wahkotowin: Reconnecting to the Spirit of nêhiyawêwin (Cree Language)

The Spirit of the Language project looks to the Spirit of nêhiyawêwin (Cree language), sources of disconnection between nêhiyawak (Cree people) in Treaty 6 and the Spirit of nêhiyawêwin, and the process of reconnection to the Spirit of the language as voiced by nêhiyawak. The two researchers behind this project are nêhiyaw language-learners who identify as insider-outsiders in this work. The work is founded in Indigenous Research Methodologies, with a particular respect to ceremony, community protocol, consent, and community participation, respect and reciprocity. We identified the Spirit of the language as having three distinct strands: history, harms, and healing. The Spirit of Indigenous languages is dependent on its history of land, languages, and laws. We then identified the harms or catalysts of disconnect from the Spirit of the language as colonization, capitalism, and Christianity. The results of our community work have identified the methods for healing, or reconnecting to the Spirit of language, by way of autonomy, authority, and agency.

Learning about Extraordinary Beings: Native Stories and Real Birds

Oral traditions of Indigenous American peoples (as well as those of other Indigenous peoples) have long been discussed with regard to their reliability as metaphorical accounts based upon historical knowledge. I explore this debate using stories to discuss the importance of the role of Corvidae in Indigenous knowledge traditions and how these stories convey information about important socioecological relationships. Contemporary science reveals that Corvids important in cultural traditions were companions to humans and important components of the ecology of the places where these peoples lived. Ravens, Crows, Jays, and Magpies are identified as having special roles as cooperators, agents of change, trickster figures, and important teachers. Canada (or Gray) Jays serve as trickster/Creator of the Woodland Cree people, Wisakyjak. Magpies won the Great Race around the Black Hills to determine whether humans would eat bison or vice versa. I analyze these stories in terms of their ecological meaning, in an effort to illustrate how the stories employ dramatic settings to encourage respect and fix relationships in the sociocultural memory of the people.

Are We Seeking Pimatisiwin or Creating Pomewin? Implications for Water Policy

The purpose of this discussion is to describe the worldview and sacred relationship of the Cree people in Alberta, as well as how colonial policy has created despair (pomewin) in Aboriginal communities and a state of disconnectedness from the water. It concludes with the presentation of a framework for the development of policies that seek to repair the relationship between Aboriginal people and mainstream society – with the potential to create the good life, broadly defined (pimatisiwin) for all Albertans (Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal). This discussion is based upon the findings of a three-year research project entitled “The Sacred Relationship”. The goals of the project were three-fold: to describe the Aboriginal People of Alberta’s sacred relationship with water, to articulate the Indigenous science practices of Aboriginal people, and to find common ground between Western and Indigenous science.

Developmental Origins of Type 2 Diabetes in Aboriginal Youth in Canada: It Is More Than Diet and Exercise

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is classically viewed as a disease of adults caused by poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and obesity. However, with increasing awareness of the heterogeneity of T2DM, new risk factors are being identified that add complexity. Some of these new risk factors have been identified in Canadian people with Aboriginal Oji-Cree heritage, a group that demonstrates one of the highest rates of T2DM in the world. This high prevalence may be due to the rapid change, over the past 50 years, away from their traditional way of life on the land. Another environmental change is the increased rate of pregnancies complicated by obesity, gestational diabetes, or T2DM, resulting in more children being exposed to an abnormal intrauterine environment. Furthermore, the Oji-Cree of central Canada possesses the unique HNF-1αG319S polymorphism associated with reduced insulin secretion. We propose that intrauterine exposure to maternal obesity and T2DM, associated with the HNF-1αG319S polymorphism, results in fetal programming that accelerates the progression of early-onset T2DM. This paper describes the evolution of T2DM in children with a focus on the Oji-Cree people over the past 25 years and the unique prenatal and postnatal gene-environment interaction causing early-onset T2DM.

Moose–habitat relationships: integrating local Cree native knowledge and scientific findings in northern Quebec

Participation of aboriginal people in Canadian forestry is a requirement of sustainable management. We proposed a culturally adapted process to integrate Cree and scientific knowledge in Eeyou Istchee (northern Quebec) that could contribute to a better mutual understanding between Cree and non-Cree, and eventually favour the social acceptability of forest management strategies. We studied moose ( Alces alces L.), the Cree featured species and the main forestry issue for the past 40 years. Cree and non-Cree have culturally differing visions for the management of moose habitat. In a previous article, we documented Cree knowledge about moose–habitat relationships. Here, we evaluated some hypotheses built from Cree knowledge by studying the behaviour of moose equipped with GPS collars. In general, results from our habitat use and selection analyses agreed with Cree observations and improved our understanding of moose–habitat relationships in northern Quebec. We jointly demonstrated the importance of mature mixedwoods, balsam fir ( Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) stands, and riparian areas for moose in the northern black spruce ( Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) forest. In these specific areas, management approaches other than clear-cutting should be developed to preserve moose habitat quality. Such an alternative would potentially be more acceptable for the Cree people.