This research focuses on the work of the Urban Aboriginal Community Kitchen Garden Project (the Garden Project). The Garden Project aims to be a culturally appropriate health promotion project with urban Aboriginal people, drawing on traditional Indigenous approaches to health and healing, and rooted in community food work. The project is situated within the context of colonialism, the destruction of traditional foodways, and subsequent increased need for Indigenous people to rely on a dominant food system that is seen as destructive to human and ecological health. The purpose of my research is to describe the Garden Project’s main goals and achievements from the perspective of project leaders, project participants as well as through my own observations and experiences. The research methodology was guided by participatory and community based approaches to research and qualitative methods were employed, focusing primarily on semi-structured interviews with project participants and project leaders. I also participated in and observed the project for two years, from September 2006-September 2008. Data collection and analysis happened through an iterative process of action and reflection. Based on my time with the Garden Project, I suggest that it can be seen simultaneously as a community food security, health promotion, and Indigenous health project. It connects participants with food as a natural product, builds skills around cooking and growing food, and increases knowledge about food system issues. Drawing on the health promotion discourse, it can be seen building community and social support networks, treating the whole person, and empowering participants to take actions around their own health needs. It is rooted in Indigenous approaches to health and healing in the way it promotes individuals’ physical, mental/emotional and spiritual health, the health of the community through cultural revitalization, and the health of the Universe through the opportunity it provides for awareness about ecosystem health. This research project was very site specific. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that food work with urban Indigenous people, carried out in a culturally sensitive manner, may be a powerful leverage point for promoting health with this population. These types of projects can also be vehicles for social change.

This research focuses on the work of the Urban Aboriginal Community Kitchen Garden Project (the Garden Project). The Garden Project aims to be a culturally appropriate health promotion project with urban Aboriginal people, drawing on traditional Indigenous approaches to health and healing, and rooted in community food work. The project is situated within the context of colonialism, the destruction of traditional foodways, and subsequent increased need for Indigenous people to rely on a dominant food system that is seen as destructive to human and ecological health. The purpose of my research is to describe the Garden Project’s main goals and achievements from the perspective of project leaders, project participants as well as through my own observations and experiences. The research methodology was guided by participatory and community based approaches to research and qualitative methods were employed, focusing primarily on semi-structured interviews with project participants and project leaders. I also participated in and observed the project for two years, from September 2006-September 2008. Data collection and analysis happened through an iterative process of action and reflection. Based on my time with the Garden Project, I suggest that it can be seen simultaneously as a community food security, health promotion, and Indigenous health project. It connects participants with food as a natural product, builds skills around cooking and growing food, and increases knowledge about food system issues. Drawing on the health promotion discourse, it can be seen building community and social support networks, treating the whole person, and empowering participants to take actions around their own health needs. It is rooted in Indigenous approaches to health and healing in the way it promotes individuals’ physical, mental/emotional and spiritual health, the health of the community through cultural revitalization, and the health of the Universe through the opportunity it provides for awareness about ecosystem health. This research project was very site specific. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that food work with urban Indigenous people, carried out in a culturally sensitive manner, may be a powerful leverage point for promoting health with this population. These types of projects can also be vehicles for social change.

