This Field Study is an attempt to present an wholistic portrayal of the institution, Melrose High School. It consists of an Historical Overview of the school's past, and a Statistical Description, formed from a survey of perceptions of the institution. These two forms of evidence were seen by this writer to be complementary, and that together, they would provide the wholistic portrayal sought.

This dissertation explores the areas of healing and wellness within Indigenous communities on Turtle Island. By drawing on a decolonising approach to Indigenous health research, this study engaged 10 Indigenous healthcare practitioners in a dialogue regarding Indigenous worldviews; notions of wellness and wholistic health; critiques of psychiatry and psychiatric diagnoses; and the cultural strategies that Indigenous healthcare practitioners utilise while helping their clients through trauma, depression, and experiences of “parallel and multiple realities.” Importantly, this study addresses a gap in literature and puts forth a necessary contribution in regards to Indigenous peoples and psychiatry. Indigenous healthcare practitioners reveal their thoughts and strategies in relation to psychiatric diagnoses, cultural treatment, and psychotropic medication. The stories and strategies gathered during the interview dialogues created a broader discussion that is situated among the existing literature. This research found that Indigenous knowledge and experience was deeply embedded in the practises of Indigenous healthcare practitioners. The strategies presented by these practitioners offer purposeful and practical methods that originate from Indigenous worldviews, yet can be utilised by any practitioner that is seeking therapeutic strategies to help traumatised individuals and communities. Moreover, this research will be a particularly relevant resource for health policy initiatives, agency programming, and education and training institutes. Bringing forth Indigenous strategies for helping and healing is a vitally important contribution to the field of trauma work.

This dissertation explores the areas of healing and wellness within Indigenous communities on Turtle Island. By drawing on a decolonising approach to Indigenous health research, this study engaged 10 Indigenous healthcare practitioners in a dialogue regarding Indigenous worldviews; notions of wellness and wholistic health; critiques of psychiatry and psychiatric diagnoses; and the cultural strategies that Indigenous healthcare practitioners utilise while helping their clients through trauma, depression, and experiences of “parallel and multiple realities.” Importantly, this study addresses a gap in literature and puts forth a necessary contribution in regards to Indigenous peoples and psychiatry. Indigenous healthcare practitioners reveal their thoughts and strategies in relation to psychiatric diagnoses, cultural treatment, and psychotropic medication. The stories and strategies gathered during the interview dialogues created a broader discussion that is situated among the existing literature. This research found that Indigenous knowledge and experience was deeply embedded in the practises of Indigenous healthcare practitioners. The strategies presented by these practitioners offer purposeful and practical methods that originate from Indigenous worldviews, yet can be utilised by any practitioner that is seeking therapeutic strategies to help traumatised individuals and communities. Moreover, this research will be a particularly relevant resource for health policy initiatives, agency programming, and education and training institutes. Bringing forth Indigenous strategies for helping and healing is a vitally important contribution to the field of trauma work.

Onkwehón:we Food Systems throughout Turtle Island have always been and continue to be foundational to Onkwehón:we worldviews, social interactions with all living kin, and community health. However, the process of colonization and federations of the settler states now known as “Canada” and “The United States,” have greatly impacted all Onkwehón:we peoples’ abilities and capacities to maintain their ancestral food systems; this thesis will illuminate how colonial-imposed structural barriers, laws and phenomena such as the Indian Act, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirited (MMIWG2S+) gender-based genocide and environmental violence have particularly affected Onkwehón:we women’s engagement with their ancestral food systems historically and continually. Yet, Onkwehón:we women have remarkably found innovative ways to regenerate their ancestral food systems, which is an actionable way for them to reclaim and reembody their traditional roles in leadership, governance, decision-making and nation-building. Underlying impacts of these undertakings by Onkwehón:we women are improved wholistic health and wellness for Onkwehón:we women, which can pave a positive pathway for Onkwehón:we communal healing especially by promoting collective relations, collaboration, and normalizing women’s leadership. To bring this theoretical argument to life, I include a case-study of an Indigenous food sovereignty project that I initiated and co-created in my community, Kahnawà:ke. As a Kanien’kehá:ka, Rotinonhsón:ni and Onkwehón:we woman, initiating an Indigenous food sovereignty project with the ultimate goal of contributing to the regeneration of my own ancestral food system was important for me to attempt to address community health issues and improve community relationships through fostering an inclusive and empowering environment for Onkwehón:we women. Ultimately, this thesis celebrates Onkwehón:we women’s excellence in resurgence, particularly highlighting their work in reclaiming and regenerating Onkwehón:we food systems. / Graduate

