Place-based learning increases First Nations community health and food security

The Learning Garden: Place-based Learning for
Holistic First Nations’ Community Health
Mirella L. Stroink,
Connie H. Nelson
and
Brian McLaren,
Lakehead University
March 2010

The Learning Garden 2

This work was funded by a contribution from the Canadian Council on Learning.
All documents produced by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) will be available in
both French and English. However, documents produced by external organizations for CCL will
be posted on the website only in the language of origin. When a full translation is not available,
CCL will ensure that an executive summary is available in the other official language.
The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the authors. The Canadian Council on
Learning bears no responsibility for its content.
Acknowledgements
The research team would like to express their deep appreciation for the partnership we
have with Ginoogaming and Aroland First Nations. The contributions of these communities as a
whole, their chiefs and councils, health directors, and our own project coordinators to the entire
process of this research were essential to the completion of the project. We would also like to
gratefully acknowledge the contributions of our Aboriginal research participants, whose insights
furthered understanding of place-based learning, culture, and food security. We also express
thanks to the Canadian Council on Learning for providing the financial support for this project.


Table of Contents
Acknowledgements.....................................................................................................................................2
Executive Summary....................................................................................................................................5
Literature Review......................................................................................................................................11
Physical Health in Aboriginal Canadian Communities.............................................................13
Health and Connectedness in Aboriginal People ......................................................................15
Community Resilience, Food and Health ..................................................................................20
First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model........................................................................23
The Intervention: A Learning Garden Program........................................................................25
Learning Approach....................................................................................................................27
The Present Study ......................................................................................................................35
Communities .............................................................................................................................37
Method.....................................................................................................................................................38
Participants................................................................................................................................38
Materials and Procedure: Quantitative Study...........................................................................40
Procedure: Qualitative Study ....................................................................................................45
Data Analysis.............................................................................................................................48
Results.......................................................................................................................................................49
1. Outcomes of the Learning Garden Program ........................................................................49
2. Process of Learning .........................................................................................................................53


3. Food Behaviours, Food Values, Perceptions of Food Systems, and Correlations................56
4. Place, Culture, and Food: The Role of Learning ..................................................................64
Discussion.................................................................................................................................................74
Overview of Results....................................................................................................................74
Integration and Implications of Findings ..................................................................................80
Limitations and Future Directions.............................................................................................85
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................88
References.................................................................................................................................................90
Appendix A: Workshop Outline.............................................................................................................102
Appendix B: Cover Letter.......................................................................................................................107
Appendix C: Informed Consent..............................................................................................................109
Appendix E: Debriefing Letter ...............................................................................................................124


The Learning Garden: Place-based Learning for Holistic First Nations’ Community Health
Executive Summary
Aboriginal peoples in Canada suffer disproportionately high rates of various health
problems including diabetes and heart disease (Garriguet, 2008). In an Aboriginal worldview
which understands individuals, communities, and land to be infused with an underlying spiritual
unity (Hill, 2006), health can be understood to stem from a state of connectedness within
individuals and between individuals, communities, and land (Ray, 2007). This holistic vision of
health captures not only the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of individual
health, but also a broader sense of community health. The resilience of a community is an
important indicator of its overall health, and is reflected in its self-sufficiency, its adaptability,
and its capacity to meet its own needs under conditions of external change (Walker, Hollinger,
Carpenter & Kunzig, 2004). Food plays a unique and meaningful role in this conceptualization of
health. Food affects individual nutrition but also plays a role in the social and cultural aspects of
community health and can connect individuals to the land (Willows, 2005). The way that a
community accesses food is also an important component of its resilience.
The communities that participated in this research access the mainstream food system for
the majority of their food needs, particularly convenience stores and small grocery stores in
nearby towns (Ray, 2007). The resilience of this system is particularly poor in remote
communities where the increased distances and tenuous transportation routes mean that not only
is fresh produce more rare, more expensive, and of lower quality, it is also more likely that a
disturbance (spike in fuel costs, extreme weather) will undermine the capacity of the community
to meet its food needs (Lawn & Harvey, 2004). Typically, a community that is resilient in its
food supply is one that produces food nearby to the people who consume that food; and in which


