Graduate Theses & Dissertations

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It Flows from the Heart
Indigenous Knowledges and intellectual tradition emanate from relationship with land, water, spirit, and the beings of Creation. Knowledge mobilization occurs intergenerationally and through these relationships. The Bodwewaadmii Anishinaabeg have lived in relationship with the Great Lakes since the formation of the lakes. Our stories and practices demonstrate our intimate ties to land, water, and the other than human beings. This dissertation shares some of these practices and stories. Settler colonialism in the Great Lakes has disrupted Bodwewaadmii Anishinaabe relationships and resulted in a diaspora. Following the Federal Indian Removal Act of 1830, individual Bodwewaadmiig and families moved north and inland from the southern shores of Lake Michigan, south to the southern plains of the United States and into Mexico, or seemingly stayed in place in southwestern Michigan. As a result, Bodwewaadmii Anishinaabeg now reside in three colonial nation states—Canada, United States, and Mexico. The disruption of Great Lakes basin-based relationships continues, impacting cultural practices, language, and Knowledges as well as knowledge mobilization. Multilayered settler colonial processes have covered women’s water Knowledges and practices. This dissertation shares narratives of Bodwewaadmii migration, removal and relocation through a lens of disruption and knowledge covering. Returning to ourselves, Biskaabiiyang, is revitalization of culture, language and Knowledges. In addition, Biskaabiiyang is a way of being and a research methodology. This dissertation shares the stories and motivations of over twenty-five Anishinaabe women, men and gender fluid humans working to uncover Knowledges and practices and reweave both into their daily lives, the lives of their grandchildren and their community members. This research builds on historical literature and on a body of literature about cultural practices, water Knowledges, and Indigenous peoples’ relationships with land, water, and the beings of the Great Lakes. It contributes to Indigenous research methodology, Bodwewaadmii Anishinaabe history, and revitalization of language, Knowledges and practices. It has been written in a narrative style and for the benefit of our families and communities. Author Keywords: Anishinaabe Studies, Biskaabiiyang, Indigenous Knowledges, Indigenous Research Methodology, Potawatomi, Water
Anishinaabe Motherhood
The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate Anishinaabe women’s Traditional Teachings and pedagogies in a contemporary context. Through this exploration, I have uncovered the tensions, challenges, and strengths that Anishinaabe gaashiyag (mothers) face when engaging with these Traditional Teachings and pedagogies. The research methodology I have used is a branch of grounded theory called the Anishinaabe Research Methodology, and it is integral to the Anishinaabe principles of living called the Seven Grandparent Teachings: Wisdom, Love, Respect, Bravery, Honesty, Humility, and Truth. I used a research method called the Nbwaachiwi (the art of visiting) method. I used the ‘Aunties kitchen table’ style of knowledge collection, where it is open-ended and one-on-one - like you would be at your auntie's kitchen table, sharing stories and having tea. By utilizing these principles, I conducted my research through the Anishinaabe-aadiziwin (culture and language – way of life) paradigm. I addressed multilayered Anishinaabe teachings and many connections to the land and spirituality. I have found that Anishinaabe gaashiyag feel pressure to adopt Western modes of raising their children. However, some young women are returning to the traditional Anishinaabe teachings by using traditional birthing techniques, tiknigaans (traditional baby carriers), and evolving our cultural practices to fit modern ways of living. The knowledge I present within this paper can inform mothers who want to learn Traditional Teachings and pedagogies, and thereby resist ongoing intergeneration trauma and colonization. New generations are identifying what the negative effects on raising Anishinaabe children and taking a stand to break ongoing trauma and abuse so that their children do not have to be subjected to it. These mothers are informed about cultural and Traditional Teachings with the hope that they can use this knowledge to assist them on their path to, and during, motherhood. Given the determination of these young mothers to raise their babies using Anishinaabe traditional methods, the future identities and lives of their children may be significantly better in a cultural sense than their predecessors. They will be the products of their mothers’ commitment to the resurgence of Anishinaabe maternal teachings and pedagogies. Author Keywords: Anishinaabe, Indigenous Motherhood, Motherhood, Parenting, Pedagogies, Teachings
Exploring Vulnerability to Food Insecurity
Addressing the issue of food insecurity effectively within a region in a way where interventions reflect the variability of food insecurity levels across subgroups of the population is important. It is a unique challenge and requires specific data. This study took in this direction by conducting an exploratory statistical analysis of a community-representative dataset of Inuit Seniors’ food (in)security. The analysis was theoretically sensitive as well as knowledge-user-directed.Results show that 52.7% of all Seniors in Nain and Hopedale, Nunatsiavut, are food insecure, and that food (in)security is associated with age group, education status, health status, mobility status and household financial situation. Further, younger Seniors aged 55-64 are more likely to be food insecure than their older peers. This study is among the first to provide an analysis of quantitative associations between variables that characterize food (in)security among a specific subgroup in the Inuit population. Author Keywords: Arctic, Case study, Food security, Inuit health, Seniors, Vulnerability
