Weaving Knowledge Systems Resource Materials

This invisibility of Indigenous children’s pain and hurt, and the long-term impact of under-treated pain, means we need to find alternate ways for these children to express their hurt.

We know from our early research that Western methods of pain assessment may not always be appropriate for Indigenous children. In our research, we looked for other, more culturally-safe ways for Indigenous children to express themselves. [From Website]

Each generation of scientists stands upon the shoulders of those who have gone before," a Nobel Prize–winning physicist once said, referring to how knowledge and skills are built and improved upon, generation by generation. This is true of any profession, and it's even truer in our personal lives. From our families of origin, we learn foundational life skills and ways of coping, inherit genes and knowledge, and much more. In this way, we figuratively stand on their shoulders as we keep building upwards. But what happens when the "shoulders" of one generation have been damaged by devastating experiences? How much does this damage matter to the success of future generations? And are there ways to mitigate the damage? [From Author]

Using Blue Quills First Nations College (BQFNC) as a case study, the second report in this series, Addressing the Healing of Aboriginal Adults and Families within a Community-owned College Model, explores the potential for healing strategies within the education domain. It specifically examines how programs and curriculum have the potential to disrupt the intergenerational transmission of trauma within families who are the descendants of survivors of Canada's residential school system.

The current reconciliation process in Canada involving Aboriginal residential school survivors, their families, the Canadian government, and the churches is finally promoting awareness in Canadian society about the emotional costs Aboriginal families and communities have endured spanning a period of five generations. Residential schools were designed to assimilate Aboriginal people into the dominant society through the forced removal of children from their families, communities and culture, and education oriented towards the dominant society’s values, skills, culture, religion and language (LaFrance & Collins, 2003). The residential school era left ongoing and devastating impacts on the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities. Residential schools eroded and undermined all aspects of well-being for Aboriginal peoples through disruption of the structure, cohesion and quality of family life; loss of cultural identity; diminished parenting skills; and low self-esteem and self-concept problems (LaFrance & Collins, 2003; Rice & Snyder, 2008). These traumatic impacts have been felt not only by those with direct experience with residential schools – they have also been transmitted to subsequent generations through various psychological, physiological and social processes. The schools left an historical and emotional legacy of shame, loss, and self-hatred that is the root cause of addiction and many of the associated social problems facing Aboriginal communities today (Ross, 1996). [From Author]

In high school Brad hid his heritage from his best friends. He wasn't the only one. As an Indigenous Educator, Brad seeks to ensure First Peoples move forward with courage.

Brad Baker is a member of the Squamish Nation and is presently working as a District Principal for the North Vancouver School District. His passion is bringing the history of First Nations to the classroom to allow a better understanding of how we as a society can move forward in a collaborative manner. Brad was the recipient of the national Indspire Guiding The Journey Indigenous Educator Award in Leadership in 2014. Brad believes that conversation on the tough topics of Aboriginal Education will lead to reconciliation which will enhance the learning environment for all learners. GO FORWARD WITH COURAGE. [From YouTube]

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

This study builds on many valuable contributions already made to the understanding of family violence
and abuse in Aboriginal communities over the past fifteen years, especially in terms of mapping the
complex web of factors that create and sustain this critical issue at the level of individuals, extended
families, community systems and the socio-environmental context within which they exist. Closely
aligned to this intent is the study’s articulation of a comprehensive framework for intervention that
addresses root causes and identifies a set of strategies for significantly reducing the horrendous levels of domestic violence and abuse now on-going in many communities. [From Author]

History and Historical Trauma was one of the strong feelings or themes that was alive at the Wellbriety Conference in Denver in 2005. Dr. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart gave a keynote talk and teaching on this subject on Friday morning, April 22 at the Conference, which we proudly present in this issue of Wellbriety! Online Magazine. We will continue with grassroots feedback about this topic in the next issue of Wellbriety!, Volume 6, #7. [From Publisher]

Bones of Crows is a psychological drama told through the eyes of Cree Matriarch Aline Spears, as she survives Canada's residential school system to continue her family's generational fight in the face of systemic starvation, racism, and sexual abuse. Bones of Crows unfolds over one hundred years with a cumulative force that propels us into the future. [From Publisher]

Unfolding over 100 years, Bones of Crows is a story of resilience told through the eyes of Cree Matriarch Aline Spears as she survives a childhood in Canada’s residential school system to continue her family’s generational fight in the face of systemic abuse. [From Website]

