The Learning Garden: Place-based Learning for Holistic First Nations Community Health

Mirella L. Stroink, Connie H. Nelson and Brian McLaren, Lakehead University

March 2010

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This work was funded by a contribution from the Canadian Council on Learning.

All documents produced by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) will be available in both French and English. However, documents produced by external organizations for CCL will be posted on the website only in the language of origin. When a full translation is not available, CCL will ensure that an executive summary is available in the other official language.

The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the authors. The Canadian Council on Learning bears no responsibility for its content.

Acknowledgements The research team would like to express their deep appreciation for the partnership we have with Ginoogaming and Aroland First Nations. The contributions of these communities as a whole, their chiefs and councils, health directors, and our own project coordinators to the entire process of this research were essential to the completion of the project. We would also like to gratefully acknowledge the contributions of our Aboriginal research participants, whose insights furthered understanding of place-based learning, culture, and food security. We also express thanks to the Canadian Council on Learning for providing the financial support for this project.

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TableofContents
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................... 5 Literature Review...................................................................................................................................... 11 Physical Health in Aboriginal Canadian Communities ............................................................. 13 Health and Connectedness in Aboriginal People ...................................................................... 15 Community Resilience, Food and Health .................................................................................. 20 First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model........................................................................ 23 The Intervention: A Learning Garden Program ........................................................................ 25 Learning Approach .................................................................................................................... 27 The Present Study ...................................................................................................................... 35 Communities ............................................................................................................................. 37 Method ..................................................................................................................................................... 38 Participants ................................................................................................................................ 38 Materials and Procedure: Quantitative Study ........................................................................... 40 Procedure: Qualitative Study .................................................................................................... 45 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................. 48 Results ....................................................................................................................................................... 49 1. Outcomes of the Learning Garden Program ........................................................................ 49 2. Process of Learning ......................................................................................................................... 53

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3. Food Behaviours, Food Values, Perceptions of Food Systems, and Correlations ................ 56 4. Place, Culture, and Food: The Role of Learning .................................................................. 64 Discussion ................................................................................................................................................. 74 Overview of Results.................................................................................................................... 74 Integration and Implications of Findings .................................................................................. 80 Limitations and Future Directions............................................................................................. 85 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 88 References ................................................................................................................................................. 90 Appendix A: Workshop Outline ............................................................................................................. 102 Appendix B: Cover Letter ....................................................................................................................... 107 Appendix C: Informed Consent .............................................................................................................. 109 Appendix E: Debriefing Letter ............................................................................................................... 124

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The Learning Garden: Place-based Learning for Holistic First Nations Community Health

Executive Summary Aboriginal peoples in Canada suffer disproportionately high rates of various health problems including diabetes and heart disease (Garriguet, 2008). In an Aboriginal worldview which understands individuals, communities, and land to be infused with an underlying spiritual unity (Hill, 2006), health can be understood to stem from a state of connectedness within individuals and between individuals, communities, and land (Ray, 2007). This holistic vision of health captures not only the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of individual health, but also a broader sense of community health. The resilience of a community is an important indicator of its overall health, and is reflected in its self-sufficiency, its adaptability, and its capacity to meet its own needs under conditions of external change (Walker, Hollinger, Carpenter & Kunzig, 2004). Food plays a unique and meaningful role in this conceptualization of health. Food affects individual nutrition but also plays a role in the social and cultural aspects of community health and can connect individuals to the land (Willows, 2005). The way that a community accesses food is also an important component of its resilience. The communities that participated in this research access the mainstream food system for the majority of their food needs, particularly convenience stores and small grocery stores in nearby towns (Ray, 2007). The resilience of this system is particularly poor in remote communities where the increased distances and tenuous transportation routes mean that not only is fresh produce more rare, more expensive, and of lower quality, it is also more likely that a disturbance (spike in fuel costs, extreme weather) will undermine the capacity of the community to meet its food needs (Lawn & Harvey, 2004). Typically, a community that is resilient in its food supply is one that produces food nearby to the people who consume that food; and in which

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there is a constant exchange and evolution of food related knowledge (Feenstra, 2002). For Canadas Aboriginal peoples, a locally rooted base of food knowledge has been dwindling as a result of residential school experiences, disruptions to intergenerational transfer, past policies and practices of forced assimilation, and environmental contamination from industry and resource extraction (Ohmagari & Berkes, 1997; Waisberg & Holzkamm, 1993). Therefore, an important part of increasing community resilience is to facilitate the exchange and development of food knowledge that is grounded in place, in the reality of the land and the life it encompasses. This report presents the development and findings of the Learning Garden program, which was developed and run in partnership with Ginoogaming and Aroland First Nations in Northwestern Ontario. With the overall aim of fostering this vision of holistic health, the Learning Garden program was developed with the purpose of increasing physical, emotional, and social indicators of health, while taking an initial step toward community resilience in the area of food by increasing local food knowledge. Specifically, the purpose of the program was to increase holistic health and to increase experience-based knowledge of both vegetable gardening and forest foods, nutrition and its link to health. For its perspective, the program drew upon the definition of health as a state of connectedness that was revealed in earlier research with Ginoogaming First Nation (Ray, 2007), and the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model developed by the Canadian Council on Learning (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007). The approach to learning was holistic, experiential and place-based (Corbiere, 2000; Friesen & Friesen, 2002; Gruenewald, 2003). The program was prepared and run in each ThepurposeoftheLearning Gardenprogramistoincrease physical,emotional,andsocial indicatorsofhealth,whiletakingan initialsteptowardcommunity resilienceintheareaoffoodby increasingknowledgeofvegetable gardening,forestfood,andnutrition.

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community by a community-based coordinator. Conceptualized as a series of workshops, participants explored their food system options, the healthfulness and sustainability of each, and the values reflected in them. Participants also shared knowledge on the foods that are available in the nearby lands and generated traditional food maps while gaining practical skills involving the tending and harvesting of both forest foods and vegetables from planted gardens. The program incorporated traditional ceremonies and the wisdom of elders. The products of the harvests were shared with elders and other community members. The purpose of the research was to (1) examine the outcomes of the program against its goals for holistic health and knowledge, and to explore three additional research questions. Specifically, (2) we observed through qualitative analysis the process of learning that unfolded in the context of the program with an eye to understanding whether the holistic, experiential, and place-based approach we used resonated with program participants. In addition, (3) we drew upon quantitative survey data to better understand participants current food behaviours, food values, and perceptions of the food system, in addition to how these perceptions and behaviours correlated with other variables of interest, including holistic health and cultural identity. Finally, (4) we explored through qualitative data the participants perceptions of place and sought a better understanding of the interactions among place, food, and culture. We adopted a mixed methods approach to this research, which was designed to include a pre-post quantitative survey of program participants, and qualitative analyses in the form of phenomenological observation, interviews with 5 individuals, and transcribed recordings of the workshop sessions. Quantitative measures included self-reported levels of physical health, emotional well-being, life satisfaction, and social capital, as well as knowledge, behaviour, values, and perceptions relating to food, and cultural identity. In Aroland a total of 43 individuals

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participated in at least one workshop, in Ginoogaming, 50 (including 5 from Constance Lake). This included school children, youth, adults, and elders. Participation in the workshops was extremely intermittent, given high rates of travel, seasonal activities in the bush, and health problems. Only 8 individuals, all in Ginoogaming, participated regularly in the workshops. As a result, we were not able to run the quantitative study as a pre-post survey design as we had intended, which presented a significant limitation to the research. Instead, we collected survey data from each willing adult throughout the program, regardless of the number of workshops they attended and when. We were thus still able to explore the second research question regarding food system usage and its correlates with a sample of 18 individuals. While we were unable to test the outcomes of the program with quantitative data, qualitative analyses revealed that the program did provide participants with moments of transformative insight, and behavioural indicators of learning Cultureemerges dynamicallyaspeople selforganizeafood systeminthecontextofa dynamicperceptionof place. were revealed particularly in the area of cultivated gardening In observing the process of learning that unfolded in the Learning Garden program, we found that participants generally preferred the experiential aspects of the program, and that some Aboriginal learners preferred to immerse their learning in their day to day lives. For these individuals, the structured bi-monthly workshop format may not have been ideal. Likewise, we observed cultural differences in how the garden is understood. While the program was flexible enough to adapt to these different understandings and preferences, future applications of the program will incorporate this variability in its design. Our analyses of participants perceptions of their food systems revealed that the knowledge base for cultivated and forest food was limited and that it was largely convenience

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and price that drove people to the dominant food system for the majority of their food. Nonetheless, correlational results also indicated that engaging in forest food activities such as hunting and fishing, and valuing local foods were associated with positive, healthy qualities such as self-reported health, life satisfaction, and social capital. Therefore, even though knowledge and use of the local food system was limited, there may be benefits to accessing this food system for well-being. Qualitative findings regarding participants perceptions of place were particularly intriguing. Participants perceptions of their traditional lands were marked by concerns of contamination and an awareness of change. The change they perceived in their lands was attributed to human activities in the Western culture, such as climate change and industry. Further observation revealed, however, that participants perceptions of place were much broader than we had assumed. Specifically, their notions of place included the physical structures of the global food system in their communities, such as nearby grocery and convenience stores, and could also be argued to include less tangible elements of the global place, such as media, popular fashion, and technology. This insight regarding participants broad understandings of place and place-based learning resulted in some theoretical developments regarding the interactions among learning, food, place, and culture. These insights suggest that culture emerges dynamically as people self-organize a food system in the context of a dynamic perception of place. The blended and changing view of place that we observed in our participants shapes their quest for food and the process of adaptation along with the resulting cultural values and worldviews. In future work, we will continue to explore how the existence and evolution of two food systems within one broad perceived place shapes the learning of cultural information, and how this process may impact well-being on both individual and community levels.

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Further discussion and integration of these findings is offered along with suggested implications for policy in the areas of learning and education, food systems, and for the development of future health programs. Further research in a number of areas is also suggested and a plan for the continued development of the Learning Garden program is presented.

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The Learning Garden: Place-based Learning for Holistic First Nations Community Health

Literature Review The concept of health is surprisingly difficult to define. Individuals and cultures show considerable variability in how they understand health and what they consider to be its core and contributing components. In a relatively recent step away from the classic medical or purely biophysical model of health, Western culture and the medical establishment expanded the notion of health to include a broader state of well-being than the absence of physical disease. This broader, bio-psycho-social model of health is articulated in the definition of health presented by the World Health Organization in 1948, a complete state of physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. In this more holistic view of health, psychological and social well-being are recognized as important components in a state of overall wellness that defines health (Raphael, 2004). Conceptualizations of health show still further variability, however, particularly when viewed across cultures. For example, Australian Aboriginal peoples have been reported to define health in this way, health does not just mean the physical well-being of the individual but refers to the social, emotional, spiritual and cultural well-being of the whole community (Raphael, 2004). This view of health as a collective state transcends specific individuals, and also includes not only the social and psychological aspects of health as captured in the WHO definition, but also spiritual and cultural components. The Australian Aboriginal definition of health also extends across time through a cyclical worldview of life-death-life. Likewise, in a qualitative study on how Aboriginal Canadians in the same Ojibway communities that participated in the present study defined health, it was found that health reflected a state of connectedness, connectedness with spirit, culture, community, land, and

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family, as well as within the individual self. This state of connectedness then manifested itself in a range of individual and community health outcomes, including physical and emotional health in individuals, as well as community social capital, positive environmental conditions, and food security (Ray, 2007). In this Aboriginal view of health, participation in traditional ceremonies such as talking and drumming circles, smudging, cedar sweat lodge ceremonies, craft making, singing, food gatherings, traditional teachings, games, and powwows are all believed to have spiritual connections that bring well-being and connectedness to the individuals in their community (Hunter, Logan, Goulet, & Barton, 2006). When developing health promotion and health learning programs, the particular definition of health that is held by participating community members is a critical piece of information. Who gets to decide what optimal state of health should be promoted in a health promotion program, on the basis of whose model of health? These are critical questions, and the present research was conducted in the context of a learning program which sought to draw upon the understanding of health that was revealed in qualitative research with this community (Ray, 2007) and upon a model of learning developed with First Nations professionals in Canada (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007). In so doing, the overall aim of the program was to promote a holistic vision of health grounded in a profound state of connectedness that recognizes the interdependence of individual and community health. This vision of holistic health is thus inclusive of the concept of community resilience. Resilient communities are self-sufficient and locally interconnected enough to meet the needs of their own members despite changes and disruptions that occur externally; they are adaptable and sustainable in that they do not undermine their own capacity to maintain function (Capra, 2002; Walker, Hollinger, Carpenter & Kunzig, 2004). With the overall aim of fostering this vision of holistic health, we developed a

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learning program whose purpose was to increase physical, emotional, and social indicators of holistic health, and to take one first step toward community resilience in the area of food by increasing local food knowledge. Physical Health in Aboriginal Canadian Communities Aboriginal Canadian peoples carry a disproportionate amount of the disease burden, with particular emphasis on problems relating to obesity, such as diabetes and heart disease. For example, Garriguet (2008) found that Aboriginal peoples residing in Ontario or Western provinces in 2004, aged 19 to 50 years, were two and a half times more likely than non Aboriginals to be overweight or obese. Garriguet (2008) also found this to be especially true for Aboriginal women aged 19 to 30. He found that Aboriginal women tended to have higher daily caloric intake in which they consumed an average of 359 more calories per day than nonAboriginal women. It was also found that Aboriginal women between the ages of 19 and 30 received 36% of their calories between meals as opposed to only 28% for non-Aboriginal women. There are many factors that underlie obesity, and some of these are experienced disproportionately by Aboriginal peoples. For instance, Aboriginal peoples face disparities in food security, education, employment, income, and housing, as well as lower levels of physical activity (Aboriginal Health Forum, 2008; Gracey & King, 2009; Powers, 2008). These factors may contribute to differences in obesity rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples (Garriguet, 2008). According to Story, Stevens, Himes, Stone, Rock, Ethelbah and Davis (2003), differences in rates of obesity could be due to genetics and/or environmental factors such as food, nutrition, stress, lack of physical exercise, and anxiety.

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The health consequences of paediatric, as well as adult obesity in American Indians, and Aboriginal Canadians, include Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Story et al., 2003). In many Aboriginal communities, diabetes is one of the major chronic disease problems. Diabetes is an endocrine disorder associated with increased levels of blood glucose due to inadequate insulin action (Sherwood, 2007). Diabetes can also lead to chronic complications, such as accelerated development of cardiovascular disease, end-stage renal disease, loss of visual acuity, and even limb amputations if proper care is not maintained (Story et al., 2003; Struthers, Schanche Hodge, Geishirt-Cantrell, & De Cora, 2003). In a U.S. study conducted by Devlin, Roberts, Okaya, and Xiong (2006), perceptions of diabetes and health were examined among Latino/Hispanic, Hmong, African American, and American Indian participants. All four groups felt that both individual and community health had been lost through exposure to American lifestyle. Specifically, the lack of physical activity and poor dietary habits they associated with American lifestyle were thought to cause or influence diabetes. The American Indian group, in particular, felt that their traditions and use of traditional food had been taken from them. Although the prevalence of diabetes is high, it is a relatively new issue in American Indian communities (Story et al., 2003; Struthers et al., 2003). Devlin et al., (2006) conducted a study in which participants were asked their opinions as to why diabetes has taken such a toll on the American Indian communities in such a short time. It was found that participants felt it was the process of acculturation, or the impact of mainstream American culture on traditional Indian culture and lifestyle. It is imperative to understand these high rates of obesity and diabetes in the context of the holistic, interconnected, and community-based model of health that is held in many Aboriginal

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communities. In the Western model of health, these issues are understood to stem from individual behaviours and choices in isolation. However, in the Aboriginal model of community health, they may reflect cultural, spiritual, and environmental factors, and be an issue not only for individual health but for community health as a whole. Specifically, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, as well as other health challenges, may be a function of connectedness to community, culture, and land. Health and Connectedness in Aboriginal People As indicated above, health is understood holistically in the Aboriginal worldview to include not only the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of individual health, but also a state of connectedness both within the individual and between the individual and his or her community, culture, and surrounding lands (Ray, 2007). For example, Adelson (2000) studied the meaning of health among the Cree in Northern Quebec and observed that being alive well (Miyupimaatisiiun) is determined on a daily basis by the nature and quality of the persons interactions with others, as well as his or her ability to participate in activities that are essential to being Cree, including the consumption of traditional foods and activities that connect the individual to the land. She further argues that being Cree connects the individual to the community through a common oral history in the recollections of families and individuals. Therefore, health in this Cree worldview includes the individuals connectedness with both community and culture, through common identity, oral history, and traditional activities. Likewise, in his qualitative exploration of suicide in the north, Kral (2003) observed that connection to a larger sense of family as captured in the term, all my relations is fundamental to well-being.

