Tag Archives: healing

Mod 2:3 Smudging

Smudging is a ceremony where a braided length of sage is burnt and the smoke is used by the participants for healing. Prayer is part of the ceremony and is used as well as the cleansing with smoke.

I have had the privilege of participating in a few smudges. Two were at St. Mary’s Community School in Saskatoon, SK. where students participate in a weekly smudge. I have also participated during staff PD days. While looking for a resource that would have a good explanation of the ceremony I found The Smudging Ceremony. The website is well written and respectful of the ceremony.

During my searching, I also found this video, How to Smudge. I am including this video in this post because I feel it is a misinformed resource. At one end of the spectrum, ceremonies and stories belong to families and communities and should not be shared with outsiders. At the other end of the spectrum, stories and ceremonies belong to everyone. There is a balance where stories and ceremonies can be shared carefully however this video forgets the sacredness of the smudge.

Module 2 – Post 2 – National Film Board of Canada

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While researching Nanook of the North and looking for other film based cultural media, I came across the Daughters of the Country film series that was produced by the National Film Board of Canada. The series dramatize general themes and time periods in Metis history, from 1770 to present day. Film descriptions provided by NFB Canada. All films are available on the National Film Board of Canada’s website for online viewing, and/or purchase.

The films are:

1) Ikwe – This film features a young Ojibwa girl from 1770 who marries a Scottish fur trader and leaves home for the shores of Georgian Bay. Although the union is beneficial for her tribe, it results in hardship and isolation for Ikwe. Values and customs clash until, finally, the events of a dream Ikwe once had unfold with tragic clarity.

2) Mistress Madeleine – This film, set in the 1850s, unfolds against the backdrop of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s monopoly of the fur trade. In protest, some Métis engage in trade with the Americans. Madeleine, the Métis common-law wife of a Hudson’s Bay Company clerk, is torn between loyalty to her husband and loyalty to her brother, a freetrader. Even more shattering, a change in company policy destroys Madeleine’s happy and secure life, forcing her to re-evaluate her identity.

3) Places Not Of Our Own – This film, set in 1929, depicts how Canada’s West, home to generations of Métis, was taken over by the railroads and new settlers. As a result, the Métis became a forgotten people, forced to eke out a living as best they could. At the forefront is Rose, a woman determined to provide her children with a normal life and an education despite the odds. But due to their harsh circumstances, a devastating and traumatic event transpires instead.

4) The Wake – This film , set in contemporary Alberta, is the story of the love affair that blossoms between a well-meaning Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer and a young Metis woman. The Metis have a strong sense of community but there is also a feeling of separateness defined by racial origins and economics. In this atmosphere, the romance offers a new sense of hope. Then, during a dark winter’s night on a frozen lake, something happens to change the lovers’ lives forever.

The films are available here: National Film Board of Canada

Connecting Statement – eLearning and Traditional Indigenous Health Literacy

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Due to systemic neglect and forced efforts at assimilation, the disparities between the health status of the indigenous and non-indigenous population are significant with poorer health outcomes for Indigenous peoples. One of the key obstacles in achieving good outcomes in health care is the health literacy of the individual. Indigenous peoples, with their background of residential schools and exposure to racism have had difficulty in utilizing Western models of health literacy. Our Western definition of health literacy is the ability to read, understand, and use healthcare information to make decisions and follow instructions for treatment. The Indigenous learner, health literacy is defined as being aware of one`s own emotional health and in addressing one`s emotional needs one heals the body. A learner who uses this emotional knowledge model is frequently at a disadvantage in a health care system that is not sensitive to this reality due to a lack of educational resources. The goal of this research project is to create an online eLearning course that will educate and engage the user in the most common issues regarding indigenous health care and what be done at a local level to improve them. This eLearning module will seek to demonstrate unique Indigenous perspectives in the transmission of knowledge regarding emotional health literacy. By using eLearning courseware, this project will serve as a means by which contemporary learning technology can be used as an educational tool for traditional Indigenous practices.

Module 1 – Post 4 – Approaches to Healing

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On the journey to understanding the idea of Indigenous knowledge and how it pertains to interaction with technology, I repeatedly came across the term of ‘Traditional Knowledge’. In order to understand this term better, I found a fascinating paper from the International Indigenous Policy Journal that examined Traditional Knowledge, Spirituality, and Lands. It can be accessed here:

http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1042&context=iipj

What’s very interesting about the article is that it explores the means through which knowledge is transmitted throughout Indigenous communities with a strong emphasis on health care. Due to the severe disparities in health care outcomes between Aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples, the means through which to improve this lies in understanding the proper role and historical context of traditional healing in Indigenous society. This information could be useful as a foundation for the development of curriculum regarding Indigenous health care issues and their possible solutions.

