A Seat at the Table: A Nonconformist Approach to Grassroots Participation in the Articulation of Health Standards

• Main Author: Bekeris, Leanne
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarship@Western 2012
• Subjects: First Nations; Health; Ecosystem; Articulating Standards; Biomonitoring; Social and Cultural Anthropology
• Online Access: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/746; https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/context/etd/article/2067/viewcontent/Bekeris_Thesis__Final_.pdf

This paper assesses the need to articulate standard protocol in regards to decision making and monitoring of biomedical and ecosystem health in Canadian Aboriginal communities. This is critical, as standards in Aboriginal communities are applied by external regulators. Absence of collaboration between the Aboriginal community, healthcare institutions, and the federal government has perpetuated the deterioration of health among Aboriginal people through structural violence. This thesis utilizes toxicity results from the University of Western Ontario’s Ecosystem Health Team’s biomonitoring study of Walpole Island First Nation, which reveals that the absence of community input regarding health standards, combined with a fear of ecosystem toxicity, specifically methyl-mercury toxins in regional flora and fauna, has resulted in high stress and anxiety levels among community members relying on traditional foods for sustenance at Walpole Island First Nation.