Shelley Wiart, B.A. Sociology (Great Distinction) is a member of the North Slave Métis Alliance, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Shelley is the recipient of the Hotıì ts'eeda (NWT SPOR Support Unit) Research Capacity Development Program for her Indigenous women’s health research, Digital Storytelling as an Indigenous Women’s Health Advocacy Tool: Empowering Indigenous Women to Frame Their Health Stories. Shelley is an avid writer and was awarded the Sally Manning Award for Indigenous Creative Non-Fiction (2020) in Up Here magazine. Shelley is attending Royal Roads University for a Master of Arts in Leadership. Address: Yellowknife, NT
Dorothy Weyallon is a member of Tłı̨chǫ and lives in Behchokǫ̀, which is the largest First Nation... more Dorothy Weyallon is a member of Tłı̨chǫ and lives in Behchokǫ̀, which is the largest First Nations community in the Northwest Territories.
Dorothy shares her love for her land, language, culture and community in her story, Living Our History. She recalls the first Trails of Our Ancestors canoe and boat trip she took with her grandfather when she was 15 years old. She states, “the land is an integral part of my healing, and that cultural events like hand games are important for community healing.”
Maxine Desjarlais self-identifies as Métis and was raised on Fishing Lake Metis Settlement (Treat... more Maxine Desjarlais self-identifies as Métis and was raised on Fishing Lake Metis Settlement (Treaty 6 territory). Her mother was Cree/Scottish and her father was Cree/French.
Maxine created her digital story entitled, Fragmented after visiting the residential school site where her mother, Christina Emma Quinney attended. Her digital story is about the legacy of Indian Residential Schools including intergenerational trauma and the impacts it had on her own life including addictions issues, family suicide, and intimate partner violence. She shares the reasons why Indigenous people may wait too long to seek medical interventions.
Beatrice Harper is Cree and a member of Onion Lake Cree Nation located on the border of Alberta a... more Beatrice Harper is Cree and a member of Onion Lake Cree Nation located on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan (Treaty 6 territory).
Beatrice created her digital story, Broken Trust from her perspective as a third-generation residential school survivor. Her digital story is about the legacy of Indian Residential Schools, including losing her Cree language and her lack of physical affection as a child being raised by her residential school survivor grandparents. Her story demonstrates how the power imbalance between doctors and patients makes it challenging for Indigenous women to advocate for themselves within the medical system.
Shelley Wiart is a member of the North Slave Métis Alliance, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (... more Shelley Wiart is a member of the North Slave Métis Alliance, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (NT). She has long-term community relationships and ties to both Treaty Six (Lloydminster, on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan) and Treaty Eight (Yellowknife, Northwest Territories) through her Indigenous health promotions program, “Women Warriors” and as a member of the North Slave Métis Alliance. She co-created Indigenous women's digital health stories as a form of advocacy on behalf of Indigenous women to improve access to culturally safe health care. Shelley is aware of the challenges and rewards associated with creating ethical re-search spaces.
Method
Indigenous digital storytelling within the framework of Indigenous research methodology,... more Method
Indigenous digital storytelling within the framework of Indigenous research methodology, allows Indigenous women to share their health stories in a safe and respectful context. This decolonizing methodology allows for self-representation that challenges stereotypes and allows Indigenous communities to prioritize their own social and community needs and to protect their identities and cultural values in the process.
Results
Indigenous women’s health stories can serve as a pedagogical tool to teach cultural safety in health care settings. Indigenous digital health stories inform solutions that are community-driven, culturally relevant to Indigenous peoples and based specifically in local knowledge. Indigenous women’s digital health stories fill a gap in research on how health care providers can incorporate Indigenous knowledge and healing practices into patient care plans so that Indigenous women feel respected and can build safe health care relationships.
Sheryl Liske is a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nations (Treaty 8 territory).
Sheryl... more Sheryl Liske is a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nations (Treaty 8 territory).
Sheryl created her digital story, Secrets Revealed to share her journey of lateral violence and how it impacted her mental health. Sheryl states, “It is my hope that through sharing my story I can fight mental health stigma and create awareness for those women that are suffering from depression.”
Tanya Roach is originally from Kanigi&liniq (known as Rankin Inlet) which is located in the Kival... more Tanya Roach is originally from Kanigi&liniq (known as Rankin Inlet) which is located in the Kivalliq region (northwest coast of the Hudson's Bay of Nunavut). She has been living in Yellowknife for the last 25 years. Her mother is Inuk and her father is Scottish.
