For the Asiniskow Ithiniwak (Rocky Cree), the Missinipi (Churchill River) holds many traditional resource areas and cultural landscapes with oral histories that transfer knowledge through the generations (Linklater 1994; Castel and Westfall 2001; Brightman 1993). In recent decades, hydroelectric development in north central Manitoba has impacted Cree livelihood by altering resource use, limiting access to significant cultural landscapes and accelerating the erosion of campsites and ancestral burials into the water. Even with existing provincial heritage legislation, some of these heritage resources remain threatened by land-based developments because of the limitations related to their identification, documentation and presentation in the cultural resource management field. The tendency to focus on physical manifestations of heritage such as archaeological sites, heritage objects and built heritage overlooks other resources of heritage such as places known in the local language. I argue that these biases result from cultural divergences that exist in the understanding and definitions of heritage, particularly Indigenous heritage. In this dissertation, I articulate how underlying theoretical assumptions of reality influences our understandings of heritage. I present a postcolonial understanding of heritage as interpreted from the perspective of the Asiniskow Ithiniwak using an Indigenous research paradigm, methodologies and the nīhithow language, in conjunction with knowledge based on Western intellectual traditions. The use of a bicultural research model led to new ways in identifying heritage resources important to the Asiniskow Ithiniwak and meaningful interpretations of archaeological materials based on legal traditions. Further, this case study demonstrates that there is no singular or universal definition of heritage for Indigenous peoples. For successful heritage resources protection, I illustrate that understandings of heritage need to be contextualized locally through a community’s language, culture, customary laws and local landscape. This view, promoted by UNESCO, emphasizes that the values and practices of local communities, together with traditional management systems, must be fully understood, respected, encouraged and accommodated in management plans if their heritage resources are to be sustained in the future (Logan 2008; UNESCO 2004). This outcome demonstrates the need to reexamine the practices, policies, legislation and procedures concerned with Indigenous knowledge in cultural and natural resources management in Canada.

This thesis looks at how the Cree people of Wemindji, James Bay, Québec, understand and live with ecological complexity and dynamism. The focus is on the interplay between variability, change, and continuity in the Canada goose (Branta canadensis) hunt. Looking at Cree goose-hunting in the light of cultural ecology and resilience thinking, the research suggests that Cree hunters are attentive and responsive to ecological fluctuations, fine-tuning local arrangements to local environmental conditions. Ecological variability and unpredictability, such as weather, goose population dynamics and migration patterns, are mediated by local management strategies in which goose hunting areas shift in space and time. However, whereas these strategies are still practiced nowadays, they are (to some extent) overwhelmed by changes occurring at larger scales. Some of these are related to climate change and anthropogenic disturbances; others are related to social-cultural changes that influence resource-use patterns. I discuss how these different drivers interact among themselves and impact the goose-hunt, and how the Wemindji Cree respond to these changes.

The high rate of sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies among the Cree adolescents indicate that this population frequently engages in unprotected sexual activities. AIDS is a critical health problem worldwide and AIDS contamination within a Cree community could be a threat to its survival. / A questionnaire was developed to survey attitudes, knowledge and behavior of Cree students in relation to AIDS. Further analysis included finding relationships between knowledge level, attitudes and behavior in order to guide future educational interventions. / A satisfactory level of knowledge about AIDS can be credited to the interventions of the clinic, the school, and the television. The level of knowledge is positively correlated with the level of tolerance of Cree students towards people infected by the HIV virus and of their perception of the danger of AIDS for the Cree population. While knowledge level and attitudes cannot be used to predict safer sexual behavior, alcohol consumption is highly related to risky sexual practices.

For the Asiniskow Ithiniwak (Rocky Cree), the Missinipi (Churchill River) holds many traditional resource areas and cultural landscapes with oral histories that transfer knowledge through the generations (Linklater 1994; Castel and Westfall 2001; Brightman 1993). In recent decades, hydroelectric development in north central Manitoba has impacted Cree livelihood by altering resource use, limiting access to significant cultural landscapes and accelerating the erosion of campsites and ancestral burials into the water. Even with existing provincial heritage legislation, some of these heritage resources remain threatened by land-based developments because of the limitations related to their identification, documentation and presentation in the cultural resource management field. The tendency to focus on physical manifestations of heritage such as archaeological sites, heritage objects and built heritage overlooks other resources of heritage such as places known in the local language. I argue that these biases result from cultural divergences that exist in the understanding and definitions of heritage, particularly Indigenous heritage. In this dissertation, I articulate how underlying theoretical assumptions of reality influences our understandings of heritage. I present a postcolonial understanding of heritage as interpreted from the perspective of the Asiniskow Ithiniwak using an Indigenous research paradigm, methodologies and the nīhithow language, in conjunction with knowledge based on Western intellectual traditions. The use of a bicultural research model led to new ways in identifying heritage resources important to the Asiniskow Ithiniwak and meaningful interpretations of archaeological materials based on legal traditions. Further, this case study demonstrates that there is no singular or universal definition of heritage for Indigenous peoples. For successful heritage resources protection, I illustrate that understandings of heritage need to be contextualized locally through a community’s language, culture, customary laws and local landscape. This view, promoted by UNESCO, emphasizes that the values and practices of local communities, together with traditional management systems, must be fully understood, respected, encouraged and accommodated in management plans if their heritage resources are to be sustained in the future (Logan 2008; UNESCO 2004). This outcome demonstrates the need to reexamine the practices, policies, legislation and procedures concerned with Indigenous knowledge in cultural and natural resources management in Canada.

