including nearly 200 color photos and maps, in that it is the first in which a native healer has agreed to open his medicine bundle to share in writing his repertoire of herbal medicines and where they are found. Providing information on and photos of medicinal plants and where to harvest them, anthropologist David E. Young and botanist Robert D. Rogers chronicle the life, beliefs, and healing practices of Medicine Man Russell Willier in his native Alberta, Canada. Despite being criticized for sharing his knowledge, Willier later found support in other healers as they began to realize the danger that much of their traditional practices could die out with them. With Young and Rogers, Willier offers his practices here for future generations. At once a study and a guide,A Cree Healer and His Medicine Bundletouches on how indigenous healing practices can be used to complement mainstream medicine, improve the treatment of chronic diseases, and lower the cost of healthcare. The authors discuss how mining, agriculture, and forestry are threatening the continued existence of valuable wild medicinal plants and the role of alternative healers in a modern health care system. Sure to be of interest to ethnobotanists, medicine hunters, naturopaths, complementary and alternative health practitioners, ethnologists, anthropologists, and academics, this book will also find an audience with those interested in indigenous cultures and traditions.
Decolonizing mental health : embracing Indigenous multi-dimensional balance by
"Through the understanding that Indigenous Peoples are in the process of rising from the "colonial container", with the goal of individual and collective wellbeing, this edited book will explore decolonizing mental health in order to ad¬vance various possibilities for living a quality life within the present-day conceptualizations of Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being. Part I builds the foundation, our knowledge base, upon which we can talk about decolonization mental health. Part II explores the concept of identity/self. Part III examines empowerment. Part IV discusses culturally specific mental health and wellbeing practices. Finally, Part V looks at political action."
Decolonizing Methodologies by
To the colonized, the term 'research' is conflated with European colonialism; the ways in which academic research has been implicated in the throes of imperialism remains a painful memory.This essential volume explores intersections of imperialism and research - specifically, the ways in which imperialism is embedded in disciplines of knowledge and tradition as 'regimes of truth.' Concepts such as 'discovery' and 'claiming' are discussed and an argument presented that the decolonization of research methods will help to reclaim control over indigenous ways of knowing and being.Now in its eagerly awaited third edition, this bestselling book includes a co-written introduction and features contributions from indigenous scholars on the book's continued relevance to current research. It also features a chapter with twenty-five indigenous projects and a collection of poetry.
Decolonizing Research by
From Oceania to North America, indigenous peoples have created storytelling traditions of incredible depth and diversity. The term 'indigenous storywork' has come to encompass the sheer breadth of ways in which indigenous storytelling serves as a historical record, as a form of teaching and learning, and as an expression of indigenous culture and identity. But such traditions have too often been relegated to the realm of myth and legend, recorded as fragmented distortions, or erased altogether. Decolonizing Research brings together indigenous researchers and activists from Canada, Australia and New Zealand to assert the unique value of indigenous storywork as a focus of research, and to develop methodologies that rectify the colonial attitudes inherent in much past and current scholarship. By bringing together their own indigenous perspectives, and by treating indigenous storywork on its own terms, the contributors illuminate valuable new avenues for research, and show how such reworked scholarship can contribute to the movement for indigenous rights and self-determination.
Decolonizing Trauma Work by
In Decolonizing Trauma Work, Renee Linklater explores healing and wellness in Indigenous communities on Turtle Island. Drawing on a decolonizing approach, which puts the "soul wound" of colonialism at the centre, Linklater engages ten Indigenous health care practitioners in a dialogue regarding Indigenous notions of wellness and wholistic health, critiques of psychiatry and psychiatric diagnoses, and Indigenous approaches to helping people through trauma, depression and experiences of parallel and multiple realities. Through stories and strategies that are grounded in Indigenous worldviews and embedded with cultural knowledge, Linklater offers purposeful and practical methods to help individuals and communities that have experienced trauma. Decolonizing Trauma Work, one of the first books of its kind, is a resource for education and training programs, health care practitioners, healing centres, clinical services and policy initiatives.
Determinants of Indigenous Peoples’ Health : Beyond the Social by
"This edited collection, comprised largely of contributions by Indigenous authors, offers the voices and expertise of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis writers from across Canada. The multitude of health determinants of Indigenous peoples are considered in a selection of chapters that range from scholarly papers by research experts in the field, to reflective essays by Indigenous leaders."-- Provided by publisher.
