COLLECTIVE RESPONSE-ABILITIES: 2021 IGSS Intervention for Indigenous Wellbeing - Saturday, March 6th, 2021 from 9:00 am - 3:30 pm PST ...
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2021 IGSS
COLLECTIVE RESPONSE-ABILITIES:
Intervention for Indigenous Wellbeing
Saturday, March 6th, 2021 from 9:00 am – 3:30 pm PST
&
Saturday, March 13th, 2021 from 9:00 am – 3:30 pm PST
18th Annual Indigenous Graduate Student Symposium (IGSS)
A University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University Partnership
Given the impacts of current global events, the need to reflect on our collective and individual
actions and the role we play has become increasingly important. The 2021 IGSS theme,
Collective Response-Abilities: Intervention for Indigenous Wellbeing, explores our individual and
collective responsibilities for the restoration and maintenance of our communal and personal
wellbeing.
With this in mind, the conference welcomes all students from across faculties, institutions, and
campuses to reflect on what intervention for wellbeing means, with respect to their work in the
many spaces and intersections of being we occupy. Individually, we are given a diversity of gifts
and abilities to respond to our collective needs, this conference explores and celebrates these
gifts.
We invite proposals that consider the following streams:
• Our Responsibility to the wellbeing of ourselves, our community, and our people. This
stream asks, “What should we be doing?”
• Our Ability to support the wellbeing of ourselves, our community, and our people. This
stream asks, “What are we able to offer?”
• Our Response for the wellbeing of ourselves, our community, and our people. This
stream asks, “What are/will we be doing?”
We encourage discourse focusing on knowing, being and doing ‘in a good way’.
UBC Vancouver is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the
xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people. The land it is situated on has always been a place of learning
for the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), who for millennia have passed on their culture, history, and
traditions from one generation to the next on this site.
SFU respectfully acknowledges the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw
̓
(Squamish), səl Uilw̓ ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), q̓íc̓əy̓ (Katzie), kʷikʷəƛəm (Kwikwetlem), Qayqayt,
Kwantlen, Semiahmoo and Tsawwassen peoples on whose traditional territories our three
campuses reside.
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Keynote Speaker Saturday, March 6th, 2021: Dr. Alex Wilson
Dr. Alex Wilson is Neyonawak Inniniwak from the
Opaskwayak Cree Nation. She is a Professor with the
Department of Educational Foundations and the
Academic Director of the Aboriginal Education
Research Centre at the University of Saskatchewan.
Her scholarship has greatly contributed to building
and sharing knowledge about land-based education;
two-spirit identity, history, and teachings;
Indigenous research methodologies; anti-oppressive
education; the prevention of violence in the lives of
Indigenous peoples; and the protection of land and
water. Her research and “coming in” theory has led
to classroom and community practices that honour
the contributions and lives of two-spirit people.
Knowledge Holder and Elder: Shane Pointe
Shane Pointe is from the Pointe family and is a proud
member of the Musqueam and Coast Salish people. He
is a highly respected Musqueam community member,
ceremonial traditional speaker and cultural educator.
He provides protocol and ceremonial guidance for
many cultural events – locally, nationally and
internationally. He has worked in various capacities
such as: Aboriginal Support Worker (AEEW VSB), Trial
Support Coordinator for the Indian Residential School
Survivors Society, Native Alcohol and Drug Awareness
Program worker with the Musqueam Indian Band, in
the Longhouse Leadership Program at the First
Nations House of Learning (UBC), and most recently
providing support to the Aboriginal Mothers Centre.
3
Emerging Scholars Panel - Saturday, March 13th, 2021
Dr. Lyana Patrick is an Indigenous scholar and practitioner from the
Stellat’en First Nation and Acadian/Scottish. She has worked as an
education specialist for over two decades, developing curriculum,
managing education programs and evaluating Indigenous health and
education initiatives. She has also worked as a community planner, most
recently for the City of Vancouver helping design community
engagement for a municipal poverty reduction strategy. Dr. Patrick
works together with communities to develop Indigenous-focused,
collaborative research models that can transform Indigenous
experiences of health, planning and justice. She is currently an Assistant
Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University
where her work focuses on the intersection of community planning,
health and justice.
Dr. Matthew Wildcat grew up in the community of Maskwacis and is a
member of Ermineskin Cree Nation. He has a PhD in Political Science
from the University of British Columbia and is an Assistant Professor of
Political Science and Native Studies at the University of Alberta. His
current research is the Relational Governance project, that looks at how
First Nations create forms of shared jurisdiction with each other.
Wildcat is a research fellow with the Wahkohtowin Law and Governance
Lodge and is a director of the Prairie Relationality Network.
Dr. Gina Starblanket is a Canada Research Chair in the Politics of
Decolonization and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political
Science at the University of Calgary. Gina is Cree and Saulteaux and a
member of the Star Blanket Cree Nation in Treaty 4 territory. She is
principal investigator of the SSHRC-funded Prairie Relationality
Network, co-author of Storying Violence: Unravelling Colonial
Narratives in the Stanley Trial (ARP: 2020), and co-editor of Visions of
the Heart: Issues Involving Indigenous Peoples in Canada (OUP:
2019). Gina’s research is focuses on Indigenous political life and takes
up questions relating to decolonization, gender, Indigenous feminism,
treaty implementation, and relationality.
