Land and nature as sources of health and resilience among Indigenous youth in an urban Canadian context: a photovoice exploration

Abstract

Background: Population and environmental health research illustrate a positive relationship between access to greenspace or natural environments and peoples' perceived health, mental health, resilience, and overall well-being. This relationship is also particularly strong among Canadian Indigenous populations and social determinants of health research where notions of land, health, and nature can involve broader spiritual and cultural meanings. Among Indigenous youth health and resilience scholarship, however, research tends to conceptualize land and nature as rural phenomena without any serious consideration on their impacts within urban cityscapes. This study contributes to current literature by exploring Indigenous youths' meaning-making processes and engagements with land and nature in an urban Canadian context. Methods: Through photovoice and modified Grounded Theory methodology, this study explored urban Indigenous youth perspectives about health and resilience within an inner-city Canadian context. Over the course of one year, thirty-eight in-depth interviews were conducted with Indigenous (Plains Cree First Nations and Métis) youth along with photovoice arts-based and talking circle methodologies that occurred once per season. The research approach was also informed by Etuaptmumk or a "two-eyed seeing" framework where Indigenous and Western "ways of knowing" (worldviews) can work alongside one another. Results: Our strength-based analyses illustrated that engagement with and a connection to nature, either by way of being present in nature and viewing nature in their local urban context, was a central aspect of the young peoples' photos and their stories about those photos. This article focuses on three of the main themes that emerged from the youth photos and follow-up interviews: (1) nature as a calming place; (2) building metaphors of resilience; and (3) providing a sense of hope. These local processes were shown to help youth cope with stress, anger, fear, and other general difficult situations they may encounter and navigate on a day-today basis.

Childhood nature connection and constructive hope: A review of research on connecting with nature and coping with environmental loss

“…And they found retreats in nature where they could escape day‐to‐day stresses, relax, ‘unplug’, and be alone or with close friends. Through photovoice, ‘talking circles’ and interviews, Indigenous youth in Canadian cities revealed that they found calm, hope and metaphors of resilience in urban nature (Hatala, Njeze, Morton, Pearl, & Bird‐Naytowhow, 2020). When teens in Taiwan were interviewed about ‘their most connected moments in nature’, their most memorable teen experiences often involved deep sensory immersion in wild environments far from urban areas, where they experienced the thrill of achievement during challenging activities like hiking and stream‐tracking, awe and excitement at nature's beauty and calm and relaxation (Tseng & Wang, 2020).…”

Smart Indigenous Youth: The Smart Platform Policy Solution for Systems Integration to Address Indigenous Youth Mental Health

“…Smart Indigenous Youth is the first initiative to utilize digital citizen science approaches to focus on culture and local Indigenous Knowledge in understanding the pathways through which land-based active living influences mental health. This initiative builds on previous research on Indigenous youth engagement with nature using photovoice and the Two-Eyed Seeing framework [ 43 ]. This nature-based research concluded that urban Indigenous youth found nature to be a calming place that enables them to cope with stress, anger, and fear, among other difficulties they face in everyday life.…”

Intersectionality of Resilience: A Strengths-Based Case Study Approach With Indigenous Youth in an Urban Canadian Context

“…A key element of resilience supported in current research is a concept of “culture continuity,” often defined as reestablishing expressions of Indigenous identity and belonging through connections with the land or environment, language, and spiritual or cultural practices (Chandler & Lalonde, 2008; Hatala et al, 2020; Kirmayer et al, 2011; Rowhani & Hatala, 2017; Toombs et al, 2016). Connected with the histories of colonization and cultural suppression, many Indigenous youth today are keen to contribute to a new kind of future for their community, one that represents cultural pride, respect of Indigenous worldviews, and resistance to, or a challenging of, the dominant Western European ways of knowing and being (Fanian et al, 2015).…”

“…Although definitions of resilience can vary, it is most often defined as reduced vulnerability to environmental risk experiences, the overcoming of stress or adversity, or a relatively good outcome despite acute distress (Liebenberg, 2020; Masten, 2015; Rutter, 2012; Ungar, 2013). Albeit diverse, based on unique histories, cultures, and languages, Indigenous perspectives of resilience are often grounded at a cultural level and are focused on the relationships that exist between community and culture across generations and geographical settings (Isbister-Bear et al, 2017; Hatala et al, 2020; Rowhani & Hatala, 2017; Toombs et al, 2016). From the perspectives of First Nations in southern Canada, for example, resilience has been defined as a person’s ability to thrive despite a history of colonial influences and the effects of this history, as well as cultural connectedness and revitalization of language, spirituality, and culture (Hatala et al, 2016; Kirmayer et al, 2011; Snowshoe et al, 2017).…”