Tanya's digital story entitled, Tuq&urausiit is an Inuit term used to address relatives, acknowledging the relationships and kinships that bind us. She shares knowledge on the importance of traditional naming and how it enabled her to heal.
Virtual presentation for the Maskwacîs Microlearning Series, August 2020. Based on my academic pa... more Virtual presentation for the Maskwacîs Microlearning Series, August 2020. Based on my academic paper, Digital Storytelling as an Indigenous Women’s Health Advocacy Tool: Empowering Indigenous Women to Frame Their Health Stories (2020).
Indigenous digital storytelling (DST) within the framework of Indigenous research methodology, allows Indigenous women to share their health stories in a safe and respectful context. This decolonizing methodology allows for self-representation that challenges stereotypes and allows Indigenous communities to prioritize their own social and community needs and to protect their identities and cultural values in the process. Furthermore, it is essential to the decolonization process that Indigenous people speak with our own voices about our histories, culture, and experiences.
References: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l_M4xgrceZ9QczKnIl6RgBzK1_yb9iSebHeIqFO7u3Y/edit?usp=sharing.
Digital Storytelling as an Indigenous Women’s Health Advocacy Tool: Empowering Indigenous Women to Frame Their Health Stories , 2020
In this paper I examine how the use of Indigenous digital storytelling (DST) within the framework... more In this paper I examine how the use of Indigenous digital storytelling (DST) within the framework of Indigenous research methodology, allowed Indigenous women to share their health stories in a safe and respectful context. This decolonizing methodology allowed for self-representation that challenged stereotypes and allowed Indigenous women to prioritize their own social and community needs and to protect their identities and cultural values in the process (Iseke & Moore, 2011). The digital storytelling participant interviews, which is the data this paper is based upon, reveals several key aspects of conducting culturally relevant and ethically sound DST with Indigenous women including: findings and discussion on the process of DST, and the Indigenous knowledge translation (iKT) event, Legacy: Indigenous Women’s Health Stories. In the last chapter, I will situate myself within this re-search and share my self-reflectivity through Absolon’s (2011) Petal Flower framework starting with “The Flower Centre: Self as Central” to the Indigenous research process (pp.67-69). I will also highlight my “relational responsibility” to my co-creators – my continued advocacy for Indigenous women’s health using their digital stories - and how I included them in this process as much as possible (Gaudry as cited Strega and Brown, 2015, p. 256).
The title of my research project is Digital Storytelling as an Indigenous Women’s Health Advocacy... more The title of my research project is Digital Storytelling as an Indigenous Women’s Health Advocacy Tool: Empowering Indigenous Women to Frame Their Health Stories. I conceived of this project as community-based participatory action research carried out through the lens of Indigenous feminism which centers the participant as the person most knowledgeable about their own experiences (Green, 2017). The objectives of these health stories was to allow Indigenous women to share, with a medical audience, their traditional knowledge and healing practices and help them conceptualize and communicate about their own health care stories and service needs. It also served to educate non- Indigenous people about traditional healing practices for different Indigenous groups, bridging the gap between biomedical western medicine and Indigenous medicine. Indigenous digital storytelling (DST) within the framework of Indigenous research methodology, allows Indigenous women to share their health stories in a safe and respectful context. This decolonizing methodology allows for self-representation that challenges stereotypes and allows Indigenous communities to prioritize their own social and community needs and to protect their identities and cultural values in the process. Furthermore, it is essential to the decolonization process that Indigenous people speak with our own voices about our histories, culture, and experiences.
Digital Storytelling as an Indigenous Women’s Health Advocacy Tool, 2019
Historically, through colonial policies like the Indian Act and the imposition of patriarchy on m... more Historically, through colonial policies like the Indian Act and the imposition of patriarchy on matriarchal societies, Indigenous women have been and continue to be marginalized by main-stream society (Dodgson & Struthers, 2005). A consequence of this marginalization is health disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women. Indigenous women experience the highest rates of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, and have lower life expectancy, elevated morbidity rates, and elevated suicide rates in comparison to non-Aboriginal women (Bourassa, et al. 2004). To close the gaps in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in Canada, it is critical that Indigenous people’s voices are central to the process of reconciliation in healthcare . Reconciliation in healthcare aims to close the gaps in health outcomes that exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, and support Indigenous peoples as they heal from colonization, the legacy of residential school, and the ongoing systemic racism embedded in our institutions. Indigenous women’s knowledge is integral to sustaining traditional knowledge systems, and healing practices, and decolonizing knowledge production (Kermoal & Altamirano-Jimenez, 2016).
