<p>The purpose of this qualitative, interpretive study was to gain an understanding of the client experience at a health promotion and illness/injury prevention health centre within a First Nations community in Southern Ontario. A Heideggerian, hermeneutic approach and participatory processes were used within the research framework. Data were collected through the use of face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with 7 female and 5 male members of a First Nations community. Thematic analysis based upon the work of Max van Manen was employed and resulted in three overriding themes: (a) health and being healthy, (b) I use the health centre, and (c) I don’t use the health centre. Essential components of being healthy included having choices and being able to make them, being able to care for self and others and eating right. Some participants viewed their health centre as a valued source of information and services for both health and illness and as a trusted location for accessing traditional healers. Other participants reported little or no use of their health centre due to a lack of awareness of services offered, a lack of comfort and familiarity with the health centre's staff, services and building structure, a reliance on self-healing methods, and/or a reliance on other sources of health information such as family, community Elders and the Internet. The study provided insights on a First Nations community vision of an ideal health centre. Implications for nursing education, research and policy are provided.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>This thesis reports results from my PhD research investigating experiences of aging and dementia among First Nations seniors on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Dementia has been identified as a growing problem in Aboriginal communities by researchers and Aboriginal stakeholders. However, little research has documented First Nations peoples’ explanatory models of dementia or aging. In this thesis I explore Manitoulin Island First Nations people’s knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours related to healthy aging and dementia. I present data that documents explanatory models of successful aging and dementia, issues surrounding help-seeking and treatment, and practices relating to care-giving. This research uses an ethnographic approach following a community-based participatory action research design. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were carried out with seniors, people with dementia, informal family caregivers, health care providers, and traditional healers in seven First Nations communities on Manitoulin Island. Focus groups were carried out with nurses and personal support workers. A total of 59 participants were involved in this research. Participant observation was used to enrich interview data. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to interpret participants’ lived experiences of aging and dementia. This research demonstrates that First Nations seniors strive to remain healthy and engaged in life as they age. However, it also demonstrates that dementia is a growing problem in First Nations communities. Although First Nations people are generally accepting of memory loss in old age as a natural occurrence, a conflicting perception of dementia as pathological was also present. This research demonstrates that changes to culture and ways of life are perceived to have a significant impact on First Nations peoples’ ability to age successfully and on the emergence of dementia as a growing health concern. I conclude that improving access to culturally safe supports and services is needed to ensure that people can better cope with the challenges of aging and dementia.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study is a comparative analysis of the level of high-involvement management (HIM) in a group of First Nations businesses in Saskatchewan and a matched sample group of non-Aboriginal businesses in Saskatchewan. The level of high-involvement management in the businesses was measured using an existing survey questionnaire based on one developed by Long (2001). This questionnaire is targeted to both managers and employees in each company. The researcher hypothesized that the level of high-involvement management in the First Nations businesses would be higher than that in the non-Aboriginal businesses. The rationale for this hypothesis was that the First Nations businesses would exhibit a cultural effect that would make the management of the businesses congruent with the traditional high-involvement organizational approach of the Plains Cree and Assiniboine First Nations in Saskatchewan prior to their confinement to reserves. This research has demonstrated that the management approach of First Nations companies is not more high-involvement oriented than a matched sample of non-Aboriginal businesses using a high-involvement management scale. Several techniques were utilized to try to identify a cultural effect. Means testing, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were all utilized to try to identify a cultural effect, all to no avail. Only when the data was analyzed based on various other dimensions were significant differences identified between First Nations and non-Aboriginal firms in terms of high-involvement management. Even in these cases, the differences are the opposite of that which was hypothesized for this study. In each of these cases, First Nations firms were significantly lower in high-involvement management than non-Aboriginal firms. Management and employee responses to the research instrument were shown not to be significantly different. Possible explanations for these results are discussed.

This study is a comparative analysis of the level of high-involvement management (HIM) in a group of First Nations businesses in Saskatchewan and a matched sample group of non-Aboriginal businesses in Saskatchewan. The level of high-involvement management in the businesses was measured using an existing survey questionnaire based on one developed by Long (2001). This questionnaire is targeted to both managers and employees in each company. The researcher hypothesized that the level of high-involvement management in the First Nations businesses would be higher than that in the non-Aboriginal businesses. The rationale for this hypothesis was that the First Nations businesses would exhibit a cultural effect that would make the management of the businesses congruent with the traditional high-involvement organizational approach of the Plains Cree and Assiniboine First Nations in Saskatchewan prior to their confinement to reserves. This research has demonstrated that the management approach of First Nations companies is not more high-involvement oriented than a matched sample of non-Aboriginal businesses using a high-involvement management scale. Several techniques were utilized to try to identify a cultural effect. Means testing, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were all utilized to try to identify a cultural effect, all to no avail. Only when the data was analyzed based on various other dimensions were significant differences identified between First Nations and non-Aboriginal firms in terms of high-involvement management. Even in these cases, the differences are the opposite of that which was hypothesized for this study. In each of these cases, First Nations firms were significantly lower in high-involvement management than non-Aboriginal firms. Management and employee responses to the research instrument were shown not to be significantly different. Possible explanations for these results are discussed.