Diagnosing the Legacy by
In the late 1980s, pediatric endocrinologists at the Children's Hospital in Winnipeg began to notice a new cohort appearing in their clinics for young people with diabetes. Indigenous youngsters from two First Nations in northern Manitoba and northwestern Ontario were showing up not with type 1 (or insulin-dependent diabetes), but with what looked like type 2 diabetes, until then a condition that was restricted to people much older. Investigation led the doctors to learn that something similar had become a medical issue among young people of the Pima Indian Nation in Arizona though, to their knowledge, nobody else. But these youth were just the tip of the iceberg. Over the next few decades more children would confront what was turning into not only a medical but also a social and community challenge. "Diagnosing the Legacy" is the story of communities, researchers, and doctors who faced--and continue to face--something never seen before: type 2 diabetes in younger and younger people. Through dozens of interviews, Krotz shows the impact of the disease on the lives of individuals and families as well as the challenges caregivers faced diagnosing and then responding to the complex and perplexing disease, especially in communities far removed from the medical personnel a facilities available in the city.
Elements of Indigenous Style : A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples by
This guide features: Twenty-two succinct style principles; Advice on culturally appropriate publishing practices, including how to collaborate with Indigenous Peoples, when and how to seek the advice of Elders, and how to respect Indigenous Oral Traditions and Traditional Knowledge;Terminology to use and to avoid; Advice on specific editing issues, such as biased language, capitalization, and quoting from historical sources and archives; Case studies of projects that illustrate best practices.
Fighting for a Hand to Hold by
Launched by healthcare providers in January 2018, the #aHand2Hold campaign confronted the Quebec government's practice of separating children from their families during medical evacuation airlifts, which disproportionately affected remote and northern Indigenous communities. Pediatric emergency physician Samir Shaheen-Hussain's captivating narrative of this successful campaign, which garnered unprecedented public attention and media coverage, seeks to answer lingering questions about why such a cruel practice remained in place for so long. In doing so it serves as an indispensable case study of contemporary medical colonialism in Quebec. Fighting for a Hand to Hold exposes the medical establishment's role in the displacement, colonization, and genocide of Indigenous peoples in Canada. Through meticulously gathered government documentation, historical scholarship, media reports, public inquiries, and personal testimonies, Shaheen-Hussain connects the draconian medevac practice with often-disregarded crimes and medical violence inflicted specifically on Indigenous children. This devastating history and ongoing medical colonialism prevent Indigenous communities from attaining internationally recognized measures of health and social well-being because of the pervasive, systemic anti-Indigenous racism that persists in the Canadian public health care system - and in settler society at large. Shaheen-Hussain's unique perspective combines his experience as a frontline pediatrician with his long-standing involvement in anti-authoritarian social justice movements. Sparked by the indifference and callousness of those in power, this book draws on the innovative work of Indigenous scholars and activists to conclude that a broader decolonization struggle calling for reparations, land reclamation, and self-determination for Indigenous peoples is critical to achieve reconciliation in Canada.
Global Indigenous Health by
Indigenous peoples globally have a keen understanding of their health and wellness through traditional knowledge systems. In the past, traditional understandings of health often intersected with individual, community, and environmental relationships of well-being, creating an equilibrium of living well. However, colonization and the imposition of colonial policies regarding health, justice, and the environment have dramatically impacted Indigenous peoples' health. Building on Indigenous knowledge systems of health and critical decolonial theories, the volume's contributors--who are academic and community researchers from Canada, the United States, Sweden, and New Zealand--weave a narrative to explore issues of Indigenous health within four broad themes: ethics and history, environmental and ecological health, impacts of colonial violence on kinship, and Indigenous knowledge and health activism. Chapters also explore how Indigenous peoples are responding to both the health crises in their communities and the ways for non-Indigenous people to engage in building positive health outcomes with Indigenous communities. Global Indigenous Health is unique and timely as it deals with the historical and ongoing traumas associated with colonization and colonialism, understanding Indigenous concepts of health and healing, and ways of moving forward for health equity. Contributors: Sharon Leslie Acoose Seth Adema Peter Butt John E. Charlton Colleen Anne Dell Debra Dell Paul DePasquale Judy A. Dow C. Randy Duncan Carina Fiedeldey-Van Dijk Barbara Fornssler Chelsea Gabel Eleanor Louise Hadden Laura Hall Robert Henry Carol Hopkins Robert Alexander Innes Simon Lambert Amanda LaVallee Josh Levy Rachel Loewen Walker David B. MacDonald Peter Menzies Christopher Mushquash David Mykota Nancy Poole Alicia Powell Ioana Radu Margo Rowan Mark F. Ruml Caroline L. Tait Lisa Tatonetti Margaretha Uttjek Nancy Van Styvendale
