Projects
Stamsh Slhanay Lhawat II
The SSLII Project – Stamsh Slhanay Lhawat II (which roughly translate from Squamish to Warrior Women Healing II) is providing meaningful, culturally safe involvement of Indigenous people in the research and the research team. Focusing on urban Indigenous women and gender-diverse people living in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighbourhood, this population-level intervention research will support the wholistic healing and wellness journeys of Indigenous women. Working with and centred on Indigenous women and gender-diverse people residing in this area, the project will design and deliver a land- and culture-based wellness curriculum, including gender-specific and trauma-informed land- and culture-based healing and expressive therapies, reinforced by family involvement. We build on the findings and successes from our CIHR-funded catalyst pilot titled, Stamsh Slhanay Lhawat (SSLI), notably that a connection with the land and cultural identity are vital for urban Indigenous women and gender-diverse folks to begin and sustain their wellness journey.
The proposed research aims to enhance and nurture urban Indigenous women and gender-diverse people’s connections with their culture leading towards improved wholistic health and wellness. Indigenous-centred and gender-specific wellness interventions are urgently needed by urban Indigenous women who often experience poverty, racism, stigma, addictions, and chronic and infectious diseases. Participants are expected to continue the healing they initiated through SSLI and other land- and culture-based healing activities, achieving increased wellness, spiritual independence and cultural wisdom.
Our Peer and Community Research Associates will lead and actively participate in knowledge mobilization, as they have in our previous studies. The findings from this study can be used to inform Indigenous wellness care and services planning with urban Indigenous populations across Canada and other similar settler-colonial nations. The study’s findings will be shared with the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) to help inform their directions regarding Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people living in inner-city environments.
This project is funded by the CIHR.
For more information contact: pewaseskwan@usask.ca
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Most of our team lives and works on Treaty 6 territory and the Homeland of the Métis. The original peoples of these lands are the Cree, Saulteaux, Dene, Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, and Métis. Others are based in Vancouver, on the unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. We encourage everyone, wherever they are, to learn about the Indigenous people of the lands on which they live and work. We seek to become engaged allies together. In the spirit of truth and reconciliation, we respect the self-determination of First Nations, Métis and Inuit – in their cultures, languages and their pursuit of wellness.
© 2023 Pewaseskwan (the Indigenous Wellness Research Group) | Office of the Cameco Chair in Indigenous Health and Wellness, University of Saskatchewan.