The Project

Connecting Indigenous men to culture through teaching, ceremony and land-based activities

Many Indigenous people lack opportunities to connect with cultural practices and a shared sense of community identity because of continuing colonial practices in Canada1,9. Indigenous men face distinct challenges including high rates of incarceration3, high rates of interpersonal violence (as perpetrators and victims)11, lack of programs and services addressing their specific needs as fathers 2,14, and intergenerational trauma5,10. The systemic challenges that Indigenous men face perpetuate negative stereotypes about their ability to fulfill social and cultural obligations as fathers and role models. At times, Western research reinforces negative and deficit-focused framings of Indigenous men by focusing on the ‘problems’ they and their communities face.

Why the research is important  

In response to these problems, culture has been framed as a solution. Indigenous people have often sought cultural teachings to first find, and then understand, their identities as a people6. Ceremonies, according to gkisedtanamoogk and Hancock (1993) provide "a way of communicating,", “a way of living" (p. 17). There is a growing body of research on the importance of cultural connection, teaching, and ceremony particularly in relation to Indigenous health and well-being. Sacred teachings, ceremonies and cultural values have been linked to healing, resilience, and positive mental health outcomes7,13. Other studies have found that cultural programming can enable Indigenous men to learn in community with other Indigenous men and share thoughts and emotions safely12. However, these programs are not without challenges. For example, staffing issues, including lack of Indigenous staff and lack of Indigenous language use in programming are common8. Furthermore, research about such programming has seldom followed up with participants to understand its impact on their experiences over time12. Sustainability, capacity, and control are core issues.

For more information on the methods, please see:  https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221082359

The Research Team

  • Dr. Candice Waddell-Henowitch

    Dr. Candice Waddell-Henowitch is a Registered Psychiatric Nurse and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatric Nursing at Brandon University. She holds a PhD in Community Health Science from University of Manitoba and a Masters of Psychiatric Nursing from Brandon University. Her research includes improving health care practice and systems through the lens of feminist, anti-racist, and decolonizing approaches; and understanding the perspectives of individuals living with histories of mental illness and trauma.

  • Dr. Rachel Herron

    Dr. Rachel Herron is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment at Brandon University, a Tier II CRC in Rural and Remote Mental Health, and founding Director of the Centre for Critical Studies of Rural Mental Health. Rachel works with researchers, students and community partners to develop solutions to rural mental health, ageing, and care needs. Her research examines safety in settings of care, social inclusion, the diversity of experiences living with mental health problems.

  • Dr. Jonathan A. Allan

    Dr. Jonathan A. Allan is Canada Research Chair in Men and Masculinities at Brandon University. He teaches in the Department of English, Drama, and Creative Writing and the Gender and Women’s Studies Program. During his Canada Research Chair, he is working on the critical study of men and masculinities in a variety of spaces in the social sciences and humanities. Dr. Allan explores the ways in which masculinity is lived, enacted, embodied, and represented in everyday life. His most recent books include Men, Masculinities, and Infertilities and Men, Masculinities, and Popular Romance. His current book project is called Snip Snap: A Cultural Study of Vasectomy.

  • Jason Gobeil

    Jason Gobeil is a proud father of 3 amazing children and holds his relationship with his wife of 25 years close to his heart. Jason is Anishinaabe (Ojibway) and a member of the Animbiigoo Zaagi’gan Anishinaabek First Nation, and carries mixed heritage of French and Scottish. He is the Ohitika/Ogichidaa “Warrior” Wellness Coordinator with Dakota Ojibway Child & Family Services in Manitoba that works with 7 First Nation communities and 3 urban centres including Winnipeg, Portage la Prairie and Brandon. Jason is an advocate for change and facilitator in the development and support of working within the circles of men and Indigenous men for years in his home community of Brandon. He is a proud member of the Akicita Cante Waste Men’s Group in Brandon and can often be found at the lodge working with the men. Jason is committed to community and when he’s not volunteering with events or committees he also sits on the Brandon Friendship Centre Board of Directors, the Brandon School Division Board of Trustees, and Board Member with Manitoba Indigenous Tourism.