This chapter considers how the traumatic history of Indian residential schools might be remembered, in particular by intergenerational survivors. Photographs that depict this history are notable for displaying the power of the Canadian state to intervene into Indigenous lives at the level of the individual through education policies. These images rely on colonial conceptions of spatial distance understood as time needed for cultural development. Understanding these conceptions is powerful for analyzing photographs of Indigenous peoples, in particular in policy and history texts. How educational policies are experienced intergenerationally by the descendants of survivors reveals another dimension of Canadian colonialism. These themes are explored indirectly, but in depth, by the German born writer, W.G. Sebald (2001) in his fictional writing. A fictional character in his novel, Austerlitz, asks: What do we know of ourselves, how do we remember? And what do we find in the end? These questions frame this chapter that discusses memory, history, trauma, and identity in relation to the history and future of education for Indigenous peoples in Canada. [From Author]

There is significant variation in how people experience, emplot and intergenerationally transmit trauma experiences. Despite this variation, the literature rarely illustrates alternative manifestations or resilient responses to the construct of historical trauma. Based upon person-centered ethnographic research, this article highlights how a four-generation American Indian family contextualizes historical trauma and, specifically, how they frame their traumatic past into an ethic that functions in the transmission of resilience strategies, family identity, and as a framework for narrative emplotment. In conclusion, the author clarifies the distinction between historical trauma — the precipitating conditions or experiences — and the historical trauma response — the pattern of diverse responses that may result from exposure to historical trauma. [From Author]

The purpose of this paper was to review literature on Blending Indigenous Healing Approaches and Mainstream Traditional Approaches, specifically for intergenerational trauma. Indigenous people have endured many forms of assimilation that continues to impact their health, safety and well-being. It appears mainstream healing approaches are ineffective on its own, a plausible solution would be to blend Indigenous healing approaches into appropriate mainstream healing methods. [From Author]

"A bold and profound work by Haudenosaunee writer Alicia Elliott, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground is a personal and critical meditation on trauma, legacy, oppression and racism in North America. In an urgent and visceral work that asks essential questions about Native people in North America while drawing on intimate details of her own life and experience with intergenerational trauma, Alicia Elliott offers indispensable insight and understanding to the ongoing legacy of colonialism. What are the links between depression, colonialism and loss of language--both figurative and literal? How does white privilege operate in different contexts? How do we navigate the painful contours of mental illness in loved ones without turning them into their sickness? How does colonialism operate on the level of literary criticism? A Mind Spread Out on the Ground is Alicia Elliott's attempt to answer these questions and more. In the process, she engages with such wide-ranging topics as race, parenthood, sexuality, love, mental illness, poverty, sexual assault, gentrification, writing and representation. Elliott makes connections both large and small between the past and present, the personal and political--from overcoming a years-long history with head lice to the way Native writers are treated within the Canadian literary industry; her unplanned teenage pregnancy to the history of dark matter and how it relates to racism in the court system; her childhood diet of Kraft dinner to how systematic oppression is linked to depression in Native communities. With deep consideration and searing prose, Elliott extends far beyond her own experiences to provide a candid look at our past, an illuminating portrait of our present and a powerful tool for a better future." [From Publisher]

This literature review examines the various responses to trauma suffered by Indigenous peoples as a result of governmental policies geared toward assimilation. Both traumatic and resilient responses are demonstrated at the individual, family, and community levels. Much of the research that has been done in the United States to develop theories around historical trauma and race-based traumatic stress may also be applied to Canada’s First Nations due to similar histories of oppression and colonization. Overall, the research finds that self-government and a connection to culture and spirituality result in better outcomes for Indigenous peoples. [From Author]

The impact of trauma on learning in post-secondary institutions is largely ignored. However, recent studies on how Aboriginal people experience mental health issues are bringing attention to Aboriginal students' experiences of intergenerational trauma (IGT). IGT occurs when the maladaptive effects of an original trauma experience, such as historic trauma inclusive of Indian Residential Schools (IRS), results in unhealthy effects on the first generation being passed down to the next generation or multiple generations. Given the lengthy history of collective historic trauma experienced by Aboriginal people, it is reasonable to expect that Aboriginal students' learning is affected by IGT. As post-secondary educators, we engaged a limited study to further our knowledge of the impact of IGT on Aboriginal students. We were puzzled by Aboriginal students' attrition within university programs--students we believed who were more than capable of success. We chose to explore this issue from the perspective of trauma-informed education principles (Mordoch & Gaywish, 2011). Building on past work, this qualitative study explores how IGT affects the educational journeys of Aboriginal students. A conceptual framework based on an Anishinabe teaching of Four Lodges (directional)--Talking, Planning, Teaching, and Healing--guided our research. The researchers formulated questions for each Lodge to frame our research on how IGT is understood by students enrolled in select programs for mature Indigenous students. We asked about the effects of IGT in the classroom and the resultant problems students face in their educational journey. Sixteen Indigenous students, 10 instructors, and nine administrators employed in Aboriginal focus or access programs for at least three years participated in semi-structured interview conversations. Findings reflect their perceptions of the interplay between IGT and educational experiences and potential strategies to redress resultant issues. [From Author]