This thesis looks at how the Cree people of Wemindji, James Bay, Québec, understand and live with ecological complexity and dynamism. The focus is on the interplay between variability, change, and continuity in the Canada goose (Branta canadensis) hunt. Looking at Cree goose-hunting in the light of cultural ecology and resilience thinking, the research suggests that Cree hunters are attentive and responsive to ecological fluctuations, fine-tuning local arrangements to local environmental conditions. Ecological variability and unpredictability, such as weather, goose population dynamics and migration patterns, are mediated by local management strategies in which goose hunting areas shift in space and time. However, whereas these strategies are still practiced nowadays, they are (to some extent) overwhelmed by changes occurring at larger scales. Some of these are related to climate change and anthropogenic disturbances; others are related to social-cultural changes that influence resource-use patterns. I discuss how these different drivers interact among themselves and impact the goose-hunt, and how the Wemindji Cree respond to these changes.

This study articulates Plains Cree Elders and Plains Cree early childhood teachers image of the child. The research was carried out in the spirit of the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood educationan approach dependent on establishing a locally created image of the child within a cultural context. The data was collected using qualitative and Indigenous research methodologies. According to the Plains Cree Elder participants, learning about the Plains Cree image of the child requires a spiritual and holistic understanding of the child from the moment of conception. The teacher participants hold similar beliefs to the Elders, yet often vacillate between Plains Cree and Westernized images of childhood. For many of the participants, the effects of residential school have been noted as an obstacle, as they strive to draw on the strengths of their traditional Plains Cree teachings when relating to children.

This thesis considers the reference system of Plains Cree, an Algonquian language spoken in Canada. I argue that the referential system of this language can be understood as coding distinctions in extentionality; it distinguishes between referents that possess perspectives (‘intentional’) and referents that do not (‘extentional’). With respect to perspectival possession, Plains Cree distinguishes four referential classes: (i) inherently extentional “Inanimate” referents, (ii) contextually extentional “Obviative” referents, (iii) contextually intentional “Proximate” referents, and (iv) unspecified “Animate” referents. I then show that the referential class “Obviative” is decompositional; it is constructed out of components that code referential dependency, which is the confluence of structural ordering and perspectival embedding. Finally, I consider the methodological issues raised by the study of referential types, showing how different data-collection methods interact with the semantics of perspectival possession.

This thesis proposes that there are two kinds of clauses: indexical clauses, which are evaluated with respect to the speech situation; and anaphoric clauses, which are evaluated with respect to a contextually-given (anaphoric) situation. Empirical motivation for this claim comes from the clause-typing system of Plains Cree, an Algonquian language spoken on the Canadian plains, which morpho-syntactically distinguishes between two types of clauses traditionally called INDEPENDENT and CONJUNCT orders. In the current analysis, the INDEPENDENT order instantiates indexical clauses, and the CONJUNCT order instantiates anaphoric clauses. After laying out the proposal (chapter 1) and establishing the morphosyntax of Plains Cree CPs (chapter 2), the remaining chapters discuss the proposal in detail. Chapter 3 focusses on the syntax and semantics of indexical clauses (Plains Cree’s INDEPENDENT order). Syntactically, I show that there is an anti-c-command and an anti-precedence condition on indexical clauses. Semantically, I show that indexical clauses are always and only evaluated with respect to the speech situation, including the speech time (temporal anchoring), speech place (spatial anchoring), and speaker (referential anchoring). Chapter 4 focusses on the syntax and semantics of anaphoric clauses (Plains Cree’s CONJUNCT order). Syntactically, I show that anaphoric clauses must always be either preceded or dominated by some other antecedent clause. Semantically, I show that the value of temporal/spatial/referential dependent elements within an anaphoric clause is determined by an antecedent. Chapter 5 turns to the syntactic subclassification of Plains Cree’s CONJUNCT (i.e., anaphoric) clauses. I propose that there are three classes: chained clauses, adjunct clauses, and mediated argument clauses. I provide two kinds of diagnostics that distinguish these classes, and explore the consequences of this classification for argument clauses and complementation. Finally, Chapter 6 proposes a semantic subclassification of Plains Cree’s CONJUNCT (i.e., anaphoric) clauses. I propose that there is a direct mapping between the morphology and the semantics: one complementizer encodes presupposition of the proposition, the lack of a complementizer encodes a-veridicality of the proposition, and one complementizer is semantically unspecified (the elsewhere case). This means that Plains Cree’s clause-typing is fundamentally concerned with how the truth of the proposition is represented.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-07, Section: A, page: 2627. Author's first name misspelled on cover as "Jaquline." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 241-251).

Thesis (M.Sc.). / Written for the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2007/08/30). Includes bibliographical references.