  • Marti Ford

    Marti Ford is a proud Inuk woman and currently the President and Board Chair of the Manitoba Inuit Association. She is an educator and has been a teacher, principal, superintendent and Dean of Indigenous Education. Marti currently works for Frontier School Division recruiting teachers. Marti has a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Education, a Post Baccalaureate Certificate of Education and a Master of Educational Administration from the University of Manitoba. She is currently a Doctoral candidate in Education with a focus on Global Indigenous Language and Culture at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.

  • Stephanie Spence

    Stephanie Spence, a Swampy Cree woman with ancestral ties to York Factory First Nation, was born in Brandon, where she studies in the Psychiatric Nursing Program at Brandon University. Stephanie is a research assistant for the Centre for Critical Studies of Rural Mental Health and BU CARES Research Centre. Her focus is decolonization, cultural connection, community wellness, and anti-racism. She dedicates her time to the University as a student member of the Indigenous Education Senate Sub-Committee, advocating for Indigenous student success. Stephanie is also the co-chair of the Faculty of Health Studies Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee. When Stephanie finds time to relax, she can be found on the land spending time with her family.

How was research done?  

This research project was shaped by Indigenous ways of knowing and Western research methods. Indigenous partners co-developed the approach to evaluating the program with Brandon University researchers and all decisions about how to do the research and what to do with the results were a part of this collaboration. Sharing circles were held to collect the stories of the group involved in the program. Researchers also made observational notes while participating in the hunt and drum-making process alongside the men. Throughout the year-long project, the researchers joined the men in the traditional hunt, dressing the animal, preparing the hide, creating the drum, and then awakening the drum.  Interviews were used to collect the individual stories of participants and participants also took photographs to capture how the program shaped their lives. This information helped the research team to get a comprehensive view of the impact of the program, from the voices of participants and through observation, in the moment and over time.

Findings  

The men in the research shared a wealth of information about their lives, their experiences with the Urban Indigenous men’s programming, and the impact of that programming. Overall, the results of the research reveal the essential resources provided by the program and the impacts of the program.

The resources the men were provided included:

  1. Culture, ceremony, skill, and knowledge sharing – members of the group gained and shared knowledge about different land-based activities (Ie. hunting, fishing, trapping). In addition, a spiritual advisor or a knowledge keeper was  available to provide teachings on the culture and ceremony involved with the different activities. The group members were able to facilitate learning using their own inventory of skills and knowledge rather than always needing outside support. The members within the group alternated between teaching and learning.

  2. Honoring Relationships to Land and Natural Resources– the men’s group was able to take responsibility for land and resources. The land in this project was owned by the local friendship centre, and the men had sovereignty over ceremonial buildings, collection of resources, and overall protection and caretaking of the space. Some of the impacts of the program were directly tied to the caretaking and protection of the land.

The impacts of the program included:

  1. Supporting community, social, and family connections – men within the group reported that they have stronger connections to each other, their community, and their children.

  2. Creating a place to heal through brotherhood, encouragement, and reassurance – men within the group talked about how they were finding their voice, sharing their experiences, supporting one another, and creating a safe space to be there for one another with no judgment.

  3. Strengthening land-based knowledge through teaching, learning, and ceremony – the men talked about the ceremony they were learning, the accomplishments they feel because of the program, and how they were transferring this knowledge to their children and other individuals.

  4. Fostering a sense of purpose- men talked about how they enjoyed taking care of the land, gathering the grandfathers (i.e. stones used in the sweat lodge – the word grandfathers illustrates the nurturing and reciprocal relationship between the land and Indigenous people), making the lodges, creating relationships with their drums and how that provides them with purpose.