This research focuses on the work of the Urban Aboriginal Community Kitchen Garden Project (the Garden Project). The Garden Project aims to be a culturally appropriate health promotion project with urban Aboriginal people, drawing on traditional Indigenous approaches to health and healing, and rooted in community food work. The project is situated within the context of colonialism, the destruction of traditional foodways, and subsequent increased need for Indigenous people to rely on a dominant food system that is seen as destructive to human and ecological health. The purpose of my research is to describe the Garden Project’s main goals and achievements from the perspective of project leaders, project participants as well as through my own observations and experiences. The research methodology was guided by participatory and community based approaches to research and qualitative methods were employed, focusing primarily on semi-structured interviews with project participants and project leaders. I also participated in and observed the project for two years, from September 2006-September 2008. Data collection and analysis happened through an iterative process of action and reflection. Based on my time with the Garden Project, I suggest that it can be seen simultaneously as a community food security, health promotion, and Indigenous health project. It connects participants with food as a natural product, builds skills around cooking and growing food, and increases knowledge about food system issues. Drawing on the health promotion discourse, it can be seen building community and social support networks, treating the whole person, and empowering participants to take actions around their own health needs. It is rooted in Indigenous approaches to health and healing in the way it promotes individuals’ physical, mental/emotional and spiritual health, the health of the community through cultural revitalization, and the health of the Universe through the opportunity it provides for awareness about ecosystem health. This research project was very site specific. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that food work with urban Indigenous people, carried out in a culturally sensitive manner, may be a powerful leverage point for promoting health with this population. These types of projects can also be vehicles for social change. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

This thesis looks at three seasons of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) radio show Canada Reads – 2014, 2015, and 2016. I examine how each year’s debates over reconciliation (2014), inclusive multiculturalism (2015), and Canada’s role as a global refuge (2016) commonly presume a national mythology that Indigenous peoples have either disappeared or become “Canadian.” I argue that despite the show’s desire to build a better society through encouraging Canadians to read Canadian books, the debates featured on Canada Reads reflect the way assumed Canadian control of Indigenous lands is embedded in the language of Canadian literature and culture to both limit the political disruptiveness of Indigenous presence and reproduce ongoing colonial domination. Central to my argument is the sad truth that, even as the show invites diverse critiques of Canadian society, it nonetheless favours stereotypical narratives of Canadian multiculturalism, benevolence, and civility, and by doing so buttresses Canada’s unchanged status as a settler colonial state. I track and evaluate ruptures in the show's civil language and decorum by reading moments of debate when the logical foundations of these stereotypical national narratives are challenged. Thus, this thesis examines not only what panelists say to each other, but also what their dialogue says to other Canadians. I argue that panelists’ critiques of the nation drawn from their readings of the books - readings that are not so much holistic interpretations of books but strategies for winning the Survivor-style game - are welcomed by the show’s annual social justice themes which then use them to purvey the nation’s virtuous liberalism. Ultimately, my analysis traces how the civil protocols of the program through these three seasons reproduce conflicts between Indigenous peoples and Canadians by reinforcing the inequity of the arrangements of the existing nation-state. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The research reported in this thesis focussed on exploring existing indigenous environmental knowledge of two indigenous communities in Papua New Guinea and how this knowledge was acquired, interpreted and disseminated to the next generation. The relevance of indigenous environmental knowledge in the promotion of biodiversity conservation efforts was investigated. This research was conducted within an interpretive paradigm. A naturalistic/ethnographic methodology was used. Data was collected through semi structured interviews and observations. Participants in this case study were representatives of the community and included elders, adults, teachers and students. The findings in this study revealed indigenous environmental knowledge as useful for biodiversity conservation and promotes sustainable practices. It showed that indigenous family knowledge is essential for claiming land inheritance and indigenous environmental practices are consistent with sustainable practices and land use. Forest knowledge is found to be useful in identifying and locating resources and that sustainable practices ensured continuity of these resources. The study also identified spiritual knowledge and beliefs as fundamental for developing indigenous worldviews and environmental attitudes and values and that change in resource use may be both beneficial and harmful to biodiversity. The findings also revealed indigenous education as flexible, holistic and informal in nature and uses mostly oral history through verbal instruction and various non-verbal means. They showed that IE uses a variety of teaching and learning approaches that utilise the environment as a tool and that learning venues provide a realistic learning experience. The thesis concludes that IEK promotes biodiversity conservation in many ways and that indigenous education uses situated context to promote realistic learning. Indigenous environmental knowledge and education could therefore be used in biodiversity conservation education.