Globalization and the health of indigenous peoples : from colonization to self-rule Ullah, A. K. M. Ahsan., author. by
In 70 countries worldwide, there is an estimated 370 million indigenous peoples, and their rich diversity of cultures, religions, traditions, languages and histories has been significant source of our scholarships. However, the health status of this population group is far below than that of non-indigenous populations by all standards. Could the persisting reluctance to understand the influence of self-governance, globalization and social determinants of health in the lives of these people be deemed as a contributor to the poor health of indigenous peoples? Within this volume, Ullah explores the gap in health status between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples by providing a comparative assessment of socio-economic and health indicators for indigenous peoples, government policies, and the ways in which indigenous peoples have been resisting and adapting to state policies. A timely book for a growing field of study, Globalization and the Health of Indigenous Peoples is a must read for academics, policy-makers, and practitioners who are interested in indigenous studies and in understanding the role that globalization plays for the improvement of indigenous peoples' health across the world.
The Haudenosaunee code of behavior for traditional medicine healers by 
Healing Traditions: The Mental Health of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada by
Aboriginal peoples in Canada have diverse cultures but share common social and political challenges that have contributed to their experiences of health and illness. This collection addresses the origins of mental health and social problems and the emergence of culturally responsive approaches to services and health promotion. Healing Traditions is not a handbook of practice but a resource for thinking critically about current issues in the mental health of indigenous peoples. Cross-cutting themes include: the impact of colonialism, sedentarization, and forced assimilation; the importance of land for indigenous identity and an ecocentric self; and processes of healing and spirituality as sources of resilience.
Health and Health Care in Northern Canada by 
Held by the Land: a guide to Indigenous plants for wellness by
The beautifully illustrated Held by the Land guides you through the traditional uses and properties of a selection of indigenous plants.
Indigenous Cultures and Mental Health Counselling by
North America's Indigenous population is a vulnerable group, with specific psychological and healing needs that are not widely met in the mental health care system. Indigenous peoples face certain historical, cultural-linguistic and socioeconomic barriers to mental health care access that government, health care organizations and social agencies must work to overcome. This volume examines ways Indigenous healing practices can complement Western psychological service to meet the needs of Indigenous peoples through traditional cultural concepts. Bringing together leading experts in the fields of Aboriginal mental health and psychology, it provides data and models of Indigenous cultural practices in psychology that are successful with Indigenous peoples. It considers Indigenous epistemologies in applied psychology and research methodology, and informs government policy on mental health service for these populations.
Indigenous Experiences of Pregnancy and Birth by
Traditional midwifery, culture, customs, understandings, and meanings surrounding pregnancy and birth are grounded in distinct epistemologies and worldviews that have sustained Indigenous women and their families since time immemorial. Years of colonization, however, have impacted the degree to which women have choice in the place and ways they carry and deliver their babies. As nations such as Canada became colonized, traditional gender roles were seen as an impediment. The forced rearrangement of these gender roles was highly disruptive to family structures. Indigenous women quickly lost their social and legal status as being dependent on fathers and then husbands. The traditional structures of communities became replaced with colonially informed governance, which reinforced patriarchy and paternalism. The authors in this book carefully consider these historic interactions and their impacts on Indigenous women's experiences. As the first section of the book describes, pregnancy is a time when women reflect on their bodies as a space for the development of life. Foods prepared and consumed, ceremony and other activities engaged in are no longer a focus solely for the mother, but also for the child she is carrying. Authors from a variety of places and perspectives thoughtfully express the historical along with contemporary forces positively and negatively impacting prenatal behaviours and traditional practices. Place and culture in relation to birth are explored in the second half of the book from locations in Canada such as Manitoba, Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and Aotearoa. The reclaiming and revitalization of birthing practices along with rejuvenating forms of traditional knowledge form the foundation for exploration into these experiences from a political perspective. It is an important part of decolonization to acknowledge policies such as birth evacuation as being grounded in systemic racism. The act of returning birth to communities and revitalizing Indigenous prenatal practices are affirmation of sustained resilience and strength, instead of a one-sided process of reconciliation.
