Research relating to the health and resilience of Indigenous youth tends to focus on access to nature and land in rural home communities, such as reservations or traditional and ancestral territories. Little consideration has been given to how urban Indigenous youth seek and/or maintain connections to land and nature as a resource for promoting health, resilience, and well-being. This study addresses this gap by exploring Indigenous youths’ engagements with land and nature in an urban Canadian context. The study was based on the understanding that Indigenous perspectives of health, nature and resilience generally differs from non-Indigenous peoples and that a relationship with nature is considered to be a significant component of their lives, identities, and cultures.
This study used a “two-eyed seeing†framework, which in this case, meant having Indigenous and Western “ways of knowing†(worldviews) working alongside each other. This approach was facilitated by having both Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers on the research team. The study extended over an entire year and included four sessions of data collection with 28 urban Indigenous youth (age 16-25) from central Canada. This timeframe gave the researchers the opportunity to explore participants’ changes in and perceptions of resilience and well-being over the seasons. At the beginning of each session, participating youth were given digital cameras and invited to take pictures over a two-week period of different aspects of their lives that support their resilience, general health, or well-being. The researchers then conducted talking circle interviews with the youth to learn more about the meanings, interpretations, and experiences reflected in the photos. This research approach – referred to as “photo elicitation†– focuses on the images as a point of conversation rather than on the youth themselves. The goal in this case was “to explore youths’ perspectives of ‘how’ and ‘why’ a connection to the land or nature in their urban contexts was important to them.†The photo elicitation process was used to help participants be more comfortable and open during the interview.
Photos taken by the youth included (1) places and spaces (buildings, youth centers, and street corners), (2) people (family, friends, and partners), and (3) ceremonial or cultural objects (traditional medicines, drums, and powwow dresses). While the stories and photos generated by the youth were diverse, aspects of and relations with nature or the “land†surfaced as a central theme. The youth described these relations or connections as resources helping them cope with various stressors in their daily lives. Three related themes emerging from their photos and stories include (1) nature as a calming place; (2) building metaphors of resilience; and (3) providing a sense of hope.
These findings indicate that “connections with land and nature may be a hidden strength or source of resilience and wellbeing†for Indigenous youth living in urban environments. Public health and municipal agencies should thus consider providing more culturally safe and meaningful natural environments for Indigenous youth in their communities.
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