3
2021 IGSS AGENDA
DAY 1: SATURDAY, MARCH 6th, 2020
8:30am-9:00am PST At-Home Cultural Preparations
9:00am-9:30am PST Opening Ceremony
9:30am-9:35am PST Short Break
9:35am-10:20am PST Keynote Presentation (Dr. Alex Wilson)
10:20am-11:05am PST Keynote Q&A
11:05am-11:20am PST Mental Health Break
11:20am-12:35pm PST Student Presentations
12:35pm-1:35pm PST Lunch
1:35pm-2:50pm PST Student Presentations
2:50pm-2:55pm PST Short Break
2:55pm-3:25pm PST Closing Ceremony
3
2021 IGSS AGENDA
DAY 2: SATURDAY, MARCH 13th, 2020
8:30am-9:00am PST At-Home Cultural Preparations
9:00am-9:30am PST Opening Ceremony
9:30am-9:35am PST Short Break
9:35am-10:20am PST Emerging Scholars Panel
(Drs. Lyana Patrick, Gina Starblanket
and Matthew Wildcat)
10:20am-11:05am PST Emerging Scholars Panel Q&A
11:05am-11:20am PST Mental Health Break
11:20am-12:35pm PST Student Presentations
12:35pm-1:35pm PST Lunch
With Student Poster Presentations
1:35pm-2:50pm PST Student Presentations
2:50pm-2:55pm PST Short Break
2:55pm-3:25pm PST Closing Ceremony
3
STUDENT PRESENTATION SCHEDULE
DAY 1: March 6th
ORAL PRESENTATIONS – Morning Session (11:20am - 12:35pm)
Responsibilities in Holistic Health
Shelby Loft, PhD Candidate, Geography, University of British Columbia
A Roadmap for Indigenous Patient Reported Outcome and Experience Measures
Sandra Yellowhorse, PhD. Candidate, Te Puna Wānanga, School of Māori and Indigenous
Education, University of Auckland
Disability Justice and Indigenous Knowledge During the Time of Covid-19
Kate Dunn, PhD Student, Social Sciences, Royal Roads University
Wisdom Seeking and Perspectives on Liver Wellness
Erica (Samms) Hurley, PhD Student, Nursing, University of Alberta
At the Kamulamun (heart) of Wellbeing
ORAL PRESENTATIONS – Afternoon Session (1:35pm - 2:50pm)
Response to and Abilities in Education Day 1
Teneille Shea, Master Student, Educational Administration and Leadership,
Indigenous Education, University of British Columbia
Holistic Health and Wellbeing in Education
Madelaine McCracken, Master Student, Master of Education concentration in Leadership,
Evaluation, Curriculum, and Policy Studies, University of Ottawa
Weaving our Work Together – Supporting First Nations, Métis and Inuit Youth and The
Responsibility of Educators
Shannon Lust, PhD Student, Doctor of Philosophy – Education Policy – Indigenous Peoples
Education, University of Alberta
Holistic health and embracing traditional ways of knowing to nurture our students.
Denali Youngwolfe, PhD Student, Political Science | Indigenous Studies, University of British
Columbia
Self-Determination through Indigenous Success Stories
21DAY 2: March 13th
ORAL PRESENTATIONS – Morning Session (11:20am - 12:35pm)
Roles in Resiliency, Research, and Storytelling
Tsatia Adzich, PhD Student, Geography, Simon Fraser University
Possibilities for Generative Urban Indigenous Kinship Constellations between Russia and Canada
Miranda Huron, PhD Student, Educational Studies, University of British Columbia
Identifying Health Priorities in the Implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act
Corrina Sparrow, PhD Student, Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, University of British
Columbia
Two Spirit/Indigequeer Resurgence: Land based methodology in Two Spirit Research
Christine Smillie-Adjarkwa, PhD Student, LHAE, OISE and Collaborative Program in
Indigenous Health, University of Toronto
Empowering Indigenous Women, Through Storytelling & Art in Finding Resiliency
Sarah Dickson-Hoyle, PhD Candidate, Forestry, University of British Columbia
Joint leadership for wildlife recovery: the case study of Elephant Hill fire in Secwepemcúl’ecw
POSTER PRESENTATIONS – (12:35pm - 1:35pm)
Lauren Knight, Master Student, Communication, Simon Fraser University
Sonic presence: Listening as an intervention for wellbeing
Nicole Wemigwans, Doctoral Student, Human Studies and Interdisciplinarity, Laurentian
University
Indigenous Motherhood: How can we keep ourselves and families grounded?
21ORAL PRESENTATIONS – Afternoon Session (1:35pm - 2:50pm)
Response to and Abilities in Education Day 2
Daniel Gallardo, Master Student, Educational Studies, University of British Columbia
Shifting to a Culturally Revitalizing Pedagogy: Our response-abilities to sustain Indigenous
Perspectives within Teacher Education Curriculum.
