Land-based activities key to healing: Chiefs

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This article was published 27/01/2023 (1160 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new program and funding from the Southern Chiefs’ Organization aims to facilitate healing through land-based and cultural activities in First Nations communities.

Culture and language are medicine that can get to the root of systemic issues plaguing First Nations communities, including violence and substance use, said SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels.

The SCO Land-Based Healing Fund, announced Wednesday, will provide up to $25,000 to its member Dakota and Anishinaabe nations and organizations to facilitate land-based healing projects.

Daniels said the organization will identify and distribute the funds to community-led initiatives that promote self and community wellness with ties to the land.

Many offenders often suffer from mental health issues, he said, caused in large part by the realities of the trauma they faced in childhood.

“As they get older, they’re put in circumstances that have created sort of a criminality aspect to who they are, and they’re trying to find a way out of that, but we have to be able to create that and support that.”

Equally important in preventing violent crime and addiction is rethinking Canada’s current justice system and transforming it into one that focuses on restorative justice and involves a holistic approach to healing.

The current justice and education systems don’t go far enough to protect and prevent issues, Daniels said, especially on First Nations.

“Our graduation rates are low, and our children are more in care. There’s so many social and economic factors that require a whole of government, a whole of society change.”

Daniels hopes SCO’s new initiative and funding will be part of that. While the harm-reduction program aims to support people who use substances, the primary focus of the healing fund is to provide opportunities for those struggling with addiction to seek healing on the land.

Including people who use substances in land-based and cultural activities promotes healing and wellness, Daniels said.

“It’s a natural relationship that we have created and established over thousands and thousands of years … it’s the land that [enables] us to be alive. We’re dependent on all the elements,” he said, “and so I think it’s a good thing that we’re able to now recognize that and utilize it in our healing practices.”

Daniels wishes land-based learning will also become more popular among young people and children, since it offers prevention and protection from unhealthy outcomes such as substance use and violence. Due to colonization and especially residential schools, many Indigenous people lost their connection to the land that is so vital to their overall heath, he added.

“That history is there. It’s deeply embedded in the psyche of many First Nations peoples,” Daniels said.

Earlier this week, members of Rolling River First Nation held a march to bring awareness to family violence in the community. Chief Wilfred McKay agreed with Daniels, saying mental health issues and substance use often contribute to violence.

“There’s a lot of mental health issues that we deal with, and I’m not just talking [about in] Rolling River, [but] right across the country. And this COVID-19 business didn’t help matters,” McKay said.

The pandemic and its related health mandates, such as lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, made it difficult for victims of domestic violence to flee their abuser or seek support since many social agencies either had to shut down or reduce their accessibility.

While it’s hard to find the right answers to complicated issues like family violence and substance use, McKay said his message to those struggling is that there is support available.

“There’s counsellors out there that are ready and willing, on standby to help,” he said.

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