Background: Water quality in on-reserve Indigenous communities in Ontario is concerning, with issues ranging from deteriorating water quality to issues with regulation and support. As a result, many communities are placed under a Drinking Water Advisory (DWA), which, at its most severe, indicates water is not safe for use or consumption. Between 2004 and 2013, approximately 70% of all on-reserve communities in Ontario were under at least one DWA. While designed to protect physical health, DWAs have widespread impacts on health and wellbeing. However, little is known about First Nation individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and experiences living under a DWA. Purpose: To unpack and explore the broad impacts of a Boil Water Advisory (BWA) from the perspective of community members on a reserve in Northern Ontario and provide considerations for current and future BWA management. Methods: Methodological choices were driven by the principles of community-based participatory research. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. Two hundred and twenty-six questionnaires were distributed. Fifteen Elders and 22 key informants (KIs) were contacted for an interview. Results: Forty-four (19.5%) individuals completed a questionnaire. Eight Elders and 16 KIs participated in 20 interviews. Questionnaire sections were used to frame the data analysis, which fell under five major themes: 1) Community Context; 2) Knowledge of BWAs; 3) Living Under a BWA; 4) Water and Health; and, 5) Pathways Forward. Conclusions: Responses illuminated gaps where education surrounding best practices for protecting health would be crucial moving forward. They also highlighted that women are an important target audience for education. Points also emerged where communication with community members and stakeholders would be key to understanding the impacts and outcomes of DWAs. Additionally, this community, and others experiencing a DWA, should consider greater involvement in water management by younger individuals, to ensure that all perspectives are adequately represented. / Thesis / Master of Public Health (MPH) / When water is known, or suspected, to be unsafe for human consumption, communities are placed under a Drinking Water Advisory (DWA). Indigenous communities have some of the worst water quality in Canada and many are subsequently under DWAs. Despite the widespread impact of DWAs on health and wellbeing, little is known about First Nation individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and experiences living under one. The goal of this thesis was to unpack and explore the broad health, social, cultural, and economic impacts of a Boil Water Advisory (BWA) from the perspective of community members on a reserve in Northern Ontario and provide considerations for BWA management. Responses pointed to gaps where education surrounding how to best protect health would be crucial, especially for women who were highlighted as an important target audience. Points also emerged where communication would be key to understanding the impacts and outcomes of DWAs moving forward.

This thesis examine the cultural interaction between Anishinabe people, who lived in what is now southern Ontario, and the Loyalists, Euroamerican settlers who moved north from the United States during and after the American Revolution. Starting with an analysis of Anishinabe cultural history before the settlement era the thesis argues that Anishinabe spirituality was not traditionalist. Rather it inclined its practitioners to search for new knowledge. Further, Anishinabe ethics in this period were determined corporately based on the immediate needs and expectations of individual communities. As such, Anishinabe ethics were quite separate from Anishinabe spiritual teachings. Between 1760 and 1815, the Anishinabe living north of the Great Lakes participated in pan-Native resistance movements to the south. The spiritual leaders of these movements, sometimes called nativists, taught that tradition was an important religious virtue and that cultural integration was dangerous and often immoral. These nativist teachings entered the northern Anishinabe cultural matrix and lived alongside earlier hierarchies of virtue that identified integration and change as virtues. When Loyalist Methodists presented their teachings to the Anishinabeg in the early nineteenth century their words filtered through both sets of teachings and found purchase in the minds of many influential leaders. Such leaders quickly convinced members of their communities to take up the Methodist practices and move to agricultural villages. For a few brief years in the 1830s these villages achieved financial success and the Anishinabe Methodist leaders achieved real social status in both Anishinabe and Euroamerican colonial society. By examining the first generation of Anishinabe Methodists who practiced between 1823 and 1840, I argue that many Anishinabe people adopted Christianity as new wisdom suitable for refitting their existing cultural traditions to a changed cultural environment. Chiefs such as Peter Jones (Kahkewahquonaby), and their followers, found that Methodist teachings cohered with major tenets of their own traditions, and also promoted bimadziwin, or health and long life, for their communities. Finally, many Anishinabe people believed that the basic moral injunctions of their own tradition compelled them to adopt Methodism because of its potential to promote bimadziwin. / Thesis (Ph.D, History) -- Queen's University, 2008-07-17 13:59:23.833