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The Aboriginal worldview of connectedness is infused by a sense of spirituality. Individuals, communities, and land are held together by a common, dynamic, spiritual bond. In other words, the connectedness occurs as a result of spiritual dynamics linking family, community, nature, land, ancestors, and creator. Traditional ceremonies, spiritually significant figures and medicines tap into this level of spirit and can thus play a role in the dynamics of nature and human communities (e.g., Mattern, 1999). This connection through the spiritual realm also means that humans, non-human animals, and the land share a common essence and are granted respect and a sense of equality (Simpson & Driben, 2000; Hill, 2006; McPherson & Rabb, 1993). This worldview of connectedness may serve to protect the health of the individual and community. For example, McPherson and Rabb (1993) indicate that a sense of connectedness with the land in which non-human beings are seen as being part of the community ensures that the wellness of the individual is maintained. For example, Plants and animal species are, as it were, other tribes or nations. Human economic intercourse with other species is not represented as the exploitations of impersonal material, natural resources, but as reciprocal gift giving in which both parties exchange benefits (McPherson & Rabb, 1993, p. 89). For example, the hunter is provided with the skin and flesh of the caribou and in exchange the hunter provides tobacco and artefacts to the spirit of the caribou. The hunter is able to maintain wellness by eating the meat of the caribou and the caribou maintains wellness because the offering allows it to be reborn. Likewise, Wilson (2004) explored the relationship between cultural identity and wellness among Aboriginal women in Manitoba, and observed that many of the women spoke of their personal responsibilities to family and community as part of their own sense of wellness, recognizing that their health and the health of their communities were inseparable.

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In this worldview of health as connectedness, ill-health can be seen to stem from a sense of disconnection from the unity of individuals, communities, and land. Barrios and Egan (2000) suggest that separation from a sense of connectedness within kin networks and community, whether voluntary or resulting from government policies, may lead to various emotional and physical health problems. Separation from this sense of connectedness can occur as a result of a number of factors, including historical trauma, disruptions to the land, and disruptions to community functioning. There is considerable literature on the effects of colonization and historical trauma on generations of Aboriginal people. This literature ultimately suggests that through the loss of land, language, and cultural and spiritual practices, individuals lost the structures which helped to maintain a sense of connectedness and that these experiences further led them to internalize the suffering and marginalization of their people (e.g., Duran & Duran, 1995; Hill, 2006). This trauma is then passed along over successive generations through the symptoms and behaviour patterns of parents (addictions, violence, abuse), which disrupt the adjustment of children (Wesley-Esquimaux & Smolewski, 2004). There is also literature suggesting that the destruction of the land causes a disconnection between individual and land. Wilson (2003) argued that the land provides a sense of connection to the creator, and that engaging in traditional activities on the land, like hunting, fishing, or gathering medicines, brings emotional as well as social and physical benefits. Destruction of the land through the activities of industry and hydro-electric projects has undermined the ability of Aboriginal people to experience this connection with the land. For example, Wheatley (1997) reported the experiences of the people of Grassy Narrow, whose lands were contaminated by mercury. This resulted in a loss of subsistence and a new lifestyle that was less active and less

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social than traditional lifestyle. This new lifestyle was argued to reduce self-esteem and render people unable to provide for community and family members, which in turn undermined traditional values of respect, sharing, and caring. The ensuing hopelessness was argued to result in higher rates of chronic disease, substance abuse, suicide, and loss of fitness. Gabriel Echum, A past Chief of Ginoogaming First Nation, one of the partner communities in this project, describes the devastation brought to their lands and traditional activities following water diversion and industrial activities in their area in a panel hearing available as a transcript online. Ginoogaming people have suffered immensely from hydro development. Our river systems were diverted, our Elders recall, the rivers became confused. Along with river diversion, other industries used the water systems for transporting logs. We began to witness the deterioration of our waters. The aquatic life began to deform and disintegrate. Today we cannot eat the fish from this lake, our children cannot walk to the beach and enjoy an afternoon swim. This lake will take decades upon decades before it is restored. It is contaminated by industry and no industry is willing to take responsibility for the destruction of the waters. The people of Ginoogaming will never forget the tragedy experienced when we saw our lands flooded, the four legged relations dislocated and our scaled ones become deformed. Our fathers and grandfathers vividly recall the nature, the rivers in turmoil when its very directions which were designed by our creator were redirected by man (Echum, 2008)1.

Disconnection from the family and community may also undermine health in Aboriginal communities. Traditional activities, which are often social in nature, reinforce a sense of connection (Abadian, 2006; Turton, 1997). Past policies of assimilation which discouraged or banned traditional activities resulted in the loss of opportunities for meaningful social connection and the intergenerational transmission of cultural values. It has been suggested that a loss of these activities may result in alienation and substance abuse (Cheah & Nelson, 2004), as well as
1 AccessedfromtheCanadianEnvironmentalAssessmentAgencywebsite: http://www.ceaa.gc.ca/010/0001/0001/0012/0002/0038/s11_e.htm

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lateral violence in the community (Duran & Duran, 1995; Waldram, Herring, & Kue Young, 1995). Significant correlations have been found between participation in traditional activities and lower levels of acculturative stress and substance abuse in Aboriginal communities (Duran & Duran, 1995). Traditional Aboriginal youth who are connected with their family and community have been found to consume less alcohol than youth who are not as traditional and connected (Cheah & Nelson, 2004). The causal direction of these findings is unknown, and it is likely that a downward spiral is triggered whereby a sense of disconnection triggers addictions and other selfalienating behaviours, which in turn lead to further isolation from the community. This Aboriginal research is supported by a growing body of literature on the social determinants of health, which indicate that factors such as social structure, social position, and social environment have implications for physical and mental health (e.g., Raphael, 2004, Graham, 2004). Within this literature, social capital has received increasing attention as a factor affecting health. The term social capital broadly refers to the collection of features of social groups which act as resources for individuals and which facilitate collective action (e.g., networks, trust, reciprocity) (Kawachi, Kennedy, Lochner, & Prothrow-Stith, 1997). Many of these features, particularly social cohesion, trust, social control, and perceived neighbourhood safety have been found to be associated with higher levels of self-rated health (Drukker, Buka, Kaplan, McKenzie, & Van Os, 2005; Ziersch, Baum, MacDougall, & Putland, 2005). In an attempt to organize this expansive concept, social capital has been conceptualized to include bonding (trusting, co-operative relationships among members of a group), bridging (relations of respect and mutuality between members of different groups), and linking (norms of respect and trust between people interacting across explicit lines of power or authority) components (Szreter & Woolcock, 2004). A scale assessing these components of Social Capital has been developed

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for Aboriginal respondents (Mignone, 2003). This measure was included in the present research to assess the effects of the learning program on the social aspect of holistic health. With holistic health understood as a state of connectedness that includes connection to land, community, and culture, food plays a unique and meaningful role in holistic health. Food serves a social function in that families and communities gather over the preparation and consumption of regular meals and special feasts (Sered, 1988; Vennum, 1988). Food serves a cultural function as a symbolic expression of a particular collective identity. For the Inuit and other Aboriginal people, consumption of traditional foods is a way to practice a connection with the land (Statistics Canada, 2001; Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1996; Willows, 2005). Given its importance in holistic health, it is important to consider the overall food system within which Aboriginal health unfolds, and to question the resilience of a community in relation to its capacity to provide for the food needs of its population. Community Resilience, Food and Health When health is understood to include a sense of connectedness among healthy individuals within a healthy community, it becomes necessary to consider essential aspects of community functioning, such at its food system. In other words, health thrives within a resilient community that is able to offer a range of social and tangible supports to its citizens even under changing circumstances and external shocks. As such, it is important to examine the quality, resilience and sustainability of essential systems within the community such as the food system. Like most people today, those in the communities that participated in this research access the mainstream food system, particularly convenience stores and grocery stores in nearby towns for their food (Ray, 2007). The sustainability and resilience of this global food system in general has been questioned elsewhere (e.g., Heinberg & Bomford, 2009; FAOUN, 2008), but the issues

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are exacerbated for people living in remote communities. Specifically, the mainstream food system is heavily dependent upon a processing and distribution matrix that is only able to exist in the presence of affordable fuel and well developed transportation routes (Petrini, 2007). In remote communities, food and other goods must travel further along less developed highways, and in some cases be flown in, resulting in greatly increased cost and reduced quality of fresh produce. Therefore, in these communities, fresh produce tends to be of poorer quality, and the food options that are available and accessible tend to be of lower nutritional value overall (INAC, 2007; Lawn & Harvey, 2004). Furthermore, this international food system is particularly vulnerable at its edges, in its capacity to support people in remote communities under conditions of shock or change. A spike in the cost of fuel, a highway wash-out, or weather that prohibits flying could mean that store shelves dwindle, decreasing community food security, and revealing the limited resilience of communities that depend exclusively on this food system to support their populations. Resilient communities are those which have the resources, infrastructure, and capacity to meet their own essential needs in the event of an external crisis (Hopkins, 2008). As such, these communities are able to maintain basic functioning while adapting quickly to new situations. The degree to which a community can provide its own essential food needs is an important indicator of its resilience. Typically, a community that is resilient in its food supply is one that produces food nearby to the people who consume that food; and in which there is a constant exchange and evolution of food related knowledge, including knowledge of all aspects of the food system, from production through preparation, consumption and waste management (Feenstra, 2002). Again, one can argue from this definition that the entire mainstream food system is lacking in resilience (Heinberg & Bomford, 2009). However, in remote Canadian communities that are

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primarily Aboriginal the issue is again exacerbated by the suppression of local knowledge that occurred over the past few hundred years. Specifically, for Canadas Aboriginal peoples, a locally rooted base of food knowledge has been dwindling as a result of residential school experiences, disruptions to intergenerational transfer, past policies and practices of forced assimilation, and environmental contamination from industry and resource extraction (Ohmagari & Berkes, 1997; Waisberg & Holzkamm, 1993). Therefore, an important part of increasing community resilience is to facilitate the exchange and development of food knowledge that is grounded in place, in the reality of the land and the life it encompasses. Based on the preceding review of the literature, Aboriginal Canadians adopt a holistic understanding of health in which the health of individuals, community and land are seen to be fundamentally linked. Our purpose was to develop a health promotion program, the Learning Garden, that would foster this holistic vision of health by increasing the physical and emotional well-being of individuals, as well as their perceptions of the social capital in their community. Food is an important component in several aspects of holistic health, from nutrition to cultural and social connections. It is also fundamental to community resilience, and so our health promotion program unfolded in the context of an experiential learning program in cultivated gardening and forest foods. Thus the second purpose of the program was to increase knowledge of both cultivated and forest gardens2, and the connection between nutrition and health. An

Forestgardensreferstothefoodandmedicineavailablenaturallyintheforestsandwaterways,as

wellastofoodsthatmaybeplanted,cultivated,orotherwisemanipulatedbyhumanspriortoharvestintheforest environment(e.g.,transplantingwildricetodifferentlakes).Thisisoftenreferredtoascountryfood.Wechose thetermforestgardentoexplicitlyrecognizethatthelinebetweencultivatedandforestfoodmaynotbeasrigid asoftenassumed.

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increase in knowledge and community capacity for local and cultivated food should ultimately help foster community resilience and the other components of holistic health. The interconnected and holistic Aboriginal worldview has implications not only for conceptualizations of health but also for approaches to learning. The Learning Garden program drew on the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007) for its design. This model will be described next followed by a description of the pedagogical approach and content of the Learning Garden program.

Arolandpotatoharvest

First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model

In the design of the Learning Garden program we sought an approach that would resonate most effectively with the Aboriginal learners. The First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007) was developed by a team of First Nations educators and advisors and describes an approach to learning that is consistent with the First

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Nation worldview. In this model it is recognized that the purpose of learning is to develop the skills and wisdom that will ensure the sustainability of life. Furthermore, it is understood that individual learning occurs in a cyclical manner throughout the lifespan. Therefore, rather than being a linear progression that is compartmentalized in specific ages or locations (e.g., school), learning is understood to be a developmental process that seeks to balance the spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional dimensions of the persons being and ultimately produce both individual and collective well-being. The model also describes the First Nation worldview in which the learner is embedded as a world of continual reformation, where interactive cycles, rather than disconnected events, occur. In this world, nothing is simply a cause or an effect, but is instead the expression of the interconnectedness of life (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007). This holistic and life-long view of learning that is directed toward well-being and sustainability is consistent with the purpose and perspective of the Learning Garden program. For example, the Learning Garden program uses the metaphor of the garden to conceptualize health learning. In the context of this program, the garden is not understood to be a plot of land that is separated and demarcated from the surrounding lands, but is rather understood to be the sustainable tending of any environment, forest, backyard, or community field, to produce indigenous healthy foods. As such, learning in the Learning Garden is viewed through the lens of the cyclical, interconnected, life-and health-sustaining garden, and is therefore profoundly placebased, experiential, and holistic.

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Blueberryharvest,Aroland

The First Nations Learning Model also recognizes the importance of integrating both Western and Indigenous knowledge in the learning process. The sources and domains of knowledge that individual learning draws upon in this model includes the natural world, ancestors, traditions and ceremonies, as well as the wider nation, other nations, and multiple languages. Western and Indigenous knowledge and ways of learning are viewed as complementary, and their integration forms the core of the individual learner as they seek balance among the emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical aspects of their being. The Intervention: A Learning Garden Program The present research was conducted in the context of a Learning Garden program, which was run with two Ojibway First Nation communities in Northwestern Ontario, Ginoogaming First Nation, and Aroland First Nation. Individuals from a third community, Constance Lake, also participated by commuting to Ginoogaming to attend workshops. The purpose of the program was to increase holistic health in program participants and to increase experience-based knowledge of both vegetable gardening and forest foods, as well as nutrition and its link to

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health. Based on the definition of health held by individuals in Ginoogaming (Ray, 2007) and on literature in psychology (e.g., imek, 2009; Xu & Roberts, 2010; ) and Aboriginal health (e.g., Barnett & Barnett, 2009), we operationalized holistic health to include self-rated physical health, emotional well-being, satisfaction with life, and social capital. The program incorporated the principles of the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model and the insights of the community partners and their experiences and reflections on a community garden pilot project in 2007. A detailed description of the intervention will be provided following a summary of the pedagogical approach that was adopted in the design and delivery of the program.

Buildingandsettingoutthe Ginoogaminggardenboxes

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Learning Approach As stated earlier, the definition or model of health that is held by community members is a critical factor when developing health promotion programs intended to benefit that community. Likewise, a health promotion program that emphasizes learning should also work within the model of learning that is held by its participants. In light of this concern, the Learning Garden program drew on the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model developed by the Canadian Council on Learning (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007) and the insights of the community partners the previous summer (Ray, 2007) in establishing its approach to learning. As such, the pedagogical approach taken in the design and implementation of this program was holistic, experiential, and place-based. Recent research in education has sought to define holistic education (Forbes, 2003) and its implications for learning and well-being (e.g., Cornelius-White, 2007). The common defining feature is a basic assumption that the purpose of education is to facilitate the discovery of identity, meaning, and purpose through connections to the community and the natural world (Forbes, 2003). Therefore, while a given program might be on literacy or health, the holistic approach recognizes that in addressing any of these issues, the whole person and his or her dynamic inter-relationships with family, community, and nature must be considered (e.g., Jones, 2003). For example, a management education program in a business school for economically disadvantaged students in South Africa provided a holistic approach by going beyond the provision of career-oriented skills and knowledge to include the development of psychological strengths and community engagement (Heaton, 2008). A holistic approach to learning is appropriate in the context of an Aboriginal learning program because the First Nations worldview is likewise holistic and interconnected. Holistic

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approaches to Aboriginal learning focus on education for the whole individual (Corbiere 2000), with frequent reference to the four dimensions of the medicine wheel: emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental3. These approaches to learning also foster connections with family, community, nature, and society (Friesen & Friesen, 2002). Holistic approaches to learning in Aboriginal communities can help to restore balance and promote individual and community health (Gould, 2006). The Canadian Council on Learning recognized holistic learning to be a key component of Aboriginal approaches to knowledge and learning. In the Aboriginal worldview which sees all things as interconnected in balance, knowledge is not fragmented or categorized but rather considered in the context of their underlying unity (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007). The approach to learning in this program was also experiential. Experiential learning is the process of creating knowledge through the grasping and transformation of experience (Kolb, 1984; Kolb, Boyatzis & Mainemelis, 2000). Experiential learning occurs in a cyclical manner with concrete experiences forming the basis for observation and reflection, and reflection leading to the development of abstract concepts that can be tested with more experience. Experiential learning is often conducted in the context of adventure-based or outdoor learning programs with the key feature being direct, hands-on encounters with the material to be learned (Moote & Wodarski, 1997). According to the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model, Aboriginal knowledge is based on observation and direct experience in the living classroom of the

TheprecisemeaningofthemedicinewheelvariesacrossdifferentFirstNationsbutisgenerally

consideredasymbolofwholenessthatrepresentsthesacredness,equalityandinterconnectednessofallliving thingsorallraces.Itrepresentsthefourdirectionsandlinksthesewiththefouraspectsmental,physical, emotional,andspiritual.Healthandwellbeingareunderstoodtoderivefromwholenessandbalanceacrossthese fouraspects(Dapice,2006).

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community and natural environment. Learning by doing in the context of family and community experience is seen as being an essential component of learning for Aboriginal people (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007). Another important feature of the present approach is that learning is viewed as being place-based. Recent thinking in the field of education emphasizes the importance of place in learning and development across the lifespan. Learning in place (re)connects the individual with all levels of the human and biological ecology, grounding the person in the local bioregion, and in the history and culture of the community (e.g., Gruenewald, 2003; Knapp, 2005; Rahm, 2002; Smith, 2002). As such, it is particularly relevant to Aboriginal learning, as place is fundamental to the individuals experience of the unity of creation, and particular places can hold deep spiritual significance. The meaning of place in Aboriginal learning was reviewed in the report on Learning from Place by the Canadian Council on Learning (2007). It can also be seen in recent research on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) (see also Barnhardt, 2006; 2008). TEK is the cumulative body of knowledge, beliefs, and practices held by a community about the interrelationships of all living things and the environment (Berkes, 1999). Research on TEK with Aboriginal peoples suggests that cultural knowledge, beliefs, and values are learned in dynamic interaction with the local ecosystem, so that culture and ecosystem are understood to be a socialecological system, with individual learning taking place within this nexus (Davidson-Hunt & Berkes, 2003). In sum, the approach to learning that informed the design and implementation of the Learning Garden program was holistic, experiential and place-based, as these three components of learning have been identified as important in Aboriginal models of learning. Program Description.