A piece I did for CBC's The National... what else can I say? My dad not only survived but thrived and my son is my sole motivation for doing any good in this [From YouTube]

It is abundantly clear that Aboriginal nations cannot progress as long as this pattern of recycling trauma and dysfunction generation after generation is allowed to continue. Something is needed to interrupt the cycle and to introduce new patterns of living that lead to sustainable human wellbeing and prosperity. [From Author]

In 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) described Canada’s residential school policy, established in the 1880’s and active through most of the 20th century, as ‘cultural genocide’. Earlier that same year, Maclean’s magazine described Winnipeg as Canada’s most racist Winnipeg. Winnipeg, situated on Treaty One territory, has the largest Indigenous population of any Canadian City. Situated in the centre of the City, The University of Winnipeg is seeking ways to respond to the TRC Calls to Action and is exploring ways to Indigenise. In this paper I describe the pedagogical approach of a small university department purposefully situated outside of the main campus in a low-income inner-city neighbourhood with a large Indigenous population. The department integrates critical, place-based pedagogies rooted in an understanding of systemic oppression. We agree that reconciliation begins with acknowledging the truth about the past and present damage caused by colonial policies. Despite the fact that what we have learned is essential to reconciliation in the postsecondary education context, we face many obstacles in a political context driven by neoliberal austerity that threatens our approach and makes reconciliation near impossible to achieve. [From Author]

As with many Indigenous groups around the world, Aboriginal communities in Canada face significant challenges with trauma and substance use. The complexity of symptoms that accompany intergenerational trauma and substance use disorders represents major challenges in the treatment of both disorders. There appears to be an underutilization of substance use and mental health services, substantial client dropout rates, and an increase in HIV infections in Aboriginal communities in Canada. The aim of this paper is to explore and evaluate current literature on how traditional Aboriginal healing methods and the Western treatment model “Seeking Safety” could be blended to help Aboriginal peoples heal from intergenerational trauma and substance use disorders. A literature search was conducted using the keywords: intergenerational trauma, historical trauma, Seeking Safety, substance use, Two-Eyed Seeing, Aboriginal spirituality, and Aboriginal traditional healing. Through a literature review of Indigenous knowledge, most Indigenous scholars proposed that the wellness of an Aboriginal community can only be adequately measured from within an Indigenous knowledge framework that is holistic, inclusive, and respectful of the balance between the spiritual, emotional, physical, and social realms of life. Their findings indicate that treatment interventions must honour the historical context and history of Indigenous peoples. Furthermore, there appears to be strong evidence that strengthening cultural identity, community integration, and political empowerment can enhance and improve mental health and substance use disorders in Aboriginal populations. In addition, Seeking Safety was highlighted as a well-studied model with most populations, resulting in healing. The provided recommendations seek to improve the treatment and healing of Aboriginal peoples presenting with intergenerational trauma and addiction. Other recommendations include the input of qualitative and quantitative research as well as studies encouraging Aboriginal peoples to explore treatments that could specifically enhance health in their respective communities. [From Author]

In Canada, it is estimated that 3 times as many Indigenous children are currently in the care of the state compared to when the residential schools’ populations were at their peak. It is imperative that action be taken. This article explores the continuities among residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, and child welfare in Canada today. In particular, we examine how colonial and neocolonial discourses operate through and justify these policies and practices. We propose nine policy recommendations, which aim to transform child welfare and support Indigenous families to care for their children. Although transformative policy change is unlikely within this neocolonial and neoliberal climate, the recent change in federal leadership has made it more possible to move these policy recommendations forward. [From Author]

Increasing evidence shows that more than a century of assimilative government policies has resulted in personal, familial and community trauma for Aboriginal peoples in Canada. The institutions and systems, such as residential schools, implemented as a result of these policies attempted to eradicate Aboriginal perspectives and values and replace them with ideological systems that continue to undermine life for Aboriginal peoples. Generations of people continue to be affected by the traumas of abuse, state-enforced separation and racist devaluation of culture. This chapter reviews the evolving literature on intergenerational trauma and explores how culturally appropriate therapeutic interventions need to be informed by the history of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. Based on my own experience as a social work practitioner and therapist, the infusion of culturally appropriate healing strategies within therapeutic responses is a viable model for addressing the mental health needs of Aboriginal people. [From Author]

The Thomas More Institute is pleased to present an evening of conversation with Suzanne Methot in dialogue with excerpts from her 2019 book Legacy: Trauma, Story, and Indigenous Healing. The webinar interview will include topics of justice, environment, and progress as they pertain to Indigenous communities.