Indigenous Health and Well-Being in the COVID-19 Pandemic by
This book investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples and assesses the policy responses taken by governments and Indigenous communities across the world. Bringing together innovative research and policy insights from a range of disciplines, this book investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples across the world, with coverage of　North America, Central America, Africa, and Oceania. Further, it explores the actions taken by governments and Indigenous communities in addressing the challenges posed by this public health crisis. The book emphasises the social determinants of health and well-being, reflecting on issues such as self-governance, human rights law, housing, socioeconomic conditions, access to health care, culture, environmental deprivation, and resource extraction. Chapters also highlight the resilience and agency of Indigenous Peoples in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the legacy of colonialism, patterns of systemic discrimination, and social exclusion. Providing concrete pathways for improving the conditions of Indigenous Peoples in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, this book is essential reading for researchers across indigenous studies, public health, and social policy.
Indigenous Health Ethics: an Appeal to Human Rights by
This book examines the intersections of bioethics, human rights and health equity. It does so through the contextual lenses of nation states while presenting global themes on rights, colonialism and bioethics. The book is framed by the following propositions on indigenous health: it is a human rights issue; it is located within the politics of colonization; and subjugated indigenous knowledges require restoring.
Indigenous methodologies : characteristics, conversations, and contexts by 
Indigenous Peoples and Dementia by
Dementia is on the rise around the world, and health organizations in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand are responding to the urgent need - voiced by communities and practitioners - for guidance on how best to address memory loss in Indigenous communities. This innovative volume responds to the call by bringing together, for the first time, studies and Indigenous teaching stories that address three key areas of concern: prevalence, causes, and public discourse; Indigenous perspectives on care and prevention; and culturally safe application of research to Elder care. Collectively, the contributors demonstrate that care must be grounded in collaborative research informed by Indigenous knowledge and worldviews.
Indigenous Research: Theories, Practices, and Relationships by
Scholars understand what Indigenous research is, but how we practice Indigenous research ethically and respectfully in Canada is under exploration. This ground-breaking edited collection provides readers with concrete and in-depth examples of how to overcome the challenges of Indigenous research with respect to Indigenous worldviews, epistemologies, and ontology.
Indigenous Statistics by
In the first book ever published on Indigenous quantitative methodologies, Maggie Walter and Chris Andersen open up a major new approach to research across the disciplines and applied fields. While qualitative methods have been rigorously critiqued and reformulated, the population statistics relied on by virtually all research on Indigenous peoples continue to be taken for granted as straightforward, transparent numbers.
Introduction to Aboriginal Health and Health Care in Canada by
Named a 2013 PROSE Award Winner in Nursing and Allied Health Sciences Written by one of the leading researchers in First Nations and Inuit Health, this is the only entry-level text to address the current state of knowledge in the field of aboriginal health. The book places aboriginal health in Canada within its historical and philosophical context as it addresses social and clinical approaches to major health issues facing this population. It discusses the distinctive features of aboriginal health and healing as opposed to traditional Western medicine and why it should be studied as a discrete field. Using the thread of cultural safety throughout, the text introduces students to health concerns facing the aboriginal population in general, with a special focus on the needs of women and children. The text provides a framework for professionals to approach aboriginal clients in a way that will both respect their worldviews and retain their own professional epistemology. Chapters are consistently formatted to include chapter objectives, case studies, critical thinking exercises, key concepts and terms, and recommended websites. The text adheres to the CASN/ANAC/CAN framework for teaching cultural competence and safety in regard to aboriginal health, and meets the needs of a curriculum that is highly recommended and will likely be required in the near future. Included with the text are an instructoris manual, study guide, and sample exams.Key Features: Comprises the only entry-level text about aboriginal health in Canada Integrates, historical, social, and clinical information along with concrete examples and relevant case studiesWritten by a leading researcher in First Nations and Inuit HealthAdheres to the CASN/ANAC/CAN framework for teaching cultural competence and safety regarding aboriginal health
An Introduction to Indigenous Health and Healthcare in Canada by
