Our Research
Incorporating First Nations, Inuit and Métis Traditional Healing Spaces within a Hospital Context: A Place-Based Study of Three Unique Spaces within Canada’s Oldest and Largest Mental Health Hospital
Globally and historically, Indigenous healthcare is efficacious, being rooted in Traditional Healing (TH) practices derived from cosmology and place-based knowledge and practiced on the land. Across Turtle Island, processes of environmental dispossession and colonial oppression have replaced TH practices with a colonial, hospital-based system found to cause added harm to Indigenous Peoples. Growing Indigenous health inequities are compounded by a mental health crisis, which begs reform of healthcare institutions. The implementation of Indigenous knowledge systems in hospital environments has been validated as a critical source of healing for Indigenous patients and communities, prompting many hospitals in Canada to create Traditional Healing Spaces (THSs). After ten years, however, there has been no evaluation of the effectiveness of THSs in Canadian hospitals in supporting healing among Indigenous Peoples. In this paper, our team describes THSs within the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada’s oldest and largest mental health hospital. Analyses of 22 interviews with hospital staff and physicians describe CAMH’s THSs, including what they look like, how they are used, and by whom. The results emphasize the importance of designating spaces with and for Indigenous patients, and they highlight the wholistic benefits of land-based treatment for both clients and staff alike. Transforming hospital spaces by implementing and valuing Indigenous knowledge sparks curiosity, increases education, affirms the efficacy of traditional healing treatments as a standard of care, and enhances the capacity of leaders to support reconciliation efforts.
Ambtman-Smith, V.N.; Crawford, A.; D’Hondt, J.; Lindstone, W.; Linklater, R.; Longboat, D.; Richmond, C. Incorporating First Nations, Inuit and Métis Traditional Healing Spaces within a Hospital Context: A Place-Based Study of Three Unique Spaces within Canada’s Oldest and Largest Mental Health Hospital. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2024, 21, 282. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21030282
Reimagining Indigenous spaces of healing: Institutional environmental repossession
Among the global Indigenous population, concepts of health and healthy living are wholistically intertwined within social, physical, natural, and spiritual systems. On-going processes of colonization and experiences of environmental dispossession have had the effect of removing Indigenous peoples from the lands, people and knowledge systems that have traditionally promoted their health. In 2014, Big-Canoe and Richmond introduced the idea of environmental repossession. This concept refers to the social, economic, and cultural processes Indigenous people are engaging in to reconnect with their traditional lands and territories, the wider goal being to assert their rights as Indigenous people and to improve their health and well-being. As Indigenous mothers, both who live in urban centres “away” from our families and traditional lands and knowledge systems, we engage with this conceptual model as a hopeful way to reimagine relationships to land, family, and knowledge. We embrace the concept of environmental repossession, and its key elements – land, social relationships, Indigenous knowledge – as a framework for promoting health and healing spaces among those who live “away” from their traditional territory. Drawing on three examples, an urban hospital, a university food and medicine garden, and a men’s prison, we suggest that these spaces do indeed offer important structural proxies for land, social relationships, and Indigenous knowledge, and can be important healing spaces. With increasingly urbanizing Indigenous populations in Canada, and around the world, these findings are important for the development of healing places for Indigenous peoples, regardless of where they live.
Ambtman-Smith, V., & Richmond, C. (2020). Reimagining Indigenous spaces of healing: Institutional environmental repossession. Turtle Island Journal of Indigenous Health, 1(1), 27–36. https://doi.org/10.33137/tijih.v1i1.34239
You can’t just bring people here and then not feed them: A case in support of Indigenous-led training environments
By and large, academic research in geography has advanced the colonial project, and been synonymous with extractive and reductionist research practices that subjugate Indigenous people. To counteract these harmful impacts and produce research that supports the needs of communities, advancing Indigenous sovereignty over research is vital. By presenting a case study of an Indigenous research space at a Canadian University, we argue that Indigenous training environments are more than a shared, physical space; they provide essential emotive and relational spaces of collaborative learning, wherein trainees practice relationship-building, reciprocity, and accountability. This article argues that decolonizing academic spaces dedicated to Indigenous geographic research will be essential to meeting the ethical imperative of Indigenous control over knowledge production. There is a current deficit of culturally appropriate spaces that support both the whole person and their learning. We highlight the impact of Indigenous training environments in nurturing respectful, long-standing relationships with peers, community, and research partners; a critical element of Indigenous geographies, yet one of the most challenging aspects of upholding meaningful and decolonizing research. By drawing on our diverse perspectives and research projects, we reflect on how an Indigenous-led training environment, rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing, can contribute to relational accountability both within and outside of these spaces. As more communities assert their authority over these processes, the need for respectful research grows, and it is anticipated that this article will provide a useful guide and support for emerging Indigenous training environments.
Ambtman-Smith, V., Wysocki, K., Bomberry, V., Reitmeier, V., & Nightingale, E. (2023). You can’t just bring people here and then not feed them: A case in support of Indigenous-led training environments. Environment and Planning F, 2(1-2), 56-76. https://doi.org/10.1177/26349825221133096
COVID-19 and Indigenous Health and Wellness: Our Strength is in our Stories
This Report, “COVID-19 and Indigenous Health and Wellness: Our Strength is in our Stories” is written as a collection of stories. As Indigenous scholars, practitioners and learners, we offer this writing to support an improved understanding about how COVID-19 is impacting the health and wellness of Indigenous peoples. We do so in a way that emphasizes the relational and holistic nature of Indigenous health and wellness; Indigenous health and wellness reflects an interrelationship between humans and the natural world, and this inter-relatedness extends to mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual domains. Thus, our relationships are key to survival, strength, and ultimately, living well.
