The Nuxalk Sputc Project, Eulachon Management and Well-Being By
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Standing up for sputc: The Nuxalk Sputc Project, eulachon management and well-being by Rachelle Beveridge B.Sc.H., Queen’s University, 1999 M.Sc., Université de Montreal, 2008 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Social Dimensions of Health Program © Rachelle Beveridge, 2019 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. Supervisory committee Standing up for sputc: the Nuxalk Sputc Project, eulachon management, and well-being by Rachelle Beveridge B.Sc.H., Queen’s University, 1999 M.Sc., Université de Montréal, 2008 Supervisory Committee Dr. Grant Murray, Co-Supervisor Department of Geography Dr. Bernie Pauly, Co-Supervisor School of Nursing Dr. Chris Darimont, Departmental Member Department of Geography ii Abstract The coastal landscape currently known as British Columbia, Canada represents a complex and rapidly evolving site of collaboration, negotiation, and conflict in environmental management, with important implications for Indigenous community well-being. I ground this work in the understanding that settler-colonialism and its remedies, resurgence and self-determination, are the fundamental determinants of Indigenous health and related inequities. Through a case study of eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus) in Nuxalk territory, I take interest in systemic mechanisms of dispossession and resurgent practices of (re)connection and knowledge renewal as mediators of the relationship between environmental management and Indigenous health and well-being. This work is based in four years of observation, participation, and leadership in the Nuxalk Sputc (Eulachon) Project, a community-directed process that aimed to document and articulate Nuxalk knowledges about eulachon. Functionally extirpated from the region since 1999, these valued fish provide an example of contested management jurisdiction and resurgent Indigenous environmental practice. As a resurgent research and management process, the Sputc Project re- centered Nuxalk knowledges, voices, priorities, and leadership while advocating Indigenous leadership in environmental management. This case study was conducted within the context of the Sputc Project, aiming to share substantive and methodological learnings gleaned from the project, which served as an ideal focal point for the interrogation of relationships between Indigenous well-being, research methodologies, engagement and representation of Indigenous knowledges, and environmental management. Applying a critical, decolonising, community-engaged approach, this work comprises four papers, each drawing on a particular thread of the knowledge generated through this work. In Paper 1, I seek to establish the connection of eulachon and their management to Nuxalk health and well-being. Detailing three stages of this relationship (abundance, collapse, and renewal), I show how the effects of environmental management, and resulting dispossession or reconnection, are mediated by cultural knowledges, practices, responsibilities, and relationships. Turning to research methodology in Paper 2, I examine how Nuxalk people and knowledges guided the Sputc Project process, interrogating the role of critical, decolonising, and Indigenous theories in the elaboration of Indigenous research methods in environmental management and iii beyond. In Paper 3, I consider how the Sputc Project respectfully articulated and represented Nuxalk knowledges in order to retain relational accountability and strengthen Nuxalk management authority, while promoting values, practices, and relationships essential to Nuxalk well-being. In Paper 4, I demonstrate how the Sputc Project strengthened Nuxalk management authority from the ground up, detailing the practical management priorities that arose through the project process, including those related to interjurisdictional engagement of Indigenous leadership. I end with a reflection on this work’s implications for decolonising health equity and environmental impact assessment frameworks. Highlighting how Indigenous health and well- being is supported by ancestral knowledges and reconnecting relationships, including those involving people, places, and practices related to environmental management, I emphasize the importance of Indigenous leadership (vs. knowledge integration) in environmental management research and practice. A final section seeks to inform decolonising community-engaged research, sharing limitations and learnings related to appropriate engagement, articulation, and representation of Indigenous knowledges. iv Table of Contents Supervisory committee ii Abstract iii Table of Contents v List of Figures, Images, and Maps viii