Organization/Agency Report

Scope and Purpose of the Review, Page 1-2:

"Racism has played a foundational role in the development and maintenance of the Canadian nation state. The colonization of Indigenous lands and peoples was fueled by racist beliefs and ideas about Indigenous peoples, values, ways of knowing and being, customs and practices.

Excerpt from Report's Introduction, Page 8:

"The Wahpeton Dakota Nation is a First Nation community with a traditional territory that includes central Saskatchewan. Most Wahpeton members today reside on the Nation’s main reserve, about ten kilometres north of the city of Prince Albert. The region is on the cusp of the boreal forest, where plains and farmland begin to give way to stands of trembling aspen and rolling hills.

The wâhkôhtowin project shifts conceptions of justice outside of official/governing institutions to everyday places, experiences, and relationships. This essay provides sociohistorical context for the map, the concept of wâhkôtowin and associated teachings. The 2016 group produced a digital ‘story map’ that plots class members’ experiences of justice and injustice in Saskatoon. This essay offers concrete, tangible alternatives to incarceration and encourages the discussion, "what can community justice look like, what does it mean?"

From the Author's Introduction, no page number:

"Twenty years is a mere whisper in the histories of the First Peoples of Canada. It marks the time we see a new generation born and grow into adulthood and it is a period long enough for societal change to be felt. Twenty years ago it was the dream for positive societal change that framed the release of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples’ (RCAP) final report (1996).

This United Nations report for the Department of Economic and Social Affairs focuses on the significance of language in First Nations cultures and knowledge retention despite settler colonial efforts to undermine traditional knowledge systems. Settee also provides suggestions as how Indigenous languages education could improve.

In this article, Tait highlights the social and economic vulnerability of Métis children despite Canada's affluence. Tait asserts that colonization transmitted infectious diseases, enacted violence on Indigenous peoples (physical, mental, spiritual), and undermined Indigenous cultures and worldviews; the cumulative effects of colonization have persisted within Métis communities. This is evident in the economic, social and health inequities between Métis communities and Settler Canadians.

This study examines the Building a Nation organization which provided health services (therapy and counselling) in downtown Saskatoon, with a large base of Indigenous clients. This study looks at BAN’s therapeutic Medicine Wheel approach that argues for the importance of historical and social context in assessing a person's health. This methodology suggests healing (mental, spiritual, emotional) as a lifelong process that requires a holistic approach that should be more broadly implemented at a community level.

 Introduction, Page 9:

"Indigenous health in Saskatchewan and in Canada as a whole, is in critical condition and requires immediate attention. The statistics from several recent studies including the Canadian Community Health Survey (2000/01), the 2001 Census Aboriginal Population profile, the First Nations Regional Longitudinal Health Survey, (2002/3), and the Saskatchewan Health Research Strategy (2004), reflect dismal conditions for Indigenous people’s health and wellness in Canada and Saskatchewan.

From the Authors' Executive Summary, Page 7-8:

"It is a positive development that the research institutes, which include the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Council, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council (hereafter the three granting agencies'), are engaging in their own process of critical reflection and are attempting to revise research guidelines and policies to reflect a greater sensitivity to Indigenous knowledge and the rights of Indigenous communities.

Excerpt from Introduction, Page 5:

"The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) is a national Aboriginal organization representing the political voice of Aboriginal women throughout Canada. NWAC works to advance the well-being of Aboriginal women and girls, as well as their families and communities, through advocacy, policy, and legislative analysis in order to improve policies, programs, and legislation...This research was prepared for the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s National Task Force on Trafficking of Women and Girls.