“The Land Nurtures Our Spirit”: Understanding the Role of the Land in Labrador Innu Wellbeing

Abstract

We examined Indigenous views of wellbeing, aiming to understand how the Labrador Innu view influence of land on their health. The Innu live in two First Nation communities (Sheshatshiu and Natuashish) in the subarctic portion of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Their views on land and wellbeing are context specific and have not been studied; our research addresses this significant gap in literature. Findings highlight that the experience of being on the land with family and community, learning cultural knowledge, and gaining a sense of identity play a major role in enhancing wellbeing. Externally imposed policies and programs conceiving Indigenous land as a physical place only fail to understand that land sustains wellbeing by emplacing knowledge systems and cultural identity.

The Health and Wellbeing of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples around the Globe: Ensuring and Promoting Best Practice in Research

“…A range of mechanisms across the life of the research project or program, from setting research priorities to ongoing communication to dissemination of results, were described. These included: membership of Indigenous and Tribal people on advisory groups, working groups, steering committees, and governance committees [ 7 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 23 , 25 , 27 , 30 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 37 ]; involvement of community Elders, other community leaders, and Tribal health centres [ 19 , 25 , 28 , 35 ]; formal and informal partnerships with Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Organisations, Tribal health services and other community organisations [ 8 , 10 , 14 , 19 , 20 , 22 , 25 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]; hiring and training Indigenous research staff, especially from the relevant community/ies [ 7 , 9 , 10 , 13 , 16 , 18 , 23 , 35 ]; the use of community-based participatory research approaches, co-design, and consumer engagement and involvement [ 12 , 19 , 20 , 23 , 25 , 32 , 33 , 35 ]; and the involvement ...…”

“…In addition to approval by Human Research Ethics Committees and Institutional Review Boards, which are embedded within Western academic institutions, a range of other mechanisms for ensuring appropriate Indigenous and Tribal governance in research were described in the papers included in the Special Issue, such as: approval by a Tribal government, an Indigenous Ethics Committee (e.g., the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council’s ethics committee in New South Wales, Australia), or an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 16 , 18 , 19 , 22 , 23 , 25 , 28 , 29 , 31 , 35 ]; the use of cultural reference groups and governance committees [ 11 , 13 , 16 , 19 , 23 , 25 , 27 , 33 , 34 ]; and having formal agreed Terms of Reference and/or Resolutions of Support [ 10 , 20 , 29 ].…”

“…Some authors specifically mentioned aspects of data governance and data sovereignty, such as Tribal/community ownership of data, approval of manuscripts for publication, establishment of a data governance committee, and reference to specific data sovereignty principles [ 10 , 11 , 20 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 30 , 35 ]. For example, Ward and colleagues [ 35 ] sought to understand the role of land in the wellbeing of Labrador Innu people.…”

“…Some authors specifically mentioned aspects of data governance and data sovereignty, such as Tribal/community ownership of data, approval of manuscripts for publication, establishment of a data governance committee, and reference to specific data sovereignty principles [ 10 , 11 , 20 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 30 , 35 ]. For example, Ward and colleagues [ 35 ] sought to understand the role of land in the wellbeing of Labrador Innu people. Their work used Innu knowledge and ways of knowing through community-based participatory research and was guided by OCAP ® principles [ 44 ] relating to the ownership, control, access, and possession of First Nations data.…”

“…The resulting Special Issue includes 31 papers in total, with 21 from Australia [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ], 4 from the United States [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ], 3 from Aotearoa/New Zealand [ 32 , 33 , 34 ], 1 from Canada [ 35 ], and 2 from authors in multiple countries [ 36 , 37 ]. This represents a substantial body of research on the health and wellbeing of Indigenous and Tribal peoples, possibly the largest collection ever published.…”