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The program consisted of a series of 10 full-day workshops that were held in alternating weeks in each community from May though September, 2008. Each workshop was facilitated by a community-based project coordinator who was directed and supported by the research team to follow the workshop outline (Appendix A) by covering the topics associated with each while pursuing the goals of the program as a whole in a manner adapted to the particular backgrounds and perspectives of the workshop participants. In this way we sought to ensure that the key aspects of the intervention were conducted in each community while giving the coordinator the flexibility to co-create the learning experience with the workshop participants. This responsive, bottom-up approach proved essential to the success of the intervention as the cultural uniqueness of the communities involved made it difficult to create a single format that would have been appealing to all workshop participants. The coordinators were first instructed in the holistic, experiential, and place-based approach to learning that was to guide the program. The First Nations Learning Model (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007) and its tree imagery were used to help make this approach clear to the coordinators. The Ginoogaming coordinator also chose to discuss this model with the learners in one workshop. Ideas for how to adopt a holistic approach to learning that were discussed with the coordinators included incorporating traditional ceremonies and imagery such as the medicine wheel into the workshop design, and discussing with participants the interconnections among physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health of the individual and community. The coordinators keenly understood the need for an experiential approach to the workshops and ideas that were discussed included ways that the coordinators could guide and share in the learning process, reflecting on the success of different techniques, while working as a group outside on garden planting, maintenance, and harvest or while engaged in forest food

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acquisition. Ideas for how to adopt a place-based approach to learning that were discussed with the coordinators included seeking out the knowledge of local elders and garden enthusiasts to inform the group, and building local forest and cultivated garden knowledge that was based on the unique social-ecological system of the immediate surroundings. Some elements that the coordinators were instructed to incorporate in different combinations in the workshops included an outdoor, experiential component, a discussion and reflection component, activities or discussion on the cultivated garden, activities or discussion on the forest garden, development of a local food map and the development of each workshop participants food journal. The local food maps were developed over the course of the first half of the workshops with some minor additions occurring later. The food mapping exercise involves the use of a large map of the communitys traditional land use area. Through open sharing and dialogue, participants locate areas of the traditional lands that are used for the acquisition of foods including large (moose) and small (grouse) game, fish, wild rice, and blueberries. These areas are then marked on the map providing the community with a visual resource of important zones in the local food system (Raymond, Bryan, MacDonald, Cast, Strathearn, Grandgirard & Kalivas, 2009). The food journal exercise (based on the diet diary used in nutrition research; e.g., de Castro, 2009) involves having each participant keep track of the foods they have eaten each day (or most days). This exercise brings awareness to patterns of food consumption and offers a starting point for group discussion on trends in the group and implications for nutrition and wellbeing. Traditional ceremonies were also recommended for the coordinator or designate to implement at each workshop. The workshop group was also to prepare healthy food to eat for lunch and snacks as a group, and a prize draw of healthy groceries was to serve as an incentive for attending each workshop.

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The outline of topics covered in each workshop is shown in sequence in Appendix A. The manner in which these topics address the goals of the program will be discussed next. There were two broad goals of the program: (1) to increase holistic health and (2) to increase knowledge in the areas of vegetable gardening, forest food, and nutrition and health. Holistic health was conceptualized to include physical and emotional health, satisfaction with life, and social capital. We sought to increase physical health by increasing the nutritional value of workshop participants diets through access to a greater amount and variety of fresh vegetables and forest foods including blueberries and local fish. Community gardening projects have been found to enhance nutrition and physical health in a range of urban and rural settings (e.g., Wakefield, Yeudall, Taron, Reynolds, & Skinner, 2007). Likewise, participating in the planting and maintenance of a cultivated garden is known to increase levels of physical activity (Armstrong, 2000), and while there is no research in precisely this area, we assumed that increasing participants activity levels in the acquisition of forest food would likewise increase levels of physical activity and health. Therefore, many of the program activities were aimed at both enhanced diet and increased physical activity. Every workshop meeting involved some amount of physical activity, varying in intensity from the building and moving of garden boxes to weeding and thinning of the vegetable garden, as well as excursions on foot to areas for fishing and blueberry gathering. Every workshop meeting included the preparation of healthy food and snacks and a prize draw of healthy groceries. The final 4 workshops also included harvesting, preparation, and consumption of vegetables from the garden. Emotional health and satisfaction with life have both been found to be increased by community garden experiences (Armstrong, 2000; Wakefield, et al., 2007) as well as by time spent in nature (e.g., Mayer, Frantz, Bruehlman-Senecal, & Dolliver, 2009). An increase in

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social capital or sense of community has also been described as one of the main benefits of garden experiences, as individuals exchange experiences and ideas relating to the garden and engage in conversation over shared tasks such as weeding or watering (Patel, 1991). While this has not been studied specifically in the past, we also expected that the experience of developing a community food map would likewise stimulate an enhanced sense of community belonging and connectedness. The second overall goal of the program was to increase knowledge in the areas of cultivated gardening, forest foods, and nutrition and health. Every workshop included time spent learning experientially in the cultivated garden or forest garden. Workshop participants were to be engaged physically in every aspect of planning, preparing, planting, maintaining, and harvesting the cultivated garden. The first workshop included a guided experience in planning and assembling 3 large garden boxes. The second involved a hands on comparison of soils under different combinations of compost and peat moss as well as a guest leader with specific insight on composting. In the planting workshop, participants handled and planted different seeds and explored the reasons for planting under different depths and condition of soil. Weeding, thinning, and watering, as well as plant supports were discussed as circumstances warranted. Harvesting and preparation were likewise covered as participants engaged physically with these activities in the harvesting and kitchen workshops. This experiential approach to learning how to garden has been found to be effective in other garden programs (Parmer, Salisbury-Glennon, Shannon & Struempler, 2009). We sought to increase forest food knowledge by encouraging the workshop coordinators to access the local knowledge of elders and hunters in the community for activities and demonstrations relating to the acquisition and preparation of forest foods. Discussions and story-

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telling among the workshop participants themselves also allowed for knowledge sharing in strategies relating to forest foods. The food mapping exercise was a vivid demonstration of community knowledge sharing in forest food. Opportunities to learn about food and nutrition were likewise built into most workshops. Discussions and presentations relating to the nutritional quality of processed food, forest food, and the products of the cultivated garden allowed for comparison and insight into the health impacts of various foods. Such techniques have been used successfully in several similar programs (e.g., Parmer, et al., 2009; Lautenschlager & Smith, 2007). Kitchen activities conducted at each workshop for the preparation of group snacks and lunch also provided an opportunity for experiential learning in the skills needed to prepare a variety of healthy food options. The food journals allowed participants to become aware of the trends in their food choices and to connect the nutritional quality of their diet with their sense of well-being (de Castro, 2009).

Experientiallearningaboutthe roleofwormsincomposting,in Ginoogaming.

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The cultural fit of a health promotion program is critical to its success (e.g., Prior, 2009; Anderson, Scrimshaw, Fullilove, Fielding, Normand, 2003). The program was designed to flexibly adopt a shape that was consistent with the cultural perspective of the given community. For example, traditional ceremonies and celebrations (Powwow, Trappers festival) were incorporated into the workshop cycle under the direction of the coordinators. Dialogue and story telling in the area of traditional forest foods and the development of the food map were also intended to ensure a traditional cultural perspective. By bringing people outdoors to connect physically with the land and the food it provides, we also intended to increase a sense of connection to the land, which is intimately related to culture in the Aboriginal worldview (Wilson, 2003). The fourth and fifth workshops explicitly connected culture with health and food by taking participants through a mindful eating exercise (Bays, 2009) in relation to both Western junk food and more traditional Aboriginal food. Discussion concerning the values that support consumption of each type of food followed from questions such as why do you eat traditional food (e.g., moose meat) / Western food (e.g., chips)? Who are you with when you eat each type of food and what are you doing? How do you feel after eating large quantities of each? What cultural values are reflected in each type of food and eating experience? Guided discussion then explored how the different cultural values reflected in food behaviour and choices may affect individual and community health and well-being. The Present Study As stated above, the specific goals of the program were to increase self-rated physical health, emotional well-being, life satisfaction, and social capital, and to increase knowledge of vegetable gardening, forest foods, and nutrition and health. The purpose of the research was to (1) examine the outcomes of the program against these goals and to explore three additional

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research questions based on the gaps identified above in the literature review. Specifically, (2) we observed through qualitative analysis the process of learning that unfolded in the context of the program with an eye to understanding whether the holistic, experiential, and place-based approach we used resonated with program participants. In addition, (3) we drew upon quantitative survey data to better understand participants current food behaviours, food values, and perceptions of the food system, in addition to how these perceptions and behaviours correlated with other variables of interest, including holistic health and cultural identity. Finally, (4) we explored through qualitative data the participants perceptions of place and sought a better understanding of the interactions among place, food, and culture. The research design involved a mixed methods approach including quantitative, survey data, and qualitative data in the form of observations, transcribed workshop sessions, and interviews. In order to test the outcomes of the program, we intended to conduct a pre-test survey of program participants in the spring and a post-test survey with the same participants in the fall. The survey included measurements of the indicators of holistic health (self-rated physical health, emotional well-being, life satisfaction, and social capital), as well as self-rated knowledge of forest foods, gardening, and nutrition, and measures of food behaviour, food values, perceptions of the food system, and cultural identity.

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Eldersandyouthplantingagardenin thebush,Aroland.

Communities The Learning Garden Program was implemented in partnership with two First Nation communities (Ginoogaming and Aroland) to increase health and knowledge of gardening, forest foods, and nutrition and health within each community. Aroland, Ontario is a Cree and Ojibwe First Nation community located 330km North East of Thunder Bay where approximately 325 reside. Ginoogaming, Ontario is an Ojibwe First nation community located 300km North East of Thunder Bay where approximately 303 reside. Both communities participated in this partnership in the hopes of building capacity in their communities, and had pre-existing relationships with the university researchers through a community garden project conducted in 2007 and ongoing work on food system contaminants. In addition, several members from Constance Lake First Nation, which has a population of approximately 283 and is located 172km east of Ginoogaming, participated in the workshops held in Ginoogaming First Nation. Members from the communities

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were actively involved in the program: community-based coordinators ran the knowledge exchange workshops, and many others participated in maintenance of the cultivated gardens.

Ginoogamingcoordinatorleadinga workshop

Method Participants Participants in the workshops were a broad sampling of community members, including children from science classes in each community (Aroland 12, Ginoogaming 10) and their teachers (Aroland 2, Ginoogaming 1), adolescent youth who participated through summer employment opportunities run by their band councils (Aroland 3, Ginoogaming 22), adults employed by the health centres (Aroland 1, Ginoogaming 3, Constance Lake 5), elders and other community members (Aroland ~ 25, Ginoogaming 6). In Aroland, a large number of community members participated in a community blueberry harvest that was run as a workshop, but was also a broader community venture. In Ginoogaming, approximately 8 individuals employed by their health centres, including 5 from Constance Lake, participated regularly throughout the summer.

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With the exception of this core group, most individuals in Ginoogaming and all of those in Aroland participated intermittently, attending a small number of workshops throughout the summer, with particular attendance in spring and fall. All workshop participants were volunteers. We had not expected to see such variability in attendance throughout the program and to see the greatest dedication to the program coming from existing community health workers. These community health workers (8 in Ginoogaming / Constance Lake and 1 in Aroland) were particularly interested in learning about gardening and forest foods as ways to enhance their own health and that of their community members. Several indicated that opportunities for training in this area were otherwise limited. All individuals who participated in a workshop were provided with a copy of the cover letter (Appendix B). The purpose and design of the program and research were explained and individuals were invited to participate in the quantitative research and interviews. The children in the sciences classes participated in the workshops but not in the quantitative research, nor in the interviews. As explained in the cover letter, all participants in the workshops understood that audio recordings and notes would be taken during the workshops. As a result of this intermittent pattern of attendance, it became clear that we would not be able to run the quantitative study as a pre-post survey design as we had intended. This meant that we were not able to conduct a quantitative assessment of the outcomes of the program (i.e., change in holistic health and knowledge over time), which presented a significant limitation to the research. However, we were able to explore the outcomes of the program through the qualitative data. Furthermore, instead of having each of one group of participants complete the survey twice (spring and fall) as we had intended, we collected survey data from each willing participant throughout the program, regardless of the number of workshops they attended and

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when. This allowed us to explore the second research question regarding food system usage and its correlates with quantitative data. This revised procedure resulted in N=18 participants including 5 males and 13 females. The age of this sample ranged from 16 to 66, with a mean age of 30. Five individuals, including 4 from Constance Lake and 1 from Aroland, participated in the more focused interview questions. Materials and Procedure: Quantitative Study Workshop attendees who were interested in completing a survey first completed an informed consent form (Appendix C), and were then provided with a copy of the survey (Appendix D). Participants generally completed the survey during a break from the workshop, although a small number took the surveys home to return them at the next workshop. Following informed consent, participants generated a code name based on certain letters of their own names and their mothers names for the purposes of matching pre and post-test surveys, and then responded to a number of demographic items including age, gender, and language use. Participants then completed each of the following sections of the questionnaire. Upon completion of the questionnaire, participants were thanked and given a debriefing letter (Appendix E). Food Knowledge.The first set of questions assessed participants self-rated knowledge of forest and cultivated food production and nutrition. Participants indicated on a 5-point likert scale (1 = not at all, 2 = a little, 3 = moderately, 4 = quite a bit, and 5 = extremely) how knowledgeable they felt they were of 14 areas, such as locating where whitefish can be caught, planting seeds for vegetable plants, and preparing healthy food. These items were grouped into 3

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subscales and alpha reliability4 of each was found to be adequate. These were: traditional food knowledge (6 items, alpha = .85), cultivated gardening (4 items, alpha = .94) and the role of nutrition in health (3 items, alpha = .88). These items were developed by the research team to allow respondents to self-assess their knowledge in the three areas of knowledge the program was targeted to increase, forest foods, cultivated gardening, and nutrition and health. Physical Health and Nutrition.Participants then completed a section on physical health and nutrition, beginning with four single-item measures assessing (1) self-rated general health (1 = poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, 4 = very good, 5 = excellent), (2) self-rated mental health (1 = poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, 4 = very good, 5 = excellent), (3) perceived levels of life stress (1 = not at all, 2 = not very, 3 = a bit, 4 = quite a bit, 5 = extremely), and (4) self-rated weight (1 = very unhealthy, 2 = unhealthy, 3 = average, 4 = healthy, 5 = very healthy). They then checked off any of 16 activities they had participated in within the past 3 months, including walking, gardening, and bicycling, and self-rated their levels of physical activity (1 = not at all active, 2 = not very active, 3 = a bit active, 4 = quite active, 5 = extremely active). Following these measures, participants rated how much they typically ate each of 20 foods, including locally available (e.g., moose, blueberries) and store-bought foods (e.g., beef, bananas) on a 5-point likert scale (1 = not at all, 2 = a little, 3 = occasionally, 4 = often, 5 = very often), and then self-rated the nutritional level of their eating habits (1 = very unhealthy, 2 = unhealthy, 3 = average, 4 = healthy, 5 = very healthy). Participants were then asked to circle yes or no if they had been diagnosed with any of 7 chronic health conditions including diabetes and high cholesterol, and indicated if they smoked.

CronbachsAlphaassessesthereliabilityorinternalconsistencyofasurveymeasure,itisanindicatorof

howwelltheitemsinascalecorrelateamongstthemselves.

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Subjective Well-Being. Participants then completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) by indicating agreement with 5 items such as, In most ways my life is close to my ideal, using a 5-point likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree). Alpha reliability of this scale was found to be .80. To assess emotional well-being, participants completed the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988), a 20-item measure on which participants indicate how often they feel each emotion using a 5-point scale (1 = very slightly or not at all, 2 = a little, 3 = moderately, 4 = quite a bit, 5 = extremely). Alpha reliability was found to be .94 for the positive affect items (e.g., excited, enthusiastic) and .84 for the negative affect items (e.g., upset, guilty). Social Capital. Participants then completed a 12 item measure of social capital adapted to a First Nations context and based on the work of Mignone (2003). This measure assesses the bonding, bridging, and linking aspects of social capital. Bonding refers to the quality of the relationships among members of a group (e.g., generally speaking, most people in this community can be trusted), and bridging refers to connections formed between groups (e.g., People in this community tend to always associate with the same group of people). Linking, which was recently proposed by Szreter and Woolcock (2004), explicitly recognizes the mechanisms with which people form links across different levels of social, economic, or political power (e.g., My community works together with other First Nations to improve the situation of First Nations people). Participants indicate agreement with these items on a 5-point likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree). Reliability of this scale was found to be alpha = .88.