Celia Deschambeault, PhD Student, Education-Curriculum and Instruction, University of Regina
Mino-pimatisiwin-Living the Good Life to the Fullest: Education grounded by Indigenous
Knowledge to be able to Walk in Two Worlds
Kyla Shields, Master Student, Educational Studies, University of British Columbia
Belonging: An Urban Indigenous Focus School: How We Hold Each Other Up
Lisa White, PhD Candidate, Educational Studies and Indigenous Education, University of British
Columbia
The Convergence of Heart, Mind, Body, and Spirit to Form Indigenous Education
Sam Tsuruda, PhD Student, Educational Studies, University of British Columbia
(Un)learning colonialism one nervous system at a time: Education that overrides that rational
mind
21PRESENTER ABSTRACTS
DAY 1: ORAL PRESENTATIONS – Morning Session (11:20am - 12:35pm)
Responsibilities in Holistic Health
Shelby Loft, PhD Candidate, Geography, University of British Columbia
A Roadmap for Indigenous Patient Reported Outcome and Experience Measures
This project seeks to address a lack of appropriate or adequate measurement tools for
understanding Indigenous patient health outcome and experiences with health care services.
Understanding patients’ self-reported outcomes and experiences are vital for program
development and improvement initiatives. In this research study, there are two pathways that
are in place to address this gap. First, we will be conducting stakeholder interviews with
Indigenous community health experts (leaders) and researchers in the areas of Patient Reported
Outcome Measures (PROMs) and Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMs). Second, we
will engage with Indigenous patients and families and other community members via in-dept
interviews to gather feedback on their experiences with measurement tools and surveys. These
two components will work together to inform the development of a roadmap to guide survey
developers in developing safe, appropriate and relevant survey tools. In turn, this would improve
Indigenous peoples’ experiences when completing surveys in future healthcare settings. In this
presentation, the co-presenters will share preliminary data from various interviews with
stakeholders. In addition, we will share some of the research processes of our study in order to
demonstrate how to conduct research using Indigenous methodologies. In particular, we will
discuss the development of how we have facilitated the creation of Ethical Space in our work,
which traces the ethical, accountable, and reciprocal nature of how the team project and the
three circles of support have come together as a whole. These three circles, the project team,
the advisory committee, and our funders have contributed and shaped the overall work of this
research. This work will also feed into the current work at British Columbia’s Women and
Children’s Hospital.
Sandra Yellowhorse, PhD. Candidate, Te Puna Wānanga, School of Māori and Indigenous
Education, University of Auckland
Disability Justice and Indigenous Knowledge During the Time of Covid-19
This paper places forward a Diné (Navajo) perspective of thinking about neuro-difference that
confronts normalized constructs bound up with “disability”. Our current moment has made us
confront a variety of injustices in our society, many of which most of us would never have
encountered. In the time of COVID-19, the world has experienced first-hand the disabling effects
the pandemic has had our lives. Our work, education, networking and the ways in which we live
and move have all been severely impacted. The discourse of “productivity” and lamenting of our
“normal” lives have been at the forefront of how we as a world are coping and trying to imagine
a way forward. This rhetoric illustrates how society thinks of value and the most important
aspects of living a productive, normal life. Our moment to think through the world of disability
21has arrived. It is a moment to reflect on the worlds of those with difference, as we collectively
face in a small way some of the challenges that people with difference live with every day:
impeded access, isolation, marginalization. Yet, the prevailing, violent ideologies of disability
have never been more apparent. The collective response has been deeply reinforced by policy
and rhetoric of economy-based solutions, and upholding ideologies that are premised on
capitalist logics of productivity and ablism. Indigenous children with special needs/difference
have been particularly overlooked during this time of Covid-19. This presentation reframes the
concept of disability which not only intervenes in this moment of Covid-19 but places forward a
framework of accountability that is orientated toward justice and true inclusion for diverse
individuals. It is through relationships that we create a new system of value. It is a system that
guides us to a life balance, understanding, care, reciprocity and transformation. Indigenous
knowledge systems can guide us towards this.
Kate Dunn, PhD Student, Social Sciences, Royal Roads University
Wisdom Seeking and Perspectives on Liver Wellness
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus infecting the liver and causing damaged tissue, cirrhosis, or liver
cancer, resulting in greater life years lost than any other infectious disease in Canada. Indigenous
communities face higher incidence as well as lower treatment uptake, although medication
treatment opportunity is available which offers high rates of cure, but this Western Science
approach is not achieving exceptional results. In response, and with the intent of supporting
wellbeing, wellness and wholistic approaches as well as potential for improved access to Hepatitis
C cure, formative research has been initiated asking for guidance from Indigenous healthcare
colleagues in directing a respectful approach. This wisdom seeking work hopes to incorporate
Indigenous perspectives on liver wellness into the pathway for Hepatitis C care. Proposed wisdom
seeking work among 6-10 community Knowledge Holders across Treaty areas in Alberta working
within Indigenous Wholistic Methodologies through qualitative methods while respecting
protocol will spend time fostering relationship facilitating listening to perspectives, narratives,
story, and open-ended interview conversations regarding traditional health and wellness
approaches. Resulting knowledge will be respectfully and reflectively analyzed for themes and
shared back to participants and community reflecting culturally relevant messaging and/or
language translations, while honouring participant’s perspectives. This work has potential to
influence creation of culturally relevant resources and treatment pathways impacting provincial
policy while incorporating wholistic and traditional wellness approaches to Hepatitis C and liver
health.
Erica (Samms) Hurley, PhD Student, Nursing, University of Alberta
At the Kamulamun (heart) of Wellbeing
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been declining in Canada but Indigenous women are
significantly disproportionately impacted, experiencing a 53% higher mortality rate from heart
disease than non-Indigenous women. Dominant western society situates the biomedical model
of health at its core of interventions and there is no research focused on the experience of
Mi’kmaq women and their understanding of heart health and wellbeing. Interventions often do
not reflect the specific social, political, historical and cultural dimensions necessary to have an
21impact, therefore understanding the cultural and gendered experiences of Mi’kmaq women is
crucial.