Finding Community
This thesis explores the history of the Indigenous child welfare system in Manitoba and the effects of the Millennium Scoop on children in care. My research question is: what was the experience of children in care in Manitoba from 1990 to 2015? A related question is: how do survivors find healing? The thesis begins with a discussion of the history of acts, policies, and practices that began with the Indigenous child welfare system during the running of Residential schools. Then the acts, reviews, and policies that have shaped the child welfare system in Manitoba are discussed more thoroughly. The focus of the thesis is on the stories of Phoenix Sinclair, Tina Fontaine, and Natasha Reimer. I share their stories and provide an analysis of how the child welfare system has affected their lives. The negative effects of being a child in care are numerous. Being a child in care leaves behind grief, loss of identity, and loss of security. The systemic issues of the child welfare system include inadequate funding, overloaded case workers, staff burnout, and a lack of transparency. These overarching failures translate into the failure of children in care: details are overlooked, wrong decisions are made, and children are left to fend for themselves. Or they fall into the cracks and do not receive adequate care. This then translates into the deaths of children in care, or they are left to navigate life on their own and forced to create their circle of supports. Despite all the complications and negative impacts, some children can succeed while in care. Natasha’s story is a perfect example of such resilience. Author Keywords: child welfare, indigenous studies, millennium scoop, sixties scoop
Experiencing buhts’an qu’inal from sHachel jwohc’ a’tel through sna'el ya'beyel stuc te bin ay ma'yuc
This thesis shows and emphasizes the importance of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) in informing collaborative efforts that promote sustainable economic development in Indigenous communities. It tells the story of a participative research study undertaken with six Tseltal communities located in the Region Selva of Chiapas, Mexico, in the context of the Covid19 pandemic of 2020 and early 2021. In this study, the research participants reflect on their endeavours pursuing projects focused on the economic self-sufficiency of their communities. Their initiatives, which are deeply grounded in Tseltal practices while accompanied by the local non-profit organization IXIM AC, focus on developing economically self-sustaining enterprises in self-organized groups led by local Indigenous women. The findings offer a deep immersion into two aspects that emerge from Tseltal knowledge: The Nucleus of Tseltal community wellbeing and the Four Elements of Buhts’an qu’inal (Tseltal community wellbeing). The study’s results show that these two IK grounded aspects guide the participants’ endeavours in developing sHachel jwohc’ a’tel (Tseltal initiatives of entrepreneurship) while also enabling opportunities for gender transformative collaborative work and sustained engagement in local initiatives of sna'el ya'beyel stuc te bin ay ma'yuc (Tseltal economic development oriented to community wellbeing). Author Keywords: Community Wellbeing, Indigenous Entrepreneurship, Indigenous Knowledges, Indigenous Women, Participative Action Research, Sustainable Development
Managing Through Change
Arctic ecosystems are increasingly altered by climate change, and some wildlife species, like moose, are adapting to these new conditions. Indigenous knowledge and values, such as those held by Inuit, can provide insight into adaptive wildlife management and may improve ecosystem resiliency. This thesis seeks to address the following question: What is the potential role of Indigenous knowledge in managing wildlife under climate change? This thesis follows a qualitative exploratory design involving 1) a systematic literature review of the peer-reviewed literature and 2) a case study on moose in Nunatsiavut in which 35 interviews and participatory mapping were conducted with Inuit beneficiaries. The results demonstrate a range of potential roles for Indigenous knowledge and values in managing species impacted by climate change. The case study of moose in Nunatsiavut has applicability across the Canadian Arctic where the sustainability of harvested species is at risk. Author Keywords: Arctic, climate change, Indigenous knowledge, moose, Nunatsiavut, wildlife management
Ohwén
Ohwén:tsia Entsionkwarihón:nien is a project that explores the intersection of Kanien’kéha immersion, Kanien’kehá:ka culture and the potential impacts of experiencing Rotinonhsón:ni knowledge on the land. Students at the Akwesasne Freedom School are fully immersed in the Kanien’kéha language and the “curriculum” is centered around four Rotinonhsón:ni systems of knowledge. What is missing, as identified by the teachers, is consistent opportunities for students to physically be on the land. This project asks how can we ensure that future generations of Onkwehónwe children can embody their language and their culture in connection to the land. The resulting “curriculum” then shifts from determining what students will learn, to listening to what the land has to teach. A land-based program by the AFS can translate to educational control, cultural sustainability, food sovereignty, environmental stewardship, community empowerment and linguistic revitalization; each of these is a critical component of building and rebuilding communities and nations. Author Keywords: Indigenous methodology, Land-Based Education, Rotinonhsón:ni, Storytelling