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Food Security. The next section of the survey assessed participants perceptions of and behaviours within the food system. The first questionnaire consisted of 21 items assessing perceived food security. The first 17 are a measure of perceived food security generated by the first author (Lychowyd & Stroink, 2008; Skavinski & Stroink, 2008), which assesses individuals perceptions that they are able to access sufficient food (e.g., I have easy access to sources of nutritious food). The remaining 4 were drawn from government-based measures of food security and emphasize hunger or lack of food in the home (e.g., In the past year, the food that you and your family had ran out, and there was no way to get more) (Bickel, Nord, Price, Hamilton, & Cook, 2000). All items in this scale were rated on a 5-point likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree). For the present analyses, only the first 17 items were used, and were found to be reliable; perceived food security was reliable at alpha = .95. Participants then indicated how frequently they accessed food from each of 14 sources, including grocery stores, gathering, hunting, and sharing on a 6-point likert scale (0 = Not available in my community, 1 = never or very rarely, 2 = Rarely, 3 = Sometimes, 4 = Often, 5 = Always or almost always). These food behaviour items, developed for the present study, were grouped into 3 subscales, including (1) grocery/convenience (3 items assessing behaviours of frequency of visiting a grocery store in Thunder Bay, grocery store in nearby town, and convenience store), (2) gathering (5 items assessing behaviours of gathering berries, gathering herbs, gathering medicinal plants, gathering wild rice, and gathering other forest products), and (3) fishing/hunting/trapping (3 items assessing the behaviours of fishing, hunting, and trapping). However, the item grocery store in Thunder Bay was removed from the grocery/convenience subscale because of a low alpha reliability coefficient of 0.45. By removing the item, it improved

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the alpha reliability coefficient to 0.60. The alpha reliability coefficients for the gathering and fishing/hunting/trapping subscales in the present study were 0.81 and 0.84, respectively. The perceived attributes of the food system were assessed by asking participants to think about where their food comes from, and to indicate how much they feel that system possesses each of 9 attributes developed for the present study on a 5-point likert scale (1 = not at all or very little, 2 = slightly, 3 = somewhat, 4 = quite a bit, 5 = completely or very much). Items which were developed by the research team included, under your personal control?, safe?, and trustworthy? With the item, influenced by corporate or business interests removed, these remaining items were found to have adequate reliability, alpha = .82. The values that guide participants food choices were assessed by having participants respond to the prompt, When choosing food to eat, it is important to me that the food with 16 items developed for this study, including is affordable, is healthy, and comes from the land nearby. Participants responded to these items using a 5-point likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree). The food values items were grouped into 3 subscales on the basis of face validity and subscale reliability. These subscales were, (1) cheap and easy, or how much the participant valued food that was inexpensive and easy to prepare (8 items, alpha = .90), (2) healthy, or how much the participant valued the health of the food they ate (4 items, alpha = .84), and (3) cultural, or how much the participant values culture pertaining to the food they eat (4 items, alpha = .90). Cultural Identity. There were three measures of cultural identity included in the survey. The first 12 items are Camerons (2004) measure of social identity, adapted to assess participants actual levels of identification with each culture (Aboriginal and Canadian). Participants responded to each item twice, once for each identity. The 3-factor scale assesses (1)

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the centrality of the identity, or the subjective importance of the group to the individuals identity, (2) the in-group affect associated with the identity, or the emotions that arise for the individual as a result of membership in the group, and (3) the in-group ties associated with each identity, or the psychological ties that bind the individual to the group. Participants indicated agreement on a 5 point Likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Neutral, 4 = Agree, 5 = Strongly agree). The alpha reliability coefficients for the overall measure of cultural identity for Aboriginal culture and Canadian culture were 0.67 and 0.80, respectively. Two additional measures of cultural identity, the first assessing aspects of participants implicit identity structure and being developed by the first author, and the second assessing Bicultural Identity Integration (Benet-Martinez & Haritatos, 2005; Haritatos & Benet-Martinez, 2002) were for exploratory purposes only and were not analyzed in the present research.

Procedure: Qualitative Study This research adopted a mixed-methods approach and incorporated both qualitative and quantitative data to ensure as rich an understanding of the health learning process and the perceptions of the people involved as possible. As described by Trull, Stroink, Nelson, & Ray (2009), the mixed- methods approach is particularly advantageous in research involving First Nations people. For example, in a quantitative survey design, the questions and variables of interest are defined in advance by the researcher, who may not be fully aware of the complexity of factors that define the issues at hand within the community itself. Therefore, the findings of a purely quantitative study may not accurately reflect the full situation as perceived within the community.

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Qualitative research that adopts a phenomenological approach (Groenewald, 2004) brings forward the voices of the community members themselves, taking in the actual lived experiences of the participants throughout the research process. Therefore, the qualitative portion of this research attempts to capture the essence of the people and their holistic experiences in the context of the learning program, exploring the meanings that the individuals themselves create and assign to events in the workshops. As such, a phenomenological approach to qualitative research is considered to be compatible with Indigenous peoples as well as indigenous approaches to knowledge and knowledge-sharing (Struthers & Peden-McAlpine, 2005). Furthermore, one of our research questions involved an ongoing assessment of the learning process and participants experiences in the program. This question is best addressed through methods that are open to the emergent qualities of the experience as taken from the participants perspectives. The usual quantitative approach to assessing learning, by testing for concrete pieces of knowledge in a paper and pencil quiz, would not have been appropriate in this setting. Specifically, given the organic and community-driven nature of the program, and the cyclical and holistic view of learning-for-wellness adopted in the Learning Model, a holistic approach to observing the dynamic evolution of knowledge within the community as a whole is more appropriate. Therefore, by conducting naturalistic observations within the workshops themselves as well as more focused interviews with the participants as part of the qualitative research, we are able to gain insight into the actual process of learning as experienced and defined by the participants themselves. In sum, the present research adopted a mixed-methods approach and considers the contributions of both qualitative and quantitative approaches to be of equal and complementary value. We will now describe each of the qualitative data collection techniques in more detail.

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Observations. Field notes were collected by a student researcher who attended the workshops in Ginoogaming and Aroland from May to September, 2008. Because workshops in Aroland were at times held spontaneously, and the researcher was not always able to schedule a trip to the community, there were three workshops in Aroland that were held with no student researcher present. In these cases, a verbal report was received from the community coordinator, and noted by the principle investigator. There were also three workshops in Ginoogaming that a different student researcher from our team attended, again due to scheduling difficulties. The researcher collected audio recordings of each workshop and kept observational notes of events as they unfolded. The student researcher would also participate in the workshops, providing knowledge of cultivated gardening where appropriate. Field notes are critical to qualitative research (Neuman, 2000). Given the relatively narrow focus of this qualitative research on the learning process, and to avoid having the student researchers interpretations obscure the essence of the participants discussions (e.g., Fouche, 1993), only observational notes were taken, and all analysis and reflection were conducted afterward by the researchers and community coordinators. The student researchers were instructed to take note of events that would give meaning and context to the audio recordings. For example, to note the actions and activities that were taking place at different times (e.g., group moves to the garden, conversation occurring during weeding, description of traditional ceremony), and to record reactions of individuals and groups that may not be audible (e.g., group seems surprised by information on food miles). Verbatim transcriptions from the audio recordings were made by a team of 3 students under the supervision of the student who collected the data using ExpressScribe software equipped with a foot pedal.

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Interviews. Five interviews were conducted involving 1 male and 1 female from Aroland, 1 male from Ginoogaming, and 2 females from Constance Lake. The latter two women were interviewed together. All interview participants were over the age of 18 and had participated in at least one workshop. The interviews varied in length from 20 to 60 minutes and were conducted between August and September, 2008. Four of the interviews were held by the primary student researcher and one was held by the principle investigator. Questioning was open-ended, with probes to ensure key topics were covered in detail. These key topics were: (1) perceptions of individual and community health, (2) holistic, placebased health learning, and what this meant to participants, (3) perceptions and knowledge of the forest and cultivated gardens, (4) experiences of social capital, and (5) the nature and compatibility of food-related cultural values. While this topic list provided the interviewer with a guide, the dialogue was allowed to flow naturally, and interviews often focused more on one or two of the topics than the others. Four of the interviews were recorded and transcribed. In one interview the audio equipment malfunctioned and the interviewer took detailed notes of the participants responses. Data Analysis Participants responses on each survey item were entered and analyzed using SPSS. Preliminary analyses, including measures of central tendency, variability, and distribution were conducted to check for entry errors, outliers, and normalcy. No issues were identified. The phenomenological approach to qualitative data involves displaying findings in the form of themes (Struthers & Peden-McAlpine, 2005). Data was analyzed through intensive and repetitive reading through the transcripts and notes, sharing and discussing emergent themes within the research team and community coordinators, and then refining and narrowing themes

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into key findings. This process was guided by the research questions of the study. Upon analysis of this data it became clear that emergent themes brought insight into the following research questions (1) the outcomes of the Learning Garden program in terms of holistic health and knowledge of forest and cultivated food and nutrition, (2) the process of learning that unfolded in the Learning Garden program and participants experiences of gardening, (3) the state of the current food system, its security and sustainability and its relationship with other variables such as social capital, and particularly (4) the meaning of place and how learning in and through place impacts both health and food security. The qualitative findings on the state of the food system complement the quantitative data, both descriptive and correlational, in this area.

Results The goals of the program were to increase self-rated physical health, emotional wellbeing, life satisfaction, and social capital, and to increase knowledge of vegetable gardening, forest foods, and nutrition and health. The purpose of the research was to (1) examine the outcomes of the program against these goals, (2) to observe the process of learning that unfolded in the context of the program, (3) to better understand participants current food behaviours, food values, and perceptions of the food system, and how these correlated with holistic health and cultural identity, and (4) to explore participants perceptions of place and the interactions among place, food, and culture. The presentation of the results will follow the structure of these four research questions, and will integrate findings from both qualitative and quantitative data where possible, as this provides a rich image of the overall findings. 1. Outcomes of the Learning Garden Program

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The goals of the program were to increase holistic health and knowledge in the areas of gardening, forest foods, nutrition and health. Given that we were unable to collect survey data from a single group of workshop participants both before and after the summer, we were unable to directly test these outcomes of the program. The lack of both pre- and post- intervention data from a large group of consistent workshop participants means that we are unable to objectively assess change in health and knowledge over time.

While the quantitative data did not allow us to test these outcomes, we were able to document moments of transformative insight and behavioural indicators of learning through the qualitative data. For example, the demonstration of mindful eating was clearly a unique experience for program participants, who were actively engaged in the exercise and contributed many observations of the taste, texture, and experience of different foods including healthy, unhealthy, processed and local/traditional foods. The participants in this workshop were primarily youth and young adults, and the usual background chatter and movement ceased during this portion of the exercise. The ensuing discussion around the holistic experience of food, the physical, psychological, social, and cultural or spiritual dimensions was likewise spirited and aha moments or expressions of insight (e.g., utterances, facial expressions) were documented in 10 of 18 people present. One youth commented, We pray before eating moose meat, we honour it we dont do this when eating candy or other junk food. At another workshop, one woman laughed at the new realization that she had been throwing out rhubarb, which she had thought was a weed, growing in her own backyard.Furthermore, behavioural indicators of learning were recorded. In Aroland, 4 people planted their own gardens at home for the first time, in Ginoogaming, 3 did so, in Constance Lake, participants from the workshops planted a garden

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behind the Elders complex. In Aroland, a community-wide blueberry harvest resulted from discussions that originated in a workshop session. The quantitative data was also not sufficient to directly observe changes in participants holistic health throughout the learning program. However, observation of the participants in the program suggest that some foundations were laid that could contribute to increases in participants holistic health. For example, the workshops included a food preparation component, including soups, salads, and sandwiches using food from the garden where possible. Participants also took food home from the garden, excited to include it in their meals. For example, participants were excited about being able to take home ripened onions, one declared, Im going to make a salad. With respect to cabbage from the garden, another was planning to include it in a moose meat stew, and the making of cabbage rolls was discussed. In Aroland, the coordinator observed that many community members were now gathering blueberries, getting outside and physically active for the first time in a long time. There was also recognition that attending to the forest and cultivated gardens builds holistic well-being and connectedness. One individual in Ginoogaming spoke, when Im going through a stressful day here, I go out and attend the garden, and I feel just perfect, I feel like Im just on air. An elder in Aroland described feasting on wild game in the spring and fall as a way to connect with her deceased parents, I go and feed them theirs and it is sort of like feasting with them. Social capital was also considered a component of holistic health in this study. The workshop coordinators gained skills in leadership and community development, as well as in building partnerships with outside organizations including the university team and other community groups. For example, in Ginoogaming, the coordinator and other staff at the health centre planned to establish contact with the horticultural society in town for future gardening

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projects. Youth from both communities were hired by the Band office to gain experience working with the coordinator or in developing local food initiatives. The participants from Constance Lake took leadership in establishing gardens in their home community. In Ginoogaming, where an elder had an old garden box, a group of women from the workshops went over, weeded and planted some potatoes in the garden, applying the knowledge they had gained from the previous workshop. Existing traditional practices that were discussed and passed along in the workshops may also build social capital. For example, one participant in Aroland described, with white fish we use nets, cause we never fish them we just get them and take them out and bring them back to our grandfathers, and they smoke them. And everybody would come and have a feast and eat. Anyone who is walking by will come and check it out, and end up having a nice meal. As further demonstration of increased social capital at the regional level, the researchers have been contacted by other communities interested in pursuing gardening projects themselves in the 2009 season.

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Oneof3Ginoogamingbox gardensmidsummer

Arolandfallharvest

2. Process of Learning The second purpose of this research was to observe the process of learning as it unfolded in the context of the Learning Garden program. Drawing on the qualitative analyses, we sought to understand whether the holistic, experiential, and place-based approach we used in the program resonated with program participants. These findings are organized around two key themes: (1) Learning Process, and (2) Understandings of the Garden. (1) Learning Process. Participants demonstrated a clear preference for experiential learning, and workshops generally occurred either out in the bush with the coordinator, or around the box gardens, with questions being addressed while everyone worked together on weeding or

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thinning of plants. For example, when holding discussions in the health centre, on four separate occasions youth were noted to ask, when are we going outside? and to become more engaged and participatory once this transition was made. The composting workshop, in which participants built their own composter and handled the worms and layers of worm food, were particularly engaging opportunities for learners, and significant discussion was had on the science of compost and soil preparation in this very hands-on learning environment. Learning was also clearly understood to be lifelong, as attendance within one workshop could vary from a class of elementary school students to adults and elders. The Learning Garden program was explicitly designed to be holistic, addressing the whole individual, including emotional, mental, spiritual and physical aspects, as well as his or her connections with community and nature. However, participants showed us a new depth to the idea of holistic learning that depends upon and reflects the particular cultural orientation of the individuals involved. Specifically, we found that the bimonthly schedule of workshops held at a set time in the health center worked well with some participants but also seemed to prevent other potential participants from joining in. When set up as a formal workshop in this manner, community members sent their children, suggesting the belief that children learn formally. However, many adults in the community preferred to do workshops at a kitchen table, or in the bush, to do them spontaneously one-on-one with the coordinator, to immerse their learning into their settings and routines of daily living. This style of immersed learning is profoundly holistic. This preference was communicated to the Ginoogaming coordinator by 3 community members who did not regularly participate in the workshops. Based on this observation, the community coordinator from Ginoogaming recommended that future versions of this program build in a facilitation role for the coordinator, with this individual providing informal advice and support to

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individual gardeners at their home gardens throughout the summer. However, it was also noted that all 8 regular workshop participants indicated that they found the workshop style useful, and this difference seemed to depend on the particular learning style and preference of the individual learner. (2) Understandings of the Garden.Differences in cultural understandings of the garden were also observed. The western view of gardens and gardening knowledge is scientifically based, precise, and carefully cultivated. For example, seeds are planted each to its specifications and in a careful row. Soil is mixed to have just the right properties. The Aboriginal worldview is less manipulative of nature than the western worldview, so the approach to gardening is also different. Observations revealed that many Aboriginal participants viewed the garden as spontaneous and naturally unfolding. For example, the Aroland box gardens were planted near a forested area, seeds and potatoes were placed in the ground in a more spontaneous manner, and intervention was minimized throughout the growing season. In Aroland, an active gardener who participated irregularly in the workshop series maintained his own garden in a forest clearing behind the community. For these individuals, the provision of detailed information on seed placement and soil composition may have been counter-productive, making gardening seem inaccessible and uninteresting. The following quote from a workshop in Ginoogaming is illustrative: [Speaker 1] My one friend she was planting a garden and putting in rows, and then she got tired of it and so she just took a handful of them, and threw them in the garden. And of course some will take, and some wont, and so you dont really have to even plant them you know. [Speaker 2] ya, [Speaker 3] however deep.

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Aboriginal communities and individuals are diverse, however, and whereas some participants adopted the western approach to gardens, others preferred a more Aboriginal approach. For example, the workshop participants and coordinator in Ginoogaming chose to plant behind the health center. Those in Aroland planted their learning gardens a considerable drive out of the community in the bush, which was perceived to be a cleaner location, less polluted by humans and dogs. Therefore, the particular approach to gardening and to the workshop structure depends upon the bicultural orientation of the particular participants. For some, the structured and precise approach may be best, for others the spontaneous and immersed approach may be best. This is why the presence of a community-based learning coordinator is key to the success of programs like this. The coordinators in both communities were effective at identifying the preferred approach of the particular individuals and adapting the program to suit their needs. 3. Food Behaviours, Food Values, Perceptions of Food Systems, and Correlations The third purpose of the research was to better understand participants current food behaviours, food values, and perceptions of the food system, and how these correlated with holistic health and cultural identity. Specifically, our aim was to document the current food system(s) relied upon by participants in these communities, their perceptions of the security and sustainability of these food systems, and the relationships between their behaviours in each food system and outcomes such as holistic health and cultural identity. Participants use of different food systems was best documented through responses to the quantitative survey items on the frequency with which food is accessed from various sources and their self-rated knowledge of each food system.