Archaeological evidence has become an important part of the argument for the Indigenous peoples of several countries in legal proceedings concerning their rights. This thesis aims to explore how archaeologists and archaeological research are affected by acting as expert witnesses or being used as evidence in these proceedings. Another aim is to explore the differences and similarities between Sweden and Canada in these matters. The main material consists of interviews with seven archaeologists, four Swedish and three Canadian, whose research in various ways have been involved in legal proceedings concerning the rights of Indigenous peoples: The Sámi in Sweden and the Indigenous peoples of Canada. The analysis of the interviews is based on seven themes: awareness, impact, responsibility, experience, objectivity, archaeology and law and consequences. The result shows several things. It shows that the issue of archaeology in legal proceedings is a sensitive matter, and that the archaeologists have somewhat ambivalent feelings about it. It also shows that the involvement of archaeologists and archaeological evidence in these legal proceedings raises discussions about ethics, objectivity, and reputation. One conclusion to be drawn is that there is need for more open discussion and education on the subject.

My thesis consists of a commented translation of five selected short stories, including the title story of Thomas King’s One Good Story, That One, and a theoretical and contextual introduction. My commentary, beyond the explanation of my syntactic and vocabulary choices -which I will relate to King’s interfusional use of idiolect, which is to say his uniquely personal use of orality in writing-, discusses the use of irony and the Trickster as instruments of anticolonial resistance (based on King’s “Godzilla vs. Post-colonial”), with which King hopes to both challenge Western paradigms and raise awareness of Natives’ plight. King uses both of these strategies, interfusional dialect and the Trickster, not simply as postcolonial but rather as anticolonial instruments of discursive resistance (based on King’s “Godzilla vs. Post-colonial”), being in tune with King’s vision that postcolonialism is a concept which only lives in academia and in fact has no real basis in our current society, since we are still, in many ways, living in colonial times. King uses satire, first, to raise awareness of Natives’ physical and psychological plight to this very day, and second, to create a sense of accountability in these same people, to transform them by playfully making them aware of their unwitting complicity in this sordid affair. King's use of the Trickster Coyote as well is an important humorous element which also serves as an instrument of anticolonial discursive resistance and education, and whose mythological significance is crucial to the development of an alternate ideological structure, one which King establishes as a healthy counter-part to the Western religiously inspired one with its traditional Judaeo-christian dualism. When commenting on my translation, I note how King, with his use of the Trickster, satire and orality, contests the validity of Eurocentric paradigms with his literarily and orally established framework of modern Native mythologies and perspectives. With my translation, my aim was to reproduce King’s own translation of orality and traditional Native storytelling into writing, albeit with a slightly different use of dialect (closer to international French than Quebec French), since translating King's idiolect was no easy feat. And so, my main concern was to stay as true as possible to the original work, its gaps, repetitions, syntax and phatic (speech used as social function) use of language. In doing so, my goal was to once again foster the reader’s understanding of Natives and their plight, establishing an oral bond through the translation of King's orality between them and the translated work. Pertaining to the latter will be a discussion on how translation also ideally bridges the gap between cultures while expanding their horizons, just as King's modern, syncretic Native storytelling breathes new life into traditional spiritual practices and beliefs. However, as King warns us about stories, which can be not only healing but also harmful, translation can adversely widen that gap and harm intercultural relationships when improperly harnessed. When properly harnessed, however, translation re-enacts a narrative to launch it in a new language-culture (Benjamin in Venuti), in the same manner that Native storytelling (both traditional and modern) enacts a performative that not only preserves culture but recreates it anew. Hence my interest in discovering the links between the fashioning of a new world, full of promise, through narrative, and the refashioning of a narrated text through translation into a new language-culture. Translating the activism at work in King’s own telling of One Good Story, That One, I would further like to capture the ways in which King's modern Native storytelling and the bleak, satiric humour with which much of it is tinged, continues to combat neocolonialism to this day, even in this so-called postcolonial society. Eva Gruber's Humour in Contemporary Native North American Literature is an in-depth and informative work on this subject. I would like to elaborate on Gruber's statement that humour, more than just a coping strategy, as many would claim, is also, more importantly, especially to a non-Native audience, a Trojan horse of sorts: “Sneaking up on readers through shared laughter, humour can align their empathy with Native viewpoints, obscuring conflicts and hierarchies and triggering