Knowledge Resources & Publications

NCCIH

Webinar - Pathways to Indigenous health - Why some trees keep their leaves - Considerations for Indigenous community safety and well-being

July 2024

Webinar description

The webinar presentation will examine two key aspects of community well-being - housing and community safety. In this first part of the presentation, the presenter Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark considers housing as a human right and treaty right. In doing so, she examines Indigenous legal orders in relation to housing as well as discusses Indigenous jurisdiction regarding housing, encampments, and policy making. Dr. Stark calls for expanding Indigenous jurisdiction beyond a duty to consult to accommodate ontologies of care and obligations. In calling for a move towards ontologies of care, Dr. Stark then turns her focus to Indigenous law and responses to concerns about community safety, with a focus on using Band Council Resolutions to carry out the banishment of members and non-members who are threatening community well-being. She asks what it means to take up ontologies of care and obligations in these complicated contexts.

Series description

Pathways to Indigenous health is a series of webinars hosted by the NCCIH between September 2023 and April 2024, exploring a variety of topics related to the health and well-being of First Nations peoples, Inuit, and Métis peoples. The series intends to strengthen the links between knowledge, policy, and practice by supporting the educational journeys of healthcare workers, public health audiences, and beyond.

Presenter

Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark is a Turtle Mountain Anishinaabekwe and an Associate Professor in the Indigenous Governance Program at the University of Victoria. She is the Director of the Centre for Indigenous Research and Community-Led Engagement (CIRCLE) and holds a PhD in American Studies from the University of Minnesota. Her research interests include Indigenous law and governance, Treaty rights, and Indigenous politics in the United States and Canada. Focused on both Anishinaabe and United States/California law, her recent work explores the criminalization of Indigenous sovereignty, conditions of consent, and gendered violence.

Dr. Stark is the co-editor of several books on Indigenous resurgence, Anishinaabeg studies, and American Indian politics, and has published articles in numerous journals. She is also a co-Principal Investigator, with Dr. Dayna Scott (York University), of a 6-year SSHRC Partnership Grant project titled “Infrastructure Beyond Extractivism: Material Approaches to Restoring Indigenous Jurisdiction,” and Principal Investigator of a SSHRC Insight grant project titled “Anishinaabe Inaakonigewin,” which expands on her existing work with Anishinaabe communities engaged in the revitalization of Anishinaabe law and governance, with a focus on land, water, treaty rights, and child welfare.

Webinar resources