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Food System Usage. Participants mean ratings of how frequently they accessed food from each of 9 sources are shown in Table 1 in descending order. These responses were analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance, which indicated significant differences among the 9 food sources listed, F(8,152) = 12.54, p = .000. Specifically, post-hoc paired samples t-tests of adjacent means revealed that participants were significantly more likely to access food from the convenience store than from fishing, and more likely to fish than hunt. Participants ratings of the foods they currently eat are shown in Table 2 in descending order. These responses were analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance, which indicated significant differences among the 11 foods listed, F(11,187) = 2.81, p = .002. Post-hoc paired samples t-tests of adjacent means revealed that participants were significantly more likely to eat chicken than apples, more likely to eat apples than bananas, and more likely to eat fish than moose meat. Table 1. Mean ratings of how frequently participants accessed food from each of 9 sources. Food Source Nearby grocery store Convenience store Fishing Hunting Sharing Trapping Gathering berries Big urban grocery store Growing vegetables M 4.25 3.30 3.25 2.85 2.75 2.05 1.85 1.60 1.15 SD 1.21 1.38 1.29 1.27 1.45 1.54 1.56 1.67 1.31

Note. The following scale was used, 5 = Always; 4 = Often; 3 = Sometimes; 2 = Rarely; 1 = Never.

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Table 2. Mean ratings of the frequency with which select foods were eaten Food Chicken Apples Bananas Beef Potatoes Oranges Lettuce Blueberries Pork Raspberries Fish Moose meat M 3.72 3.50 3.39 3.39 3.39 3.33 3.06 3.00 2.72 2.72 2.72 2.56 SD .96 1.29 1.50 .92 1.04 1.33 .94 1.14 1.32 1.13 1.27 .98

Note. The following scale was used: 5 = Very often; 4 = Often; 3 = Occasionally; 2 = A little; 1 = Not at all. Participants ratings of how knowledgeable they felt in accessing food from various sources was assessed on a 5-point scale where 1 was not at all, 2 was a little, 3 was moderately, 4 was quite a bit and 5 was extremely. Participants were most knowledgeable in locating edible berries in the forest, at 2.63, and least knowledgeable in locating places where wild rice grows at 1.26. Cultivated vegetable gardening was rated 2.38, and a combination of hunting birds and game and trapping was rated 2.33. Three clusters of food values emerged from the 16 items provided. Participants agreed most strongly that price, tastiness, ease, convenience, familiarity, and availability at the store were important in guiding their food choices, with a mean of 3.65 on a 5-point scale of

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agreement. Participants also generally agreed that the healthiness of the food was a guiding consideration (healthy; not too salty, sweet, or processed) with a mean of 3.26. However, that the food connects them with their cultural heritage or comes from the land nearby was rated the lowest at 2.84, indicating slight disagreement. These responses were analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance, which indicated significant differences among the 3 value clusters, F(2,38) = 6.32, p = .004. Specifically, paired samples t-tests indicated that while the healthiness of the food did not differ significantly from either of the other two clusters, the price and ease cluster was rated significantly higher than the local and cultural cluster, t(19) = 3.50, p = .002. Participants perceptions of the sustainability and security of the mainstream and traditional food systems can be gleaned from comments made during certain workshops. These comments are noted below and grouped according to the food system they reflect. Sustainability and Security of the Mainstream Food System. The following comments indicate awareness among a small number of participants and the Ginoogaming program coordinator of the flaws inherent in the mainstream food system. These comments were met with surprise and negative emotional reactions within the majority of workshop participants. There was also widespread recognition that obtaining fresh fruit and vegetables through the mainstream food system is expensive and difficult in their communities where produce is shipped such great distances. [Ginoogaming coordinator discussing the origins of a strawberry which grow locally - from California]: And yet maybe its on a plane or a truck, and cruising right up top here to maybe New York State, then crosses the river maybe. goes through all those the water channels whatever Montreal. Where they then

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take it from those great big crates or whatever they have them in and package them up and theres probably about 15 - 20 people on the assembly lines. They put the label on it, gone. And from there, most likely these strawberries come from, come into Thunder Bay. And from there theyre distributed on another truck, to us, up here. So all the, these are why these things are so expensive to buy because the gas price, grown and picked, through here, to here, to here, to here, to here, to here, finally, to here. And how old this must be. And how is it that its so preserved, and so fresh looking when you buy it? After all that journey that it was on how come it still has a freshness to it? Its still fresh. Just like you picked it up outside yourself this morning. Theres probably some kind of preservative in here. Wax or something. Just like an apple. [shocked laughter] [Ginoogaming Coordinator on vegetables grown in garden vs. those at store]: We feed our children, not knowing whats really in there. And uh, this started, um, here you knew, you know that its been seeded, its been planted, its been nourished by the water that falls from our sky, and the pollen that the bees bring from our land to grow this, so youll know that this came from our part of the world, directly from my backyard. we started pushing that [a community garden plan] because of just the cost of fruits and vegetables, and the quality sometimes. Its not fresh and we said hey we use to garden before, why is it that no one gardens anymore? [Aroland] [Interviewer]: So how do people who dont have a vehicle get to the grocery store?... Well there is not that many people who eat vegetables. [Aroland]

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Sustainability and Security of the Traditional Food System. The following comments and observations indicate concern among some participants that the traditional food system is not able to provide healthy food and is under various threats. This is a particularly strong concern in Aroland, where 3 individuals were recorded to comment on their concerns with the traditional food system in the present research and more are known to the research team. I dont know I have a problem with this local foods. Not the western foods, the indigenous foods. I lived off the land when I was young, right up to, I still tried to live off the land when I got married, and with my kids. I served them everything that I ate when I was young, trying to give them that traditional foods in that area. I never got sick when it was my main staple, but now, Ill give you an example. And this starts about maybe 10 years, maybe more, Ill cook the moose meat the way I would normally cook it back then, and then within the hour, my stomach starts bloating and passing gas, and I start having splatties, whatever you want to call it. And when I pass my gas I can smell that meat I had, or what ever I had duck, same thing rabbits same thing. And I was telling James the only thing that I dont go like that is with partridge. And fish. But the rest I dont know, I dont know what is going on. [Aroland]

I keep thinking that maybe its the environment that the animal is in, cause there is lots of spraying around here, there is chemicals in the air that we dont know of, and thats killing off their food chain. Something has entered their food chain, thats one of my thinking or either that my body is getting use to the western.

[Regarding the availability of wild rice in lakes around Aroland]: Its a different water system though eh. That system they plugged up the dam [Ogoki water

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diversion project for hydro, built 1940-1943] and it brought the water levels down, but here we just had rain, and we make tea and the water boils faster because its dammed. But their rice is good up there. [Interviewer but not down here?] Down here it is too high and it just started to grow but its too late the buds dont even have liquids in them. The rice pieces, where the rice grows, theyre not even jelly or anything. [Ginoogaming Coordinator during discussion on origins of bottled water:] And this lake, can you drink from it? [disagreement among youth at workshop] -you know, you wouldnt trust your life to even drink that water [due to perceived or actual mercury contamination]. [Coordinator:] If that was the last water, your tap didnt work, say the water treatment plant broke down, and your water got shut off, where would you go where would you go find water to drink? [no response] [Coordinator:] - anybody? [laughter] [Coordinator:] - and thats why its so important you know to learn about where our food comes from, the water that were drinking. And us, we should, you know, explore a little bit more on where the fresh springs are. In our, in our part of the world. Here. Wheres the fresh water? Correlates of Food System Usage. The survey data provide opportunity to explore the relationships between food system behaviours, knowledge, and values on the one hand, with variables such as health, well-being, social capital and cultural identity on the other. These quantitative analyses allow for preliminary exploration of the holistic image of community health that surrounds food behaviours, possibly providing direction for future learning initiatives in this area.

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Relationships among food sources, food values, food knowledge and the outcome variables of health, life satisfaction, social capital, food security and cultural identity were examined using Pearson Product correlations and a minimum type one error rate of p < .05. Results of these correlations are shown in Table 3. These results suggest that engaging in forest food activities such as hunting and fishing, and valuing local foods were associated with positive, healthy qualities such as self-reported health, life satisfaction, and social capital. However, perceived food security, or feeling secure about ones food system, was associated with valuing healthy foods, valuing convenient and affordable food, and getting food from the grocery store, and was not related to accessing or valuing the local food system. The food knowledge variables, reflecting participants knowledge of hunting, fishing, gathering, and growing their own food, were not directly correlated with the health and well-being outcomes, but were correlated with accessing the associated food source. Specifically, knowledge of hunting was correlated with hunting behaviour, and this hunting behaviour was correlated with life satisfaction and social capital. Identification with Aboriginal culture was not found to be significantly correlated with any of the food knowledge, behaviour, or value variables, although it was positively correlated with both knowledge of and actual engagement in fishing and hunting. Identification with Aboriginal culture was also positively correlated with valuing cheap, tasty, and easy foods. Identification with Canadian culture was significantly positively correlated with valuing healthy food, and although not significantly so, was negatively correlated with valuing local foods. Table 3. Correlations among food sources, food values, food knowledge and the outcome variables of health, life satisfaction, social capital, food security and cultural identity

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Food Source: Gather & Grow

Food Source: Fish & Hunt

Food Knowledge: Garden

Value cheap, tasty, easy

Food Knowledge: Hunt

Value local & culture -.27 .59** .67** .67** .01 .30 -.42

Food Source: Gather & Grow Food Source: Fish & Hunt Food Knowledge: Hunt Food Knowledge: Garden Value cheap, tasty, easy Value local & culture Value healthy Physical health Life Satisfaction Social Capital Perceived Food Security Aboriginal Identity Canadian Identity ** p < .01 * p < .05 p < .08

-.18 -.28 .41 .15 .42 .17 .16 .43 .34 -.05 -.14 -.17 -.69** -.22 .68** .52* .21 .19 .49* .50* .18 .40 -.07 --.18 .40 .30 -.01 .02 .16 .06 .17 .42 -.19 -.07 .05 .23 .26 .29 -.26 .33 .11 .19 -.35 .50* .08 .47* .54* .49* .45 .32

--.08 .17 .40 .44* .28 .59*

4. Place, Culture, and Food: The Role of Learning The final purpose of this study was to examine how the participants perceived and understood place and how place-based learning impacts both health and food security. The Learning Garden program was structured to provide participants with opportunities to engage

Value healthy

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experientially with their surroundings, to connect with their sense of place and draw new knowledge about food and health through this process. In this study, we attempted to gain an understanding of how learning through a sense of place affected understandings of food and health through qualitative analysis, particularly researcher observation and transcribed workshops, as well as some of the structured interviews. We begin with the assumption that while all learning is about adaptation, place-based learning emphasizes the exchange of knowledge most relevant to adaptation in the setting of the people themselves, rather than to an assumed or decontextualized setting (Gruenewald, 2003; Knapp, 2005; Rahm, 2002; Smith, 2002; Barnhardt, 2006; 2008). Beginning with these assumptions about place-based learning, our observations and analysis of the transcripts resulted in a sequence of insights that are best presented in the order in which they emerged to the research team. These insights further resulted in some theoretical developments which will be presented in the discussion section of this report. (1) Perceptions of the immediate physical place or traditional lands. As we began studying perceptions of place among our research participants, our focus was on how they perceived the surrounding natural and physical environment, the traditional lands of the communities. The first and most consistent themes to emerge when discussing the immediate physical place were participants perceptions of (a) contamination, and (b) change. (a) Participants spoke frequently about their concerns surrounding the contamination of traditional lands and the effects of this contamination on the local food system. These concerns included the effects of herbicidal spraying in the forestry industry, the past dumping of chemicals into the waterways in the mining industry, and the contamination of waterways as a by-product of flooding caused by nearby hydro electric damming activities. The quotations noted above

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under findings relating to perceptions of the traditional food system support this theme, as does the following observation. Participants were very interested in the traditional values mapping activities conducted as part of the workshop series in each community. These activities involved generating maps of the communitys traditional lands that display areas of significance for local food production. In each community, the mapping activities drew more participation from individuals actively engaged in hunting and fishing than the other workshops. The generation of these maps spurred considerable discussion and increased interest in the health of traditional ecosystems. Demonstrating this level of community interest, our research team has since been contracted by Aroland First Nation to conduct two Health Canada funded research projects looking into levels of contamination in the food chain and the effects of perceived contamination on traditional food practices and health. (b) Evident in the above theme on contamination, but worth drawing out as a separate observed theme is participants awareness of change in the traditional lands of their communities. As noted in the statements listed under the research question on food behaviour and perceptions, participants spoke specifically about the berries that were once available along the shoreline in Ginoogaming, about the changing migratory patterns of moose and caribou, and about changing water-levels supportive of wild rice production. While place is inherently dynamic, and human societies have always sought adaptation to their changing environments (e.g., Rick, 2009), the Learning Garden participants explicitly or implicitly connected these

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observed changes with the effects of industry, climate change, and other activities of mainstream culture. A third theme to emerge throughout the observations and transcripts is (c) that perceptions of place are not exclusively positive. While traditional lands are infused with cultural and spiritual significance, and are spoken of with reverence, place is also perceived through a lens of contamination. In addition to the above statements, there was considerable discussion early in the program regarding where to locate the gardens, with an overarching concern being the polluting effects of community dogs and the potential vandalism of youth. In Ginoogaming, participants planted the garden immediately behind the health centre, but were concerned about putting up and maintaining a perimeter fence to protect the garden from dogs, children, and to a lesser extent, deer. The fence fell down in early July and was not put back when the gardeners realized that no harm came to the garden. In Aroland, the following conversation occurred among two learners and a student: [1, student] okay, so you guys together are going to decide where [to plant the garden], thats a good idea. [2, learner] but we need a fence. [3, learner] and security. [1, student] a secure fence. [2] and the deer, theyre gonna tear down the fence, and for the dogs... [3] because were not around all night. [2] ya and especially if we grow things that kids like to throw, like pumpkins. Thats just an invitation to smash them. [1, student] but one of the ways around that, to and maybe its just getting the school on board. I dont think the kids will, maybe some kids will, but I dont think kids are going to wreck something that they helped make or grow. [2] wreck it just for the fun of it. [3]

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at night, cant even leave your house. [1, student] thats too bad. So your plan is to have an area, and have a fence around the area? [2] ya in an area where we know its clean, no dogs have gone there before. Even around here they like to leak all over the place. Where ever its clean theyll take. Ultimately, the Aroland gardeners planted their garden a considerable drive away from the community in the bush. A fourth theme to emerge is (d) the variable level of knowledge participants held about their traditional lands and physical place. Some members of the communities displayed a deep and profound knowledge of the traditional lands including the waterways, trade routes, hunting and fishing sites, locations of family trap lines, historical regions of settlement and mingling associated with different family groups, and so on. Some individuals displayed a clear sense of quiet pride in this knowledge, some were keen to share their knowledge with others (youth, other community members), while others were more cautious in this regard (particularly sharing with researchers present). Nevertheless, there was definite and palpable foundation of what could be called Traditional Ecological Knowledge in the communities. On the other hand, levels of this knowledge varied downward to minimal as a result of lapsed years spent in residential schools and subsequently in schools based on standardized and non-place-based provincial curricula. This is also evident in our quantitative data on food sources discussed above. There were many participants, particularly youth and young adults, who had little knowledge of the surrounding lands and their relevance for acquiring food. For example, two participants in a garden workshop indicated believing that rhubarb was an inedible garden weed, and very few indicated knowledge of wild rice. Therefore, the levels of knowledge of place and particularly its relationship to food could best be described as variable.

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Our initial emphasis on the traditional lands of the communities reflected our assumptions regarding the meaning of place. We had assumed that when exploring the role of place in learning, we should focus on the physical environment of the individuals in question, in this case the traditional lands of the communities. Moreover, our initial assumptions surrounding traditional place viewed place as entirely positive and associated with well-being and infused with spiritual meanings. These assumptions were supported by the communities themselves, and their motivation to discuss traditional land use and local food as most frequently viewed by outsiders. However, our further analysis of the observations and dialogue in the study indicated a wider view of place that was latent in the thinking and behaviour of our participants. Particularly, many participants considered industry-based jobs, cash, grocery and convenience stores and other trappings of Western culture to be a part of their place that was also critical to their adaptation. As further discussed below, these Western ways brought changes, many of which dramatically altered the ability of the communities to access food from traditional land-based sources. (2) Perceptions of the global place. Through participants comments and behaviour, it appears that the globalized world of urban fashion, popular media entertainment, technology and social networking is an important part of the place in which they seek adaptation. This is particularly apparent in the context of food. As observed in the quantitative data, participants relied heavily upon internationally imported food from the grocery store, including fruits and vegetables, convenience food, and meat. In Ginoogaming, several community members and Band leaders explored building a greenhouse so that non-indigenous vegetables and fruits could be grown indoors in the community. In both communities, the healthy snacks and lunches prepared in the workshops

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drew primarily from the local store, even to make a fruit salad at a time when local blueberries were available. The participants from Constance Lake held a Diabetes-related health program in their community in which individuals were instructed in making healthy fruit and yogurt shakes. Each of these observations and the quotations below indicate that even when focusing on healthy food, it is the mainstream, international food distribution matrix to which participants turn for knowledge and adaptation. When the traditional values mapping exercise was conducted in Ginoogaming, children present had been instructed by their teacher to come prepared with some examples of traditional foods. Rather than speak with someone in the community, the students searched the internet and brought examples of traditional foods that included corn and sage, which were not traditional to the local area but to parts of Southern Ontario. When prompted with questions like, what berries can you find around here, or what fish can you catch from the bridge, more local examples were offered. However, the term traditional foods did not prime these examples. When discussing healthy food choices in Ginoogaming, the coordinator described how potatoes were brought in by the settlers, and bannock developed after European contact, and that neither is healthy in excess. The following conversation occurred among participants, [1] and we say pasta too, only one starch, [2] what are we suppose to eat? Rice, they say thats supposed to be good for you too. [3] the brown is supposed to be better, but like I said it has a lot of white stuff in it to. The focus on white and brown rice and pasta reflect store-bought foods. Wild rice was not mentioned in this conversation.