Dorothy Weyallon is a member of Tłı̨chǫ and lives in Behchokǫ̀, which is the largest First Nation... more Dorothy Weyallon is a member of Tłı̨chǫ and lives in Behchokǫ̀, which is the largest First Nations community in the Northwest Territories.
Dorothy shares her love for her land, language, culture and community in her story, Living Our History. She recalls the first Trails of Our Ancestors canoe and boat trip she took with her grandfather when she was 15 years old. She states, “the land is an integral part of my healing, and that cultural events like hand games are important for community healing.”
Maxine Desjarlais self-identifies as Métis and was raised on Fishing Lake Metis Settlement (Treat... more Maxine Desjarlais self-identifies as Métis and was raised on Fishing Lake Metis Settlement (Treaty 6 territory). Her mother was Cree/Scottish and her father was Cree/French.
Maxine created her digital story entitled, Fragmented after visiting the residential school site where her mother, Christina Emma Quinney attended. Her digital story is about the legacy of Indian Residential Schools including intergenerational trauma and the impacts it had on her own life including addictions issues, family suicide, and intimate partner violence. She shares the reasons why Indigenous people may wait too long to seek medical interventions.
Beatrice Harper is Cree and a member of Onion Lake Cree Nation located on the border of Alberta a... more Beatrice Harper is Cree and a member of Onion Lake Cree Nation located on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan (Treaty 6 territory).
Beatrice created her digital story, Broken Trust from her perspective as a third-generation residential school survivor. Her digital story is about the legacy of Indian Residential Schools, including losing her Cree language and her lack of physical affection as a child being raised by her residential school survivor grandparents. Her story demonstrates how the power imbalance between doctors and patients makes it challenging for Indigenous women to advocate for themselves within the medical system.
Shelley Wiart is a member of the North Slave Métis Alliance, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (... more Shelley Wiart is a member of the North Slave Métis Alliance, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (NT). She has long-term community relationships and ties to both Treaty Six (Lloydminster, on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan) and Treaty Eight (Yellowknife, Northwest Territories) through her Indigenous health promotions program, “Women Warriors” and as a member of the North Slave Métis Alliance. She co-created Indigenous women's digital health stories as a form of advocacy on behalf of Indigenous women to improve access to culturally safe health care. Shelley is aware of the challenges and rewards associated with creating ethical re-search spaces.
Method
Indigenous digital storytelling within the framework of Indigenous research methodology,... more Method
Indigenous digital storytelling within the framework of Indigenous research methodology, allows Indigenous women to share their health stories in a safe and respectful context. This decolonizing methodology allows for self-representation that challenges stereotypes and allows Indigenous communities to prioritize their own social and community needs and to protect their identities and cultural values in the process.
Results
Indigenous women’s health stories can serve as a pedagogical tool to teach cultural safety in health care settings. Indigenous digital health stories inform solutions that are community-driven, culturally relevant to Indigenous peoples and based specifically in local knowledge. Indigenous women’s digital health stories fill a gap in research on how health care providers can incorporate Indigenous knowledge and healing practices into patient care plans so that Indigenous women feel respected and can build safe health care relationships.
Sheryl Liske is a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nations (Treaty 8 territory).
Sheryl... more Sheryl Liske is a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nations (Treaty 8 territory).
Sheryl created her digital story, Secrets Revealed to share her journey of lateral violence and how it impacted her mental health. Sheryl states, “It is my hope that through sharing my story I can fight mental health stigma and create awareness for those women that are suffering from depression.”
Tanya Roach is originally from Kanigi&liniq (known as Rankin Inlet) which is located in the Kival... more Tanya Roach is originally from Kanigi&liniq (known as Rankin Inlet) which is located in the Kivalliq region (northwest coast of the Hudson's Bay of Nunavut). She has been living in Yellowknife for the last 25 years. Her mother is Inuk and her father is Scottish.
Tanya's digital story entitled, Tuq&urausiit is an Inuit term used to address relatives, acknowledging the relationships and kinships that bind us. She shares knowledge on the importance of traditional naming and how it enabled her to heal.
Virtual presentation for the Maskwacîs Microlearning Series, August 2020. Based on my academic pa... more Virtual presentation for the Maskwacîs Microlearning Series, August 2020. Based on my academic paper, Digital Storytelling as an Indigenous Women’s Health Advocacy Tool: Empowering Indigenous Women to Frame Their Health Stories (2020).
Indigenous digital storytelling (DST) within the framework of Indigenous research methodology, allows Indigenous women to share their health stories in a safe and respectful context. This decolonizing methodology allows for self-representation that challenges stereotypes and allows Indigenous communities to prioritize their own social and community needs and to protect their identities and cultural values in the process. Furthermore, it is essential to the decolonization process that Indigenous people speak with our own voices about our histories, culture, and experiences.
