Tapping into Anishinaabe wellbeing: illuminating a journey in Shebahonaning (Killarney) through principles of autoethnography.

Abstract

Reviewing the colonial history of Canada, and particularly that of the province of Ontario, serves to provide a greater understanding of the health inequities that impact Anishinaabe communities and people today. After the Robinson Huron Treaty of 1850 in Ontario, policies have continued to be developed and implemented with the intent to displace and assimilate Anishinaabe people into the Euro-Canadian culture. The Integrated Life Course and Social Determinants of Aborigi- nal Health Model defines policies and legislation such as the Civilization Act, Enfranchisement Act, and Indian Act as examples of distal determinants of health, with historical, political, social, economic, and holistic health impacts on Indigenous people and entire communities. There is a need for further research on health inequities and dispossession of culture and land in Indigenous communities in Canada. My major paper focuses specifically on the historical colonial events and policies that have impacted the holistic health of the Anishinaabe people and community of Shebahonaning (now widely known as Killarney), Ontario, Canada. The approach weaves a health and history literature review with principals of autoethnographic research as I include re- flections and storytelling through the historical conversations I have had with my maternal Grandparents at their Sugarbush. Tapping into this visceral knowledge and lived experience through oral tradition serves to illuminate a better understanding of the Anishinaabe well-being for myself and families with similar experience. The wider implications of colonialism and pol- icy on Anishinaabe identity is addressed and shared, with specific recommendations to improve holistic health outcomes in the community of Shebahonaning; and with consideration of the im- plications for other Indigenous communities in Canada.