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These observations and statements reveal that participants held a knowledge base regarding the global place that was generally fairly high. Participants were able to access and prepare healthy snacks and meals from the grocery store for the workshops, they were able to access knowledge from the internet regarding traditional foods in Southern Ontario. Therefore, the sense of place within which participants learn and adapt is broad and includes both the traditional land and traditional ecological knowledge in which they are physically situated, and the urban setting and Western knowledge base they access through media and local grocery stores. Grocery and convenience stores have become part of the physical place in these communities, and the messages of adaptation and healthy living gleaned from global knowledge networks such television media and the internet are also part of the latent place to which participants seek adaptation.

Integrationoffoodsystemsina Ginoogamingworkshopsnack

(3) Place-based learning in the Learning Garden Program.

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The Learning Garden program was designed to engage learners experientially with the sense of place associated with the traditional lands of the communities as well as with each other and the knowledge inherent within the community. Participants were keen to engage in this form of place-based learning, to explore the value and meaning of their lands, particularly through the mapping exercises, but also through engaging in the gathering of berries, planting and harvesting the Aroland bush garden, and discussion of stories and memories associated with gathering traditional foods. By providing this context and structure for place-based learning to occur, we observed the adaptive benefits of learning that is grounded in the physical place of the learner. For example, the sharing of stories and memories is an exchange that supports learning and adaptation. The stories that participants shared contained advice and suggestions regarding ways to more effectively or safely gather traditional foods. For example, One participant in the Ginoogaming workshop on gathering forest foods shared a story of a woman out fishing alone who would sing and make other noises to keep bears away. An Elder in Aroland described how smoking racks were set up and used to smoke fish, duck, and moose meat, and how children would learn the process through observation and participation. The same Elder described using plucking contests to teach children how to pluck a goose. A participant in Aroland discussed the harvesting of wild rice and indicated that when you squeeze the buds they appear black as opposed to white when they are ready for harvest.

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By building the traditional food maps together, participants were also able to physically observe and discuss changing animal behaviour and land patterns, and to share knowledge on the suspected locations of industry-based contamination. Given that learning is a human tool for adaptation to the environment (Richerson & Boyd, 2005), place-based learning facilitates the exchange of knowledge within a community that is relevant to the dynamic environment in which it is situated. The Learning Garden Program provided us the opportunity to observe participants perceptions of place, and to see how learning unfolds within a dynamic and broad understanding of place. Specifically, as indicated above, participants understandings of place included both the traditional lands that surround them and the global place they see in the local stores and in global media. While participants were keen to engage in learning that was based in their traditional lands, the global place was also very important to them. For example, most workshops and meetings, including the mapping exercises, began with coffee and snacks from the local coffee shop. As another example, participants in Aroland were thrilled with their blueberry harvest, but still purchased fruit snacks from the store. This reveals a dynamic and integrated notion of place. While learning in place occurs everywhere, the place of these learners contains two strong elements which are sometimes at odds with each other, as in the case of industry-based jobs coming at the price of contamination to the local environment. Thus as individual learners seek adaptation through learning in this integrated notion of place, there is the potential for conflict to occur on both the individual and community levels.

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Discussion The purpose of this research was to (1) examine the outcomes of the program in terms of its goals of increasing holistic health as well as knowledge of gardening, forest foods, nutrition and health, (2) to observe the process of learning that unfolded in the context of the program, (3) to better understand participants current food behaviours, food values, and perceptions of the food system, and how these correlated with holistic health and cultural identity, and (4) to explore participants perceptions of place and the interactions among place, food, and culture. Results will be discussed first as they relate to each research question. We will then discuss integration of these findings and over-arching themes, along with implications and future directions in the sections that follow. Overview of Results (1) Outcomes of the Learning Garden program. It was unfortunate that the survey data we were able to obtain was not sufficient to make direct quantitative tests of the outcomes of the program for knowledge and health. We did not anticipate the degree to which participants would drop in on workshops throughout the summer, as opposed to participating regularly throughout the season. People in these communities were often away for significant portions of the summer, traveling to other communities, visiting friends and family, and taking temporary work positions in town, sometimes returning in the fall. Other individuals would spend time in the bush or on the lakes in the summer, and still others suffered various health and family problems that took them away from the workshop schedule at various intervals. Most workshops were well attended, but aside for a core group from each community, the participants varied from workshop to workshop. This made it impossible to carry out the planned pre- and post-test comparison of the survey

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responses, but by requesting that each new participant at any workshop complete a survey we were able to collect quantitative data for descriptive and correlational analyses, particularly relevant to the third purpose of this research. Qualitative analyses did suggest that moments of transformative insight did occur for at least some of the program participants. We observed moments of insight among youth first bringing their attention to the experience and meaning of their food, among adults and elders sharing stories of traditional food activities in the mapping exercise, and in a gardener at the realization of food that had been growing in her own backyard. Several behavioural changes, such as planting additional community gardens and participating in forest food acquisition, also suggest that learning occurred. Likewise, there are some indications that a foundation for health was provided by the program. Participants were consuming and sharing healthy and home-grown foods, they were engaged in the preparation of healthy foods, and some described the emotional benefits of time spent in the garden. Youth and program coordinators practiced leadership skills, and program participants contributed their skills to their communities. However, future research will have to take steps to ensure that a viable pre- and post- test analysis of the effects of a program like this can be conducted. (2) Process of Learning in the Learning Garden Program The second purpose of this study was to examine the process of learning as it occurred in the program, with a particular eye to determining if the holistic, experiential, and place-based approach resonated with participants. The observation that participants consistently sought-out opportunities for experiential learning in the program and responded well to the active components of the program, support the emphasis placed on experiential learning in the First Nations Learning Model (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007). Through this program, we also

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learned a new depth to the holistic approach to learning that may be particularly suited to some First Nations learners. Specifically, we learned that some Aboriginal learners prefer to immerse their learning in their day to day lives, and the workshop format may not have been ideal for all learners. While our coordinators were able to adapt the program design to meet these preferences to some degree, we will incorporate this knowledge into future applications of this program. Likewise, we learned that there are cultural differences in how the garden is understood. While the program was flexible enough to adapt to these different understandings, future applications of the program will incorporate this variability in its design. Further developments to the Learning Garden program will be discussed under future directions below. (3) Food behaviour, food system perceptions and correlations The mainstream food system is particularly vulnerable in terms of its capacity to ensure food security in northern communities (INAC, 2007; Lawn & Harvey, 2004; Heinberg & Bomford, 2009). The purpose of the Learning Garden program was to increase knowledge in the areas of both cultivated gardening and forest foods, with the long term goal of facilitating the development of a sustainable local food system within each community. This was an area that was of considerable interest within both communities, and the overall project began the process of laying the groundwork for this development. Participants ratings of how frequently they accessed food from each of 9 sources reveals an integration of indigenous and western food systems, with fishing in particular being an important source of food alongside the grocery store. However, there is also a clear emphasis on the dominant food system, with the grocery and convenience stores being the primary destination for regular food needs. Participants ratings of their currently eaten foods likewise reveals a diet that depends largely on the dominant, global food system, with bananas and oranges being

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consumed more frequently than blueberries and raspberries, both abundant in the region. Participants self-rated knowledge of cultivated gardening and the forest food systems revealed a relatively low to moderate knowledge base for the local food system overall, although this did vary somewhat across the different components of the system with people more knowledgeable about how to find and gather berries than about hunting, trapping, or harvesting wild rice. Finally, analysis of participants self-rated food values revealed that participants food choices were guided significantly more by the price, taste, ease, convenience, and familiarity of the food than by the degree to which it connects the individual with their culture or land. In sum, these analyses reveal that the knowledge base for cultivated and forest food is currently limited and it is largely convenience and price that drive people to the dominant food system. Nonetheless, correlational results indicated that engaging in forest food activities such as hunting and fishing, and valuing local foods were associated with positive, healthy qualities such as self-reported health, life satisfaction, and social capital. Therefore, even though knowledge and use of the local food system is limited, there may be benefits to accessing this food system for well-being. However, perceived food security, or feeling secure about ones food system, was associated with valuing healthy foods, valuing convenient and affordable food, and getting food from the grocery store, and was not related to accessing or valuing the local food system. In other words, accessing the local food system was not associated with perceived food security. This is consistent with other research we have conducted with university students. People who rely on the dominant food system generally feel quite secure about that as a source of food, perhaps being unaware of the vulnerability of this international food distribution system to changes in energy supply, geopolitical events, and extreme weather patterns in intensive agricultural areas (Heinberg & Bomford, 2009). One might expect that people who are not

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exclusively dependent upon this system, and are able to obtain food self-sufficiently would feel more food secure, but this is not generally what we see and is not what was observed in the present study. The food knowledge variables, reflecting participants knowledge of hunting, fishing, gathering, and growing their own food, were not directly correlated with the health and wellbeing outcomes, but were correlated with accessing the associated food source. These food source behaviours were in turn correlated with some beneficial outcomes. In other words, knowledge of hunting was correlated with hunting behaviour, and this hunting behaviour was correlated with life satisfaction and social capital. In sum, participants in these two First Nation communities indicated having a limited knowledge base of local foods and values that reinforce the dominant food system. However, having knowledge of local foods and accessing local foods was associated with various beneficial outcomes, reinforcing the broader objectives of the learning garden program. 4) Place-based learning, culture, and food Through this research, considerable insights were gained into perceptions of place, and how learning in place impacts the development of culture and food security in a community. Participants perceptions of their traditional lands were marked by concerns of contamination and an awareness of change. The change they perceived in their lands was attributed to human activities in the Western culture, such as climate change and industry. Participants perceptions of place were much broader than the traditional lands of their communities. Specifically, their notions of place included the physical structures of the global food system in their communities, such as nearby grocery and convenience stores, and could also be argued to include less tangible elements of the global place, such as media, popular fashion, and technology. This insight

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regarding participants broad understandings of place and place-based learning resulted in some theoretical developments regarding learning, food, place, and culture that will be outlined as follows. We begin with the premise that learning, in all its varied and lifelong forms, is fundamental to human adaptation. It is through our capacity to learn from others in various ways that we have been able to survive and adapt in different and changing environments in much shorter periods of time than allowed by genetic evolution alone (Richerson & Boyd, 2005). The second premise is that culture, as the dynamic, fluid, and sometimes unconscious repository of human knowledge in a setting (as well as the values and beliefs extracted from this knowledge), is also fundamental to human survival and adaptation (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008). Cultural systems emerge, form dynamically, and change, in response to their members efforts to survive, adapt, and live well with each other, and then communicate and reinforce this knowledge with each other and over time (Richerson & Boyd, 2005). Finally, one of the human activities most fundamental to survival and adaptation is the quest for food. Being able to gather an abundant supply of nutritious food in a constantly changing environment drives human learning and thus the formation and evolution of human cultural systems (Thu, 2006, McDonald, 2005). Therefore, the quest for food in a changing environment drives cultural evolution. In other words, culture evolves through the fluid process of food acquisition. Place, and particularly the human perception of place, is critical to this process. Place and food are understood to be thoroughly linked as the environment ultimately dictates limitations to the diversity, viability and health of local food sources (Heinberg & Bomford, 2009). When the viability of an existing food system is threatened, people will seek survival through adaptations to the place (i.e., the ecosystem), as they define it. Thus, adaptations to the place-based

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acquisition of food trigger cultural shifts in concepts, practices, beliefs, and unstated assumptions. Thus, culture arises as people develop a food system in the context of a particular place. In our participants, we observed a broad and dynamic perception of place that included two food systems, the globalized food system and the local indigenous food system. As noted above, these two food systems can at times contain inherent conflict, as when the drivers of the global food system (e.g., obtaining cash from jobs in local industry) undermines the health of the local biosphere and thus local foods. Furthermore, adaptation within each of the two food systems results in different worldviews, different views of nature and its relationship with human activity. By seeking adaptation in this integrated place, individuals in these communities are presented with two sets of messages regarding how to adapt, one reflecting survival in the global marketplace, the other reflecting survival in the biophysical environment, and both are undergoing transition. The process of indigenous place-based knowledge exchange and cultural evolution, grounded in the local food system, has been disrupted by the residential school system and other forces of cultural oppression. Likewise, while aspects of the global food system are present in these communities, and the associated learning occurs through global media, opportunities to actually engage that knowledge and display adaptation are largely absent in these reserves. In future work, we will continue to explore how the existence and evolution of two food systems within one broad perceived place shapes the learning of cultural information, and how this process may impact well-being on both individual and community levels. Integration and Implications of Findings This report began with the recognition that one must understand the definition of health that is held by a particular community before engaging in health promotion activities. Based on

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our earlier research, these two communities emphasized notions of connectedness within self, and among community members, land, culture, and spirit. This holistic vision of health includes a tightly connected, resilient local food system that is grounded in a positive vision of the land from which it arises and a sense of connection between the people and their place. Our findings of a positive correlation between the local food behaviour of hunting and fishing and both life satisfaction and social capital supports this view of the role of food connectedness in health. Therefore, by building connections among community members and between these members and their sense of place, the Learning Garden program sought to build a local and sustainable food system within each community. Knowledge and learning are fundamental to the development of local food systems and to the resilience of the community. A strong local food system in a resilient community requires the local availability of knowledge relevant to all points in the food system, from production and distribution through consumption (Feenstra, 2002; Petrini, 2007). It also requires that the community has the capacity to generate new knowledge and innovation from within their own culture and sense of place, and to draw in relevant knowledge and information from outside the community. Therefore learning programs like this one are a key part of building local food systems. Human adaptation and cultural evolution occur through learning, and learning that is grounded in the place or ecosystem of the people is particularly conducive to their adaptation to that environment, even as that environment undergoes change (Gruenewald, 2003; Woodhouse & Knapp, 2000). Place-based learning involves an openness that responds to the current reality of the place, rather than imposing external assumptions onto the place, as such it is an emergent style of learning that could be particularly beneficial for fostering novelty and innovation. In the

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present research, community members showed a definite recognition and valuing of place-based learning in local foods. We have argued that since the acquisition of food is so critical to human survival, it has been and continues to be one of the greatest drivers of human learning, and as such plays a key role in shaping the culture of the people (Thu, 2006; McDonald, 2005). One important insight gained from this research is that a program such as the Learning Garden that is designed for Aboriginal learners must take into consideration the bicultural context of the individuals participating. In our research, we observed that understandings of place and place-based knowledge varied considerably among participants, with many showing a blended understanding of place that incorporated both traditional lands and mainstream food stores. We also observed different views of the garden in our research, with some learners preferring a less invasive approach to cultivated gardening that included planting the garden in the bush, while others preferred the more traditional western view of the garden. Likewise, we observed different preferences for learning, with some preferring a more holistic and immersed style of learning than the workshop structure allowed. Programs such as this one must work within the variable and often blended cultural context of the particular community and the particular community members involved. The cultural orientation of the participants is important in driving health relevant behaviours, such as choice of food and food values, as we observed in our findings where, for example, Canadian cultural identity was found to correlate with valuing the health of food. The results of this research are consistent with the vision of Aboriginal learning articulated in the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007). For example, our findings have revealed that learning occurs as people seek adaptation in a particular place. This supports the purpose of learning in the model, that it is to

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develop the skills and wisdom that will ensure the sustainability of life. Likewise, the understanding of learning as a cyclical process that occurs throughout the lifespan, and is not compartmentalized to a certain stage of development or educational structure, is consistent with the range of participants we had in our workshops, from children and youth through adults and elders. These communities understanding of health as a state of connectedness, and their desire to foster connectedness within the community and with the land are consistent with the First Nation worldview described in the model. Several of our participants described the emotional, physical, and spiritual dimensions of connecting with the land, revealing a holistic and interconnected view of the person-in-place, with learning and engagement being the vehicle to bring about this state of individual and collective well-being. Finally, our findings regarding an integrated vision of place and participants automatic integration of Western and Aboriginal knowledge support this blended view of the core of the learner shown in the model. Implications and Recommendations. It is important to consider this learning context in further developments and revisions to the Learning Garden program. Our findings have revealed much in terms of how to make this program more effective in achieving its goal of building sustainable local food systems and community health through place-based learning. These reflections will be discussed further below as we consider the limitations of the present research and directions for future research. Meanwhile, our findings also offer insights into at least four policy and practical implications as outlined as follows. First, Aboriginal learning programs and curriculum in general should take an honest look at the actual sense of place as perceived by the given learners, recognizing that those perceptions can be interacting with multiple cultural streams. Cultures, and the places in which they evolve, are inherently dynamic. Cultures evolve as their members strive continuously to adapt to a