References: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l_M4xgrceZ9QczKnIl6RgBzK1_yb9iSebHeIqFO7u3Y/edit?usp=sharing.
Digital Storytelling as an Indigenous Women’s Health Advocacy Tool: Empowering Indigenous Women to Frame Their Health Stories , 2020
In this paper I examine how the use of Indigenous digital storytelling (DST) within the framework... more In this paper I examine how the use of Indigenous digital storytelling (DST) within the framework of Indigenous research methodology, allowed Indigenous women to share their health stories in a safe and respectful context. This decolonizing methodology allowed for self-representation that challenged stereotypes and allowed Indigenous women to prioritize their own social and community needs and to protect their identities and cultural values in the process (Iseke & Moore, 2011). The digital storytelling participant interviews, which is the data this paper is based upon, reveals several key aspects of conducting culturally relevant and ethically sound DST with Indigenous women including: findings and discussion on the process of DST, and the Indigenous knowledge translation (iKT) event, Legacy: Indigenous Women’s Health Stories. In the last chapter, I will situate myself within this re-search and share my self-reflectivity through Absolon’s (2011) Petal Flower framework starting with “The Flower Centre: Self as Central” to the Indigenous research process (pp.67-69). I will also highlight my “relational responsibility” to my co-creators – my continued advocacy for Indigenous women’s health using their digital stories - and how I included them in this process as much as possible (Gaudry as cited Strega and Brown, 2015, p. 256).
The title of my research project is Digital Storytelling as an Indigenous Women’s Health Advocacy... more The title of my research project is Digital Storytelling as an Indigenous Women’s Health Advocacy Tool: Empowering Indigenous Women to Frame Their Health Stories. I conceived of this project as community-based participatory action research carried out through the lens of Indigenous feminism which centers the participant as the person most knowledgeable about their own experiences (Green, 2017). The objectives of these health stories was to allow Indigenous women to share, with a medical audience, their traditional knowledge and healing practices and help them conceptualize and communicate about their own health care stories and service needs. It also served to educate non- Indigenous people about traditional healing practices for different Indigenous groups, bridging the gap between biomedical western medicine and Indigenous medicine. Indigenous digital storytelling (DST) within the framework of Indigenous research methodology, allows Indigenous women to share their health stories in a safe and respectful context. This decolonizing methodology allows for self-representation that challenges stereotypes and allows Indigenous communities to prioritize their own social and community needs and to protect their identities and cultural values in the process. Furthermore, it is essential to the decolonization process that Indigenous people speak with our own voices about our histories, culture, and experiences.
Digital Storytelling as an Indigenous Women’s Health Advocacy Tool, 2019
Historically, through colonial policies like the Indian Act and the imposition of patriarchy on m... more Historically, through colonial policies like the Indian Act and the imposition of patriarchy on matriarchal societies, Indigenous women have been and continue to be marginalized by main-stream society (Dodgson & Struthers, 2005). A consequence of this marginalization is health disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women. Indigenous women experience the highest rates of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, and have lower life expectancy, elevated morbidity rates, and elevated suicide rates in comparison to non-Aboriginal women (Bourassa, et al. 2004). To close the gaps in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in Canada, it is critical that Indigenous people’s voices are central to the process of reconciliation in healthcare . Reconciliation in healthcare aims to close the gaps in health outcomes that exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, and support Indigenous peoples as they heal from colonization, the legacy of residential school, and the ongoing systemic racism embedded in our institutions. Indigenous women’s knowledge is integral to sustaining traditional knowledge systems, and healing practices, and decolonizing knowledge production (Kermoal & Altamirano-Jimenez, 2016).
Uploads
Videos by Shelley Wiart
Dorothy shares her love for her land, language, culture and community in her story, Living Our History. She recalls the first Trails of Our Ancestors canoe and boat trip she took with her grandfather when she was 15 years old. She states, “the land is an integral part of my healing, and that cultural events like hand games are important for community healing.”
Maxine created her digital story entitled, Fragmented after visiting the residential school site where her mother, Christina Emma Quinney attended. Her digital story is about the legacy of Indian Residential Schools including intergenerational trauma and the impacts it had on her own life including addictions issues, family suicide, and intimate partner violence. She shares the reasons why Indigenous people may wait too long to seek medical interventions.