there is a constant exchange and evolution of food related knowledge (Feenstra, 2002). For
Canada’s Aboriginal peoples, a locally rooted base of food knowledge has been dwindling as a
result of residential school experiences, disruptions to intergenerational transfer, past policies
and practices of forced assimilation, and environmental contamination from industry and
resource extraction (Ohmagari & Berkes, 1997; Waisberg & Holzkamm, 1993). Therefore, an
important part of increasing community resilience is to facilitate the exchange and development
of food knowledge that is grounded in place, in the reality of the land and the life it encompasses.
This report presents the development and findings of the Learning Garden program,
which was developed and run in partnership with Ginoogaming and Aroland First Nations in
Northwestern Ontario. With the overall aim of fostering this vision of holistic health, the
Learning Garden program was developed with the purpose of increasing physical, emotional, and
social indicators of health, while taking an initial step toward community resilience in the area of
food by increasing local food knowledge. Specifically, the purpose of the program was to
increase holistic health and to increase experience-based knowledge of both vegetable gardening
and forest foods, nutrition and its link to health.
For its perspective, the program drew upon the
definition of health as a state of connectedness that was
revealed in earlier research with Ginoogaming First Nation
(Ray, 2007), and the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning
Model developed by the Canadian Council on Learning
(Canadian Council on Learning, 2007). The approach to
learning was holistic, experiential and place-based (Corbiere,
2000; Friesen & Friesen, 2002; Gruenewald, 2003). The program was prepared and run in each
The purpose of the Learning
Garden program is to increase
physical, emotional, and social
indicators of health, while taking an
initial step toward community
resilience in the area of food by
increasing knowledge of vegetable
gardening, forest food, and nutrition.


community by a community-based coordinator. Conceptualized as a series of workshops,
participants explored their food system options, the healthfulness and sustainability of each, and
the values reflected in them. Participants also shared knowledge on the foods that are available in
the nearby lands and generated traditional food maps while gaining practical skills involving the
tending and harvesting of both forest foods and vegetables from planted gardens. The program
incorporated traditional ceremonies and the wisdom of elders. The products of the harvests were
shared with elders and other community members.
The purpose of the research was to (1) examine the outcomes of the program against its
goals for holistic health and knowledge, and to explore three additional research questions.
Specifically, (2) we observed through qualitative analysis the process of learning that unfolded in
the context of the program with an eye to understanding whether the holistic, experiential, and
place-based approach we used resonated with program participants. In addition, (3) we drew
upon quantitative survey data to better understand participants’ current food behaviours, food
values, and perceptions of the food system, in addition to how these perceptions and behaviours
correlated with other variables of interest, including holistic health and cultural identity. Finally,
(4) we explored through qualitative data the participants’ perceptions of place and sought a better
understanding of the interactions among place, food, and culture.
We adopted a mixed methods approach to this research, which was designed to include a
pre-post quantitative survey of program participants, and qualitative analyses in the form of
phenomenological observation, interviews with 5 individuals, and transcribed recordings of the
workshop sessions. Quantitative measures included self-reported levels of physical health,
emotional well-being, life satisfaction, and social capital, as well as knowledge, behaviour,
values, and perceptions relating to food, and cultural identity. In Aroland a total of 43 individuals


participated in at least one workshop, in Ginoogaming, 50 (including 5 from Constance Lake).
This included school children, youth, adults, and elders. Participation in the workshops was
extremely intermittent, given high rates of travel, seasonal activities in the bush, and health
problems. Only 8 individuals, all in Ginoogaming, participated regularly in the workshops. As a
result, we were not able to run the quantitative study as a pre-post survey design as we had
intended, which presented a significant limitation to the research. Instead, we collected survey
data from each willing adult throughout the program, regardless of the number of workshops
they attended and when. We were thus still able to explore the second research question
regarding food system usage and its correlates with a sample of 18 individuals.
While we were unable to test the outcomes of the program with quantitative data,
qualitative analyses revealed that the program did provide participants with moments of
transformative insight, and behavioural indicators of learning
were revealed particularly in the area of cultivated gardening
In observing the process of learning that unfolded in the
Learning Garden program, we found that participants
generally preferred the experiential aspects of the program,
and that some Aboriginal learners preferred to immerse their
learning in their day to day lives. For these individuals, the structured bi-monthly workshop
format may not have been ideal. Likewise, we observed cultural differences in how the garden is
understood. While the program was flexible enough to adapt to these different understandings
and preferences, future applications of the program will incorporate this variability in its design.
Our analyses of participants’ perceptions of their food systems revealed that the
knowledge base for cultivated and forest food was limited and that it was largely convenience
“Culture emerges
dynamically as people
self‐organize a food
system in the context of a
dynamic perception of
place.”