consensus and solidarity instead” (“Humour in Native Lit”, 118). As well, I take into account in the course of my translation how in presenting Western history and religion from a humorous angle, the author is exposing its fallacies in a tragi-comical context which blurs the boundaries between reality and myth, and thus alleviates the burden of colonialism upon his Native & non-Native readers, while also encouraging accountability. // Abstract : Mon mémoire consiste en une traduction commentée de cinq nouvelles, incluant la nouvelle titre, du recueil One Good Story, That One de Thomas King, ainsi qu'une introduction théorique et contextuelle. Mon commentaire, au delà de la justification de ma syntaxe et de mes choix de mots -que je relierai à l'utilisation d'un idiolecte interfusionnel de l'auteur, c'est-à-dire son usage personnalisé d'oralité dans son écriture- aborde l'usage d'ironie et du Trickster en tant qu'instruments de résistance anticoloniale (basé sur l'article « Godzilla vs. Postcolonial » de King), avec lesquels King espère contester les paradigmes occidentaux et contribuer à la reconnaissance du fardeau des Autochtones. King utilise ces deux éléments en tant qu'instruments discursifs de résistance anticolonialiste plutôt que postcoloniale, en accord avec son idée que le postcolonialisme est un concept qui n'existe que dans un contexte académique et non dans la réalité quotidienne de notre société, puisque nous vivons ultimement encore dans un contexte colonial. King utilise la satire premièrement pour contribuer à la reconnaissance du fardeau physique et psychique des Premières Nations jusqu'à ce jour, et deuxièmement, pour créer un sens de responsabilité chez ces même gens, pour les transformer en les rendant humoristiquement conscients malgré eux de leur complicité dans cette histoire sordide. L'usage de King du Coyote trickster est aussi un élément humoristique important qui est également un instrument discursif de résistance et d'éducation anticolonialiste, dont la signification mythologique est cruciale au développement d'une structure idéologique de rechange, qu'il établit en tant que saine contre-partie à celle inspirée par les religions occidentales, avec sa dichotomie traditionnelle judéo-chrétienne. Je commente sur le fait que King, avec son usage du Trickster, de la satire et de l'oralité, conteste la validité des paradigmes eurocentristes avec sa littérature oralisée portant sur les mythologies et perspectives autochtones modernes, qui exposent les problèmes de ces 8 paradigmes. Avec ma traduction, mon but est de reproduire la propre traduction de l'oralité des contes traditionnels autochtones de King dans un contexte littéraire, quoique avec un usage partiellement différent de dialecte (plus près du français international que de celui du Québec), puisque traduire l'idiolecte de King n'était pas une tâche aisée. Donc, ma principale priorité était de rester aussi fidèle que possible à l'original, à ses pauses, ses répétitions, sa syntaxe et son usage phatique de la langue (le langage en tant que fonction sociale). En ce faisant, mon but est encore une fois de donner une meilleure contextualisation aux lecteurs de la cause des Premières Nations, et d'établir une relation orale entre eux et la traduction. En relation à ce dernier aspect, je discute du fait que la traduction est aussi idéalement un pont entre les cultures qui sert également à élargir leurs horizons, comme les contes modernes, syncrétiques de King insufflent une vie nouvelle dans les croyances et pratiques spirituelles autochtones traditionnelles. Cependant, comme King nous met en garde contre les histoires, qui peuvent guérir mais aussi empoisonner, la traduction peut également élargir ce fossé et nuire aux relations interculturelles quand elle n'est pas adéquatement utilisée. Quand elle l'est, par contre, la traduction recrée une narration pour la relancer dans une autre culture langagière, de la même façon que les contes autochtones (traditionnels et modernes) recréent une performance qui non seulement préserve la culture mais la fait renaître. C'est pourquoi j'ai un tel intérêt dans la découverte des liens entre la création d'un monde nouveau, plein de possibilités, à travers la narration, et la nouvelle création d'un texte narré dans une nouvelle culture langagière à travers la traduction. À travers la discussion de l'activisme de King dans les nouvelles que j'ai traduites, je discute aussi des façons dont les contes modernes de King et leur humour noir et satirique continuent de 9 combattre le néocolonialisme jusqu'à ce jour, même dans notre société soi-disant postcoloniale. Le livre d'Eva Gruber, Humour in Contemporary Native North American Literature, est un ouvrage approfondi et très informatif à propos de ce sujet. Je voudrais élaborer partiellement sur l'affirmation de Gruber que l'humour, bien plus qu'une stratégie de survie comme plusieurs le croiraient, est aussi un cheval de Troie en quelque sorte, particulièrement pour un lectorat non-Autochtone : « S'approchant discrètement des lecteurs grâce au rire partagé, l'humour peut créer une empathie pour les points de vue autochtones, obscurant les conflits et les hiérarchies et déclenchant au lieu une solidarité et un consensus. » (« Humour in Contemporary Native Lit », 118, ma traduction). Je discute également de comment, en présentant l'histoire et la religion occidentale d'un point de vue humoristique, l'auteur expose ses faussetés dans un contexte tragi-comique qui estompe les barrières entre réalité et mythe, et ainsi réduit le fardeau du colonialisme sur les épaules de ses lecteurs autochtones et non-autochtones, tout en encourageant une prise de responsabilité.