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This thesis is concerned with the definition of an inclusive democratic educational theory and practice which mediates the assumed tension between individualism and collectivism, difference and equality, and liberty and equality. In Part 1, I set out the elements of an inclusive theory of democracy and then proceed in Part 2 to examine various aspects of educational practice in the light of this. My main claim is that these assumed tensions can be mediated through the conceptualising of our composite identity in terms of the notion of dual social ontology. This refers to our two-fold identities as universal, common human beings and our multiple subjective positions as particular, different individuating beings. Together, these two aspects of our identity constitute the basis for conceptualising our simultaneous commonality and difference and for an inclusive notion of democracy. I argue further that the key to understanding the intersection of commonality and difference in social relations and institutional practices is the concept of the spheres of social relations and their constitutive meanings. The latter provide the criterion by which we can judge the appropriateness of difference or equality in that sphere or in practices which relate to it. In the light of these concepts, I trace the ideological contestation at the heart of democratic theory between liberalism and socialism. My claim is that the mutual limitations of these theories preclude constructing an inclusive theory of democracy which incorporates collective equality and individual liberty in a non-polarised way. I argue that the tension between individualism and collectivism can be mediated by analysing these cluster concepts into non-polarised simpler elements. My main contention is that only self-interested individualism, which assumes individuals as atomistic self-seekers, is necessarily in conceptual conflict with collectivism. The other two elements of individualism which I identify, namely, individuality, our universal common identity as bearers of rights, and individuation, the process of self-development through the expression of the unique difference, are shown to be compatible with collective concerns and the social view of human identity. Together, I suggest, individuality and individuation constitute our dual social ontology and the foundation for moral regard and an inclusive theory of democracy which accommodates difference and commonality. During the discussion, I draw from several theorists who provide inclusive frameworks in terms of the social, dialogical view of human nature and identity formation and who combine contemporary concerns for pluralism and critical social transformation. I examine the conceptual link between education and democracy through the educative notion of democracy and education for democracy. Critical educational theory is explored as an exemplar of an inclusive democratic educational practice incorporating individual and collective dimensions. The dynamics of commonality and difference are traced in key aspects of the educational process, namely, moral development, learning and the relationship between authority and freedom, and with regard to the democratisation of schooling, the appropriate boundary between the spheres of education and of politics, distributive justice in education and the curriculum. I argue throughout that the discursive tool of dual social ontology, along with the concept of the spheres of social relations and their constitutive meanings, provides the conceptual framework by which these tensions can be mediated and incorporated in an inclusive democratic educational theory and practice.

This study highlights the voices of six Indigenous graduate students (including the author) currently and previously enrolled in counselling psychology through a collective narrative that tells the stories of our educational experiences and dream for the future of counselling psychology education. The significance of this research lies in its unique methodological considerations and expansion of existing literature from professional perspectives. Indigenous methodology and qualitative organizational tools were used to explore the study’s research questions. The six kʌtyóhkwa who engaged in this study came from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences and had attended one of three educational programs: 1) mainstream counselling psychology; 2) Indigenous communities counselling psychology; and 3) Aboriginal communities counselling psychology. We explored the research questions through one-on-one storytelling visits, talking circle facilitation protocols, and dreaming for the future – all grounded in Indigenous principles of relationality. Findings demonstrate themes of: relationality, experiential learning, diversity in knowledge sharers, and relevancy of program members, as well as the importance of mandatory Indigenous pre-requisite courses, cultural humility, teachings about how to be a good person, rather than how to be a good counsellor, and interviews for program entry are part of the collective dream for the future. Areas of further research include: 1) a larger study with a broader circle of participants; 2) the prevalence of cultural isolation or fulfillment amongst Indigenous graduate students and their supervisors in counselling psychology; 3) in-depth exploration of programmatic policy changes necessary within counselling psychology programs; and 4) development of measures to assess the effectiveness, strengths, and areas for growth of a national Indigenous faculty and student mentorship pilot program in counselling psychology. / Graduate

Church growth missiology has been severely criticized by ecumenical, but also by evangelical missiologists. This often led to its rejection as it was considered incompatible with other missiological approaches. But church growth does deal effectively with important issues as other missiologies do. In light of Martin Luther's interpretation of the First Commandment a more general wholistic missiological approach is requested, which considers the full spectrum of human needs, and under which church growth can function with other missiologies together. The treatment of the task of missiology and the unity by attitude of the missiologist contribute to the argument. Therefore four major criticisms brought forth against church growth are dealt with in order to evaluate and finally suggest a potential theological compatibility of this approach with other missiologies. This is further confirmed by a brief introduction to important elements of the present status of church growth theory development / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / Th. M. (Missiology)

Church growth missiology has been severely criticized by ecumenical, but also by evangelical missiologists. This often led to its rejection as it was considered incompatible with other missiological approaches. But church growth does deal effectively with important issues as other missiologies do. In light of Martin Luther's interpretation of the First Commandment a more general wholistic missiological approach is requested, which considers the full spectrum of human needs, and under which church growth can function with other missiologies together. The treatment of the task of missiology and the unity by attitude of the missiologist contribute to the argument. Therefore four major criticisms brought forth against church growth are dealt with in order to evaluate and finally suggest a potential theological compatibility of this approach with other missiologies. This is further confirmed by a brief introduction to important elements of the present status of church growth theory development / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / Th. M. (Missiology)