and price that drove people to the dominant food system for the majority of their food.
Nonetheless, correlational results also indicated that engaging in forest food activities such as
hunting and fishing, and valuing local foods were associated with positive, healthy qualities such
as self-reported health, life satisfaction, and social capital. Therefore, even though knowledge
and use of the local food system was limited, there may be benefits to accessing this food system
for well-being.
Qualitative findings regarding participants’ perceptions of place were particularly
intriguing. Participants’ perceptions of their traditional lands were marked by concerns of
contamination and an awareness of change. The change they perceived in their lands was
attributed to human activities in the Western culture, such as climate change and industry.
Further observation revealed, however, that participants’ perceptions of place were much broader
than we had assumed. Specifically, their notions of place included the physical structures of the
global food system in their communities, such as nearby grocery and convenience stores, and
could also be argued to include less tangible elements of the “global place”, such as media,
popular fashion, and technology. This insight regarding participants’ broad understandings of
place and place-based learning resulted in some theoretical developments regarding the
interactions among learning, food, place, and culture. These insights suggest that culture emerges
dynamically as people self-organize a food system in the context of a dynamic perception of
place. The blended and changing view of place that we observed in our participants shapes their
quest for food and the process of adaptation along with the resulting cultural values and
worldviews. In future work, we will continue to explore how the existence and evolution of two
food systems within one broad perceived place shapes the learning of cultural information, and
how this process may impact well-being on both individual and community levels.


Further discussion and integration of these findings is offered along with suggested
implications for policy in the areas of learning and education, food systems, and for the
development of future health programs. Further research in a number of areas is also suggested
and a plan for the continued development of the Learning Garden program is presented.


The Learning Garden: Place-based Learning for Holistic First Nations’ Community Health
Literature Review
The concept of health is surprisingly difficult to define. Individuals and cultures show
considerable variability in how they understand health and what they consider to be its core and
contributing components. In a relatively recent step away from the classic medical or purely
biophysical model of health, Western culture and the medical establishment expanded the notion
of health to include a broader state of well-being than the absence of physical disease. This
broader, bio-psycho-social model of health is articulated in the definition of health presented by
the World Health Organization in 1948, “a complete state of physical, mental and social well-
being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” In this more holistic view of health,
psychological and social well-being are recognized as important components in a state of overall
wellness that defines health (Raphael, 2004).
Conceptualizations of health show still further variability, however, particularly when
viewed across cultures. For example, Australian Aboriginal peoples have been reported to define
health in this way, “health does not just mean the physical well-being of the individual but refers
to the social, emotional, spiritual and cultural well-being of the whole community” (Raphael,
2004). This view of health as a collective state transcends specific individuals, and also includes
not only the social and psychological aspects of health as captured in the WHO definition, but
also spiritual and cultural components. The Australian Aboriginal definition of health also
extends across time through a cyclical worldview of life-death-life.
Likewise, in a qualitative study on how Aboriginal Canadians in the same Ojibway
communities that participated in the present study defined health, it was found that health
reflected a state of connectedness, connectedness with spirit, culture, community, land, and


family, as well as within the individual self. This state of connectedness then manifested itself in
a range of individual and community health outcomes, including physical and emotional health
in individuals, as well as community social capital, positive environmental conditions, and food
security (Ray, 2007). In this Aboriginal view of health, participation in traditional ceremonies
such as talking and drumming circles, smudging, cedar sweat lodge ceremonies, craft making,
singing, food gatherings, traditional teachings, games, and powwows are all believed to have
spiritual connections that bring well-being and connectedness to the individuals in their
community (Hunter, Logan, Goulet, & Barton, 2006).
When developing health promotion and health learning programs, the particular
definition of health that is held by participating community members is a critical piece of
information. Who gets to decide what optimal state of health should be promoted in a health
promotion program, on the basis of whose model of health? These are critical questions, and the
present research was conducted in the context of a learning program which sought to draw upon
the understanding of health that was revealed in qualitative research with this community (Ray,
2007) and upon a model of learning developed with First Nations professionals in Canada
(Canadian Council on Learning, 2007). In so doing, the overall aim of the program was to
promote a holistic vision of health grounded in a profound state of connectedness that recognizes
the interdependence of individual and community health. This vision of holistic health is thus
inclusive of the concept of community resilience. Resilient communities are self-sufficient and
locally interconnected enough to meet the needs of their own members despite changes and
disruptions that occur externally; they are adaptable and sustainable in that they do not
undermine their own capacity to maintain function (Capra, 2002; Walker, Hollinger, Carpenter
& Kunzig, 2004). With the overall aim of fostering this vision of holistic health, we developed a