There are significant mental health disparities in Aboriginal communities in Canada as a result of historical assimilation policies (Health Canada, 2012). One approach to mitigating these mental health concerns is through prevention programs that include a wilderness component. Wilderness based programs for Aboriginal youth are informed by cultural wisdom and empirical research that connects immersion in nature with psychological well-being. The goal of this study was to collaborate with two community partners (Nala Winds canoe family from the Heiltsuk First Nation, and Victoria Native Friendship Centre) to develop an evaluation tool that will satisfy mainstream funding standards as well as community, cultural standards. This tool-kit was designed to reflect the youth experience and mental health consequences of Tribal Journeys, an annual canoe journey program for Coastal First Nations peoples. The findings were shared with community partners and may be helpful in facilitating the creation, maintenance, and evaluation of other Aboriginal youth programs. / Graduate / 0620 / 0347 / 0621 / tansmethurst@gmail.com

De 2003 à 2017, le jardin des Premières-Nations du Jardin botanique de Montréal a été le lieu d’exposition de 12 œuvres d’artistes autochtones dans le cadre du Concours d’œuvre murale éphémère lancé par Sylvie Paré. Ce mémoire rassemble l’ensemble de cette exposition afin d’en relever le discours général et les liens que les œuvres entretiennent entre elles, avec le Jardin et avec les territoires physiques et imaginaires. À travers une analyse formelle et symbolique des œuvres qui intègre les ontologies, épistémologies et méthodologies des Premières Nations, je souhaite réfléchir aux liens qui unissent les notions que sont le regard, le territoire, l’interconnexion et la mémoire. Le premier chapitre s’articule autour du mouvement de distanciation opéré par le regard perçu comme un intermédiaire « objectif » de l’expérience humaine et de la séparation (ou schisme) qu’il engendre entre nature et culture. Je m’intéresse ensuite à la remise en question de cette rupture par le Jardin des Premières-Nations. Le deuxième chapitre de ce mémoire s’intéresse plus spécifiquement aux perspectives obliques adoptées par les œuvres du concours en ce qu’ils se portent sur les mémoires et les marques culturelles laissées par les nations autochtones sur les territoires depuis plus de 10 000 ans. Par ailleurs, si les murales traduisent généralement une inquiétude environnementale, elles le font à travers le regard de différentes « entités » qui y circulent de manière fluide et circulaire dans l’espace, le temps et l’intersubjectivité. Elles explorent les traces physiques et imaginaires des relations entretenues avec le territoire et mettent en lumière l’existence d’une relation de réciprocité avec l’univers dont le territoire tient un rôle dynamique. / From 2003 to 2017, the First Nations Garden of the Montréal Botanical Garden has exhibited each year the mural artwork of an Indigenous artist as part of the Ephemeral mural contest launched by Sylvie Paré. This memoir brings together all of this exhibition in order to highlight the general discourse and the relations that the artworks have with each other, with the Garden and with the physical and imaginary territories. Through a formal and symbolic analysis of this exposition, that integrates the ontologies, epistemology and methodologies of the First Nations, I wish to reflect on the links that unite the notions of gaze, territory, interconnection and memory. The first chapter focuses on the distance generated by the sight seen as an intermediary “objective” of human experience, and the separation (or schism) that it created between the conceptions of nature and culture. I will then look at how the First Nations Garden questions this rupture. The second chapter of this dissertation focuses more specifically on the oblique perspectives adopted by the mural artworks in that they focus on memories and cultural marks left by the indigenous nations on the territories for more than 10,000 years. Moreover, if the murals generally express an environmental concern, they do so through the eyes of different “entities” circulating fluidly and circularly in space, time and intersubjectivity. They explore the physical and imaginary traces of relationships with the territory and highlight the existence of a relationship of reciprocity with the universe in which the territory plays a dynamic role.