Typically small in number and poorly resourced, Canadian non-status First Nations often find themselves in conflict with more powerful private interests pursuing intensive resource development activities on their traditional lands. In the face of these threats, some non-status First Nations are using a combination of traditional environmental knowledge, a renewed commitment to traditional subsistence activities, and self-developed spiritual ecologies to reassert their sovereignty over ancestral territories. Eastern Ontario’s Ardoch Algonquin First Nation (AAFN) is one such group. AAFN members carry out cultural activities such as canoe building, hunting, trapping and harvesting wild rice on their traditional lands at the headwaters of the (Canadian) Mississippi, Madawaska, and Rideau rivers, lands that are part of a larger unresolved land claim made by Ontario’s Algonquin peoples. This research reports findings from a multi-year participatory research project that sought to understand AAFN’s traditional spiritual ecology (miyo-pimaadiziwin), to describe how it is understood and practiced by community members, and to use these insights as a lens to better understand the current and future trajectory of relations between AAFN members, governments, and outside interests engaged in resource development in this region. While AAFN members hope their miyo-pimaadiziwin-based values will foster mutual respect with non-aboriginal neighbours, the results are yet uncertain. However, what is plainly clear is that miyo-pimaadiziwin has traditionally been fundamentally at odds with rural and resource development strategies being promoted by the provincial government, meaning the potential for future and ongoing conflict is great. Although the two land strategies in contention are in many ways different, this analysis identifies some possible future areas of reconciliation in which the two approaches share common goals. The findings from the study contribute to broader scholarly efforts that seek to better understand the challenges faced by non-status First Nations in preserving cultural knowledge and traditional land-based activities more generally. / Les Premières nations canadiennes non-statuées sont typiquement petites, et elles disposent de peu de moyens financiers. Ces Premières nations se retrouvent souvent dans des situations conflictuelles avec des intérêts privés qui visent à réaliser des projets de développement de ressources naturelles intensifs sur des territoires autochtones traditionnels. Face à cette menace, certaines Premières nations non-statuées ont commencé à élaborer des stratégies de gestion territoriale ancrées dans le savoir écologique traditionnel, ainsi que dans les activités de subsistance. Ces stratégies ont pour but de réaffirmer leur souveraineté territoriale. La vision de gestion territoriale de la Première nation algonquine d’Ardoch (PNAA), située dans l’est de l’Ontario, est représentative de ce nouveau courant. Les membres de la PNAA pratiquent couramment des activités culturelles, telles que la fabrication de canoës, la chasse, le piégeage, et la récolte du riz sauvage, sur leurs territoires traditionnels, localisés à la source des rivières Mississippi (ontarienne), Madawaska et Rideau. Ce territoire fait actuellement partie d’une revendication territoriale algonquine toujours non-résolue. Cette étude présente les résultats d’un projet de recherche pluriannuel qui visait à mieux comprendre l’écologie spirituelle algonquine (miyo-pimaadiziwin) de la PNAA, de décrire comment ce concept est interprété et mis en pratique par les membres de la communauté, ainsi qu’à obtenir un aperçu quant à la trajectoire des relations entre les membres de la PNAA, les gouvernements et les intérêts privés, qui sont responsables du développement des ressources naturelles dans la région. Bien que les membres de la PNAA espèrent pouvoir (en suivant les principes éthiques de miyo-pimaadiziwin) éventuellement établir et maintenir un sentiment de respect mutuel et d’harmonie avec leurs voisins non-autochtones, cette vision reste loin d’être en mesure d’être réalisée. Cependant, il reste que les principes de miyo-pimaadiziwin sont fondamentalement irréconciliables à la vision du développement de ressources naturelles intensif que promeut le gouvernement provincial de l’Ontario. Par conséquent, la possibilité de futures mésententes et de conflits entre la PNAA et le gouvernement provincial reste élevée. Bien que ces deux stratégies territoriales soient, à plusieurs égards, fondamentalement différentes, cette analyse identifie quelques objectifs et ambitions partagés par la PNAA et le gouvernement ontarien, ce qui indique la possibilité de collaboration entre ces deux partis. Les résultats et conclusions de cette étude pourront contribuer aux tentatives de la part de l’érudition de mieux comprendre les défis auxquels font face les Premières nations non-statuées, en ce qui concerne la conservation culturelle, qui va de pair avec la pratique d’activités de subsistance sur le territoire traditionnel.