OBJECTIVES: To discuss my experiences as a Mi’kmaw woman who is a student engaging in
research with my community to 1) inquire into the experiences of Mi’kmaq women regarding the
meaning of heart in relation to health and wellbeing 2) co-conceptualize meaningful and
sustainable interventions focused on heart health and wellbeing that are grounded in the
knowledge and experiences of women and their communities.
OVERVIEW: As a Mi’kmaq woman of Newfoundland my knowledge is grounded in Mi’kmaq
knowledge systems guided by my relational understanding, valuing multiple worldviews and
ways of knowing. This has shaped my methodological approach and choice of using a community
based participatory design building on my relationships with communities, I will further
strengthen the involvement of Elders, community leaders, families, and women who are affected
by CVD. My methodological approach is grounded in ceremony and reflects the unique
worldviews and knowledge held by Mi’kmaq communities.
RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: Gathering information from Mi’kmaw women I hope to provide
information to push for interventions grounded in Indigenous knowledge, which is critical to the
relevance and meaningfulness of care and holds the possibilities to address current health
inequities by designing new pathways to health and well-being for and with Indigenous peoples.
DAY 1: ORAL PRESENTATIONS – Afternoon Session (1:35pm - 2:50pm)
Response to and Abilities in Education
Teneille Shea, Master Student, Educational Administration and Leadership, Indigenous
Education, University of British Columbia
Holistic Health and Wellbeing in Education
As an Indigenous educator and graduate student, I am interested in generating through research
pillars that define, support, and express Indigenous health and well-being for Indigenous
students in postsecondary education. Like many Indigenous students, I have faced the
conundrum of a healthy work/life/student balance. This conundrum presents barriers to
recruitment, retention, and successful completion in higher education for Indigenous peoples.
Supports and resources in higher education are lacking for Indigenous student success, including
holistic health and cultural health supports. Furthermore, these supports are often placed out of
reach for Indigenous students or not readily available. I seek to determine holistic health as a
pillar of Indigenous education, that has been placed on the sidelines for too long. As Indigenous
students in graduate studies, we are all unique, talented, and invaluable. Yet, we are not always
welcome in education and have not been as Indigenous peoples. To enhance our community of
Indigenous educators and scholars, holistic health and wellbeing needs to be centered in
institutions. As the daughter of a mother who lost her life to cancer progressed by the struggle
of balancing work/life/student stress as an Indigenous graduate student herself, it is my
responsibility, as it is the education community’s, to center this focus in education to transform
education into a place where Indigenous students are welcomed to and thrive in. Drawing on the
works of Dr. Leroy Little Bear, Dr. Greg Cajete, and Dr. Lee Brown, I wish to examine the role of
wellbeing as a pillar in education for Indigenous (and all) learners.
21In this presentation, I will discuss motives of holistic well-being that support Indigenous students
drawn from Cajete (2020), Eve Tuck (2009, 2013), Regnier (1995), and Dr. Leroy Little Bear (2015).
I will use personal and research-related examples to support the motives of our responsibility,
accountability, and requirement of including holistic health as a pillar in education to increase
wellbeing and educational success. My presentation will conclude by creating a discussion that
focuses on generating relevant research questions that allow myself and other students to
investigate the role of well-being as critical to educational success.
Madelaine McCracken, Masters Student, Master of Education concentration in Leadership,
Evaluation, Curriculum, and Policy Studies, University of Ottawa
Weaving our Work Together – Supporting First Nations, Métis and Inuit Youth and The
Responsibility of Educators
Within the past year, I have been humbled to collaboratively partner with the Indigenous-led
non-profit organization, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society (Caring Society). Within our
research, we are developing. Spirit Bear’s Virtual School as a communicational support network
to. engage with educators across Turtle Island. Further, we address youth rights listed in the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and respond to the inequities in
Canada’s welfare and education systems that continue to harm First Nations, Métis, and Inuit
youth. The work we have newly developed is The Spirit Bear Beary Caring Curriculum for
Reconciliation which is embedded in the Touchstones of Hope Principles, Truth and
Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, Sovereignty, Rights, and Responsible Citizenship.
Further, we are guiding teachers (inside and outside contexts of public schooling) to educate their
classes about the truth of Canada, discrimination, racism, justice, and reconciliation-based
practices through the Caring Society’s resources and campaigns.
My response, through story, uncovers the work we are collaboratively doing with the Caring
Society to support educators. Further, I will unpack our virtual school and curriculum, and how it
addresses the holistic health, healing, and advocacy to support First Nations, Métis, and Inuit
youth and communities. I will also highlight the importance of collaborating with Indigenous-led
non-profit organizations, like the Caring Society, to address this work. Further, I plan to unpack
why settler-educators carry a responsibility to teach truth to their classes and ways they can
reconcile through their actions. Lastly, I will discuss how I have been able to care for my spirit
throughout this process. The story will weave, much like the Métis Sash, understandings together
in aims to address the impacts of our work and how we continue to advocate for change.
Shannon Lust, PhD Student, Doctor of Philosophy – Education Policy – Indigenous Peoples
Education, University of Alberta
Holistic health and embracing traditional ways of knowing to nurture our students.