collaborative ecotoxicological risk assessment of in-place pollutants in Owen Sound Bay, Lake Huron within the Saugeen Ojibway Nation Territory
Owen Sound Bay, which is located within the traditional territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON), is contaminated as a result of historical industrial and shipping activity. Gross contamination of the sediments in the inner part of the Bay (i.e., Owen Sound Harbour) includes high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other organic compounds, as well as metals that may pose a risk to the SON fishery for lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis). However, evaluating the environmental risks posed by contaminated sediments is a challenge, as these risks are dependent upon several factors and require multiple lines of evidence. Including Indigenous communities in environmental risk assessment and the management of those risks is vital for sustaining ecosystem integrity, as well as respecting Treaty Rights. In this study, a risk assessment framework was developed that included several risk assessment tools used in Western science and also encompassed the concerns and values of the SON, including the application of SON-ecological knowledge. Methods for risk evaluation included gathering lines of evidence though community workshops, as well as field sampling in the Bay to determine the concentrations of PAHs and other organic contaminants in sediments and in the water column. Laboratory studies of toxicity to early life stages of lake whitefish and Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) and sediment disturbance simulations to evaluate biological responses in juvenile lake whitefish were also completed as lines of evidence. The results indicate that leaving the harbour “as is” without a thorough analysis of remediation options fails to address the concerns of the people within the SON communities. Overall, this research demonstrated a successful process for developing a collaborative risk assessment framework that recognizes the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples and promotes Nation-to-Nation decision making. Author Keywords: biomarkers, Coregonus clupeaformis, Indigenous knowledge, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, risk assessment, source tracking
Following ininaahtigoog Home
Indigenous peoples’ sur-thrivance in global, settler colonial, historical, and nation-specific economic contexts is a broadly studied subject that fails to emphasize Indigenous economic sovereignty. Indigenous knowledges regarding the land-based relationalities which formulate an aspect of Indigenous economic sovereignty is lacking. So too is knowledge on Indigenous womxn’s land and water-based relationalities from which her economic sovereignty flows. Writing within and for Anishinaabeg sur-thrivance in Anishinaabewaki, this research examines Anishinaabeg womxn’s relationship with the sugar bush during the spring harvest as a site of gendered nation-specific economic sovereignty. Epistemicide has attenuated land-based knowledges in gendered ways; and, missionary and settler colonial processes in Canada, the U.S., and within Anishinaabeg communities have alienated Anishinaabeg womxn from inherent land and water-based relationships. By employing an Anishinaabeg methodology of “critically returning to ourselves” that is oriented towards Anishinaabe approaches to history and Anishinaabe ways of seeing history as worlds, this research recovers information about womxn’s sugar bush relationships. This recovery begins with literary, documentary, and oral sources. Through anishinaabe feminist interpretation, I reveal that womxn’s sugar bush relationships engender whole worlds that are animated and generated by her legendary connections with the natural and spiritual world, her social-economic commitment and savvy, and her enduring labour. I further interpret that her connections, her savvy, and her labour is mediated with variable aspects of settler colonial gendered influences such as patriarchy, omnipresent heterosexuality and/or gender binaries, marriage, class, and values attributed to womxn that are inconsequential to sur-thriving in land and water-based worlds. In conclusion this research tells three distinct, but connected, “sticky and sweet [story] strands” which illuminate the significance, beauty, complexity, and un-romance of Anishinaabeg womxn’s relationship with the sugar bush. Simultaneously, it prompts Anishinaabeg to reflect on the worlds we have lived in, are living in now, and want to create in terms of land-based relationships and relationalities. In effort to disrupt and bring attention to the restrictions and distortions that several hundred years of missionary, settler colonial, (hetero)patriarchal, heterosexist, and capitalist forces have had on Anishinaabeg gender and relational formations, my method in writing (i.e. spelling) is to prompt consciousness of gender and relational fluidity and diversity. This approach presses for Anishinaabeg committed orientation towards the necessities and possibilities of correcting and transforming imposed and internalized settler gender and relational formations and structures. This research builds on a body of literature about Indigenous womxn’s relationship with land and water in Turtle Island in order to signify and illuminate Anishinaabeg womxn’s dynamic and varied relationship with the sugar bush. It contributes to Indigenous research methodology, Indigenous and Anishinaabeg women’s history, Indigenous women’s labour, and Indigenous literary studies. Author Keywords: Anishinaabeg Studies, economic sovereignty, Indigenous feminism, Indigenous relationship with land, Indigenous women, sugar bush
Code of Bimadiziwin
