The purpose of this research project has been to gain a deeper awareness of the practice of Cultural Awareness Training and to develop resources that will support other practitioners in the field. My hope in undertaking this project is to make the wider community more aware of what it means to be Aboriginal, at a time when jail is replacing initiation for many young Indigenous people. I want to engender a greater understanding about social, cultural and political issues in the Aboriginal community, by building bridges of awareness between Indigenous and Western cultures. My research question is: How does my approach to Cultural Awareness Training deal with uninformed and racist attitudes towards Aboriginal people in ways that effect positive, constructive change? In the documentation of my professional practice, I have examined critical incidents that have shaped my responses to uninformed and racially stereotyped attitudes within an educational context. This includes stories of overt racism in the classroom experience. In undertaking critical reflection about my professional practice as a Cultural Awareness Trainer, I have aimed to provide insights, as well as practical resources, to support the professional practice of others in this field.

Settler colonialism has detrimental effects on the health and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples, as seen, for example, in the disproportionately high rates of chronic diseases experienced among Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples in Canada experience higher levels of ill health related to obesity, diabetes, and other chronic conditions than non-Indigenous people. Indigenous women experience greater incidents of chronic disease than men and are thus particularly vulnerable to ill health. Current research has focussed on documenting the health disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. While insightful, health disparity research reproduces settler colonial discourses of erasure and provides no meaningful or lasting solutions for addressing these disparities, thus demonstrating the need for Indigenous-led thinking regarding potential solutions. Therefore, the guiding research question for my dissertation was, “Can physical activity that encompasses a decolonization approach be a catalyst for regenerative wellbeing for Anishinaabeg women?” Using Indigenous feminist theory that is informed by Anishinaabeg gikendaasowin, I looked to the dibaajimowinan of Anishinaabeg women, Elders, and urban Indigenous women, which occurred in three stages of research and culminated in five publishable papers. In the first stage of research, I interviewed seven Anishinaabekweg who are exemplars of decolonized physical activity. In the second stage of research, I held a sharing circle with eight Elders from Naicatchewenin in Treaty #3 territory. In the last stage of research, I implemented Wiisokotaatiwin with 12 urban Indigenous women with the Odawa Native Friendship Centre, my community partner. The results of my research revealed that wellbeing for Indigenous women can be improved through decolonized physical activity, remembering Anishinaabeg stories, and building community in urban spaces. More specifically, these activities are important resistance tools that can lead to meaningful ways of addressing embodied settler colonialism and can also make strong contributions to Indigenous health research. Overall, my research showcased how Anishinaabeg gikendaasowin can be used as a foundation to improve Indigenous women’s health and wellbeing.

The Labrador Innu lived for millennia in the Quebec-Labrador Peninsula as nomadic hunters. Commencing in the 1950s, successive policies imposed on the Innu by federal and provincial governments brought significant disruptions to their traditional way of life. Today, the Labrador Innu are settled in the communities of Sheshatshiu and Natuashish in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. They have maintained their language and culture, anchored in their understanding of territory and their relationship with their ancestral land, and have increasingly asserted their self-determination, including in research. The Innu articulated a Healing Strategy in 2014 after extensive community consultations. The Strategy states that a contemporary return to culture would provide healing to individuals and communities. Healing is important due to the social suffering experienced through sudden forced settlement and schooling in a non-Innu system. These abrupt changes altered the social fabric that had sustained Innu society for millennia. As part of the Strategy, the Innu decided to undertake a study to articulate their concept of wellbeing (minuinniuin) and their process of healing. Wellbeing and healing are intrinsic concepts for Innu; however, these concepts need to be uncovered for health and service providers, and policy makers. Having lived in Labrador and worked for the Innu, I was invited to be part of this community-initiated research. The Grand Chief of the Innu Nation directed that the research involve Innu researchers and utilize Innu ways-of-knowing and knowledge as fully as possible. Innu knowledge, like all Indigenous knowledges, is specific to the place where Innu live and to their experiences. Indigenous concepts of health and wellbeing, connections to land, and cultural identity are wholistically connected and culture-specific. The main objective of this dissertation is to articulate the Labrador Innu understanding of wellbeing and their distinctive process of healing. This qualitative study involves interviews and focus groups with 39 participants older than 16 years of age. This is a dissertation by articles. It consists of a general introduction to Indigenous health inequities, a literature review, a description of the methods, and the results as three separate manuscripts. It concludes with a summary of findings and implications. The first manuscript focuses on the process of developing an Innu framework for health research involving a partnership between Innu and non-Innu researchers. An Innu community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework for health research is proposed where Innu knowledge is foundational to the study. The framework is based on the metaphor of Innu and non-Innu canoeing together in one canoe. Within the space that joins all researchers, Indigenous knowledges are uncovered. This CBPR framework is used in the following two manuscripts. The second manuscript describes the contemporary process of healing of the Labrador Innu. Healing practices have been developed to deal with the historical and contemporary effects of colonialism and Innu people consider them effective. Healing is grounded in self-determination, culture, and non-reliance on bio-medicine. Five stages of healing are described: being “under the blanket”; finding spiritual strength; extending hands out; finding strength and power; and helping others. The findings highlighted the enablement of healing through spiritualities, support from Elders, return to culture, and resistance to negative stereotypes. The third manuscript aims to understand Innu views of wellbeing, and the influence of the land on health and wellbeing. Findings highlight that the experience of being on the land with family and community, learning cultural knowledge, and enacting Innu identity play a major role in enhancing wellbeing. For the Innu, the land sustains wellbeing by emplacing knowledge systems and cultural identity. The work presented in this dissertation contributes to the literature on Labrador Innu population health by highlighting that access to and experience of land build up health and wellbeing by providing and facilitating togetherness, fostering a relationship to all living beings, and enacting culture and a positive Innu identity. The findings add new knowledge to Indigenous health studies literature, particularly Innu health studies – holding promise for reducing health inequities. Implications for research, practice, and policy are also addressed.