Module 1 – Post 2 – The Trail of Tears

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While driving home from work the other day, listening to CBC Radio, I heard a heartbreaking story about the “Trail of Tears”

The “Trail of Tears” refers to the forced removal of the independent Cherokee Nation from their established homeland in Northern Georgia. Despite being known as one of the 5 Civilized Tribes, the Cherokee were cheated out of their lands and forced to relocate a thousand miles to the west beyond the Mississippi. This forced exodus of the Cherokee, during the winter of 1838, had a deadly toll, with as many as 4,000 deaths.

What really struck me was that even though the Cherokee had tried to assimilate into the new culture – they lived in frame houses in the city, produced a bilingual newspaper, farmed, and wore European finery – they were still not considered to be sovereign citizens under the Indian Removal Act of 1930 by the government of President Andrew Jackson.

The link to the CBC story is here: Trail of Tears

Module 1 – Post 1 – Elearning and Aboriginal Healthcare

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As I have a strong professional interest in eLearning design, my curiosity regarding existing eLearning courses that interface with traditional Indigenous knowledge, led me to an interesting resource for healthcare workers in Australia.

http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/demosites/series12/12_03/content/01_home/page1.htm

This course was very interesting as it serves as a educational resource that provides a more informed educational foundation for individuals who wish to understand the current state of Aboriginal health care. This strong emphasis on the historical context allows the learner to develop sympathetic and effective strategies in identifying and resolving healthcare concerns while understanding the root causes of challenges facing Aboriginal peoples. Overall, the course is very informative, well organized, and is easy to navigate,

Module 1 – Post 3 – A Sorry State

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I strongly recommend taking the time to watch this documentary by Canadian filmmaker Mitch Miyagawa. With a Japanese-Canadian father, an Aboriginal step-mother and a Chinese-Canadian step-father and three official Canadian government apologies to his family, he asserts that he has the most apologized to family in the country. His exploration of his family history and the meaning of an apology is at times funny and light and at others very moving and heart wrenching.

http://ww3.tvo.org/video/184814/sorry-state

A couple of the conclusions he comes to are:

There is a difference between an apology and acknowledgement. Sometimes, the acknowledgement is more important than the apology.

Apologies are more about the future than about the past. It’s about much more than just saying something.

Apologies, acknowledgement, stories and all the memorials and other ways we have of dealing with the mistakes of our past, they aren’t about endings, they’re about beginnings.

Module 1 – Post 2 – Margaret Commodore tells her story

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In my previous post I wrote about the TRC’s BC National Event happening this past week in Vancouver. In researching more about this event, I’ve come across blog posts written by a former journalist who highlights some of the stories that have emerged from the sharing circles.

This first one is especially meaningful to me because it describes the experiences of Margaret Commodore, who is part of the Sto:lo Nation and lives in my community. In her testimony at the sharing circle she describes her abuse, how she suppressed it and the unexpected resurgence of the hurt roused by paintings that reminded her of the residential school. She speaks of forgiving just about everyone, but not yet her abuser.

Margaret concluded with “I won’t apologize for my tears, because I deserve them.”

http://mickleblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/margaret-commodore-tells-her-story/

The next post from the blog author was entitled “Tears, but Laughter Too: Hearing from Survivors of Residential Schools”. It followed a similar strain, highlighting some of the emotional testimony from that day’s sharing circles. I won’t describe them all, but I thought I would include the paragraph that really jumped out at me:

“As many before her, however, she went on to tearfully apologize to her children for being a poor parent. I was strict. I didn’t know how to hug them. After she got up to leave, her husband Rollie leaned into the mike. She turned out to be a great grandmother he said.”

http://mickleblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/tears-and-laughter-at-the-trc/

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission – Module 1

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Residential schools have left their mark on generations of First nations, Metis and Inuit Children, with over 150,000 individuals passing through these government-funded, church-run schools. These schools eliminated parental involvement in the intellectual, cultural and spiritual development of Aboriginal children and in countless instances students were subject to emotional and physical abuse. Today there is an estimated 80,000 former students living with the hurt that they suffered at the hands of the people her were charged with “educating” them.

As part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada was established. The TRC has a mandate “to learn the truth about what happened in residential schools and to inform all Canadians about what happened in the schools.” “The Commission hopes to guide and inspire First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples and Canadians in a process of truth and healing leading toward reconciliation and renewed relationships based on mutual understanding and respect.”

This past week saw the TRC’s British Columbia National Event running on the PNE grounds from September 18-21. Throughout the 4 days there were a variety of both private and public sharing circles, information displays, videos, an Education Day for students, and a culminating Reconciliation Walk taking place today in Downtown Vancouver.

You can visit the TRC’s website here: http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?p=3