Suzanne Methot is the author of the non-fiction book Legacy: Trauma, Story, and Indigenous Healing, co-author of the Grade 11 textbook Aboriginal Beliefs, Values, and Aspirations, and a contributor to Scholastic’s Take Action series of elementary classroom resource books. She is currently working on three books for children and young readers, and a novel set in northern Alberta. Suzanne is an educator and social historian who speaks on pedagogy, Indigenous worldviews and literatures, Indigenous approaches to health and wellness, trauma- and healing-informed practice, and decolonization. She also designs programs and facilitates change-making sessions for the education, health care, environmental, and museum sectors. Born in Vancouver and raised in Sagitawa (Peace River, Alberta), Suzanne is Asiniwachi Nehiyaw (Rocky Mountain Cree) of mixed Indigenous and European heritage. She lived in Tkaronto (Toronto) for 29 years, and now makes her home on the unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw Nation, near Nanaimo, BC. [From YouTube]

Many thanks to Cindy White for the opening, and to Chase McMurren and the UofTMed team for inviting me to deliver the 2020 Dr. Marguerite (Peggy) Hill Memorial Lecture on Indigenous Health. Presented by the Medical Alumni Association at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in partnership with the University of Toronto Office of Indigenous Health and the Centre for Wise Practices in Indigenous Health at Women's College Hospital. [From YouTube]

"Exploring intergenerational trauma in Indigenous communities--and strategies for healing--with provocative prose and an empathetic approach Indigenous peoples have shockingly higher rates of addiction, depression, diabetes, and other chronic health conditions than other North Americans. According to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, these are a result of intergenerational trauma: the unresolved terror, anger, fear, and grief created in Indigenous communities by the painful experiences of colonialism, passed down from generation to generation. How are we to turn this desperate tide? With passionate argumentation and chillingly clear prose, author and educator Suzanne Methot uses her own and others' stories to trace the roots of colonial trauma and the mechanisms by which trauma has become intergenerational, and she explores the Indigenous ways of knowing that can lead us toward change." [From Publisher]

Since the 1980s successive Canadian institutions, including the federal government and Christian churches, have attempted to grapple with the malignant legacy of residential schooling, including official apologies, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). In Residential Schools and Reconciliation, award winning author J. R. Miller tackles and explains these institutional responses to Canada's residential school legacy. Analysing archival material and interviews with former students, politicians, bureaucrats, church officials, and the Chief Commissioner of the TRC, Miller reveals a major obstacle to achieving reconciliation – the inability of Canadians at large to overcome their flawed, overly positive understanding of their country's history. This unique, timely, and provocative work asks Canadians to accept that the root of the problem was Canadians like them in the past who acquiesced to aggressively assimilative policies. [From Publisher]

Student success is facilitated by strong bonds between families and schools, including a shared sense of purpose and mutual trust. However, for Indigenous peoples these relationships are often broken, undermined by the legacy of residential schooling and assimilative educational practices. Drawing on interviews with 50 Indigenous (mainly Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Métis) and non‐Indigenous parents and educators, this paper examines the ways in which issues of class and race shape interactions between teachers and Indigenous parents. The interviews reveal that legacies of racial discrimination against Indigenous peoples in schooling affect family/school relations among middle‐class (MC) and lower‐class (LC) parents in different ways. MC parents intensify relations with the school while, in comparison, LC parents tend to disengage as a consequence of their negative schooling experiences. [From Author]

Many government policies sought to maintain or extend control and domination over Indigenous peoples, not only by taking land but also by subjugating Indigenous peoples to European Christian religions and culture. Perhaps the most devastating of these measures of forced assimilation, however, was the policy of taking children away from their parents and First Nation communities and putting children in residential schools. This chapter outlines the beginnings, function, purpose, realities and aftermath of residential schools. [From Author]

At age 30, John Reilly was the youngest Provincial Court Judge ever appointed in Alberta. He presided over courts in Canmore, Banff, and Cochrane, and it was in Cochrane that he had his eyes opened to the inequities faced by aboriginal people in our justice system.

