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The values of “Responsibility, Respect, Relationality and Reciprocity (the 4Rs)” in Indigenous research methodologies inform the core principles of Indigenous kinship systems. This is most often understood as the interconnectedness to land, relatives, animals, and spirits. Despite ongoing systems of oppression, Indigenous kinship values have not only survived but continue to demand a rightful a place within our education, health, justice, and welfare systems. Through critical self-reflective praxis, I explore how the values of “Responsibility, Respect, Relationality and Reciprocity” that guide Indigenous research methodologies (IRM) can disrupt Western based psychotherapies and counselling practices that too often reproduce harm onto Indigenous peoples. The 4Rs upheld in IRM strengthen kinship by centring the values that promote the beauty and intelligence of Indigenous knowledge systems and generations of knowledge holders.

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This article illustrates perspectives on Métis cultural identity, belonging, and positionality, within the context of wellness. As authors, we have the privilege of sharing stories from 24 Métis women, Two-Spirit, and gender diverse people—living or accessing services on the unceded territory of the Lək’^wəŋən-speaking peoples (in so-called Victoria, British Columbia). Their stories illustrate personal and intergenerational journeys of reclaiming Métis identity, while also highlighting the importance of culture, community, family, land, and location. As Métis researchers conducting Métis-specific research, we also share our own positionalities and reflect on our responsibilities to community and to the original caretakers of the land.

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isihcikêwinihk kâkî nâtawihon (Healing through Ceremony) is an audio-visual learning experience created in ceremony and in relationship with knowledge-keepers, wisdom-holders, language speakers, and the survivors of Indian Residential Schools and their descendants. In ceremony and in language, the authors met with 23 knowledge-keepers and Indigenous community members who shared their experiences of “healing through ceremony.” Through protocol and relationship, the knowledge-keepers and Indigenous community members gave permission to the authors to have the teachings and stories recorded and documented. The audio-visual learning experience came to be understood as an experience of kiskinowapahtam – to heal, teach, and learn by watching and doing. The teachings and stories shared in isihcikêwinihk kâkî nâtawihon guide social workers toward understanding how to support Indigenous communities in healing from the legacy of Residential Schools and the lasting intergenerational impacts of colonization. isihcikêwinihk kâkî nâtawihon supports the preservation of Indigenous knowledge regarding healing and ceremony and directly impacts current and future generations through providing this knowledge to social workers serving Indigenous communities. From this teaching experience, the knowledge-keepers, community members, and authors share a collective vision that Indigenous children, families, and communities encounter social workers who understand, honour, and trust the healing that happens in ceremony.

EN :

This critical reflection is based on my practice encounter as a white settler social worker within the context of Child Welfare, in rural Canada during the late 1990s. This paper is in line with Karen Healy’s (2001) notion of critical social work, as a means to enhance systemic and related child welfare social worker practice. More specifically this paper addresses, through a specific case encounter with an Indigenous mother, how white settler social workers are systemically entangled in perpetuating acts of oppression. This critical reflection enables the reader to become aware of how mainstream social work practice, has the ability to unintentionally harm those service receivers that it actually intends to help. This paper critically addresses discourse around professional innocence, the risks of professional knowledge, representational violence and ethical practice dilemmas, within the context of a disguised practice encounter. The relevance of this critical reflection may be seen as a social justice initiative, catered predominantly towards white settler front line practitioners. These challenges are originating from within our own practices. Our practices are historically embedded in systemic colonial forms of discrimination and racism against First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities. I bring light to how white settler social workers should confront their own personal and professional pre-conceived notions, biases, and misconceptions and instead, implement anti-racist and anti-discriminatory practices within their work. This process begins with critical self-reflection.