  5. Awakening Indigenous pride – men talked about the pride they felt for their accomplishments and for what they are doing with the drums, as well as the land resources.

 

What can we do?

This research illustrates the impacts of land-based learning for Indigenous men. The information in this report can be used to inform investments into initiatives that support Indigenous men’s health.

 

Recommendations

  • Provide local Indigenous organizations with ongoing, sustainable funding committed to men’s land-based programming. 

  • Respect that cultural programs, such as land-based learning, have lasting and important impacts.

  • Provide land for ceremony and programming. This land should be cared for by  Indigenous organizations in a meaningful and empowering manner that recognizes the sovereignty of Indigenous people over their land. .

  • Support further research into the impacts of cultural programming such as this on men’s wellness more broadly.

References

  1. Alfred, T. & Corntassel, J. (2005). Being Indigenous: Resurgences against contemporary colonialism. Government and Opposition, 40(4), 597-614.

  2. Ball, J. (2009). Fathering in the shadows: Indigenous fathers and Canada’s colonial legacies. Fathering across diversity and adversity: International perspectives and policy interventions. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 642, 29- 48.

  3. Dennison, S., Smallbone, H., Stewart, A., Freiberg, K., & Teague, R. (2014). ‘My Life Is

  4. Separated’ An Examination Of The Challenges And Barriers To Parenting For Indigenous Fathers In Prison. British Journal of Criminology, 54(6), 1089-1108.

  5. Gkisedtanamoogk, & Hancock, F. (1993). Anoqcou: Ceremony is Life Itself. Astarte Shell Press.

  6. Innes, R.A., & Anderson, K. (2015). Indigenous men and masculinities. University of Manitoba Press.

  7. Isaak, C. A., Stewart, D. E., Mota, N. P., Munro, G., Katz, L. Y., & Sareen, J. (2015). Surviving, healing and moving forward: Journeys towards resilience among Canadian Cree adults. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 61(8), 788–795.

  8. Kirmayer, L.J., Dandeneau, S., Marshall, E., Phillips, M.K., & Williamson, K.J. (2011). Rethinking resilience from an Indigenous perspective, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 56(2). 84-91.

  9. Murrup- Stewart, C., Searle, A.K., Jacobson, L., & Adams. L. (2018). Aboriginal perceptions of social and emotional wellbeing programs: A systematic review of the literature assessing social and emotional wellbeing programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians perspectives, Australian Psychologist, 54(3). 171-186. https://doi.org/10.1111/ap.12367

  10. Nelson, S. E., & Wilson, K. (2017). The mental health of Indigenous peoples in Canada: A critical review of research. Social Science & Medicine, 176, 93–112.

  11. Prehn, J., & Ezzy, D. (2020). Decolonising the health and well-being of Aboriginal men in Australia. Journal of Sociology, 56(2), 151-166.

  12. Rizkalla, K., Maar, M., Reade, M., Pilon, R., & McGregor, L. (2021). Intimate Partner Violence against Indigenous men in heterosexual relationships: Toward a culturally safe response in primary health care. International Journal of Indigenous Health, 16(1). 262-274.

  13. Rossiter, C., Power, T., Fowler, C., Jackson, D., Roche, M., & Dawson, A. (2017). “Learning to become a better man”: Insights from a fathering programme for incarcerated Indigenous men. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 52(1), 13-31.

  14. Tuck, I & Anderson, L. (2014)., flourishing and resilience: The influences of expressions of spirituality on mental health recovery. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 35(4). https://doi.org/10.3109/01612840.2014.885623

  15. Waddell, C.M., Herron, R.V., Gobeil, J., Tacan, F., De Jager, M. D, Allan, J. A, Roger, K. (2020). Grounded in Culture: Reflections on sitting outside the circle in community-based research with Indigenous men. Qualitative Health Research, 30(14). 2343-2350. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732320960050

Connecting to Culture through Drum Making