Honouring Our Kookums

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Honouring Our Kookums

• Carrie Bourassa, Ph.D.
• Assistant Professor
• Indigenous Health Studies
• Dept. of Science
• First Nations University of Canada

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• We are like trees. Our roots are put down very
  deep. And we take things from the four
  directions and we take them into our lives. And
  if you pull us up by the roots, we are lost. We
  have to go back and find those roots, find those
  beginnings that are strong so that we can live a
  good life.
• Elder Betty McKenna, 2005.

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• The roles of Aboriginal women have changed as a
  result of colonization.
• Identities have been shaped by the Indian Act and
  colonization processes including Residential
  Schools.
• The attempted assimilation (cultural genocide) of
  Aboriginal peoples continues to impact all
  Aboriginal people today but women in particular.

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Defining Aboriginal People

• Between 1876 and 1985 ones Indianness was
  traced through the male line.
• Indian women who married non-Indians ceased to be
  Indians under the Act.
• These women were not Indians according to the Act
  but neither were they considered to be Canadian
  citizens between 1876 and 1960.
• Indian men could not lose status through
  marriage, in fact, if they married non-status
  women, those women GAINED status under the Act.

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A Revision to the Indian Act

• In 1985, the Act was revised because it
  conflicted with the Charter of Rights and
  Freedoms.
• The revision exasperated rather than repaired the
  problem.
• Although assimilation was officially abolished
  in 1973, many consider assimilation policy to be
  alive and well.
• Consider the following chart

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Indian Act Math

• 6 (1) means you had Indian status in 1985
• 6 (2) had to apply to regain status in or after
  1985
• 6 (1) NS 6 (2)
• 6 (2) NS NS
• BUT
• 6 (1) 6 (2) 6 (1)
• 6 (2) 6 (2) 6 (1)

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Effects of Colonization

• We know Aboriginal women in general are the most
  impoverished, vulnerable group in Canada.
• Our research team and community members we worked
  with in Regina identified Aboriginal Grandmothers
  or Kookums as being particularly vulnerable to
  poverty, ill-health and marginalization.
• We decided to develop a community-based research
  project that would try to meet some of the needs
  the kookums identified.

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Grandmothers Caring for Grandchildren

• Grandmothers caring for grandchildren is a
  support network that began as a research project.
  We hold monthly gatherings with grandmothers
  caring for grandchildren and community members.
  Here, grandmothers participate in talking circles
  led by Elder Betty McKenna or gather together for
  tea. We recently completed 14 interviews with
  grandmothers caring for grandchildren.

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Research Team

• Funded by SHRF
• The principal investigator of the research team
  is Dr. Wendee Kubik, U of R. The
  co-investigators are Kerrie Strathy, Director of
  the Seniors Education Centre.
• Four Directions Health Centre, the Seniors
  Healthy Living Program, FASD Support Network of
  Saskatchewan Inc., and Regina Métis Sports
  Culture Inc.
• Elder Betty McKenna

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• This support group is shaped in order to be
  culturally appropriate and accessible for
  Aboriginal grandmothers caring for grandchildren.
  At the same time, it includes non-Aboriginal
  grandmothers caring for grandchildren
• This research project is specifically examining
  Aboriginal grandmothers experiences raising
  their grandchildren.

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• Traditionally, child rearing was a role of
  Aboriginal grandmothers. In recent years, there
  has been an increase in grandmothers raising
  grandchildren.
• Aboriginal grandmothers are more likely to be
  caregivers for their grandchildren
• Very few studies have addressed the needs of
  Aboriginal grandmothers.

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Research Process

• Fourteen grandmothers were interviewed by
  students who had gotten to know them through
  attending the talking circles and gatherings.
• The result of these interviews will be a research
  proposal submitted to one of the major research
  funding agencies in Canada.

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Preliminary Results

• Most grandmothers interviewed are financially
  struggling to provide for their household and all
  of their families needs.
• Grandmothers said that they do not have the
  energy they did when they were younger. This
  makes it harder for them to care for their
  grandchildren.
• Several grandmothers have health concerns, such
  as chronic diseases and/or mobility limitations.

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Preliminary Results

• Grandmothers said that their stress levels were
  varying or moderate.
• These grandmothers stress was caused by health
  of family members, family members behaviors and
  finances/going into debt.
• Many grandmothers stated that they were in need
  of financial support for their families.
• Some grandmothers are in need of social support.
• Some grandmothers need access to respite care for
  their grandchildren.

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• For some grandmothers, caring for their
  grandchildren allows them to reclaim their
  traditional role and symbolizes the
  decolonization of Aboriginal family structures.
• However, policies and supports must be put into
  place to allow grandmothers and grandchildren to
  reach their optimum health and well-being.
• The long-term goal of this project is to do just
  that, influence policy so that supports are put
  into place to support grandmothers caring for
  grandchildren and other family structures that
  are currently systematically marginalized.

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Thank you to

• Thank you to Elder Betty, all the Kookums,
  community partners, Seniors Education Centre,
  and our great students especially Holly
  McKenzie.

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Questions?

• Contact
• Carrie Bourassa
• 790-5950 ext. 3331
• cbourassa_at_firstnationsuniversity.ca

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