Postcolonial healing landscapes and mental health in a remote Indigenous community in subarctic Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT

The concept of therapeutic landscape is concerned with a holistic, socio-ecological model of health, but most studies have attempted to explore land-health links from a Western perspective. On an Indigenous reserve in Northern Ontario, part of the Canadian subarctic, we explore the importance of spaces and places in creating postcolonial therapeutic landscapes to treat the wounds inflicted by colonialism. The aim of this research is to gain insight from views and experiences of First Nations residents living on reservations that are undergoing a process of regaining traditional spiritual beliefs and teachings to construct therapeutic spaces to face mental health problems caused by legal opioid analgesic abuse. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with Cree and Ojibwe participants to understand how they are reconnecting with earth, spirituality and traditional animist beliefs on their way to recovery. We find that practices such as taking part in ceremonies and ritual spaces, and seeking knowledge and advice from Elders assist with personal healing and enable Indigenous people to be physically and mentally healthy. Our research findings provide important insights into the relationship between space, healing and culture as determinants of health and well-being and document some key factors that contribute to substance abuse recovery.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental health
• Indigenous identity
• self
• therapeutic lanscape
• Canadian subartic

Acknowledgements

Some of the ideas and data presented here were debated during a seminar at the University of Alicante. The authors are grateful for institutional support from the Applied Sociocultural Studies research group, University of Granada; the Centre for Research in Social Justice and Policy, Laurentian University; and the Centre for Research on Immigration, Ethnicity and Citizenship (CRIEC), ĹUniversité du Québec, Montreal. Finally, a special thank must be extended to the people who participated in the research, but who must remain anonymous.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Alfonso Marquina-Márquez http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9659-4610

Jorge Virchez http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6784-6225

Raúl Ruiz-Callado http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6784-6225

Notes

1. The First Nations Environmental Network (FNEN), officially established in 1992, is an example of a social movement, whose goal is ‘protect, defend and heal Mother Earth’.

2. Historically, the sweat lodge ceremony was not practiced by all the Indigenous communities in North America, even though the practice was spread. However, its purpose and rituals could differ from one region to another. The social function of sweat lodge is multiple, it is used to pray the Creator, preserve health and for social or individual problems. In the contemporary context, sweat lodges are used for many social and health problems.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science (Spain) [I + D+i SEJ2005-09344/SOCI]; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada) [I + D+i CURA/NORTHERN].