Background: The spirometric reference values are of great importance for diagnosis and treatment of lung diseases. At present, there are no spirometric reference values for First Nations children and adolescents living in Canada. Objectives: The objectives of the present study were (1) to identify the flexible and efficient statistical method to derive lung function reference equations that can be used to obtain the predicted values and Lower Limit of Normal (LLN) for lung function in children and adolescents, and (2) to obtain prediction equations for FVC, FEV1 and FEV1=FVC for First Nations children and adolescents living in rural Saskatchewan, Canada. Methods: Spirometric results from a prospective cohort study, "First Nations Lung Health Project" were used to identify 130 healthy non-smoking children and adolescents. The predicted values and LLN of spirometric indices [Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume at one second (FEV1) and FEV1 and FVC ratio (FEV1=FVC)] were calculated for school-going children and adolescents ages 6-17 years. The subjects participating in the study were from two Cree First Nations on-reserve communities located in rural Saskatchewan, Canada. All lung function values were reviewed by a respirologist for acceptability of the test. Following an extensive literature review, the Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS) was identified as a flexible statistical tool to model the lung function variables. The lung function indices were assumed to follow a Box-Cox-Cole-Green (BCCG) distribution with median, , coe ffcient of variation and skewness . Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) approach was used to obtain the reference models. The LLN was calculated by taking the fifth percentile of the prediction equations of the lung function variables. The above approach is recommended for the prediction of lung function of multi-ethnic people aged 3-95 years from different ethnic groups by the Global Lung Function Initiative (GLI). Results: Significant differences were observed in lung function (FVC, FEV1 and FEV1=FVC) and anthropometric measurements between both boys and girls. Therefore, fitting separate equations for both sexes are justified. In GLI, polynomial bases of order 6-7 were used for modeling the meadian, coefficient of variation and skewness . In this study, lower order polynomial bases (up to order 4) were enough to obtain the reference models. In GLI, the polynomial bases were divided by 100 to let it lie within 0 to 1. In this study, the polynomials were divided by 20 to lie these between 0 and 1. The predicted values of FVC was higher than the values for FEV1 in both boys and girls. Therefore the values of FEV1=FVC ratios is less than 100% in this population. In girls, the difference between the curves of FVC and FEV1 was smaller compared to boys. Thus, the total volume of air for girls during exhalation are close to the volume of air exhaled at the first second. The estimated curves showed that the models fitted the lung function data reasonably well. Conclusions: The results in this study showed that the optimum model for the prediction of lung function were almost similar to the ones used by GLI for the prediction of lung function of all-age multi-ethnic populations.The predicted values and LLN values of the lung function variables reported in this study can be recommended to health-care providers for the use in diagnosis respiratory diseases in First Nations children and adolescents in rural Saskatchewan. Small sample (n < 150) was a limitation of this study. This study limitation can be overcome by including more individuals from the follow-up study, which will be conducted in 2016.

Introduction: Canadian First Nations experience a significantly higher rate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection than non-Indigenous Canadians. Th17 cells are a subset of CD4+ T cells that are distinguished by their production of Interleukin-17A (IL-17A), an important cytokine for defense against mycobacteria. IL-17 is a primary contributor to the formation and stabilization of the lung granuloma, a biological containment vessel to protect the host from tuberculosis (TB). Past research with First Nations people has identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the Th1 and Th2 immune pathways may affect their disease risk. However, SNPs in key Th17 related genes and the P2RX7 gene have not been explored in First Nations despite their important role against infectious diseases. Hypothesis: This research hypothesizes that distinct First Nations groups (Dene, Cree and Saulteaux) will have a different frequencies of SNPs in the key Th17 immunity related genes (IL-17A, IL-17AR, IL-23R, and IFN-γR) and the P2RX7 gene, as compared to a non-Indigenous Canadian group. Methods: SNP profiles (IL-17A rs2275913, IL-17RA rs4819554, IL-23R rs10889677, IFN-γR rs2234711 and P2RX7 rs3751143) were identified through literature research and the NCBI database was used for identifying gene motifs, primer locations and Restriction Enzyme cut sites. Polymerase Chain Reaction and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism analysis was performed on and visualized on agarose gel to determine specific allele frequencies. Four different Manitoba First Nations communities; the Northern Dene (Dene 1 N=69. Dene 2 N=52), Central Cree (N=46), and Southern Saulteaux (N=56), participated in this research and their SNP profiles were compared to a non-Indigenous Canadian cohort (N=99). Results: Allele frequencies for IL-17A were statistically different for every First Nation community when compared to the non-Indigenous cohort (Dene 1 p=0.0043, Dene 2 p=0.0000, Cree p=0.0001, Saulteaux p=0.0000). Allele frequencies for IL-17RA were statistically different for every First Nation community except Saulteaux when compared to the non-Indigenous cohort (Dene 1 p=0.0000, Dene 2 p=0.0028, Cree p=0.0000). Allele frequencies for IL-23R were statistically different for Dene 1 and Saulteaux community when compared to the non-Indigenous cohort (Dene 1 p=0.0002, Saulteaux p=0.0000). Allele frequencies for IFN-R were statistically different for Cree community when compared to the non-Indigenous cohort (Cree p=0.0026). Allele frequencies for P2RX7 were statistically different for both Dene communities when compared to the non-Indigenous cohort (Dene 1 p=0.0000, Dene 2 p=0.0000). Conclusions: An effective Th17 response is required to bring Th1 cells to infected tissues and to balance inflammatory responses. Functional SNPs may compromise an appropriate immune response and contribute to disease. This study demonstrate that the non-Indigenous population maintained a significantly different genetic profile when compared to the First Nations populations. / October 2016

