Grant: Project Grant

"Everyone is struggling with this same problem, diabetes, it's a huge problem and we are trying to get people to start the conversation to see how to fix it ... it's not a simple pill or injection ... It involves the cost of food, the housing, the social structures, the traditional teachings, the animals on the land." Paul Linton, Eeyou Istchee James Bay Cree Community member Before the 1950s, type 2 diabetes (TTD) was unheard of in most Indigenous populations. However, since the number of Indigenous peoples with TTD has increased and age of diagnosis is younger than in the general population. Current treatments for TTD are based on a biomedical worldview, or western science, such as increased physical activity and dietary changes. Health from this worldview focuses on the physical body. Most Indigenous people, however, look at the whole body (emotional, spiritual, physical and mental) in relational to the land. Since Europeans, the colonizers, came to North America or Turtle Island, Indigenous people have lost their relationship to the land, gathering and hunting less traditional foods while rates of TTD continue to rise. To address this, a diverse group of settler and Indigenous peoples developed a 4-year multiple-methods study that will use Indigenous methodologies, such as ceremonies, stories and oral history, which will be guided by 4 Elders. The study aims to value and respect Indigenous, biomedical, and historical perspectives of health and TTD using decolonizing and two-eyed seeing approaches. Research objectives to address are to: 1) Create spaces to elevate Indigenous knowledge relevant to TTD, relation to the land and traditional foods; and 2) Collaboratively build bridges between Indigenous knowledge and places where Indigenous people access TTD healthcare services. The hope is that new pathways to address TTD will be realized through Indigenous peoples' awakening to original teachings of the importance of the sacred relationship to the land.