Project 450167

The histories of mixed Indigenous-Black (IB) Peoples have been erased in Canada's collective memory and consciousness. Indigenous People's cultures, contributions, and legacies have been systematically expunged as part of the colonial cultural genocide and assimilation project. Meanwhile, Black Peoples are imagined having always "just arrived" as newcomers to Canada, rather than recognizing the hundreds of years of Black presence on these territories. Thus, the process of gathering, archiving, documenting, and creatively sharing cultures, stories and truths is one way to speak back to these injustices. Our team will organize five powwows in communities across Northern Turtle Island that are known to have IB presence, as an important traditional ceremony representing Indigenous knowledge sharing and community wellbeing. Our goals, through this community-based participatory-action research project are to: a) Engage IB communities in participatory storytelling at cultural events such as powwows to share their histories, stories of survival, culture, and reflect on the impact of culturally-relevant activities on mental health and wellbeing; b) Cultivate space at community-organized powwows for the engagement and narratives of diverse IB folks including Elders, youth, Two-spirit and Indigiqueer IB folks, etc.; c) Foster a space for networking, land-based learning, and intergenerational knowledge sharing between young adults, Elders, community leaders, activists, service providers, and interdisciplinary scholars who identify as being mixed with Indigenous and African diasporic ancestry; d) Contribute to the growing body of work in Canada on the histories, geographies and realities of people of both African diasporic and Indigenous ancestry in Canada; e) Develop reports, resources and tools that capture the mental health impact of the aforementioned activities and interventions to inform health service delivery to IB communities.