Children everywhere learn to tell stories. One important aspect of story telling is the way characters are introduced and then moved through the story. Telling a story to a naïve listener places varied demands on a speaker. As the story plot develops, the speaker must set and re-set these parameters for referring to characters, as well as the temporal and spatial parameters of the story. To these cognitive and linguistic tasks is the added social and pragmatic task of monitoring the knowledge and attention states of their listener. The speaker must ensure that the listener can identify the characters, and so must anticipate their listener’s knowledge and on-going mental image of the story. How speakers do this depends on cultural conventions and on the resources of the language(s) they speak. For the child speaker the development narrative competence involves an integration, on-line, of a number of skills, some of which are not fully established until the later childhood years. / The study in this thesis investigates the development of reference tracking in a complex and dynamic language setting. It investigates the language and language development of Warumungu children. The Warumungu central are Indigenous Australians, whose traditional country is in northern Central Australia. Most Warumungu live today in the township of Tennant Creek. Younger people no longer develop full active proficiency in their heritage language, Warumungu, but speak a contact language, Wumpurrarni English as a first language. This contact variety is characterised by substantial variability. In addition to Warumungu and Wumpurrarni English, children learn Standard Australian English, as this is the sole language of instruction in school. / The study describes properties of Wumpurrarni English, in particular nominal expressions, used for tracking reference. These are contrasted with descriptions of the most documented and neighbouring creole variety, Roper River Kriol, and with Standard Australian English. It is demonstrated that in Wumpurrarni English, the marking of new versus given referents on the noun phrase is not obligatory. However a number of structures, such as left dislocation and emphatic subject chaining are used to mark discourse prominence. Repetition of topics, clauses and elements of clauses are stylistic features of a ‘good story’ in Wumpurrarni English. / The study investigates the ways that Warumungu children of different ages introduce, maintain and switch reference, and how, across stretches of their narrations, strategies for managing reference are used. These investigations reveal developmental differences across the age groups in the study, which resonate with studies of children’s narrative competence in other languages, illustrating general cognitive and linguistic development. In addition, some children chose to narrate in a speech style more English-like than they normally use. This set of narrations reveals interesting findings about differences between Wumpurrarni English and Standard English, children’s perceptions of these differences, and insights into the additional cognitive load that speaking in ‘English’ represents.

Children everywhere learn to tell stories. One important aspect of story telling is the way characters are introduced and then moved through the story. Telling a story to a naïve listener places varied demands on a speaker. As the story plot develops, the speaker must set and re-set these parameters for referring to characters, as well as the temporal and spatial parameters of the story. To these cognitive and linguistic tasks is the added social and pragmatic task of monitoring the knowledge and attention states of their listener. The speaker must ensure that the listener can identify the characters, and so must anticipate their listener’s knowledge and on-going mental image of the story. How speakers do this depends on cultural conventions and on the resources of the language(s) they speak. For the child speaker the development narrative competence involves an integration, on-line, of a number of skills, some of which are not fully established until the later childhood years. / The study in this thesis investigates the development of reference tracking in a complex and dynamic language setting. It investigates the language and language development of Warumungu children. The Warumungu central are Indigenous Australians, whose traditional country is in northern Central Australia. Most Warumungu live today in the township of Tennant Creek. Younger people no longer develop full active proficiency in their heritage language, Warumungu, but speak a contact language, Wumpurrarni English as a first language. This contact variety is characterised by substantial variability. In addition to Warumungu and Wumpurrarni English, children learn Standard Australian English, as this is the sole language of instruction in school. / The study describes properties of Wumpurrarni English, in particular nominal expressions, used for tracking reference. These are contrasted with descriptions of the most documented and neighbouring creole variety, Roper River Kriol, and with Standard Australian English. It is demonstrated that in Wumpurrarni English, the marking of new versus given referents on the noun phrase is not obligatory. However a number of structures, such as left dislocation and emphatic subject chaining are used to mark discourse prominence. Repetition of topics, clauses and elements of clauses are stylistic features of a ‘good story’ in Wumpurrarni English. / The study investigates the ways that Warumungu children of different ages introduce, maintain and switch reference, and how, across stretches of their narrations, strategies for managing reference are used. These investigations reveal developmental differences across the age groups in the study, which resonate with studies of children’s narrative competence in other languages, illustrating general cognitive and linguistic development. In addition, some children chose to narrate in a speech style more English-like than they normally use. This set of narrations reveals interesting findings about differences between Wumpurrarni English and Standard English, children’s perceptions of these differences, and insights into the additional cognitive load that speaking in ‘English’ represents.