Abbreviations ix Nuxalk glossary x Acknowledgments xi PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Overview 1 Problem statement: the big picture “why” and objectives 1 Dissertation structure and overview 4 A note on terminology 6 2. Conceptual framework: decolonizing health equity 8 Indigenous health, well-being, and health equity 10 A decolonizing health equity framework 17 3. Background 21 Governance and (de)colonization 21 Indigenous knowledges 29 Environmental management 33 Health and environmental management 42 4. Context 50 A brief history of CCFN dispossession 50 Current management context: Unceded territory, unrelinquished authority 53 Nuxalk well-being 58 Nuxalk Eulachon 63 v PART B. METHODOLOGY 69 5. Research theory and approach 72 Critical and Indigenous theories 73 Research approach 75 Decolonizing research 81 My theory and approach 84 Guiding principles 84 6. Personal location 90 My physical location - how I got here 90 Personal location and motivation 92 7. Research methods 95 Research initiation: ethics and permissions 95 Knowledge documentation: research materials and knowledge sources 96 Interpretation and representation 100 PART C: PAPERS (RESULTS) 104 8. Papers introduction 104 Authorship and format 106 Paper 1 108 Paper 2 138 Paper 3 173 Paper 4 215 PART D: CONCLUSION 244 9. Contributions and conclusions 244 Revisiting the big picture 244 Conclusions 247 Contributions 248 Intended audience and future work 265 vi 10. Limitations and learnings 268 Resistance to and subversion of settler colonialism (decolonization) 268 Reflexivity and social location 270 Responsibility/accountability to Indigenous people and places 273 Epistemic accountability and wholism 276 Respectful, appropriate methods 279 Representation and voice 281 Reciprocity and meaningful outcomes 285 Reflection 286 REFERENCES 287 FIGURES and IMAGES 339 Figure 1: Four overlapping topics addressed by the Sputc Project (SP) 339 Figure 2: Decolonizing health equity model 340 Figure 3: Indigenous research approaches 341 Figure 4: Dissertation topics in relation to land and sputc. 342 Map 1: Eulachon spawning rivers on the central coast 343 APPENDIX 344 vii List of Figures, Images, and Maps All figures, images, and maps are located at the end of the dissertation. Figure 1: Four overlapping topics addressed by the Sputc Project Figure 2: Decolonising health equity model Figure 3: Indigenous research approaches Figure 4: Dissertation topics in relation to land and sputc. Map 1: Eulachon spawning rivers on the central coast viii Abbreviations CBPR: Community-based Participatory Research CCFN: Central Coast First Nations (Nuxalk, Heiltsuk, Wuikinuxw, and Kitasoo/XaiXais) CCIRA: Central Coast Indigenous Resource Society CFN: Coastal First Nations (including CCFN, North Coast Nations, and Haida Nation) DFO: Fisheries and Oceans Canada (formerly, Department of Fisheries and Ocean) FNFC: First Nations Fisheries Council of British Columbia IK: Indigenous knowledge SARA: Canadian Species at Risk Act (2002) TRC: Truth and Reconciliation Commission ix Nuxalk glossary Alhqulh ti Sputc (phrase): The Eulachon Book Alhtiixw (n): Eulachon nets IIxsa ti mutilh (phrase): We are medicine for each other. Kanusyam a snknic (phrase): Delicious; real good food (a Nuxalk recipe book). Kalhcmanwastsut (v): To gather one’s spirit back. K’umsiwa (n): White person, settler. Masmasalaniiuxw (n): The four carpenters Nuxalk (adj): Adjective to describe the quality of being Nuxalk, or Nuxalk derivation e.g. Nuxalk language, songs, etc. Nuxalkmc (n): People of Nuxalk ancestry, originating from four separate territories. Pult’alt: For those not yet born. Satl’a (n): A river canoe traditionally used in eulachon fishing. Long and shallow, satl’a were navigated by poling and were once the main way to get up and down the river. Smaw ti slq’ilh (phrase): One heart and one mind. Smayusta (n): Ancestral creation or origin story. Smsma (n): Everyday story. Sputc (n): Eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus). I have chosen to consider this noun as plural in both English and Nuxalk language (e.g. “they are an important fish” vs. “it is an important fish”). Sputcm (n): Eulachon season / eulachon time. Sta(ta)ltmc (n): Stataltmc are Nuxalk ancestral or hereditary leaders. Their roles are complex and include household representation and community decision-making. Singular form is Staltmc. Stl’cw (n): Ways of being, including implicit values and guidelines. Stutwiniitscw: Thank you. Sxayaaxw (n): Explicit rules and laws; practices. Tl’mstaliwa (n): The full human experience, self-actualization x Acknowledgments Thanks to my family: Dave, Maddy, and Bri for your almost endless support and hugs, patience and love; Mom and Dad for getting me started and finished. Stutwiniitscw