Indigenous ways of knowing identify that the whole bodied person has 4 domains: spiritual,
emotional, physical and mental. The holistic being needs to be nurtured in all of these areas in
order to grow and thrive. Within education, there is a need to honour traditional ways of knowing
within all of these 4 domains. More specifically, how can we uphold cultural ways of being to
21nurture the mental and emotional health of our students? Our responsibility to our youth is to
walk alongside them as they grow and thrive in their lives. Looking at the current world climate,
this is more important than ever. What are we doing now to help our students manage the added
stresses of COVID-19 along with their holistic health? This presentation will look at what we are
doing now to nurture our students and what we can do further to ensure that we are embracing
cultural knowledge and teachings to foster the holistic health of our students.
Denali Youngwolfe, PhD Student, Political Science | Indigenous Studies, University of British
Columbia
Self-Determination through Indigenous Success Stories
I am building a theoretical, ontological and geospatial information model to understand the
construction of Indigenous success stories and their movement across the land. In making legible
Indigenous cartographies of survivance, I hope to identify and amplify onto-epistemic values that
are used to determine success. Multiple studies show that Indigenous communities with control
over land, education, health, policing, access to cultural facilities, and womxn in government
consistently report few or no suicides. Enhancing positive self and cultural identity has similarly
been shown to reduce child welfare apprehensions, drug addiction, and homelessness. We know
that the ability to see oneself as an accepted and valued member of society is essential to
developing a positive sense of self and cultural identity. As an Indigenous person in Canada,
however, this is no easy task as representations of Indigenous people in Canadian media
overwhelmingly focus on and reinforce negative narratives of victimhood, deficit and
disappearance. My research explores the relationship between narrative representation and
cultural capacity by gathering, mapping, and analyzing narratives of agency, authority, and
legitimacy as expressed in the hermeneutics of community-defined success stories. I am looking
for culturally relevant insights into how we, as Indigenous people, conceptualize success, how
those narratives can benefit our communities, and how they speak to and shape the sociopolitical
and geospatial relationships that constitute Indigenous nationhood. The premise for this
research is that mapping narratives of success illustrates Indigenous presence at a scale and
scope that has not yet been fully comprehended. When success stories originate and spread from
Indigenous people, we can demonstrate thriving cultural networks and shift the discourse on
Indigeneity from deficit to abundance.
21March 13th, 2021
DAY 2: ORAL PRESENTATIONS – Morning Session (11:20am - 12:35pm)
Roles in Resiliency, Research, and Storytelling
Tsatia Adzich, PhD Student, Geography, Simon Fraser University
Possibilities for Generative Urban Indigenous Kinship Constellations between Russia and Canada
Over the past four years, collaborative community-centered research in urban Indigenous
community spaces in Canada and northeastern Russia has illuminated similar manifestations of
Indigenous self-determination in resistance to settler colonial discourse about urban indigeneity.
Cultivating relationships and exchanges between Indigenous community leaders and knowledge
holders navigating urban landscapes in the Global North offers opportunities to engage
Indigenous knowledges and community members beyond the confines of colonial borders and
settler colonial understandings of international relations. This paper seeks to answer the
question “what are we able to offer?” by exploring relational accountability and responsibilities
generated throughout two masters degrees and the responsibilities I have to Indigenous
communities in Yakutsk, Russia and on Coast Salish territories as I move into this PhD with hopes
of answering the research question: “How might transnational knowledge exchanges between
urban Indigenous women in Vancouver and Yakutsk demonstrate the cultural and geopolitical
contributions urban indigeneity makes to Indigenous self-determination discourse on a global
scale?” This presentation will also speak to the methodological considerations of doing
transnational Indigenous community-based research between Canada and Russia.
Miranda Huron, PhD Student, Educational Studies, University of British Columbia
Identifying Health Priorities in the Implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act
With the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act now underway, the focus on the links
between Indigenous languages and the health of Indigenous populations must be clearly
identified and prioritized. An implementation process that takes full account of Indigenous
priorities requires a holistic understanding of the health repercussions of the historical policies
and practices of language oppression. In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s
Calls to Action, the actions required should be part of a whole-of-government approach to
correcting the course of Indigenous language loss. I will review three aspects that were
acknowledged in the development of the Language Act: the right to Health and Legal services in
one’s Indigenous language, the need for healing support for silent speakers, and the need for
research into health outcomes directly linked to language revitalization. I will then identify how
these areas could be overlooked in the implementation of the act. And finally, I will problematize
the coordination of government departments when “whole-of-government” responses are
promised. Indigenous language revitalization has an effect on Indigenous population health and
wellbeing. Hallet et al, Jacob et al, and Littlebear, among others have all clearly identified that
language is necessary to sustain Indigenous culture. Hallet’s article specifically links a decrease in
suicide rates to efforts in language revitalization (2007). Jacob et al speak to how
21intergenerational educational opportunities are invaluable for affirming Indigenous psychologies
and ways of being, and are key to the healing of survivors (2019). In his work on the inclusion of
Indigenous knowledge in all aspects of education, Littlebear suggests that the loss of language
disconnects Indigenous peoples from their culture and ceremony and increases vulnerability to
addictions (2009). This presentation will take current conversations about the linkages between
language and health, and provide an analysis of how the Indigenous languages act is addressing
highlighted issues, and the gaps that remain.
