Charting a New Course Collaborative Environmental Health Mapping with the Isga Nation in Alberta, Canada By Katherine Anne Peterson A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Environment Department of Environment and Geography University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Copyright © 2015 by Katherine Anne Peterson ABSTRACT Many Indigenous communities around the world are facing a health crisis aggravated by environmental degradation and dispossession. Through community-based participatory research, we examined barriers to land use, declining environmental health and human health implications for the Isga People in west- central Alberta, Canada. Through interviews, land use-and-occupancy and traditional and local knowledge of environmental change was spatially documented. Key concerns including declining wildlife health and water quality were largely attributed to the petroleum and forestry industries. Barriers included the encroachment of industry, agriculture and urban development, and a legacy of state- imposed assimilation policies. Human health concerns were associated with these barriers and environmental degradation along with a loss of connection to land and cultural practices. However, community resilience was also evident in the persistence of land use and cultural revival. Underlying environmental and sociopolitical factors are crucial for the health and wellbeing of the Isga and Indigenous Peoples worldwide. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Ish Nish Pinamud to the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation and Paul First Nation for inviting me to participate in the In-Land-and-Life research project and for all the support that I have received along the way. Ish Nish Pinamud to all of the research participants for the knowledge they have shared and the teachings they have given me. Many thanks to my advisor Dr. Stéphane McLachlan for the opportunity to take my learning and growth in directions I had never quite imagined, and for all of his insight, encouragement and support throughout the course of my degree. Thanks to Dr. Naomi Krogman for her tremendous support over the years of my academic and career goals, including as a member of my thesis committee. Thanks to Dr. Ryan Brook for his support as a thesis committee member and for his advice and help in getting In-Land- and-Life, the wildlife sampling study and the mapping project off the ground. And thanks also to Dr. Shirley Thompson for stepping in at the last minute as the internal examiner for my thesis defense! Ish Nish Pinamud to Misty Potts-Sanderson for making In-Land-and-Life happen, for caring so much about the land and the future of her People, and for her friendship as well as all of her guidance, insight and feedback along the way. Ish Nish Pinamud to Daisy Potts for taking me in and making me feel welcome, for all of her guidance and wisdom in the ways of the Isga, for all the laughs and meals shared, and for all her help with the interviews, campouts and many other aspects of the research. Ish Nish also to Percy Potts, the late Zachary Potts, Eva Potts, Rennie Letendre, Angela Jones, Brenda Kootenay, Andrea Kootenay, Daniel Kootenay, Bernice Bull, Orlando Alexis, Winona Alexis, Francis Alexis, Cameron Alexis, Miranda Aginas Alexis, and Gilbert Potts for their support and feedback in various ways throughout the research process and my own learning journey. Many thanks also to the supportive folks in the Environmental Conservation Lab and wider University of iii Manitoba community, including Dr. Jill Oakes, Dr. Chris Trott, Bradley Kennedy, Anna Weier, Stefan Epp- Koop, Dr. Andrew Miller, Tamara Steffensen, Karlah Rudolph, Dayna Kroeker, Babawale Odunuga, Troy Stozek, Dean Rennie, Dr. Colin Anderson and Jing Ma. Thanks to Charlene Nielsen, GIS Analyst at the University of Alberta, for all of her help with the GIS component of the mapping study. Thanks to Alison Palmer of PrioNet Canada for coming up with what became the title of my thesis! I would also like to thank Dr. Tanja Schramm for sharing her research as well as her perspective on working with the Isga and other Indigenous communities in Alberta. And many thanks to my friends Natanielle Felicitas and Daniel Emberg for putting me up and for their kind hospitality in Winnipeg during my trips for conferences and also my defense. Thank you to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), PrioNet Canada and the Alberta Prion Research Institute for their funding of In-Land-and-Life, and also to the Manitoba Network Environments for Aboriginal Health Research (NEAHR) for their financial support of the environmental health mapping study and my graduate studies. I am grateful also to have been a recipient of an Oakes-Riewe Aboriginal-Environmental