First edition named a 2013 PROSE Award Winner in Nursing and Allied Health Sciences.This textbook for Canadian nursing and allied health students explores the major health issues of Indigenous populations and how to improve their overall health. The second edition addresses a key development since the first edition was published: an increasing consensus among Indigenous peoples that their health is tied to environmental determinants, both physical and philosophical. This text describes what is distinctive about Indigenous approaches to health and healing and why it should be studied as a discrete field. It provides a framework for professionals to approach Indigenous clients in a way that both respects the client's worldview while retaining a professional epistemology. Grounded in the concepts of cultural sensitivity, competency, and safety - yet filled with practical information - this book integrates historical, social, and clinical approaches illuminated by concrete examples from the field and relevant case studies. New to the Second Edition: Delivers thoroughly updated content, statistics, and coverage of political developments since 2013 Includes a complete test bank of multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions in each chapter Provides sample PowerPoint presentation lectures in each chapter Key Features: Authored by a leading researcher and educator in First Nations and Inuit health Serves as the only up-to-date text on Indigenous health in Canada Enhances learning with chapter objectives, critical thinking exercises, abundant primary source material, and references
Jordan and Mom by
Jerleen Sullivan Anderson from Norway House Cree Nation shares the story of her brother Jordan River Anderson and their Mom Virginia Anderson in her book Jordan and Mom. Jerleen writes this book so that we can remember Jordan and the way he was treated as a First Nations child, with his serious health condition, by the governments of Manitoba and Canada. It is a book for us to learn and understand how Jordan’s Principle came about and that Jordan as a young boy had a Mom and family who loved him dearly.
Kaandossiwin, 2nd Ed by
Indigenous methodologies have been silenced and obscured by the Western scientific means of knowledge production. In a challenge to this colonialist rejection of Indigenous knowledge, Anishinaabe re-searcher Kathleen Absolon describes how Indigenous re-searchers re-theorize and re-create methodologies. Indigenous knowledge resurgence is being informed by taking a second look at how re-search is grounded. Absolon consciously adds an emphasis on re with a hyphen as a process of recovery of Kaandossiwin and Indigenous re-search. Understanding Indigenous methodologies as guided by Indigenous paradigms, worldviews, principles, processes and contexts, Absolon argues that they are wholistic, relational, inter-relational and interdependent with Indigenous philosophies, beliefs and ways of life. In exploring the ways Indigenous re-searchers use Indigenous methodologies within mainstream academia, Kaandossiwin renders these methods visible and helps to guard other ways of knowing from colonial repression. This second edition features the author's reflections on her decade of re-search and teaching experience since the last edition, celebrating the most common student questions, concerns, and revelations.
Medicine Unbundled by
A shocking exposé of the dark history and legacy of segregated Indigenous health care in Canada. After the publication of his critically acclaimed 2011 book Drink the Bitter Root: A Writer's Search for Justice and Healing in Africa, author Gary Geddes turned the investigative lens on his own country, embarking on a long and difficult journey across Canada to interview Indigenous elders willing to share their experiences of segregated health care, including their treatment in the "Indian hospitals" that existed from coast to coast for over half a century. The memories recounted by these survivors--from gratuitous drug and surgical experiments to electroshock treatments intended to destroy the memory of sexual abuse--are truly harrowing, and will surely shatter any lingering illusions about the virtues or good intentions of our colonial past. Yet, this is more than just the painful history of a once-so-called vanishing people (a people who have resisted vanishing despite the best efforts of those in charge); it is a testament to survival, perseverance, and the power of memory to keep history alive and promote the idea of a more open and just future. Released to coincide with the Year of Reconciliation (2017), Medicine Unbundled is an important and timely contribution to our national narrative.
Quest for the Thunderbird Nest by 
Red Medicine by
Patrisia Gonzales addresses "Red Medicine" as a system of healing that includes birthing practices, dreaming, and purification rites to re-establish personal and social equilibrium. The book explores Indigenous medicine across North America, with a special emphasis on how Indigenous knowledge has endured and persisted among peoples with a legacy to Mexico. Gonzales combines her lived experience in Red Medicine as an herbalist and traditional birth attendant with in-depth research into oral traditions, storytelling, and the meanings of symbols to uncover how Indigenous knowledge endures over time. And she shows how this knowledge is now being reclaimed by Chicanos, Mexican Americans and Mexican Indigenous peoples. For Gonzales, a central guiding force in Red Medicine is the principal of regeneration as it is manifested in Spiderwoman. Dating to Pre-Columbian times, the Mesoamerican Weaver/Spiderwoman--the guardian of birth, medicine, and purification rites such as the Nahua sweat bath--exemplifies the interconnected process of rebalancing that transpires throughout life in mental, spiritual and physical manifestations. Gonzales also explains how dreaming is a form of diagnosing in traditional Indigenous medicine and how Indigenous concepts of the body provide insight into healing various kinds of trauma. Gonzales links pre-Columbian thought to contemporary healing practices by examining ancient symbols and their relation to current curative knowledges among Indigenous peoples. Red Medicine suggests that Indigenous healing systems can usefully point contemporary people back to ancestral teachings and help them reconnect to the dynamics of the natural world.