Background Research: The COVID-19 pandemic has likely impacted the resilience of Indigenous and non-Indigenous post-secondary students in Canada. Resilience may be negatively impacted by psychological experiences such as emotional loneliness, social loneliness, and a lack of life meaning. These three psychological experiences are exacerbated by lock down measures, quarantining, and cancelled events such as weddings and funerals. Young adults in post-secondary education must already manage challenging developmental milestones, often with unstable social and familial networks. Furthermore, Indigenous students must manage potentially discriminatory post-secondary environments, as well as school curriculums that challenge Indigenous values. Understanding this, school environments require decolonizing improvements that meet the psychological needs of their students in a changing social, economic, and political climate. Improvements to loneliness and life meaning may subsequently improve resilience, in addition to academic success, inclusion, and stress recovery. Objectives: This thesis aims to provide solution-focused data using Indigenous research methodologies. This thesis specifically explores the statistical relations between emotional loneliness, social loneliness, life meaning, and resilience. Barriers to social support options (i.e., counselling, group therapy, clubs, family, friends, etc.) and university-endorsed activities (i.e., jobs, volunteering, leadership roles, etc.) are also explored for their respective impact on experiences of loneliness and life meaning. Students’ response rates and Indigenous written responses are then analysed (1) to better understand students’ lived experiences, and (2) to uncover decolonizing approaches to improving both on campus social support options and university-endorsed activities. Hypotheses: (H1) Students will report higher scores on measures of emotional loneliness than social loneliness. (H2) Lower scores on measures of emotional loneliness, as well as higher scores on measures of life meaning, will predict higher scores on measures of resilience. (H3) Lower scores on measures of perceived barriers when accessing social support options will predict lower scores on measures of loneliness. (H4) Lower scores on measures of perceived barriers when accessing university-endorsed activities will predict higher scores on measures of life meaning. Method: This thesis incorporates a decolonizing methodology outlined by Hayward et al. (2021). This study utilizes 676 participant responses (3.30% of which identified as Indigenous) from students attending the University of Victoria in a full- or part-time program (Ages: 16-56 years, M = 20.13, SD = 3.84). Data collection occurred between September to December 2021, allowing for responses over the course of one semester. During this period, students were in the process of returning to campus, with daily national COVID-19 cases around roughly 3,000-4000 individuals (Worldometer, n.d.). Online recruitment methods were completed through the Department of Psychology SONA Research Participation System, and through a listserv utilized by the IACE at the University of Victoria. Demographic Questions included employment, financial stability, living situation, social circumstances, school status, workload, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on wellbeing. Standardized Questionnaires included the de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, the Life Engagement Test, and the Brief Resiliency Questionnaire. Additional Questionnaires were created to assess student experiences when accessing both social support options (i.e., the source for support, the method and frequency of contact, and barriers when accessing) and university-endorsed activities (i.e., valued activities, valued aspects of activities, and barriers when accessing). Analysis: At the broadest level, t-tests and hierarchical regression analyses are used to demonstrate a theoretical relation between various predictors and predicted variables. To provide more detail, student response rates for various questionnaires are used to contextualize student experiences when seeking social support options and meaningful activities. For an in-depth account of student experiences, four separate thematic analyses are conducted on Indigenous written responses. Results: All four hypotheses were supported. Scores of emotional loneliness were higher than scores of social loneliness (H1). Scores of resilience were significantly predicted by scores of emotional loneliness and life meaning (H2). These findings justified an exploratory analysis, which demonstrated that only scores of life meaning, and not resilience, emotional loneliness, or social loneliness, predicted scores of school satisfaction. More frequent experiences of barriers to social support options or university-endorsed activities respectively predicted higher scores of loneliness (H3) and lower scores of life meaning (H4). These results are complemented and expanded upon by notable response rates and themes identified from Indigenous student written responses. Discussion: These results suggest the importance of resolving emotional loneliness and a lack of life meaning among post-secondary students, which may be feasible with the use of social support services and university endorsed activities. This may subsequently improve experiences of resilience and school satisfaction. Social Support Options: The Indigenous and general sample both preferred informal, offline, and known sources of support; they also preferred face-to-face, texting, video calling, and phone calling as methods of communication. Common barriers to social support options included issues