Indigenous Public Health
Indigenous Public Health is holistic and recognizes that place is where health begins. This work addresses root causes of trauma, supports healing through prevention, environmental stewardship, securing cultural identity, knowledge democracy, leadership, participation in society, autonomy, and upholding the inherent and acquired rights of Indigenous peoples and Nature.
Our current Indigenous Public Health project: WE are working with one of our board members Rachel Wilbur on the "Spirit of the Sxwo’le (Reef Net) Societies’ Resurgence on the Salish Sea: Community Based Participatory Research and Community Engaged Research."
ABSTRACT
Reef net fishing is the traditional practice of a small number of Indigenous communities in western Washington State and southern British Columbia; it is found nowhere else in the world. Straits Salish people are salmon people, and oral tradition teaches that the reef net (Sxwo’le) was a gift from Xelas, the Transformer or Creator. Reef netting, language, culture, and connection to land and water are intimately tied. Despite its importance, disputes with settlers led to the loss of reef netting and natural kindship systems in the early 1900s, a loss which can be classified as historically traumatic. In the last decade, a small number of Indigenous fishermen from Lummi and Saanich nations have started to re-learn the practice. The process of engaging with oral tradition and culture in order to once again fish as formerly (Douglas Treaty, 1852) at usual and accustom fishing grounds (Pt. Elliott Treaty, 1855) has been described as healing. This project documents the physiological markers of healing through the collection of bio-specimens and ethnographic interviews from Indigenous fishermen over the course of a reef net season. It is our hope that this work will support concurrent and future efforts to use cultural revitalization as a means of healing from historical trauma.
Community: Community input is being sought through appropriate Tribal Councils and Cultural Commissions prior to the initiation of enrollment. Letters of support have been obtained from numerous individuals and organizations impacted by the work. Below we have included excerpts from meeting notes between the WE research team and the WSANEC Leadership Council following a presentation of the study proposal on January 21, 2021. All quotes have been approved for sharing here.
“I’m intrigued by the cortisol and saliva and that, when we measure the benefits of our culture and ways of life, endocrine system and stressors in our daily lives, being able to measure the values of being on the water and exercising our rights, that’s intriguing. This is another way to measure the benefits of our culture and history, in our daily lives and stresses we face and the effects it has on our body, fight or flight, we still have the natural ability within us that contributes to the more beneficial hormones.I appreciate it, what you all are doing.”
-Chief Don Tom of Tsartlip
“I want to raise my hands up to our relatives... I’m here as a community member, and as an academic researcher who works at UVIC. Part of my responsibility that I have at UVIC is 40% research, which I put air quotes around ‘research,’ because we all have ideas of what researchers do--come into our community and take. That's the way the university is set up, and it forces us to conform to research/publishing. The opportunity here is, I’m from the community, we’re making connections with our relatives across the border, and it’s all around the sxwo’le, the reef net, and that is what makes us one. It’s the reef net, the resurgence, that is bringing us together, it’s an awesome opportunity. (emphasis added)”
-Chief Nick XEMŦOLTW̱ Claxton, PhD of Tsawout
“I was really moved by the presentation, I like the connection to health. I hear elders and leaders speak of the loss of health and how it connects to our inherent rights and practices and way of life, so getting the evidence is a good idea.”
-Gordon Elliott, ȻELOȽEMKEN, Director of Operations, Co-Founder of WSANEC Leadership Council
“...Part of the trauma that happened to us is the border. It has divided us, we lost our means of travel and gathering, a lot of our villages and hunting and gathering sites weren’t available to us anymore.
So I see the benefits of a coalition and taking down the dividers. As part of the generational trauma, we’ve lost connection to our relatives, we have to go through border crossings just to see each other, but if we can work together establishing a safe place for our youth while we still have elders to teach them and provide that knowledge. Traditionally we’ve been hands-on and oral tradition learners. We take our youth onto the water to teach them, and for the ones in the future. I’ve listened to Shirley and Troy many times, and they talk about the 7 generations. We have to be able to provide a safe space to share that knowledge. Re-establish a place of healing and connection to our land, our language, culture, and traditions. This discussion is long overdue. I appreciate this discussion. It’s time for us to look for ways to have this discussion about passing down this knowledge, and I thank you for this day and this meeting.”
-Marylin Olsen Page, member of the WSANEC Leadership Council
“I carry two names, the actual name of San Juan Island, and we have relatives there today, our relations to the village site Pe’pi’ow elh, called English Camp now, and I mention a few other places, Henry Island... We have a connection to those places through our names. I know when I took my late father’s name, we had to announce those places as part of protocol, you have to say that you’re connected to those places when you pass the name along, to show that you have a connection there.
We still value that relationship that we still have today, like Suhunep (Troy Olsen)… Herman Olsen, Troy’s grandfather...and my grandfather, Dave Elliott, we have that connection to the ways of living on the water as saltwater people..The sxwo’le is sacred, that was given to us by Creator… he gave us the sxwo’le, the reefnet fisheries.
How can we keep moving forward with the many things in the way? We have to educate our young people, continue the relationship with one another and our ways, even though there’s a border; it is a foreign concept, because we had the freedom to go back and forth. How can we keep this connection strong and moving forward? To have life again as a People and family, working with the US and Canada to have our schelangen, our way of life, to pass along our rights from one generation to the next. I give perspective from my point of view. We have a right that we’ve always had, as a people and those gifts given by the Creator to look after. Each day when I say my morning prayer, I say my prayer for my family down there (Lummi) so we can overcome the obstacles to being together.”