Corrina Sparrow, PhD Student, Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, University of British
Columbia
Two Spirit/Indigequeer Resurgence: Land based methodology in Two Spirit Research
As friends and relatives sharing these lands, waters, and sky, we all walk into Indigenous wellness
and resurgence work carrying multiple and distinct roles and responsibility. But regardless of our
own unique positionality to Indigenous and colonial histories, we must each identify deliberate
ways to centralize Indigenous cultural knowledges and protocols in all aspects of our research
and helping work with Indigenous families and communities. To be clear, Indigenous knowledge
is land-based knowledge, specific to time and place. Similarly, we have come to know that Two
Spirit knowledges and resurgence are also rooted in land and place, in our shared histories, and
in contemporary transformations of Two Spirit/Indigequeer identity, experience, cultural
responsibilities, and relationality. This talk focuses on land-based Coast Salish community-based
research about Two Spirit identities and narratives, and ways that Two Spirit/Indigequeer
community members and their families navigate identity, acceptance, and healing. This research
was part of a collaborative Indigenous social work thesis completed two years ago. This talk
explores Coast Salish Two Spirit research methodology, and how this process informs action
planning for Two Spirit/Indigequeer community members living and thriving on these ancestral
territories today and in the future. This research offers one of the only examples of west coast,
Coast Salish culture in Two Spirit/Indigequeer academic discourse, and honours collaborative,
nation-specific Indigenous research practices and methodology in the development of Two Spirit
theory.
Christine Smillie-Adjarkwa, PhD Student, LHAE, OISE and Collaborative Program in
Indigenous Health, University of Toronto
Empowering Indigenous Women, Through Storytelling & Art in Finding Resiliency
The purpose of this thesis is to give an illustration of the resilience of Indigenous (First Nations,
Metis, and Inuit) women in Canada. To do this, I will use an Indigenous Autoethnographic and
Indigenous Arts based account of my own life journey using Indigenous based research on life
cycles (from the Anishinaabe Medicine Wheel) as methodology for writing an Indigenous story
as a pedagogical process for personal and community resilience. As well, I will reference and
include accounts and stories of other Indigenous women in Canada and their resilience in dealing
with similar experiences that I outline in my story. My goal is to portray and promote positive
research about Indigenous women in Canada by portraying mine and other’s resiliency in finding
our Debwiwin (truth).
21Sarah Dickson-Hoyle, PhD Candidate, Forestry, University of British Columbia
Joint leadership for wildlife recovery: the case study of Elephant Hill fire in Secwepemcúl’ecw
The 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons in British Columbia highlighted the risks posed to human and
ecological communities and their wellbeing by large, intense wildfires. Throughout the summer
of 2017, wildfires burned a record-breaking 1.2 million hectares and prompted a ten-week
provincial state of emergency and the evacuation of over 65,000 people. First Nations
communities and their/our territories were disproportionately affected, and social, cultural,
economic and ecological recovery processes are still ongoing. In the wake of these ‘megafires’,
many communities were catalysed to action; to advocate for Indigenous-led processes of wildfire
recovery and restoration. Drawing on our collaborative research with the Secwepemcúl’ecw
Restoration and Stewardship Society, we will present the case study of the Elephant Hill Joint
Leadership Council as an example of government-to-government collaboration and First Nations
leadership for wildfire recovery. We will highlight community-based drivers of this partnership
between the BC Provincial Government and the eight Secwépemc communities directly affected
by the ‘Elephant Hill’ wildfire, and the emergent collaborative decision-making processes that
shaped a new approach for land-based recovery. Community priorities included protection of
cultural heritage and archaeological values, managing impacts to wildlife and water, and
upholding Secwépemc stewardship values, laws and roles as Yecwinmen. Finally, we will explore
how this initiative can be seen as a step along the pathway towards Indigenous co-management
and leadership in land and (wild)fire management.
POSTER PRESENTATIONS – Lunch Session (12:35pm - 1:35pm)
Lauren Knight, Masters Student, Communication, Simon Fraser University
Sonic presence: Listening as an intervention for wellbeing
The recent trend of rising noise levels in urban environments has prompted a shift in listening
techniques, urging people towards individualized solutions such as noise cancelling technologies,
to find audible comfort. Ideologically, this process aims to encourage listeners to believe that
larger issues of noise pollution can be solved via the market. Simultaneously, it echoes the
conceptualization of private listening and isolation – encouraging users to believe that a
controllable private sonic space is better than a communal public soundscape. While noise
cancelling headphones have become a useful tool for isolation and sonic comfort in a world
polluted with rising decibel levels, the urge to reach for this technology suggests a
disconnection arguably more harmful to wellbeing. What this process has come to demonstrate
is the creation of a society of absence. While a large collection of sound studies research opts to
explore this desire from a perspective of noise abatement, I hope to define this process through
the lens of Indigeneity and societies of presence. In this presentation, I aim to address the
responsibility needed to encourage wellbeing by fostering a community of presence, a
recognition of changing soundscapes and listening techniques, and a connection to the sonic
understanding of our communities and lands.
21Nicole Wemigwans, Doctoral Student, Human Studies and Interdisciplinarity, Laurentian
University
Indigenous Motherhood: How can we keep ourselves and families grounded?