Studies Research Award and an Aboriginal Issues Press Scholarship. I would also like to thank my family- my parents Rayma and Bill and brother Dan for encouraging and believing in me, and thanks to dad for his help with editing. Finally, my husband Raydel Martínez Portuondo has been an incredible pillar of support for me for the last five years through some particularly trying times. His love, patience, humor and understanding have inspired me and kept me going. Muchas gracias, el amor de mi vida. iv DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to the late Stanley Alexis, the late Zachary Potts, the late Darrell Letendre, the late Lacey (Charlie) Kootenay, and the late Jamie Kootenay. It is also dedicated to all of the Isga children and youth who are learning the ways of their culture and counting on a healthy environment in the years to come. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….iii DEDICATION ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….....v TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…..vi LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………viii LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….viii LIST OF PLATES ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………viii 1 ABA WASHDED: INTRODUCTION ………………………..………………………………………………………………1 1.1 Environmental and Human Health in Indigenous Lands and Communities ………….1 1.2 Oil Country and Indigenous Peoples: The Intensity of Industry in Alberta …………...3 1.3 In-Land-and-Life and the Mapping Study ……………………………………………………………………….5 1.4 Research Purposes and Objectives .......................................................................................6 1.5 Chapter References ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………...8 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………14 2.1 Indigenous Health and Environmental Justice …………………………………………………………….14 2.2 Integrative Health Approaches ………………………………………………………………………………………..18 2.2.1 One Health ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...19 2.2.2 Social-Ecological Systems …………………………………………………………………………………………….....20 2.2.3 EcoHealth ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..21 2.3 Wildlife Health Risk Assessment and Communication ……………………………………………..24 2.4 Integrating Knowledge and Research Paradigms: Traditional Knowledge and Western Science ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….27 2.4.1 Indigenous, Traditional and Local Knowledge ………….…………………………………………………….29 2.4.2 Land Use-and-Occupancy Mapping ……………………….…………………………………………………….…32 2.4.3 Participatory Mapping and Geospatial Technologies …….……………………………………………….34 2.5 Chapter References …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….40 3 THE ISGA NATION IN ALBERTA ……………………………………………………………………………………………56 3.1 The Isga Nation: the Isga of Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation and Paul First Nation ...56 3.2 Political Context ………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………...58 3.3 Yusbemakina: Isga Ways of Knowing ……………………………..…………………………………….……….59 3.4 Chapter References …………………………………………………………….……………………………………………...63 4 METHODOLOGY ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….65 4.1 Methodological Approach ………………………………………………………………………………………………..65 4.2 Evolution of the Study Design ………………………………………………………………………………………….67 4.3 Data Collection, Analysis and Ethical Considerations ……………………………………………….69 4.4 Chapter References …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….73 vi 5 ISGA LAND USE AND OCCUPANCY ………………………………………………………………………………….…75 5.1 Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………75 5.2 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…75 5.2.1 Indigenous Land Justice …………………………………………………………………………………………….…….75 5.2.2 Barriers to Indigenous Land Use and Occupancy in Alberta, Canada ……………….…….……….78 5.2.3 The Isga People and Territories …………………………………………………………………………….…………80 5.3 Purpose and Objectives ..........................................................................................................82 5.4 Methodology ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….83 5.4.1 Methodological Approach ………………………………………………………………………………………….…..83 5.4.2 Research Design and Methods ………………………………………………………………………………….…….84 5.5 Findings ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…87 5.5.1 The Land from an Isga Perspective ……………………………………………………………………….…………87 5.5.2 Barriers to Land Use and Occupancy ……………………………………………………………………….………93 5.5.3 Responses to Barriers ………………………………………………………………………………….………………..101 5.6 Discussion ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………..105 5.7 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………….…114 5.8 Chapter References ………………………………………………………………………………………….…………….…118