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changing environment, particularly through the search for food. This adaptation occurs now. People turn to the store for food because they perceive it to be an easier and more efficient and often safer way of obtaining food than traditional methods of hunting in lands potentially contaminated by industry. Therefore, they are adapting to a changing sense of place, and the behaviours, values, and culture of the people will evolve accordingly. Freezing Aboriginal people into a traditional identity denies their efforts to adapt to the place they exist within. That said, this process of adaptation and cultural evolution should be informed by that honest look at the sense of place people hold. Our participants responded with an intuitive or deep recognition of the value of place-based learning that is grounded in the physical ecosystem. People were engaged by the exercise of sharing and documenting community knowledge relating to traditional forest foods and the gifts of the land. This knowledge and its development are essential to building sustainable food systems. The process of cultural evolution may be messy and its outcome uncertain, but it is at its most adaptive when it is responsive to the real and changing environment that surrounds and sustains the people in question. Second, to engage Aboriginal learners across the lifespan and from a diversity of bicultural orientations, we recommend retaining a flexible approach to the learning program that incorporates a swinging range and blend of Western and Aboriginal learning styles and tools. A style of learning that was immersed in daily living and deeply holistic was particularly beneficial in reaching our adult learners, but younger learners and those from Constance Lake were comfortable with a more structured format. In Aboriginal communities, where the dynamics of cultural collisions and blends continue to play out, it is particularly important that learning programs recognize the bicultural orientation of the particular learner. The varied views of the

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garden that we observed, from structured and scientific to unstructured and nature-based is further testament to this cultural variability and its implications for learning programs. Third, the process of exploring and discussing local foods may bring to the forefront conflicts between the drivers of the mainstream food system, such as local jobs in industry, and the local food system. People within one community are turning to both food systems to survive and adapt. Therefore, we recommend building the capacity within the communities to lead the discussion, to be aware of the value, necessity, and potential of local food sources within the traditional lands, and to work with industry to protect key areas. Finally, policies at all levels of government should be fostered that support Aboriginal involvement in the food system, that acknowledge the value of traditional lands as food systems, and that allow communities to protect their traditional sources of food. Meanwhile, since mainstream stores are part of the place to which people adapt, they should be incorporated into the local food system; for example, by ensuring that policies exist which support the sale of local and traditional foods in the stores. Limitations and Future Directions There were a number of limitations in the present research and program design which impact the generalizability and scope of the conclusions that can be drawn. The physical distance between the participating communities and the research team and the time limits of the project posed a number of logistical problems that limited the research design. We relied upon our community-based coordinators to respond flexibly to the styles and preferences of their learners in the execution of the program, which worked well, but often meant that workshops were spontaneous. This spontaneity and the distance of the communities meant that we were not able to have a student present for every workshop which posed challenges for the collection of

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qualitative and quantitative data. Furthermore, a research project of this scope and qualitative depth would benefit from the consistent presence of a single dedicated researcher, where we had three students participating in the collection of qualitative data throughout the summer. This issue, combined with the tendency of community members to participate in workshops in an ad hoc manner, also resulted in a low number of participants who completed the quantitative survey and made it impossible to collect both pre- and post-test surveys from a single group of consistent participants. The low number of survey participants limits the power of the statistical tests and creates a self-selection bias in the sampling. Our inability to compare pre- and post-test data also meant that we could not provide objective data on the outcomes of the program. Nevertheless, the present research was effective in generating significant insight into the participants perceptions of place, and the role of place-based learning in the evolution of culture and the building of sustainable local food systems. One outcome of this research is the continuing development of the Learning Garden program. Based on our experiences with the strengths and limitations of the 2008 program, and the insights we have gained, we will be developing the program into a toolkit that will be freely available on the internet. This toolkit will be designed for First Nation communities who seek to build sustainable local food systems that foster community health, connectedness and resilience. The program will provide ideas and a framework that can help communities draw upon and then expand their own place-based knowledge and capacity in local food, including cultivated and forest foods. Instead of imposing a particular structure or set of cultural teachings, the program will help community leaders identify and work within the models of health and learning and perceptions of place that are held by the learners themselves. Thus, its aim will be to foster

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organically the emergence of an indigenous food system that is grounded within the cultural and ecological place of the people. Research on this program will also continue, feeding back to further refine and improve the online toolkit. Individuals who use or adapt elements of the program in their communities will be asked to voluntarily complete a brief self-assessment on the process and outcomes of the program as it was run. They will also be asked to request that their learners complete a very brief survey early and then later in the course of the program to assess the outcomes of the program. In addition to research on the Learning Garden program, several questions have emerged from the present research that warrant further investigation. Our findings of a correlation between Aboriginal identity and grocery store use and between Canadian identity and valuing the health of food suggest that participant definitions of their Canadian and Aboriginal identities may not be as we had assumed. Similar questions regarding the meaning of the Canadian and Aboriginal cultural identities had emerged in some of our earlier research (Ray, 2007; Trull, 2007; Harper, 2009) and is supported by research on social identity indicating that identity content, or the meaning of an identity, is critical to understanding how these identities affect the individuals psychology and behaviour (e.g., Livingstone & Haslam, 2008). Further research using qualitative methodology would be beneficial to gain insight into how Aboriginal Canadian individuals define each identity and the relationship between them, as variations in how identities are understood may have implications for well-being. The present studys findings relating to perceptions of place should also be further explored in mixed methods research. Learning as adaptation grounded in place and specific to food is essential to building resilient, sustainable and healthy communities. In our study, participants held a blended understanding of place that included traditional lands and aspects of

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the mainstream food system. In their behaviour, participants are revealing a broad understanding of the place in which they survive and adapt. Further research into the process of this blending would be beneficial to understanding how the Aboriginal and Canadian cultures continue to coevolve as we collectively approach an era when climate change and peak oil reveal the vulnerabilities of the mainstream food system. In addition, the opportunity to engage dynamically and in dialogue with others, immersed in place was met with such enthusiasm by learners of all ages in our research that a more focused qualitative analysis of the experience of place-based food system learning would be valuable. Conclusion The purpose of the Learning Garden program was to increase holistic health in program participants and to increase experience-based knowledge of both vegetable gardening and forest foods, as well as nutrition and its link to health.. The program incorporated the principles of the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007) and sought to promote a holistic vision of community health and resilience centred on a sustainable, local food system. In the context of this health program, the purpose of the research was to (1) examine the outcomes of the program against its goals, (2) to explore the process of learning that occurred, (3) to better understand participants current food behaviours, food values, and perceptions of the food system, and how these correlated with other variables of interest, including holistic health and cultural identity, and (4) to examine participants perceptions of place and the interactions among place, food, and culture. The research findings form a solid foundation for future work in this area and suggest several ways to expand on the Learning Garden program. They also begin to articulate an understanding of culture as a dynamic emergent property of a network of people, all seeking adaptation and food within a dynamic

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perception of place. This view of culture and place as interacting complex systems is particularly useful in understanding the context of Aboriginal health in Canada. .

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Appendix A: Workshop Outline Workshop coordinator is to: - interpret this outline in light of the backgrounds and perspectives of participants and the particular community - prepare or purchase any needed supplies or materials in advance of each workshop ($250 per workshop available, including prize groceries, snacks) - do any necessary research or background preparation - prepare specific demonstrations or discussion questions to achieve the aims of the workshop as outlined - summarize the actual activities and topics covered after each workshop along with their effectiveness and outcomes, provide to the PI. - Keep receipts from any workshop related expenses, provide to the PI At each workshop: Experiential component (learning by doing) Discussion component Cultivated garden Forest garden Food journal Food map Traditional (opening) ceremony as preferred (coordinator or designate) Healthy food / snacks, prepared together (coordinator to bring each day) Draw for $20 worth of healthy groceries (coordinator to bring each day) 1. Introductory Meeting Early May, 2008 Introduce the Learning Garden Program o Explain Program goals (see proposal) o Discuss what the participants learning goals are what do they hope to gain from this experience? Describe the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model (see model summary and website: http://www.cclcca.ca/CCL/Reports/RedefiningSuccessInAboriginalLearning/?Language=EN) and critically discuss o Discuss how the participants understand learning, how do I learn best? What is the purpose of learning to me? Discuss current food use and sources o What do participants currently eat, where does it come from? (store, garden, forest and lakes?) o What do they think of this food in terms of health and nutrition?

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o Start the food map: on a large sheet of paper or a map of the region (see if coordinators can find one before this workshop), have participants discuss where they know that they can find food. For example, what lakes and water ways are good for particular species of fish? Where do the moose go? Where is there wild rice, blueberries, etc? o This map will be revisited throughout the program. Coordinator can start them off with 1-2 ideas from their own knowledge, but dont give everything on first day. Participants can ask relatives and others for further ideas before the next workshop. Note that map stays in the community (shared with school perhaps). Introduce the cultivated garden, discuss what participants will learn how to do o Identify the foods that participants would like to grow (coordinator will find out if those foods grow here and buy seeds); start a map of a garden plot (what to plant and where), discuss box-gardening (frame to be built), discuss supplies needed Introduce food journal, provide journals o Participants to keep track of the food they eat, include comments on their thoughts about the nutrition of the food, how they feel to be eating it. Participants to complete surveys (this meeting or next)

Between meetings in consultation with university team (Connie Nelson): Plan cultivated garden around preferred and nutritious food Buy seeds and supplies as needed (wood for frame, soil and compost, seeds, tools) Generate timeline and coordinate with workshops 2. Garden Preparation Mid May, 2008 Guest to assist with garden box design and compost: Connie Nelson, Jeff Burke (?) Establish garden site o Build box frame together, fill with soil and compost (discuss purpose of compost); discuss locations for plants from map o Discuss seeds and tools purchased, which of their preferred vegetables can be grown? What are the planting and other (e.g., watering) needs of these vegetables? Discuss and/or engage in forest food activities as group o Spring goose hunt, trapping, pickerel fishing. o Revisit the food map anything further to add, has anyone acquired food from one of these sources or a new source? Health Learning model discussion: o Implications of forest and cultivated gardens for health and community wellbeing; apply the Health Learning model diagram to what is being learned with the gardens Personal and Community health discussion: o Perceptions of current personal and community health, what are their goals for personal and community health/well-being. o What are the components of health and well-being for themselves and the community as a whole what makes them healthy?

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o What interconnections do they see among food, nutrition, and health; does it matter where the food comes from? What is the effect of growing or gathering / hunting the food yourself on health, autonomy, food security? o Referring to the food journal, where does their food typically come from? What challenges and fears do they see with respect to hunting, gathering and growing food from the lands around them? What benefits? o Referring to the food journal that they have been keeping, what is the nutritional value of the food they have been eating, what is its effect on health and how they feel about themselves? 3. Garden Planting Early June or late May, 2008 Guest to assist with garden planting: Connie Nelson, Mirella Stroink, Jeff Burke? Plant garden: o Seed planting, experiential learning, with workshop participants, coordinator, and guest gardeners (Connie, etc). Should be a fun experience o Identify and discuss the nutritional value of each food, implications for health o Discuss and demonstrate the maintenance of the garden Health discussion: o Continue discussions from previous meeting, review food journals and map o Discuss nutritional value of forest foods, compare with store foods

4. Cultural values and Food Mid June, 2008 Guest: Mirella Stroink Culture and Health Discussion / critical dialogue: o What are Western Foods? What do participants consider to be the Western perspective on food? What do they think Western culture values with respect to food? How are these values reflected in the types of food that are available, in the nutritional value of these foods, in the health of people in North America? Explore a range of options in response to these questions. o What are Aboriginal Foods? What do participants consider to be the Aboriginal perspective on food? What do they think Aboriginal culture values with respect to food? How are these values reflected in the types of food that are available, in the nutritional value of these foods, in the health of First Nations people? Explore a range of options in response to these questions, e.g., historical vs. contemporary. o Compare and contrast these cultural perspectives on food and food values. Are there conflicts or differences in these values and perspectives? Does each culture tell you something different or the same thing about food and nutrition? o Discuss how these conflicts might be resolved is there a way to have both? o Have participants continue to think about this and about what perspectives/values their food typically reflects as they write their food journals over the next 2 weeks. Cultivated garden maintenance

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o Weed garden, discuss and identify growing plants, water garden Cultural values, food, and health Early July, 2008 Cultivated garden maintenance and early harvest o How to harvest early cultivated crops (e.g., lettuce, spinach), experiential learning of how to prepare the food. o Garden maintenance, weeding, watering o Discuss how to know when each vegetable is ready Continue discussion on food values o How do Western and aboriginal values identified in previous workshop each impact upon personal health and well-being, community health, sense of connection with community and culture? o How does any conflict between these values impact upon these factors? o Discuss the role of diabetes and weight problems in terms of the store-bought and local foods eaten, their nutritional value, and the cultural values they reflect. o Referring to the food journal, what cultural perspectives does their food typically represent? o What perspective(s) and value(s) would they like their food, nutrition, and health to reflect? o Lead into discussion on: Local and independent food sources: o What local food sources in the forest would they like increased access to, or that they would like to use more often? (blue berries, wild rice, fish, large and small game). Discuss what to gather together the following workshop. o What are the barriers to this access? (contested land base, environmental degradation, lost traditional knowledge) o How can these be overcome?

The Forest Garden Mid July, 2008 Harvest forest garden products together: blueberries, Saskatoon berries, wild rice, etc. o As per available knowledge o Coordinator to lead trip together, could recruit a local elder to help identify locations o Add locations identified to the food map o Identify and discuss potential benefits of forest and cultivated garden products for health and well-being including nutrition and cultural connection. o Discuss ideas for cooking and preparation of food from forest garden Cultivated garden: o Discuss and engage in harvesting of crops that are ready o Weed and water garden as needed Gardens and Health Early August, 2008

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Cultivated garden: o Discuss and engage in harvesting of crops that are ready (experiential learning), explain how to tell when these vegetables are ready. o Weed and water garden as needed o Discuss challenges, strategies, and resources for managing ones own garden; discuss benefits to community of gardening know-how spreading. o Identify and discuss strengths and resources existing in self, group, community, wider community. o Identify and discuss barriers to understanding health and gardening, myths (West Nile), pressures (drugs). o Discuss ideas for cooking and preparation of food from cultivated garden o Prepare a menu for a healthy meal with local foods from forest and/or cultivated garden Discuss food journals, any changes in what they are eating? o What may be preventing them from eating more local and nutritious foods? What is helping them make changes? o Have their food values changed at all?

Kitchen Workshop Mid-August, 2008 Cultivated garden: o Discuss and engage in harvesting of crops that are ready (late-harvest vegetables, e.g., squash, potatoes), explain how to tell when these vegetables are ready. o Weed and water garden as needed Forest garden: o Discuss harvesting of high bush cranberries, chokecherries o Update local food map Cook a healthy meal to eat together with foods from the forest and cultivated gardens.

Harvest Workshop Early September, 2008 Clean up cultivated garden, harvest all remaining vegetables, discuss nutritional and health benefits o Discuss preparation of garden for spring o Discuss participants feelings about managing their own gardens next year, do they feel confident they can do so, what can be done to enhance that confidence if necessary? Food storage o Discuss and engage in food storage with harvested foods freezing, canning o Discuss health benefits of having stored healthy local foods Forest garden

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o Prepare for and discuss wild rice and winter harvests from the forest garden (small and large game, ice-fishing). Organize groups or trips as needed or as interest allows. o Update local food maps, discuss final version, is it complete? Will it constantly change and evolve? How to ensure the knowledge persists? Final Workshop Mid September, 2008 Review the holistic learning model and the goals of the workshop program and the goals that participants identified in the spring. o Relate the experiences of the summer to those goals and the model. Was there a fit between the model and their experiences of learning? o Have the goals been approached or met? o What do they think now of the food values discussed earlier? Have their values changed, have they found ways to balance competing values? o Have them assess their own learning and their satisfaction with that learning do they feel like they have learned something or gained anything from participating? Was it worthwhile? Will it be possible to continue with cultivated and forest gardening? What will be necessary to continue or expand these activities in the community? How can this knowledge be transferred to others in the community? Run the survey again Celebration Appendix B: Cover Letter [Appeared on Lakehead University Letterhead] Dear Potential Participant, We are a group of researchers at Lakehead University, and we are doing a study that looks at health and well-being, and the learning that occurs within the Learning Garden Program. This research should help us learn more about how to build healthy people and healthy communities. As someone who is attending the Learning Garden workshops, we are interested in your thoughts and feelings about health and learning. If you agree to do the study, you will be asked to choose how much you agree or disagree with several different statements. When you finish the questions and hand them in, you will be entered in the prize draw that will take place this June. This research has been approved by the Lakehead University Senate Research Ethics Board. Dr. Mirella Stroink will be the only one allowed to see the information you give. Your answers to the questions are anonymous. This means that we will not be able to tell which study

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package was yours, so we wont know which answers you have given to the questions. The information you give will be kept at Lakehead University for 7 years. Participation in this study is completely voluntary. This means that if, for any reason, you do not want to finish the questions, or any part of the study, then you dont have to. Also, you can leave the study at any time without penalty. Note that you do not have to do this study in order to participate in the Learning Garden workshops. If you want to be part of the study, you must sign the informed consent form. If you want more information about this study or have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact Dr. Stroink using the e-mail addresses and telephone numbers at the top of the page, or ask your workshop coordinator to put you in touch with her. You may also contact the Lakehead University Research Ethics Board at (807) 343-8283. We are very excited to have you help out by completing this study! Thanks so much,

Mirella Stroink

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Appendix C: Informed Consent

This research measures your thoughts and feelings about health and learning as well as some of your beliefs about food and your culture. You will be asked to answer questions about how you see yourself, as well as some of your beliefs and opinions. The primary researcher in this study is Dr. Mirella Stroink from Lakehead University. By signing this form, I show that I understand: 1. That I am a volunteer; that I can choose not to answer any question or stop doing the survey at any time without penalty; I understand that I do not have to do the survey in order to attend the Learning Garden workshops. 2. That there are no risks in doing this study 3. That those using the information I give in the study will not be able to tell which answers were mine, and that no information from the study will be shared with anyone except the researchers. 4. That I can ask to get information about the project after I have completed the study. Placing my name below shows that I have read and understand the information above and I agree to participate in the study.