The presentation will focus on the ways that we can keep ourselves and our families grounded
during these times. Activities that will be presented as options, include drumming, journaling,
drawing/art, stretching, etc. We will use a holistic approach to well-being that focuses on families
and motherhood – caring for ourselves while also caring for our young ones. There are many
common areas that Indigenous mothers would need support in: supporting children after full
days of virtual schooling, less/no time with friends (socially), isolation from other parents, having
to figure out a lot on their own, etc. The workshop will focus on ways that could support well-
being through cultural practices ie. Drum songs, smudging, putting your tobacco down for
prayers, etc. As a mother with a young son who is also taking on post-graduate studies, we have
a lot on our plates and this workshop will emphasize the need to take care of ourselves and
families within a traditional framework to promote mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional
well-being for ourselves, children, and our families.
DAY 2: ORAL PRESENTATIONS – Afternoon Session (1:35pm - 2:50pm)
Response to and Abilities in Education
Daniel Gallardo, Masters Student, Educational Studies, University of British Columbia
Shifting to a Culturally Revitalizing Pedagogy: Our response-abilities to sustain Indigenous
Perspectives within Teacher Education Curriculum.
Rocha (2020) argues that curriculum can be understood and contained within syllabi. A syllabus
outline achieves “the amorous relationship that the art of teaching itself is.” (p. 183). The course
syllabus is the first gift that teachers provide to students, a composition that outlines student’s
future learning. The syllabus presents teacher’s positionality and their responsibility to include,
foster and sustain all learners. The design of course syllabi using a critical and decolonial lens is
one of the least researched aspects of teacher education (Mazawi & Stack, 2020). The current
presentation introduces the findings from a study that analyzed teacher education syllabi to find
instances where Indigenous perspectives were embedded inside the coursework. The purpose of
the study was to find where and how Indigenous perspectives are threaded throughout the
courses.
The course syllabi that were analyzed were provided by four departments inside the Faculty of
Education at the University of British Columbia. The study began with the exploration of the
following research questions: What knowledges and perspectives are privileged inside syllabi?
How are Indigenous knowledges and perspectives positioned in the course? What Indigenous
perspectives, issues, priorities, goals and topics are sustained inside the coursework? Where can
we find opportunities to change and embed Indigenous perspectives in the outlines? The study
examined how courses moved from multicultural approaches to culturally sustaining and
revitalizing approaches, which according to Ladson-Billings (2014) is a critical step when working
with Indigenous students. A culturally revitalizing pedagogy includes Indigenous epistemologies
21by advocating “for community-based educational accountability that is rooted in Indigenous
education sovereignty.” (McCarty and Lee, 2014, p. 101). The presentation reminds us of our
collective response-abilities to advocate for an ontological shift inside the curriculum where
Indigenous perspectives within coursework are nurtured, sustained and revitalized.
Celia Deschambeault, PhD Student, Education-Curriculum and Instruction, University of Regina
Mino-pimatisiwin-Living the Good Life to the Fullest: Education grounded by Indigenous
Knowledge to be able to Walk in Two Worlds
Indigenous children are not doing well in education. This report substantiates that there is need
for an alternative program to better meet the needs of Indigenous students. This data and
reporting has been done through a westernized lens through the Ministry of Saskatchewan that
do not take into account the cultural differences of Indigenous students. Currently, the Ministry
of education provincial curriculum is written through western concepts where little bits of First
Nations content is sprinkled into the curriculum. A whole new section on FMNI is available that
currently segregates First Nations students into a box. This holistic model and conceptual
framework allow for the natural process of highlighting Indigenous content that will be
incorporated into current practices. It is currently being used at Meadow Lake Tribal Education
and two of our nine schools are in the beginning stages of using the framework. It will allow us
to look at education through a holistic lens that will meet the needs of the mental, emotional,
physical and spiritual wellbeing of our children. In turn, this model will support our Indigenous
children to become more engaged in education and will allow for student growth by giving them
the skills to be able to walk in two worlds.
Kyla Shields, Masters Student, Educational Studies, University of British Columbia
Belonging: An Urban Indigenous Focus School: How We Hold Each Other Up
Since the early 2000s, British Columbia’s curriculum and policies around Indigenous education
have significantly changed to incorporate and integrate Indigenous knowledge into all K to 12
subject areas in school as part of an intervention to alleviate the significantly lower Indigenous
graduation rate of 39% in year 2000 compared to 78% of non-Indigenous students. Specifically,
the 2015 revitalization of the B.C. curriculum marked a significant change to embed Indigenous
ways of learning in a more holistic way to help students see themselves in the curriculum and to
learn about Indigenous history and culture in a deeper sense. Indigenous Education policies and
practices in a school setting impact the sense of belonging that students have in their school
community and in the education system itself. These policies and practices also impact a wider
community of students such as English Language Learners (ESL/ELL), refugees, new immigrants
and other students who may require a more holistic form of education outside the status quo.
Xpey’ Elementary is an Indigenous Focus school with a small student population of around 80%
of students identifying as Indigenous and 20% non-Indigenous. The school focuses on three goals
within the Vancouver Aboriginal Enhancement agreement: Belonging, Mastery &
Culture/Community. Belonging at Xpey’ involves teaching student’s Social Emotional skills,
including positive self-image, self-regulation, and relationship skills and also skills to help them
understand their own identities and their place in school and society. A sense of belonging
21impacts student’s ability to connect, to engage, to participate, to grow and to learn. How this
Urban Indigenous Focus school teaches belonging is deeply important to the overall wellbeing of
students for the duration of their education both in the school and beyond. This school provides
a foundational model of how teachers, educators and schools can utilize the Indigenous
Education curriculum in a deeper, more meaningful and impactful way.