Research Is Ceremony by
Indigenous researchers are knowledge seekers who work to progress Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing in a modern and constantly evolving context. This book describes a research paradigm shared by Indigenous scholars in Canada and Australia, and demonstrates how this paradigm can be put into practice. Relationships don't just shape Indigenous reality, they are our reality. Indigenous researchers develop relationships with ideas in order to achieve enlightenment in the ceremony that is Indigenous research. Indigenous research is the ceremony of maintaining accountability to these relationships. For researchers to be accountable to all our relations, we must make careful choices in our selection of topics, methods of data collection, forms of analysis and finally in the way we present information. I'm an Opaskwayak Cree from northern Manitoba currently living in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, Australia. I'm also a father of three boys, a researcher, son, uncle, teacher, world traveller, knowledge keeper and knowledge seeker. As an educated Indian, I've spent much of my life straddling the Indigenous and academic worlds. Most of my time these days is spent teaching other Indigenous knowledge seekers (and my kids) how to accomplish this balancing act while still keeping both feet on the ground.
Research Methods in Indigenous Contexts by
This forward-looking resource offers readers a modern contextual framework for conducting social science research with indigenous peoples. Foundational chapters summarize current UN-based standards for indigenous rights and autonomy, with their implications for research practice. Coverage goes on to detail minimally-invasive data-gathering methods, survey current training and competency issues, and consider the scientist's role in research, particularly as a product of his/her own cultural background. From these guidelines and findings, students and professionals have a robust base for carrying out indigenous research that is valid and reliable as well as respectful and ethical. Among the topics covered: · Cultural theories and cultural dominance. · The legal framework of research in indigenous contexts. · The role of language within indigenous peoples' cultural rights. · Methodology: how to optimally collect data in the field. · Researchers' influence and philosophy of science. · Learning how to prepare research in indigenous contexts. Research Methods in Indigenous Contexts is an important reference benefitting a wide audience, including students and researchers in the social sciences, humanities, and psychology; decision-makers of NGOs and GOs that act with regard to humanitarian aid, for tourism projects, or any other contingency with indigenous contexts; and policymakers interested in the aspects of human activity upon which indigenous cultural concerns are based.
Routledge Handbook of Indigenous Wellbeing by
The Routledge Handbook of Indigenous Wellbeing consists of five themes, namely, physical, social and emotional, economic, cultural and spiritual, and subjective wellbeing. It fills a substantial gap in the current literature on the wellbeing of Indigenous people and communities around the world. This handbook sheds new light on understanding Indigenous wellbeing and its determinants, and aids in the development and implementation of more appropriate policies, as better evidence-informed policymaking will lead to better outcomes for Indigenous populations. This book provides a reliable and convenient source of information for policymakers, academics and students, and allows readers to make informed decisions regarding the wellbeing of Indigenous populations. It is also a useful resource for non- government organizations to gain insight into relevant global factors for the development of stronger and more effective international policies to improve the lives of Indigenous communities. improve the lives of Indigenous communities.
Separate Beds : A History of Indian Hospitals in Canada, 1920s-1980s by
Separate Beds is the shocking story of Canada's system of segregated health care. Operated by the same bureaucracy that was expanding health care opportunities for most Canadians, the "Indian Hospitals" were underfunded, understaffed, overcrowded, and rife with coercion and medical experimentation. Established to keep the Aboriginal tuberculosis population isolated, they became a means of ensuring that other Canadians need not share access to modern hospitals with Aboriginal patients. Tracing the history of the system from its fragmentary origins to its gradual collapse, Maureen K. Lux describes the arbitrary and contradictory policies that governed the "Indian Hospitals," the experiences of patients and staff, and the vital grassroots activism that pressed the federal government to acknowledge its treaty obligations. A disturbing look at the dark side of the liberal welfare state, Separate Beds reveals a history of racism and negligence in health care for Canada's First Nations that should never be forgotten.