Last year, he wrote Bad Medicine: A Judge's Struggle for Justice in a First Nations Community, which chronicles the change in his worldview that came from trying to understand the aboriginal people. In this moving talk, he shares stories of how he came to have a deeper understanding of what real justice is beyond simple punishment and deterrence. [From YouTube]

Eddy Robinson is an educator on Indigenous issues. In this web series called "First Things First," Robinson explains why asking "How Can I Help?" is not the right question. [From YouTube]

This is a joint work between my Mom and I. It begins with a story passed down to my Mom about my grandfather's experience at an Indian Residential School. My Mom asks me questions about the story and I respond, learning more as we talk. We ended up writing back and forth to one another over a few days to complete this. I found it very important and educational to write about. We share this story fully acknowledging it is only one story, and it is shared with the intent for learning. I have heard many people say Residential Schools happened a long time ago. My mom started to share this story several years ago with primarily non-Indigenous social work students to demonstrate how Residential School and the Sixties Scoop impacted the five generations she speaks of in the story. My brother's first day of school became a much bigger moment for her and my Mushum. We share this story with deep respect for all the families who were impacted by Residential Schools and the Sixties Scoop. We stand with you and support all of your voices and recognize many of you have lost far more than we have. For all our non-Indigenous family and friends, we share this with respect for you as well, and to foster better understanding and as a step towards reconciliation. This is our truth. [From Author]

The political climate of Canada is changing. Shortly after the historic release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report in 2015, Canadians elected a new prime minister committed to repairing the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian state. Within the past year, there has been a significant shift in the status quo—from deeply rooted attitudes and stereotypes that question why Aboriginal peoples can’t simply “get over it” to an understanding of the intergenerational impacts of colonization and a commitment to truth and reconciliation as a national project for all Canadians. In the words of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, “reconciliation is about establishing and maintaining a mutually respectful relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in this country.” From Author]

Indigenous peoples is a term used in Canada to describe three distinct cultural groups: First Nations (status and non-status Indians), Métis, and Inuit. There are approximately 1.4 million Indigenous people in Canada, representing about 4% of the country’s total population (Statistics Canada, 2009). Over 40% are under age 24, and 28% are under 14 (Statistics Canada, 2013). The Indigenous population has become highly urbanized. Since the 1970s, there has been a large migration of Indigenous peoples from rural areas and reserves to cities. More than 600,000—54% of the total Indigenous population—live in cities—and the numbers continue to grow (Statistics Canada, 2009). Urbanized Indigenous youth are the largest and fastest growing youth demographic in the country (Statistics Canada, 2013). [From Author]

Introduction: The objective of this study was to assess the effect of parental residential school attendance on youth's participation in sport and physical activity (S/PA) at school and to explore the potential role that parental education and parental involvement in school activities may play in mediating this relationship.
Methods: This cross-sectional study used the 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey and included youth ages 12-17 (N=4,840). Structural equation modeling techniques were used for models with observed and latent variables. Sampling weights and bootstrap weights were used for all analyses.
Results: The results indicate 62.87% of youth participated in S/PA; 27.54% at school; 31.52% outside of school, and 40.94% in school and outside school. Mothers who attended residential schools had lower levels of educational attainment. Maternal education had a positive effect on parental involvement in school activities in dual parent households and parental involvement had a positive effect on S/PA. The indirect effects of residential school attendance on parental involvement and participation in S/PA were significant only for youth living with both parents and only for the effect of maternal residential school attendance. Maternal residential school attendance had a negative effect on parental involvement and on participation in S/PA.
Discussion: The findings from this study indicate that interpersonal factors and historical contexts shape Indigenous youth's participation in S/PA. [From Author]

In order for decolonization to be successful it must begin in our minds. Creative, healthy, decolonized thinking, actions and feelings positively shape and empower important neural circuits in our brain, which, in turn, provide us with the personal resources, strengths, talents and abilities we need to overcome and transform the oppressions of colonialism. On the one hand, a healthy, well-balanced mind and brain are essential to helping one to engage in proactive, creative and successful decolonization activities and, on the other, unconstructive, negative thinking, feelings and behaviours dampen and short-circuit our brain’s creativity and optimism networks and increase our susceptibility to the many stresses that arise in everyday life. The customary stressors, especially for Indigenous Peoples, are exacerbated by the additional trauma of colonialism. [From Author]