While few people would say that Canada has done a good job of housing its poor citizens, this discussion goes beyond problems of housing the poor. In this dissertation I draw from government records to uncover how, between the 1930s and 1990s, the Indian Department created and oversaw a failed housing system on reserves across the country - one decision at a time. While housing is usually seen to be a result of poverty I argue that during this time the practices and policies of the Indian Department were active participants in making Indigenous people and First Nations communities poor. As a consequence of the persistent housing crisis on reserves in Canada Indigenous people suffered not only from living in substandard dwellings but also from the indignity and shame that comes from the association Canadians have made between the poor conditions of on-reserve housing and the personal characteristics of its occupants. What most people do not know is how it is that on-reserve housing remained in crisis for so long. On-reserve housing is something we have done not something we have studied. While federal government reports have charted the number of houses on reserves and their physical condition, no one has examined the history of government programs or how they were delivered until now. Recognizing that my study was not designed to recommend solutions, but believing that we cannot fix a problem until we know it, I am convinced that this dissertation provides the background information future academics will need to tell a different story about housing on reserves. And with a different story we will be better prepared to make fundamental changes needed to the way housing is delivered on reserves. / Graduate

Fox Lake Cree Nation (FLCN) is a First Nation community located in northern Manitoba, with approximately 1100 community members, of which approximately 500 reside in the traditional territory. FLCN has been highly affected by the development of five dams within their traditional territory, and have participated in the Clean Environment Commission hearings to share the impacts of that development. The FLCN youth have a unique perspective and experience with development. Youth are impacted by past hydroelectric development projects, and will continue to be affected in the future. In addition to looking at impacts and mitigation strategies, FLCN youth are looking to business and training opportunities that still align with their core values and Cree worldview. Knowledge transmission from Elders to youth is an important factor in moving forward for FLCN youth. Understanding how these experiences and perspectives affect and influence youth in FLCN is important to creating a future that benefits the youth of Fox Lake Cree Nation. / May 2017

This dissertation set out to examine the meaning of music for First Nations childrenwith autism in BC, Canada. The research questions addressed were: How can thediagnosis of ASD be seen through a First Nations lens? How do the First Nationschildren with ASD use music? In which ways is music used in different domains?In which ways is music used to facilitate inclusion? How is traditional music used?The dissertation is based on four original articles that span over the issues of under-detection of autism among First Nations children in BC, ethnographic fieldwork,and the paradigmatic shift to Indigenist research methodologies, the role of music insocial inclusion and a First Nations lens on autism, the use of Indigenous music withFirst Nations children with autism, put in context with First Nations children’s rights.Material was collected during six week periods in two consecutive years, generatingdata from conversations, follow-up conversations, observations, video-filmed observations,and notes. Post-colonial BC, Canada is the context of the research, and issuesof social inclusion and children’s rights are addressed. During the research process,a journey that began with an ethnographic approach led to an Indigenist paradigm.It was found that colonial residue and effects of historical trauma can influenceFirst Nations children being under-detected for autism. The First Nations childrendiagnosed with autism in this study use music in similar ways to typically developingchildren and non-Indigenous individuals with autism. These uses include for communicationand relaxation, for security and happiness, to soothe oneself and whenstudying. However, music interventions in school settings are not culturally sensitive.Music as a tool for inclusion is overlooked and Indigenous music not utilizedoutside of optional Aboriginal classes. The most important lesson of the study wasthe significance of reciprocal experience, emphasized by the Indigenist paradigm. Itcan be suggested that carefully designed, culturally sensitive music interventions,in collaboration with traditional knowledge holders and Elders, would be beneficialfor the development of First Nations children with autism. Consequently, culturallysensitive music interventions could have potential to ensure that the children’s rightsare respected. For these interventions to be culturally adequate, specific IndigenousKnowledge must be the foundation.