Name (please print): ______________________________ Signature: ______________________________________ Date: _________________

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Appendix D: Survey

Health Learning Survey

We are interested in learning about some of the thoughts and feelings you have about yourself, the food you eat, and your health. There are no right or wrong answers! Try to answer as honestly as you can. If you volunteer to take this survey, you can choose not to answer any question that you do not want to answer, and you can stop doing the survey if you want to without penalty. Please do not put your name on the survey. Nobody will be able to tell which answers were yours. If you want more information about the survey, please ask your workshop coordinator or phone: (807) 346-7874. When the whole study is done, you can get a summary of the results using the contact information on the cover letter. We thank you very much for your time and help! Please continue if you agree to participate in the survey.

CODE NAME
Instructions: Please answer these questions carefully, by circling the correct response. You may be taking a similar survey again in the fall, so we need to create a code name for you that we can use to match your answers on the two surveys, but that cannot identify who you are. It is very important that these questions are answered honestly and accurately both times! 1. What is the second letter of your first name? A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 2. What month were you born in? January February March April May June July August September October November December 3. What is the first letter in your mothers first name? A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 4. What is the last number in your address (house number)? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

5. What month was your mother born in? January February March April May June July August September October November December 6. What is the first letter of your middle name?

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION: 1. Sex: Male_____ 2. Age: _________ 3. How would you describe your abilities in each of the following languages?
1 2 WithDifficulty 3 Somewhat 4 FairlyWell 5 VeryWell

Female_____ Other_____

Notatall

____ 1. How well can you understand the language of your Aboriginal ancestry (e.g. Cree, Ojibway)? ____ 2. How well can you speak the language of your Aboriginal ancestry (e.g. Cree, Ojibway)? ____ 3. How well can you understand English? ____ 4. How well can you speak English? 4. What is your first language (e.g. English, Aboriginal language): ___________________________ 5. How many hours do you think you spend outside in an average week? _____ 6. How many hours do you think you spend watching TV in an average week? _____

FOOD KNOWLEDGE Instructions: Indicate how knowledgeable you currently feel you are in each area using the 1 Not at all following scale: 2 A little 3 Moderately 4 Quite a bit 5 Extremely

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

____ locating where whitefish can be caught with netting ____ setting traps ____ hunting game (e.g., moose, caribou) ____ hunting birds (e.g., geese) ____ skinning the meat from hunted birds or game ____ locating places where edible berries grow in the forest ____ locating places where wild rice grows

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8. ____ preparing soil for growing vegetables 9. ____ planting seeds for vegetable plants 10. ____ caring for vegetable plants (weeding, watering) 11. ____ harvesting vegetables 12. ____ preparing healthy meals 13. ____ knowing which foods are healthy 14. ____ knowing how my health is affected by the foods I eat

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PHYSICAL HEALTH AND NUTRITION Concerning your health in general, would you say your health is (circle one): 1 2 3 4 5 Poor Fair Good Very good Excellent Concerning your mental health, would you say your mental health is (circle one): 1 2 3 4 5 Poor Fair Good Very good Excellent Thinking about the amount of stress in your life, would you say that most days are (circle one): 1 2 3 4 5 Not at all Not very A bit Quite a bit Extremely Stressful Stressful Stressful Stressful Stressful Concerning your weight, do you feel your weight is (circle one): 1 2 3 4 Very Unhealthy Average Healthy Unhealthy

5 Very Healthy

In the past three months, have you done any of the following activities (mark all that apply)? ____walking for exercise ____skiing or snowboarding ____gardening or yard work ____bowling ____swimming ____baseball / softball ____bicycling ____dancing ____home exercise ____fishing ____hockey ____basketball ____working outdoors ____jogging or running ____no physical activity ____other: ________________

Thinking about your levels of physical activity, would you say that you are: 1 2 3 4 5 Not at all Not very A bit Quite Extremely Active Active Active Active Active

Instructions: The next questions are about the foods you usually eat. Think about all the foods you eat, both meals and snacks, at home and away from home. Indicate how much you eat each of the following using the scale provided: 1 Not at all 2 A little 3 Occasionally 4 Often 5 Very often

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1. ____ Potatoes (not counting potato chips) 2. ____ Carrots 3. ____ Turnips 4. ____ Lettuce 5. ____ Tomatoes 6. ____ Cucumbers 7. ____ Broccoli 8. ____ Squash 9. ____ Beans 10. ____ Fish 11. ____ Moose meat 12. ____ Caribou meat 13. ____ Beef 14. ____ Chicken 15. ____ Pork 16. ____ Apples 17. ____ Oranges 18. ____ Bananas 19. ____ Blueberries 20. ____ Raspberries 21. ____ Other vegetable (specify): ____________________ 22. ____ Other meat (specify): ________________________ 23. ____ Other fruit (specify): ________________________ Thinking about what you typically eat on a day to day basis, do you feel your eating habits are: 1 2 3 4 5 Very Unhealthy Average Healthy Very Unhealthy Healthy Have you been diagnosed by a medical professional with any of the following chronic health conditions (circle yes/no): 1. Heart disease: Y N 2. Cancer: Y N 3. Diabetes: Y N 4. High blood pressure: Y N 5. Stomach ulcers: Y N 6. Crohns disease or Colitis: Y N 7. High cholesterol: Y N Do you smoke? Y N (circle one)

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SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING Instructions: Below are five sentences that you may agree or disagree with. Read each sentence and then tell us how much you agree with it by putting a number from 1 to 5 on the line. 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Agree _____ In most ways my life is close to my ideal. _____ The conditions of my life are excellent. _____ I am satisfied with my life. _____ So far I have gotten the important things I want in life. _____ If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.

Instructions: Below is a list of words that describe different feelings and emotions. Read each one and tell us how much you generally feel that way by putting a number from 1 to 5 on the line next to it. On average, how much do you feel each of these emotions? 1 Very slightly or not at all 2 A little 3 Moderately 4 Quite a bit 5 Extremely

____interested ____distressed ____excited ____upset ____strong ____guilty ____scared ____hostile ____enthusiastic ____proud

____irritable ____alert ____ashamed ____inspired ____nervous ____determined ____attentive ____jittery ____active ____afraid

SOCIAL CAPITAL Instructions: Below are twelve sentences that you may agree or disagree with. Read each sentence and then tell us how much you agree with it by putting a number from 1 to 5 on the line next to it. 1 Strongly Disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly Agree 116

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____ 1. If I wanted to start a small business, I could count on support from the Band. ____ 2. If myself, or someone in my family wanted to receive job training or education, we could receive support from the Band. ____ 3. Generally speaking, most people in this community try to be helpful to each other. ____ 4. Generally speaking, most people in this community can be trusted. ____ 5. I find that different groups in this community dont mingle much with each other. ____ 6. People in this community tend to always associate with the same group of people. ____ 7. If I wanted to start a small business, I could count on support from First Nations organizations outside this community. ____ 8. If myself, or someone in my family wanted to receive job training or education, we could receive support from a First Nations organization outside this community. ____ 9. First Nations organizations try to do the best for my community. ____ 10. Generally speaking, people from other First Nations communities treat me in a fair way. ____ 11. My community works together with other First Nations to improve the situation of First Nations people. ____ 12. I have friends in different First Nations communities that I communicate with regularly.

FOOD SECURITY Instructions: The questions on the next page ask about your thoughts on the food that you eat. Please read each question and respond by circling a number using the scale provided.

Disagree

1. I am able to access enough food to meet my needs. 2. I am able to access the kinds of food that I need. 3. I have easy access to sources of nutritious food. 4. Obtaining nutritious food is not a problem for me. 5. I trust that the ways I access food will continue to be available into the future. 6. I am able to access nutritious food in ways that are acceptable to me. 7. The ways that I access food are reliable. 8. I know several different ways to access food.

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

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Strongly Agree

Strongly Disagree

Neutral

Agree

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9. I am able to access nutritious food in ways that are acceptable to my culture. 10. I know how to get enough nutritious food to meet my needs. 11. The ways that I access food are safe. 12. I sometimes worry that I will run out of food. 13. I trust my sources of food. 14. I am confident in my ability to get the food that I need. 15. I worry that I will not be able to access enough food to meet my needs. 16. I am not confident in my sources of food. 17. I do not have a secure source of food. 18. In the past year, you or your family have worried that food would run out 19. In the past year, the food that you and your family had ran out, and there was no way to get more. 20. In the past year, you and your family could not access the food you needed to eat balanced meals. 21. In the past year, you or members of your family did not eat enough because there was not enough food.

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Instructions: Think about the food that you usually eat and where it comes from. How much do you use each of the following methods to get your daily food (use the scale below to fill in a number next to each method): Not available in my community 0 Never or very rarely 1 Rarely Sometimes Often Always or almost always 5

____ 1. Grocery store in Thunder Bay ____ 2. Grocery store in nearby town ____ 3. Convenience store ____ 4. Gathering berries ____ 5. Gathering herbs ____ 6. Gathering medicinal plants ____ 7. Gathering wild rice ____ 8. Gathering other forest products ____ 9. Growing vegetables in a garden

____ 10. Fishing ____ 11. Hunting ____ 12. Trapping ____ 13. Food bank ____ 14. Sharing food with others ____ 15. Other: _________________________ ____ 16. Other:__________________________ ____ 17. Other: __________________________ 118

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Are there certain foods that you need or would like to eat that are difficult to get, or are not available, in your community? [ ] Yes [ ] No If yes, what are those foods - and why are they difficult to get or not available? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ __________ Instructions: Think about where your food comes from, and everything involved in getting food from where it comes from to your plate. What do you think of this food process? Use the scale below to fill in a number next to each statement. How much is it... Not at all or very little 1 Slightly Somewhat Quite a bit Completely or very much 5

____ 1. Under your personal control? ____ 2. Reliable? ____ 3. Understandable to you? ____ 4. Transparent? ____ 5. Trustworthy? ____ 6. Safe? ____ 7. Affected by forces outside of your personal control? ____ 8. Protected or regulated by governments? ____ 9. Influenced by business or corporate interests Instructions: When choosing food, how important is each of the following to you in guiding your food choices? Think about the food you eat for your primary meals. Use the following scale to make your answers:

1 Strongly Disagree

2 Disagree

3 Neutral

4 Agree

5 Strongly Agree

When choosing food to eat, it is important to me that the food ____ 1. is affordable. ____ 2. is easy to prepare. ____ 3. does not require cooking. ____ 4. is familiar (you have eaten it before). 119

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____ 5. is convenient. ____ 6. is eaten by other people I know. ____ 7. is accessible at the grocery or convenience store. ____ 8. tastes good. ____ 9. is healthy. ____ 10. has a unique flavour. ____ 11. connects me with my cultural heritage. ____ 12. was also eaten by my ancestors. ____ 13. is not overly processed. ____ 14. is not too salty. ____ 15. is not too sweet. ____ 16. comes from the land nearby. Instructions: We would like to learn about the skills that you think you need in order to be a successful, well-adjusted person. Please rate each of the following on how necessary it is to your understanding of what it means to be a successful person using the scale provided. Not at all necessary 1 Slightly necessary 2 Somewhat necessary 3 Quite necessary 4 Very necessary 5

1. ____ Being a good steward or protector of the land that provides for me. 2. ____ Being able to catch, hunt, grow, or raise my own fish, meat, or vegetables to eat. 3. ____ Being able to buy the latest or best fashions. 4. ____ Knowing the landscape in which I live. 5. ____ Learning the skills and knowledge necessary to find and keep a good job. 6. ____ Being able to buy a cool or high status car or truck. 7. ____ Being able to buy the latest or best new technologies (e.g., cell phone, computer, ipod). 8. ____ Understanding how to find and access the services of any store or business I need. 9. ____ Knowing how to preserve food for winter. 10. ____ Understanding the climate, seasons, and geography of the region I live in. 11. ____ Being able to give back to the land that provides for me. 12. ____ Making enough money to be able to buy new things regularly.

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CULTURAL IDENTITY Instructions: Please respond to each of the following statements twice: once representing your thoughts and feelings about your Canadian culture, and again representing your thoughts and feelings about your Aboriginal or First Nation culture. Circle the number that most closely reflects how much you agree or disagree with each statement as it reflects each culture. Answer Each Question Twice My Canadian Culture Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree My Aboriginal Culture Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Neutral 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

Agree

1. In general, being a member of this culture is an important part of my self-image. 2. I often think about the fact that I am a member of this culture. 3. I find it difficult to form a bond with other members of this culture. 4. In general, Im glad to be a member of this culture. 5. I dont feel good about being a member of this culture. 6. I have a lot in common with other members of this culture. 7. The fact that I am a member of this culture rarely enters my mind. 8. I dont feel a sense of being connected with other members of this culture. 9. I often regret that I am a member of this culture. 10. I feel strong ties to other members of this culture. 11. Being a member of this culture has very little to do with how I feel about myself. 12. Generally, I feel good when I think about myself as being a member of this culture.

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

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Agree

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Instructions: Please respond to each of the following statements twice: once representing how you see your Canadian culture, and again representing how you see your Aboriginal or First Nation culture. Circle the number that most closely reflects how much you agree or disagree with each statement as it reflects each culture. Answer Each Question Twice My Canadian Culture Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree My Aboriginal Culture Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Neutral 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

Agree

1. This culture has a real existence for me. 2. This culture is a distinct entity, or thing, in my mind. 3. To me, this culture exists as a distinct unit. 4. This culture is a self-contained entity in my mind. 5. It is obvious who is, and is not, a member of this culture. 6. It is easy to know whether or not someone is a member of this culture. 7. I have a clear idea of what it means to be a member of this culture. 8. This culture is clearly separate and unique from other cultures. 11. The core characteristics that define this culture can change over time. 12. The fundamental characteristics of this culture are permanent. 13. The values that this culture holds can change over time. 14. The basic values of this culture will always stay the same. 15. In the future, the values and characteristics associated with this culture may be very different from what they are now. 16. The basic nature of this culture will not be affected by changing fads or trends.

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

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Agree

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17. Individual members of this culture cannot change the meaning, values, and attributes of 1 the culture. 18. What it means to belong to this culture 1 was permanently established by our ancestors.

2 2

3 3

4 4

5 5

1 1

2 2

3 3

4 4

5 5

Instructions: Please respond to each of the following statements. Circle the number to the right that most closely reflects how much you agree or disagree with each statement.

Strongly Disagree

1. I believe that I can be a full member of both the Canadian and Aboriginal communities. 2. It is not possible for me to be both Aboriginal and Canadian. 3. It is possible to be a fully accepted member of both the Canadian and Aboriginal cultures. 4. I believe that in order to be truly Canadian I cannot also be a full member of my Aboriginal culture. 5. I believe that in order to be a full member of my Aboriginal culture, I cannot also be truly Canadian. 6. I believe it is possible to identify with both Canada and my Aboriginal culture. 7. To be fully Canadian, I have to hide or alter my Aboriginal identity. 8. To be fully Aboriginal, I have to hide or alter my Canadian identity. 9. I am simply a member of my Aboriginal culture who lives in Canada. 10. I keep my Aboriginal and Canadian cultures separate. 11. I feel Aboriginal -Canadian. 12. I feel part of a combined culture. 13. I am conflicted between the Canadian and Aboriginal ways of doing things. 14. I feel like someone moving between two cultures. 15. I feel caught between the Aboriginal and Canadian cultures. 16. I do not feel trapped between the Aboriginal and Canadian cultures.

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

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Strongly Agree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

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Appendix E: Debriefing Letter [Appeared on Lakehead University letterhead] Dear Participant: Thank you for your participation in this study. You have been entered in a draw for a $50 prize and two $25 prizes that will take place this June. Your answers to the questions will help us to better understand how people learn about health, nutrition, local foods, and culture. You answered many questions about yourself, your health, well-being and nutrition, as well as your thoughts and feelings about the food you eat and your connection with Canadian and Aboriginal culture. Our study is trying to find out more about how your health and wellbeing are related to nutrition and food, and whether any of these are also related to how you balance different cultures. You will be asked to do another survey in September, at the end of the workshop program that is similar to this one. If you have any questions or concerns about the study, please feel free to contact Dr. Stroink at the e-mail address or phone numbers indicated above, or ask the workshop coordinator to put you in touch. Concerns about the research can also be taken to the Lakehead University Research Ethics Committee at (807) 343-8283. Please contact us if you want to be given more information about our research, or a summary of the findings from this study. Thank you very much for your help with the study,

Mirella Stroink, PhD

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