Richmond, C., Ambtman-Smith, V., Bourassa, C., Cassidy-Mathews, C., Duhamel, K., Keewatin, M., King, A., King, M., Mushquash, C., Oakes, N., Redsky, D., Richardson, L., Rowe, R., Snook, J., Walker, J. COVID-19 and Indigenous Health and Wellness: Our Strength is in our Stories. Royal Society of Canada. 2020
How my journey began
When Vanessa Ambtman-Smith first arrived at Western, she recalls feeling “the gloom and doom of the statistics around Indigenous Peoples having the poorest health of any population in Canada.”
She credits professor and Canada Research Chair Chantelle Richmond for shifting her view and giving her hope.
“Dr. Richmond helped me see how Indigenous research can have impact and how I could contribute toward change,” she said.
With Richmond as her supervisor and mentor, Ambtman-Smith examined Indigenous healing spaces within hospitals and how they contribute to culturally safe care and rebuild trust amongst Canada’s Indigenous population and the health-care system.
Now she hopes to share her scholarly experience and pay the mentorship she received from Richmond forward, joining Western July 1, as a professor in the Faculty of Social Science, cross-appointed to the department of geography and environment, and the Indigenous Studies program.
Academic excellence
Ambtman-Smith (Niizhobinesiik, Thunderbird Clan), is of mixed Nêhiyaw-Métis ancestry and is from Treaty 6 Territory (Athabasca, AB). She is a PhD candidate within the Indigenous Health Lab, in the department of geography and environment, studying the impact of integrating traditional Indigenous practices into health care spaces.
Her academic work has been recognized through many awards, including scholarships from the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, Vanier Canada and the Indigenous Mentorship Network. She also contributed to the Royal Society of Canada’s COVID-19 and Indigenous Health and Wellness: Our Strength is in our Stories report.
Drawing on decades of front-line work
Ambtman-Smith’s doctoral research on hospital spaces drew on her personal and professional experience.
“I’m someone who has spent two decades working in Indigenous health care. I’m applying what I learned out there, as a health leader,” she said. “I’m also someone who has faced some of the harms experienced by Indigenous people in hospitals.”
Ambtman-Smith works closely with Indigenous communities, who play a key role helping her define research questions, to ensure she doesn’t continue patterns of harmful research practices.
“I see people who are being researched as part of a process of a co-creation of knowledge. Through the relationship with the researched, it is not just an Indigenization of knowledge, but a de-colonization of research,” she said. “Having that strong partnership with community will have better results. The research will be more relevant, more impactful and the overall potential for harm decreases.”
A new focus on mental health
Her next research project will involve working with patients at a mental health institution. She will interview them about their experiences using land-based medicine and with traditional healing spaces in the hospital.
“Right now, people are scratching their heads on how to deal with the mental health crisis. A lot of the approach is focused on western medicine, or bio-medicine,” she said. “My research has shown we are missing an element of spiritual care and connections to the land as a source of mental health promotion. People aren’t flourishing in these clinical environments. They need access to the world. They need a land base, a way to feel human in these sterile environments.”
She said building healing environments that draw on Indigenous knowledge systems can help in individual health journeys. Improving health care and healing spaces are also important ways to support reconciliation.
Advancing advocacy
Ambtman-Smith has been an active voice in the London community, working to address racism, diversity and inclusion, and as a member of former Mayor Matt Brown’s poverty panel.
This work adds to the unique perspective she will bring to the classroom as someone who has built relationships with Indigenous communities advocating for the inclusion of Indigenous practices within the health care system. She also believes her own experience as a graduate student at Western, working with other students as part of the Indigenous Health Lab provides great insight.
“I believe who I am and how I approach research matters,” said Ambtman-Smith. “I think that’s a compelling part of why I took this appointment and why I am located in geography and environment, and Indigenous Studies. I am committed to both of these areas.”
Through these experiences, she wants to help make significant and immediate change.
“My goal in life is to improve the reality of Indigenous people. The current conditions need to be improved,” she said. “People shouldn’t be facing exclusion, racism and even preventable death in a hospital. I don’t want to see my own children have to fight for their human rights in a hospital. Ultimately, I want to see that change in my lifetime.”
Heartened by change in the academy
As a student, Ambtman-Smith has seen significant change at Western supporting reconciliation, including the launch of the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, the appointment of a vice-provost and associate vice-president (Indigenous Initiatives) and support for Indigenous scholars and communities.
She will be one of four Indigenous faculty members in the department of geography and environment, making it the largest cluster of Indigenous scholars in the discipline in Canada.
“I’ve seen change in the Indigenization efforts at Western in the short time I’ve been here. That makes me hopeful this will be a good place to invest my energy and time,” she said. “I’ve had terrific support from people like Dr. Chantelle Richmond, who are leading the way, making the space and creating opportunities for students like me to be successful.”
-with files from Keri Ferguson, Western News
https://news.westernu.ca/2023/06/ambtman-smith-new-indigenous-prof-social-science/
What People Are Saying
Time. I’ve spent the last eight months dancing with time. Time to be a mother. Time to be a student. Time to pay the bills. Time to cook. Time to advocate. Time to clean. Time to be a wife, daughter, auntie, and friend. Time to self. Time to practice culture. Time to do ceremony. Time for exercise. Time to run a business. Time to homeschool. Before the pandemic, I always knew how to use my time, and there never seemed to be enough. Once the virus hit, I had to learn how to do more things at one time in a confined space. I became filled with uncertainty, fear and anxiety, losing track of time and space. I needed my family to be safe, and I fought to keep them well. To keep them well, I needed to be balanced mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
- Time for Unseen Medicine, Vanessa Ambtman-Smith