b'HEALING INITIATIVESA scene from one of four land-based healing camps organized by ONWA and Carleton University that promote wellness and healing L AND-BASEDHealing By Nikita Weiss DayFour initiatives that aim to reconnect Indigenous people to their land show why its important to Indigenous self-identityThrough her writing, Indigenous author Helen Knott tells her storyN ow is an exciting time for those raised on the land,The women who attended these camps went on walks to collect spruce with their families and communities, to tell their storiesroot and other medicines from the land; they set up teaching lodges and of healing and recovering from sexual violence and addiction and share their knowledge. Through land-basedshared their histories; they listened to traditional stories, wrote poems healing initiatives, many Indigenous peoples are taking positive stepsand created artwork. Eleven of the women received their trapping towards reclaiming and revitalizing that which was almost takenlicences, making them eligible to apply for a trapping permit so they away through genocide and colonialism. could go on the land by themselves or with their families. In 2016, Carleton University and the Ontario Native WomensOne of the unexpected things that happened is women were Association (ONWA) drafted a memorandum of understandingsaying that this is the first time theyve actually just been around focused on how research should look when benefiting community- other Indigenous women talking about these issues, talking about led initiatives by Indigenous people. Before receiving a catalyst grantcolonization, the Indian Act, the impact of the child welfare system on from the Canadian Institute of Health Research, they negotiated andtheir communities, genocide, explains Patricia McGuire, the Lead signed an official partnership agreement. The question they wereResearcher for this project and a Professor at Carleton Universitys looking to answer was: Can Indigenous land-based knowledgeSchool of Social Work.provide a foundation for healing and be a catalyst of wellness forAs McGuire points out, Indigenous people in residential schools were Indigenous women who have experienced colonial trauma, and iftaught to hate themselves and to hate where they came from, that so, how?their own people were savages. At the same time, settler society was being taught that as well. There are still people that dont know who Starting in 2019, they ran four land-based healing camps over athey are and the land they are connected to and dont feel the need to yearly cycle, with the last one taking place just before the COVID-19know. When youre indoctrinated like that its very difficult to come pandemic hit. Using Indigenous methodologies and culture-basedto the other side unless youre taught to, says McGuire, who is from intervention tools, they brought women back on the land to bethe Lake Nipigon area and is Indian Act affiliated with Bingwi Neyaashi taught by Indigenous knowledge keepers. It was one of the firstAnishinaabek, with paternal relatives at Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek, initiatives of its kind, and the results were impressive. Gull Bay First Nation.52Spring/Summer 2022'