Indigenous peoples and organizations have a long history of incorporating cultural knowledge and teachings into program and organizational design and structure. The approach to incorporating cultures into Indigenous organizations is not uniform, nor is the ways that they are understood. This dissertation focuses on Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre, in Peterborough Ontario and their approach to incorporating Indigenous cultures into their organization from 2010-2014. The intention of this dissertation is to build knowledge of Indigenous perspectives of organizational structure, grounded in Anishinabe teachings. The teaching circle, vision- time – feeling –movement, guides my learning process and the structure of the dissertation. In using an Anishinabe framework the importance of relationships and the Anishinabe clan system are foundational to my understanding, and will be discussed at length. The purpose and goal of this research is twofold. First, to show the complexity, intentionality and depth to an Indigenous research process; a process that is often nuanced in the literature. Second, to show how Anishinabe thought can (and does) provide a framework for a service delivery organization, in its governance and program and service delivery. The thesis of this dissertation is that Anishinabe knowledge is not always visible to outsiders, but it was present at Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre in the ways they approached research, governed themselves and delivered programs and services. Key Words: Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Governance, Indigenous Research Ethics, Indigenous Research Framework Author Keywords: Indigenous Governance, Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Research Ethics, Indigenous Research Framework
MSHKIKENH IKWE NIIN (I am Tutle Woman)
This dissertation offers the dibaajimowin (personal story) of my beading project, which I undertook to understand the enactment of Anishinaabe women’s knowledge in graduate research. Framed through the concept of a collective self, which is embedded within the Anishinaabe traditions of storytelling and beading, and drawing further from the aesthetics, processes, and teachings of these traditions so that I proceed in a good way, I am able to tell a story that is wholly Anishinaabe. Through the symbolic literacy present within the pieces of beadwork entitled:”Turtle Woman,” “Turtle Woman Meets Grandmother Moon,” “Turtle Woman Marries a Beaver,” and “Turtle Woman Slays the Big Fish,” which I present in the second half of this story, I explore the relationship among Anishinaabe women’s knowledges, self, identity, power relations, allyship, sovereignty and good governance in graduate research. I conclude that if graduate research is framed as an extension of an Anishinaabe space, an ethics of responsibility emerges, setting the stage for graduate research that is rooted in responsibility, contributing to efforts of Anishinaabe sovereignty and community wellness. Overall through my conclusion, as well as the process that I employ, I make contributions in the areas of Indigenous thought, Indigenous methodologies, Indigenous governance, feminism, critical theory, pedagogy, and ally theory. Author Keywords: Anishinaabe, beadwork, Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous methodology, Indigenous women, sovereignty
Environmental Health Management Practices in Indigenous Communities
Environmental factors play a critical role in the health and well-being of people worldwide and the distribution of the burden of disease associated with environmental causes is disproportionately high in marginalized populations, including First Nations. In this way, environmental health problems are as much social and political problems as environmental and must be addressed as such. In Canada, the division of responsibilities for environmental health, in combination with the jurisdictional complexities of health and environment regulation and service provision on-reserve creates a First Nations environmental health management system with significant gaps. This research set out to explore the question: What are the current strengths and challenges in First Nations environmental health policy and management? A qualitative exploratory design organized in two stages and employing key informant interviews, document review and a community case study was used to examine this topic. In the first stage a review of existing programs and policies applicable to Ontario First Nations and a series of interviews with key experts on the topic in the province were conducted. A conceptual framework of the core elements affecting environmental health management in First Nations communities was developed and then applied to a case study with Mississauga First Nation in Northern Ontario. The framework included five core elements: Environmental Health Jurisdiction and Responsibility; Participation in Environmental Health Decision-Making; Access to Environmental Health Resources, Communication of Environmental Health Information; and, Role and Influence of Leadership. The findings indicate that "internal" issues, like community-based decision-making and support for environmental health initiatives seem to be least affected by the "external" issues such as access to federal funding. The "internal" issues were also shown to be critically important factors having impacts on environmental health management practices and policies in Mississauga First Nation. While there are countless barriers associated with the "external" factors that have significant impacts on environmental health management practices and policies, this research suggest that the "internal" factors can potentially be the most important factors in creating positive change in this area and as a result warrant further study in order to improve the state of environmental health issues in First Nations. Author Keywords: Community, Environmental Health, First Nations, Framework, Policy

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