Somacultural Liberation by 
State of the World's Indigenous Peoples: Indigenous Peoples' Access to Health Services by
This publication sets out to examine the major challenges for indigenous peoples to obtain adequate access to and utilization of quality health care services. It provides an important background to many of the health issues that indigenous peoples are currently facing. Improving indigenous peoples' health remains a critical challenge for indigenous peoples, States and the United Nations. Indigenous peoples' health status is severely affected by their living conditions, income levels, employment rates, access to safe water, sanitation, health services and food availability. They also face destruction to their lands, territories and resources, which are essential to their very survival. Other threats include climate change and environmental contamination. Geographical isolation and poverty results in not having the means to pay high cost for transport or treatment resulting in major structural barriers in accessing health care, further compounded by discrimination, racism and a lack of cultural understanding and sensitivity. Many health systems do not reflect the social and cultural practices and beliefs of indigenous peoples. At the same time, it is often difficult to obtain a global assessment of indigenous peoples' health status because of the lack of data. More work is required in building existing data collection systems to include data on indigenous peoples and their communities.
Structures of Indifference by
Structures of Indifference examines an Indigenous life and death in a Canadian city and what it reveals about the ongoing history of colonialism. In September 2008, Brian Sinclair, a middle-aged, non-Status Anishinaabe resident of Winnipeg, arrived in the emergency room of a major downtown hospital. Over a thirty-four- hour period, he was left untreated and unattended to, and ultimately died from an easily treatable infection.McCallum and Perry present the ways in which Sinclair, once erased and ignored, came to represent diffuse, yet singular and largely dehumanized ideas about Indigenous people, modernity, and decline in cities. This story tells us about ordinary indigeneityin the city of Winnipeg through Sinclair's experience and restores the complex humanity denied him in his interactions with Canadian health and legal systems, both before and after his death.
The Sweet Bloods of Eeyou Istchee by
The second edition of the groundbreaking collection The Sweet Bloods of Eeyou Istchee includes an epilogue with an update on each storyteller. Ruth DyckFehderau and twenty-seven storytellers offer a rich and timely accounting of contemporary life in Eeyou Istchee, the territory of the James Bay Cree of Northern Quebec. The stories are connected by diabetes, but they are not records of illness as much as they are deeply personal accounts of life in the North: the fine, swayingbalances of living both in town and on the land, of family and work and studies, of healing from relocations and residential school histories while building communities of safety and challenge and joy, of hunting and hockey, and much more. Sweet Bloods is essential reading for anyone who knows anyone with diabetes, and for anyone interested in a contemporary rendering of one of Canada's vibrant, thriving, and highly adaptive Indigenous communities. This book is published by Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay and distributed by WLU Press.
Under-Served: Health Determinants of Indigenous, Inner-City, and Migrant Populations in Canada by 
Wisdom Engaged: Traditional Knowledge for Northern Community Well-Being by
"I listened to my mum, my dad, my gramma, that is why I am still here. That is how you stay alive." --Mida DonnesseyWisdom Engaged demonstrates how traditional knowledge, Indigenous approaches to healing, and the insights of Western bio-medicine can complement each other when all voices are heard in a collaborative effort to address changes to Indigenous communities' well-being. In this collection, voices of Elders, healers, physicians, and scholars are gathered in an attempt to find viable ways to move forward while facing new challenges. Bringing these varied voices together provides a critical conversation about the nature of medicine; a demonstration of ethical commitment; and an example of building successful community relationships.Contributors: Alestine Andre, Janelle Marie Baker, Robert Beaulieu, Della M. Cheney, Stakawas, Katsawa, Mida Donnessey, Mabel English, Christopher Fletcher, Fort McKay Berry Group, Annie B. Gordon, Celina Harpe-Cooper, Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Leslie Main Johnson, Thea Luig, Art Mathews, Sim'oogit T'enim Gyet, Linda G. McDonald, Ruby E. Morgan, Bernice Neyelle, Morris Neyelle, Keiichi Omura, Mary Teya, Nancy J. Turner, Walter Vanast, Darlene Vegh.
