Public Health Resonance Project

Tag: Canada

  • Indigenous Health Research in Quebec: Changing the Landscape Through Relationship Building

    Tahatikonhsontóntie’ Québec Network Environment for Indigenous Health Research

    Sherri Bisset, Leila Qashu, Sonia Périllat-Amédée, Treena Delormier

    As a response to the need for more supportive research environments for Indigenous health research, CIHR created the Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research (NEIHR). The Tahatikonhsontóntie’ Québec Network Environment for Indigenous Health Research (QcNEIHR) is driven by, and grounded in, Indigenous communities in Quebec. This manuscript aims to provide a reflexive account of the QcNEIHR. Using implementation analysis as a methodology, the QcNEIHR evaluator used documents, participant observations and interviews to compare the proposed QcNEIHR grant plan to what the QcNEIHR actualized. The co-authors, members of the Operations Circle, provided additional information and interpretations as the manuscript was being written. The QcNEIHR governance circles were invited to approve the presentation of results. Through this analysis we found that QcNEIHR activities aligned with three of four objectives in the initial research proposal. The Operations Circle of the QcNEIHR successfully navigated through several competing interests, such as, 1) finding a balance between consulting and taking concrete actions, 2) being inclusive while prioritizing a few targeted activities, 3) administering institutional research funds within an Indigenous community-based organization, 4) maintaining an efficient bilingual governance structure with diverse conceptualizations of health and research, 5) managing an organic Operations Circle for innovation and creativity, while assuring an accountability and timely deliverables. During the first four years of operation, the strategy of the QcNEIHR OC was based upon building relationships and mobilizing a diverse lively network. This strategy sets the foundation for community-shared ownership and leadership for the next iteration of the QcNEIHR, where community-driven Indigenous health research in Quebec will continue to strengthen and grow, with the support of provincial and national research institutions.

    International Journal of Indigenous Health, 20(1)

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  • Older Métis Adults’ Experiences of Physical Activity and Implications to Health Providers

    Liris Smith, Sylvia Abonyi, Brenna Bath, Liz Durocher, TJ Roy, Sarah Oosman

    Physical activity supports health and wellness, and specifically supports healthy aging.  Little is known about the experiences of older Métis adults with physical activity through their lifespan and how this has impacted wellness. This study was co-constructed with 12 older Métis adults in Sakitawak (Île-à-la-Crosse) Saskatchewan using a participatory action approach, two-eyed seeing and the ontology of Breath of Life Theory, as described by Cindy Blackstock. Older Métis adults described physical activity within three themes, Wahkotowin (Related to Everything), Ahkameyimowin (Never Give up), and E ti Meyo Matshohot (Becoming/Living a Better Life). The results of this study have implications for health care professions which are founded within biomedical and biopsychosocial models. We consider the context and experiences of physical activity among Indigenous populations in Canada to better address the gaps and identify practices that aim to support population health.   

    International Journal of Indigenous Health, 20(1)

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  • Hunting can increase physical activity of Indigenous peoples in Canada: pixem re yecwme’nstut

    Sidney Paul, Elijah Haynes, Kathy Rush, Braden Te Hiwi, Jennifer Jakobi, and Fred Robbins

    This study examined whether Indigenous peoples could achieve the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines (CPAG) for adults while engaging in the cultural practice of hunting. It was hypothesized that Indigenous hunters would achieve or surpass the physical activity (PA) thresholds set forth by the CPAG on days spent hunting. Step count and heart rate were recorded from six male participants during mule deer hunts and days spent on-reserve. Step count was not statistically different between days spent hunting (28 803 ± 10 657 steps) and on-reserve (15 086 ± 7536 steps) (p = 0.10). Time spent in light (257 ± 45 min; p = 0.04), moderate (118 ± 71 min; p = 0.03), and vigorous (45 ± 42 min; p = 0.04) activities while hunting was greater than on-reserve (light, 180 ± 86; moderate, 71 ± 73; vigorous, 7 ± 10 min). The duration of moderate-to-vigorous PA (119 ± 95 min) for an average day hunting nearly meets the weekly CPAG recommendation of 150 min per week and is 1.8× greater than on-reserve (67 ± 80 min). Data suggest that hunting is probably a viable mode of PA for Indigenous adults to achieve health benefits. A strength of this study is the 10 h of daily recording which includes vehicular transportation to remote hunting areas. The duration of very light/sedentary PA did not differ between hunting (233 ± 211 min) and on-reserve (327 ± 164 min; p = 0.10), and highlights the importance of modernized vehicles in traditional Indigenous activities. A larger sample size would facilitate greater exploration of transportation, as well as success of the hunt on PA. These data suggest that health researchers and clinicians should consider traditional activities such as hunting as a means for Indigenous adults to increase participation in sufficiently vigorous PA to incur health benefits.

    Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 49(6)

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  • A Nature’s Way Our Way Pilot Project Case Assemblage

    (Re)Storying Child/Physical Literacy/Land Relationships for Indigenous Preschool-Aged Children’s Wholistic Wellness

    Kathryn Riley, Amanda Froehlich Chow, Kathleen Wahpepah, Natalie Houser, Mariana Brussoni, Erica Stevenson, Marta C. Erlandson, M. Louise Humbert

    Physical literacy (PL) is gaining more attention from educational policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers as a way to improve health and wellness outcomes for children and youth. While the development of PL is important for early years children, there is limited attention in the literature that explores the political, cultural, and social discourses imbued in colonialism that implicate how PL is actualized in Indigenous early childhood education (ECE) contexts. This case assemblage explores how the culturally rooted, interdisciplinary, and community-based PL initiative, Nature’s Way–Our Way (NWOW), negotiated movement with three early childhood educators in the pilot project with an early childhood education centre (ECEC) in Saskatchewan, Canada. Through postqualitative approaches to research, this case assemblage adopts new materialist methodologies to show how the natural order of knowing in movement was disrupted through moments of rupture generating stories of PL to encompass radical relationality with land. As land becomes a vital and lively part of PL storying, it can function as an important protective factor for Indigenous preschool-aged children’s wholistic wellness.

    Children, 10(3), 497

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  • Indigenous Land-Based Approaches to Well-Being

    The Niska (Goose) Harvesting Program in Subarctic Ontario, Canada

    Fatima Ahmed, Eric N. Liberda, Andrew Solomon, Roger Davey, Bernard Sutherland, and Leonard J. S. Tsuji

    Historically, goose harvesting provided a source of culturally significant, safe, and nutritious food for the Omushkego Cree of subarctic Ontario, Canada. Disruptions stemming from colonization and climate change have led to a decrease in harvesting, resulting in higher rates of food insecurity. The aim of the Niska program was to reconnect Elders and youth to revitalize goose harvesting activities and associated Indigenous knowledge within the community. The program and evaluation were built using a two-eyed seeing (Etuaptmumk) and community-based participatory research approach. Salivary cortisol, a biomedical measure of stress, was collected before (n = 13) and after (n = 13) participation in the spring harvest. Likewise, cortisol samples were collected before (n = 12) and after (n = 12) the summer harvest. Photovoice and semi-directed interviews were employed after the spring (n = 13) and summer (n = 12) harvests to identify key elements of well-being from an Indigenous perspective. The changes observed in cortisol levels for the spring (p = 0.782) and summer (p = 0.395) harvests were not statistically significant. However, there was a noteworthy increase in the subjective well-being observed through the qualitative measures (semi-directed interviews and photovoice), highlighting the importance of using multiple perspectives when assessing well-being, especially in Indigenous peoples. Future programs should incorporate multiple perspectives when addressing complex environmental and health issues, such as food security and environmental conservation, especially in Indigenous homelands worldwide.

    International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4), 3686

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  • Harvest Programs in First Nations of Subarctic Canada

    The Benefits Go Beyond Addressing Food Security and Environmental Sustainability Issues

    Leonard J. S. Tsuji, Stephen R. J. Tsuji, Aleksandra M. Zuk, Roger Davey, and Eric N. Liberda

    By breaking down barriers that impacted the ability of subarctic First Nations people to harvest waterfowl, the Sharing-the-Harvest program provided a safe, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food (i.e., geese) to James Bay Cree communities while also helping to protect the environment by harvesting overabundant geese. However, the impacts extend beyond those described above. Thus, the objectives of the present paper are twofold: to document the food sharing networks of the Sharing-the-Harvest program; and to examine the benefits associated with the harvest program beyond food security and environmental sustainability issues, as revealed through semi-directed interviews. In the regional initiative, harvested geese were shared with all James Bay communities; sharing is an important part of Cree culture. Where detailed information was collected, the goose-sharing network reached 76% of the homes in one of the communities. Likewise, in the local initiative, the goose-sharing network had a 76% coverage rate of the homes in the community. Although decreasing food insecurity was an important focus of the harvest-sharing programs, there were other benefits, from an Indigenous perspective, of being on the land, as identified by the Cree harvesters through semi-directed interviews (e.g., the transmission of Indigenous knowledge, the strengthening of social networks, and the feeling of wellness while out on-the-land). Thus, by participating in the on-the-land harvest programs, the Cree gained benefits beyond those solely related to strengthening food security and contributing in part to environmental sustainability. The Sharing-the-Harvest protocol has the potential to be adapted and employed by other Indigenous (or marginalized) groups worldwide, to help improve health and wellness, while, also protecting the environment from overabundant and/or invasive species.

    International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(21), 8113

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