of cost, the perceived severity of their needs, availability, and a perceived lack of closeness with supports. Across all domains, Indigenous participants were more likely to experience barriers when seeking support. Indigenous written responses specifically identified a need for (1) more considerate services, (2) more culturally and racially specialized services, (3) increased time and availability for each student, and (4) lowered costs. University-Endorsed Activities: The Indigenous and general sample were both more likely to value paid jobs, volunteering, research assistant positions, and off-campus employment, when compared to teaching assistant positions, on-campus employment, or other unpaid positions. They were also most likely to value meeting people with similar interests and gaining knowledge. Students were most likely to face barriers related to a lack of relevant or remote university-endorsed activities. Indigenous written responses suggest an increased need for meaningful, accessible, culturally relevant, and financially rewarding activities. Twenty-one recommendations are offered to decolonize and improve post-secondary settings. / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to describe the role of the C.E.O. (Education Coordinator) in Band Controlled Schools on selected Indian reserves in Saskatchewan. A number of key functions and leadership components were identified from the literature and were formulated into a structural framework. In this framework, the C.E.O. position was explored and studied under three major components: role, autonomy, and contextual conditions. The aspects of role which were examined were the identifying of the C.E.O., role expectations, role tasks, and obstacles. The functions related to autonomy were identified as performance, overlaps, perceptions, and organizations. Job satisfaction, personal qualities and attributes, and politics were related to contextual conditions.<p> The population was five administrative teams working on Indian reserves in Northern Saskatchewan. These teams consisted of a Chief Executive Officer, the Principal, and, where applicable, the Administrative Assistant. The schools were selected because two have been Band operated for five years or more, whereas the other three were Band operated for less than two years when this study began.<p> A case study approach was used. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with the C.E.O.s, Principals, and Administrative Assistants. An interview guide containing 18 questions designed for the Education Coordinator, and 18 questions designed specifically for Principals was used.<p> It was concluded that broad, general similarities existed from Band to Band. However, the role was influenced by the needs, wants, and thrusts of the individual Bands. The personality, background, and interests of the individual C.E.O. had an impact upon how the role was enacted. It was difficult to isolate and compartmentalize the job of the C.E.O. on an Indian reserve.<p> Although this study was limited in scope, a number of conclusions were reached and some implications were discussed. The C.E.O. position is a relatively new one and is in many ways unique. It would be of benefit for administrators to learn more about this position since nearly every on-reserve school in Saskatchewan is controlled by the Band. The C.E.O. position will grow and develop and have a great impact upon the future of Indian Education.

The purpose of this study was to describe the role of the C.E.O. (Education Coordinator) in Band Controlled Schools on selected Indian reserves in Saskatchewan. A number of key functions and leadership components were identified from the literature and were formulated into a structural framework. In this framework, the C.E.O. position was explored and studied under three major components: role, autonomy, and contextual conditions. The aspects of role which were examined were the identifying of the C.E.O., role expectations, role tasks, and obstacles. The functions related to autonomy were identified as performance, overlaps, perceptions, and organizations. Job satisfaction, personal qualities and attributes, and politics were related to contextual conditions.<p> The population was five administrative teams working on Indian reserves in Northern Saskatchewan. These teams consisted of a Chief Executive Officer, the Principal, and, where applicable, the Administrative Assistant. The schools were selected because two have been Band operated for five years or more, whereas the other three were Band operated for less than two years when this study began.<p> A case study approach was used. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with the C.E.O.s, Principals, and Administrative Assistants. An interview guide containing 18 questions designed for the Education Coordinator, and 18 questions designed specifically for Principals was used.<p> It was concluded that broad, general similarities existed from Band to Band. However, the role was influenced by the needs, wants, and thrusts of the individual Bands. The personality, background, and interests of the individual C.E.O. had an impact upon how the role was enacted. It was difficult to isolate and compartmentalize the job of the C.E.O. on an Indian reserve.<p> Although this study was limited in scope, a number of conclusions were reached and some implications were discussed. The C.E.O. position is a relatively new one and is in many ways unique. It would be of benefit for administrators to learn more about this position since nearly every on-reserve school in Saskatchewan is controlled by the Band. The C.E.O. position will grow and develop and have a great impact upon the future of Indian Education.