Beatrice created her digital story, Broken Trust from her perspective as a third-generation residential school survivor. Her digital story is about the legacy of Indian Residential Schools, including losing her Cree language and her lack of physical affection as a child being raised by her residential school survivor grandparents. Her story demonstrates how the power imbalance between doctors and patients makes it challenging for Indigenous women to advocate for themselves within the medical system.
Indigenous digital storytelling within the framework of Indigenous research methodology, allows Indigenous women to share their health stories in a safe and respectful context. This decolonizing methodology allows for self-representation that challenges stereotypes and allows Indigenous communities to prioritize their own social and community needs and to protect their identities and cultural values in the process.
Results
Indigenous women’s health stories can serve as a pedagogical tool to teach cultural safety in health care settings. Indigenous digital health stories inform solutions that are community-driven, culturally relevant to Indigenous peoples and based specifically in local knowledge. Indigenous women’s digital health stories fill a gap in research on how health care providers can incorporate Indigenous knowledge and healing practices into patient care plans so that Indigenous women feel respected and can build safe health care relationships.
Sheryl created her digital story, Secrets Revealed to share her journey of lateral violence and how it impacted her mental health. Sheryl states, “It is my hope that through sharing my story I can fight mental health stigma and create awareness for those women that are suffering from depression.”
Tanya's digital story entitled, Tuq&urausiit is an Inuit term used to address relatives, acknowledging the relationships and kinships that bind us. She shares knowledge on the importance of traditional naming and how it enabled her to heal.
Indigenous digital storytelling (DST) within the framework of Indigenous research methodology, allows Indigenous women to share their health stories in a safe and respectful context. This decolonizing methodology allows for self-representation that challenges stereotypes and allows Indigenous communities to prioritize their own social and community needs and to protect their identities and cultural values in the process. Furthermore, it is essential to the decolonization process that Indigenous people speak with our own voices about our histories, culture, and experiences.
References: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l_M4xgrceZ9QczKnIl6RgBzK1_yb9iSebHeIqFO7u3Y/edit?usp=sharing.
Papers by Shelley Wiart
Dorothy shares her love for her land, language, culture and community in her story, Living Our History. She recalls the first Trails of Our Ancestors canoe and boat trip she took with her grandfather when she was 15 years old. She states, “the land is an integral part of my healing, and that cultural events like hand games are important for community healing.”
Maxine created her digital story entitled, Fragmented after visiting the residential school site where her mother, Christina Emma Quinney attended. Her digital story is about the legacy of Indian Residential Schools including intergenerational trauma and the impacts it had on her own life including addictions issues, family suicide, and intimate partner violence. She shares the reasons why Indigenous people may wait too long to seek medical interventions.
Beatrice created her digital story, Broken Trust from her perspective as a third-generation residential school survivor. Her digital story is about the legacy of Indian Residential Schools, including losing her Cree language and her lack of physical affection as a child being raised by her residential school survivor grandparents. Her story demonstrates how the power imbalance between doctors and patients makes it challenging for Indigenous women to advocate for themselves within the medical system.
Indigenous digital storytelling within the framework of Indigenous research methodology, allows Indigenous women to share their health stories in a safe and respectful context. This decolonizing methodology allows for self-representation that challenges stereotypes and allows Indigenous communities to prioritize their own social and community needs and to protect their identities and cultural values in the process.
Results
Indigenous women’s health stories can serve as a pedagogical tool to teach cultural safety in health care settings. Indigenous digital health stories inform solutions that are community-driven, culturally relevant to Indigenous peoples and based specifically in local knowledge. Indigenous women’s digital health stories fill a gap in research on how health care providers can incorporate Indigenous knowledge and healing practices into patient care plans so that Indigenous women feel respected and can build safe health care relationships.
Sheryl created her digital story, Secrets Revealed to share her journey of lateral violence and how it impacted her mental health. Sheryl states, “It is my hope that through sharing my story I can fight mental health stigma and create awareness for those women that are suffering from depression.”
Tanya's digital story entitled, Tuq&urausiit is an Inuit term used to address relatives, acknowledging the relationships and kinships that bind us. She shares knowledge on the importance of traditional naming and how it enabled her to heal.
Indigenous digital storytelling (DST) within the framework of Indigenous research methodology, allows Indigenous women to share their health stories in a safe and respectful context. This decolonizing methodology allows for self-representation that challenges stereotypes and allows Indigenous communities to prioritize their own social and community needs and to protect their identities and cultural values in the process. Furthermore, it is essential to the decolonization process that Indigenous people speak with our own voices about our histories, culture, and experiences.
References: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l_M4xgrceZ9QczKnIl6RgBzK1_yb9iSebHeIqFO7u3Y/edit?usp=sharing.