Lisa White, PhD Student, Educational Studies and Indigenous Education, University of British
Columbia
The Convergence of Heart, Mind, Body, and Spirit to Form Indigenous Education
The notion of “indigenization” within the academy has been focused on by Indigenous scholars
and activists for almost two decades (Mihesuah & Wilson, 2004; Kuokkanen, 2007; Archibald &
Hare, 2016; Pidgeon, 2016; 2014). And, while the significance of “place” is central in the discourse
on and strategies to indigenization, how the onto-epistemological and relational cosmology of
place to the Indigenous peoples of a territory is embodied within the mores and structure of an
institution and, relatedly, how these worldviews and axiologies are understood by those working
within an institution remains largely unexplored. To approach understanding this phenomenon,
I will be developing a place-based case study that specifically privileges the worldviews and
knowledge systems of distinct Indigenous peoples and the concept of place or Land (Styres, 2017)
to understand how indigenization has been conceptualized and taken up within one or more
institutions. This presentation attends to what I am and will be doing for the wellbeing of myself,
my relations, community, and our people. It problematizes and deconstructs the notion of
indigenization as a concept that is still ambiguous and one that requires a “mind” transformation
to heart, body, and spirit awakening in order for decolonizing efforts and reconciliation to take
root in Indigenous education (Archibald, 2008). This presentation will briefly discuss my early
conceptualization and development of a place-based case study and highlight the use of Dwayne
Donald’s (2009) Indigenous Métissage, Willie Ermine’s (2007) theory of Ethical Space, Jo-ann
Archibald’s (2008) Storywork and concept of holism, and Maggie Walters and Chris Andersen’s
“Indigenous statistics” methodologies underpinned by the principles of the 4R’s of respect,
responsibility, relevance, and reciprocity as well as relationships and reverence (Pidgeon, 2008).
Sam Tsuruda, PhD Student, Educational Studies, University of British Columbia
(Un)learning colonialism one nervous system at a time: Education that overrides that rational
mind
Due to the reign of white-body supremacy, it is natural that every person living on Turtle Island
has embodied colonialism and racialized trauma in some form, to some level (Menakem, 2017).
At the IGSS this year, I would love to share my learnings about neurodecolonial healing in my
doctoral studies to date, as a mixed-race 2S person – a journey I have been exploring to
unlearn/relearn harmful narratives, worldviews, and beliefs that amount to a range of wholistic
health challenges. After digging for the roots of culturally safe, decolonizing pedagogies for the
past six years, I have come to understand that (un)learning efforts solely aimed at educating the
mind are at greater odds of targeting the most defensive of our brain: the reptilian brain, which
serves as our mental bodyguard, blocking out knowledge that is seemingly threatening. My belief
21is that we are inheriting ignorance as a self-protection mechanism, sustained by our most
primitive neurobiological self-protection mechanisms.
Evidence-based healing principles that ground me in this dialogue are:
Þ being “trauma-informed, strengths-based, community engaged, and spiritually
grounded” (Snowshoe & Starblanket, 2016, as cited in Sasakamoose et al., 2017, p. 3)
Þ self-determined consent – I acknowledge that the core of my research is restructuring
power dynamics; asking permission from ourselves and others to seek knowledge
Þ decolonization – My intention is to contribute to a shared process of unlearning white-
body supremacy (e.g., toxicity/tension, patterns of imbalance) through neural liberation;
to return to our healthy, whole, balanced roots
Since the war that we have now is within our bodies (Menakem, 2017), I am committed to the
highest degree (literally) of self-care possible as an experiment to contribute to trauma-informed
wellness education as best as I can — starting with leading conversations where education begins
with regarding the body as a sacred teacher.
212021 IGSS CONTRIBUTORS
We raise our hands in thanks and appreciation to all those who contributed to this wonderful
opportunity to present our research ideas to a supportive and community-oriented audience –
Elders, keynote speakers, presenters, participants, volunteers, and the following sponsors of the
18th Annual Indigenous Graduate Student Symposium. Most of all we would like to thank the
graduate students who graciously gave and received constructive feedback, engaged in
mentorship, and networked amongst other emerging scholars.
Sponsors
University of British Columbia: Faculty of Education's Indigenous Education Institute of Canada,
Office of Indigenous Education, Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, First Nations House
of Learning
Supporting Aboriginal Graduate Enhancement (SAGE)
Simon Fraser University: Office for Aboriginal Peoples, Faculty of Education, Office of Indigenous
Education, Indigenous Research Institute, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, and Indigenous
Studies Department
Program Design
Jonathan Boron
IGSS Planning Committee
Co-chairs: Avery Newman-Simmons (UBC) & Sheryl Thompson (SFU)
SAGE Indigenous Graduate Student Mentor: Avery Newman-Simmons (UBC)
Indigenous Graduate Student Coordinator: Denver Lynxleg (SFU)
SAGE Faculty Mentors: Dr. Jan Hare (UBC), Dr. Margaret Kovach (UBC), and Dr. Michelle Pidgeon
(SFU)
IGSS Graduate Students: Denali Youngwolfe, Tsatia Adzich, Shannon Field, Lisa White, Denver
Lynxleg, Francine Emmonds, Jennie Blankinship, and Jonathan Boron
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