-John Elliot, J,SIṈSET (STOLȻEȽ, name of San Juan Island) received two honorary PhDs for carrying his father's legacy work forward to preserve the SENĆOŦEN language
Reef net fishing is the traditional practice of a small number of Indigenous communities in western Washington State and southern British Columbia; it is found nowhere else in the world. Straits Salish people are salmon people, and oral tradition teaches that the reef net (Sxwo’le) was a gift from Xelas, the Transformer or Creator. Reef netting, language, culture, and connection to land and water are intimately tied. Despite its importance, disputes with settlers led to the loss of reef netting and natural kindship systems in the early 1900s, a loss which can be classified as historically traumatic. In the last decade, a small number of Indigenous fishermen from Lummi and Saanich nations have started to re-learn the practice. The process of engaging with oral tradition and culture in order to once again fish as formerly (Douglas Treaty, 1852) at usual and accustom fishing grounds (Pt. Elliott Treaty, 1855) has been described as healing. This project documents the physiological markers of healing through the collection of bio-specimens and ethnographic interviews from Indigenous fishermen over the course of a reef net season. It is our hope that this work will support concurrent and future efforts to use cultural revitalization as a means of healing from historical trauma.
Community: Community input is being sought through appropriate Tribal Councils and Cultural Commissions prior to the initiation of enrollment. Letters of support have been obtained from numerous individuals and organizations impacted by the work. Below we have included excerpts from meeting notes between the WE research team and the WSANEC Leadership Council following a presentation of the study proposal on January 21, 2021. All quotes have been approved for sharing here.
“I’m intrigued by the cortisol and saliva and that, when we measure the benefits of our culture and ways of life, endocrine system and stressors in our daily lives, being able to measure the values of being on the water and exercising our rights, that’s intriguing. This is another way to measure the benefits of our culture and history, in our daily lives and stresses we face and the effects it has on our body, fight or flight, we still have the natural ability within us that contributes to the more beneficial hormones.I appreciate it, what you all are doing.”
-Chief Don Tom of Tsartlip
“I want to raise my hands up to our relatives... I’m here as a community member, and as an academic researcher who works at UVIC. Part of my responsibility that I have at UVIC is 40% research, which I put air quotes around ‘research,’ because we all have ideas of what researchers do--come into our community and take. That's the way the university is set up, and it forces us to conform to research/publishing. The opportunity here is, I’m from the community, we’re making connections with our relatives across the border, and it’s all around the sxwo’le, the reef net, and that is what makes us one. It’s the reef net, the resurgence, that is bringing us together, it’s an awesome opportunity. (emphasis added)”
-Chief Nick XEMŦOLTW̱ Claxton, PhD of Tsawout
“I was really moved by the presentation, I like the connection to health. I hear elders and leaders speak of the loss of health and how it connects to our inherent rights and practices and way of life, so getting the evidence is a good idea.”
-Gordon Elliott, ȻELOȽEMKEN, Director of Operations, Co-Founder of WSANEC Leadership Council
“...Part of the trauma that happened to us is the border. It has divided us, we lost our means of travel and gathering, a lot of our villages and hunting and gathering sites weren’t available to us anymore.
So I see the benefits of a coalition and taking down the dividers. As part of the generational trauma, we’ve lost connection to our relatives, we have to go through border crossings just to see each other, but if we can work together establishing a safe place for our youth while we still have elders to teach them and provide that knowledge. Traditionally we’ve been hands-on and oral tradition learners. We take our youth onto the water to teach them, and for the ones in the future. I’ve listened to Shirley and Troy many times, and they talk about the 7 generations. We have to be able to provide a safe space to share that knowledge. Re-establish a place of healing and connection to our land, our language, culture, and traditions. This discussion is long overdue. I appreciate this discussion. It’s time for us to look for ways to have this discussion about passing down this knowledge, and I thank you for this day and this meeting.”
-Marylin Olsen Page, member of the WSANEC Leadership Council
“I carry two names, the actual name of San Juan Island, and we have relatives there today, our relations to the village site Pe’pi’ow elh, called English Camp now, and I mention a few other places, Henry Island... We have a connection to those places through our names. I know when I took my late father’s name, we had to announce those places as part of protocol, you have to say that you’re connected to those places when you pass the name along, to show that you have a connection there.
We still value that relationship that we still have today, like Suhunep (Troy Olsen)… Herman Olsen, Troy’s grandfather...and my grandfather, Dave Elliott, we have that connection to the ways of living on the water as saltwater people..The sxwo’le is sacred, that was given to us by Creator… he gave us the sxwo’le, the reefnet fisheries.
How can we keep moving forward with the many things in the way? We have to educate our young people, continue the relationship with one another and our ways, even though there’s a border; it is a foreign concept, because we had the freedom to go back and forth. How can we keep this connection strong and moving forward? To have life again as a People and family, working with the US and Canada to have our schelangen, our way of life, to pass along our rights from one generation to the next. I give perspective from my point of view. We have a right that we’ve always had, as a people and those gifts given by the Creator to look after. Each day when I say my morning prayer, I say my prayer for my family down there (Lummi) so we can overcome the obstacles to being together.”
-John Elliot, J,SIṈSET (STOLȻEȽ, name of San Juan Island) received two honorary PhDs for carrying his father's legacy work forward to preserve the SENĆOŦEN language
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