Cette recherche vise à comprendre comment le processus d’évangélisation fonctionne à l’époque contemporaine, caractérisée par la globalisation. Elle prend comme étude de cas les activités missionnaires d’une église coréenne évangélique dans une communauté anicinabe du Québec (Abitibi). L’analyse d’une séquence de mission estivale relate la rencontre entre deux groupes représentant chacun l’un pour l’autre l’altérité radicale : des jeunes non occidentaux et qui ne sont pas missionnaires de carrière, face à des enfants amérindiens et à leurs parents plus familiers avec le catholicisme. Du côté des missionnaires, l’analyse révèle les motivations, les objectifs, les stratégies employées et les impacts potentiels de ce temps hors du quotidien. Du côté des Anicinabek, elle montre la variété des réponses, dont la réception, principalement autour de la notion de guérison, et les limites de la réciprocité recherchée. / This research aims to understand how the evangelization process works in the contemporary era characterized by globalization. It takes as a case study the missionary activities of an evangelical Korean church in an Anicinabe community located in Quebec (Abitibi). The analysis of a summer mission sequence recounts the encounter between two groups representing one for the other radical otherness: non Western youth who are not career missionaries meet Indigenous children and their relatives who are more familiar with Catholicism. On the missionaries’ side, the analysis reveals motivations, objectives, strategies employed and potential impacts of that timeless experience. On the Anicinabek side, it shows the variety of responses, including reception, mainly centered on the concept of healing, and limits of the desired reciprocity.

This study investigated the experiences of emerging First Nations adults in extensions of care and transitioning out of care in Manitoba. Four research questions were explored in this study: 1) What do you remember about your time in care and what was your transitioning experience out of care or upon reaching 18 years of age? 2) What challenges, barriers or opportunities have you experienced since leaving care or turning 18? 3) How have you maintained the connection to family, community and culture since transitioning out of care? 4) Do you think you have reached adulthood? These questions were discussed through two digital storytelling workshops where over the course of five days participants developed and embedded individual responses to these questions into their own digital video. Follow up interviews were conducted with the participants to get feedback on their perspectives and evaluation about the digital storytelling workshops. Digital storytelling, through the art of combining oral tradition with digital technology, is a participatory, arts-based, learner-centered approach to generating knowledge. It involves using computer software to create a three to five minute video to illustrate a personal history. The findings suggest that Indigenous emerging adults in extensions of care and transitioning from care in Manitoba continue to experience difficulties on their journeys toward adulthood. However, the findings also suggest that the participants in this study are resilient despite the fact that they are dealing simultaneously with memories of being in care, negative peer pressures and problems in getting their basic needs met as they navigate life beyond their child welfare experiences. This study enhances the understanding of First Nations young peoples’ experiences in extensions of care and as they transition out of foster care, and contributes to the growing body of knowledge that utilizes digital storytelling as a contemporary method conducive to working with Indigenous emerging adult populations. / May 2016

In this master’s thesis, which takes the format of an introductory chapter, publishable paper, and conclusion, I examined camp programs for Indigenous youth that are run by Christian organizations in Canada, with the goals of bringing attention to this phenomenon and provoking dialogue on possibilities (or impossibilities) of reconciliation in these contexts. I employed an exploratory case study methodology, using semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and internet-mediated document analysis, to address the following research questions: i) What are the key characteristics of summer camps for Indigenous youth run by Christian organizations in Canada?; ii) To what extent are Indigenous staff members or volunteers and Indigenous cultures included at summer camps for Indigenous youth that are run by Christian organizations in Canada?; and iii) What does or could reconciliation look like in the context of these camps?, and present results and conclusions based on the collected data. This work is particularly timely and significant in light of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015) and broader work for decolonization and improved relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Through a research partnership with the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) and using mixed methods participatory action research this Dissertation critically engages with dominant Western-based knowledge systems of well-being from a decolonizing standpoint to better understand the determinants of Indigenous health and well-being. This study specifically asks: what are the main factors effecting different dimensions of well-being for Indigenous peoples living in urban centres, how does engaging in traditional land-based activities and cultural ways of life affect well-being, and to what extent does intergenerational trauma impact well-being? Thirteen key informant interviews were conducted with FNHA members involved in the development of the First Nations Perspective on Health and Wellness (FNPOW) to garner knowledge about the thoughts, feelings, belief systems, values, and knowledge frameworks that are embedded in this perspective. A multi-level statistical model was developed informed by the First Nations Perspective on Health and Wellness, the 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey and 2011 National Household Survey, to produce health and wellness outcomes. Using a strength-based approach to well-being this study shows that the FNPOW advocates self-determination, and implementing the perspective in research work offers a pathway to generating measures of health and wellness rooted in Traditional knowledge systems, and a pathway to decolonizing bodies. These outcomes are a form of social capital reflective of Indigenous values that can be utilized as a resource to strengthen community capacity to support Indigenous self-determination. / Graduate