learning program whose purpose was to increase physical, emotional, and social indicators of
holistic health, and to take one first step toward community resilience in the area of food by
increasing local food knowledge.
Physical Health in Aboriginal Canadian Communities
Aboriginal Canadian peoples carry a disproportionate amount of the disease burden, with
particular emphasis on problems relating to obesity, such as diabetes and heart disease. For
example, Garriguet (2008) found that Aboriginal peoples residing in Ontario or Western
provinces in 2004, aged 19 to 50 years, were two and a half times more likely than non
Aboriginals to be overweight or obese. Garriguet (2008) also found this to be especially true for
Aboriginal women aged 19 to 30. He found that Aboriginal women tended to have higher daily
caloric intake in which they consumed an average of 359 more calories per day than non-
Aboriginal women. It was also found that Aboriginal women between the ages of 19 and 30
received 36% of their calories between meals as opposed to only 28% for non-Aboriginal
women.
There are many factors that underlie obesity, and some of these are experienced
disproportionately by Aboriginal peoples. For instance, Aboriginal peoples face disparities in
food security, education, employment, income, and housing, as well as lower levels of physical
activity (Aboriginal Health Forum, 2008; Gracey & King, 2009; Powers, 2008). These factors
may contribute to differences in obesity rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples
(Garriguet, 2008). According to Story, Stevens, Himes, Stone, Rock, Ethelbah and Davis (2003),
differences in rates of obesity could be due to genetics and/or environmental factors such as
food, nutrition, stress, lack of physical exercise, and anxiety.


The health consequences of paediatric, as well as adult obesity in American Indians, and
Aboriginal Canadians, include Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Story et al., 2003). In
many Aboriginal communities, diabetes is one of the major chronic disease problems. Diabetes
is an endocrine disorder associated with increased levels of blood glucose due to inadequate
insulin action (Sherwood, 2007). Diabetes can also lead to chronic complications, such as
accelerated development of cardiovascular disease, end-stage renal disease, loss of visual acuity,
and even limb amputations if proper care is not maintained (Story et al., 2003; Struthers,
Schanche Hodge, Geishirt-Cantrell, & De Cora, 2003).
In a U.S. study conducted by Devlin, Roberts, Okaya, and Xiong (2006), perceptions of
diabetes and health were examined among Latino/Hispanic, Hmong, African American, and
American Indian participants. All four groups felt that both individual and community health had
been lost through exposure to American lifestyle. Specifically, the lack of physical activity and
poor dietary habits they associated with American lifestyle were thought to cause or influence
diabetes. The American Indian group, in particular, felt that their traditions and use of traditional
food had been taken from them.
Although the prevalence of diabetes is high, it is a relatively new issue in American
Indian communities (Story et al., 2003; Struthers et al., 2003). Devlin et al., (2006) conducted a
study in which participants were asked their opinions as to why diabetes has taken such a toll on
the American Indian communities in such a short time. It was found that participants felt it was
the process of acculturation, or the impact of mainstream American culture on traditional Indian
culture and lifestyle.
It is imperative to understand these high rates of obesity and diabetes in the context of the
holistic, interconnected, and community-based model of health that is held in many Aboriginal


communities. In the Western model of health, these issues are understood to stem from
individual behaviours and choices in isolation. However, in the Aboriginal model of community
health, they may reflect cultural, spiritual, and environmental factors, and be an issue not only
for individual health but for community health as a whole. Specifically, obesity, diabetes, and
heart disease, as well as other health challenges, may be a function of connectedness to
community, culture, and land.
Health and Connectedness in Aboriginal People
As indicated above, health is understood holistically in the Aboriginal worldview to
include not only the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of individual health, but
also a state of connectedness both within the individual and between the individual and his or her
community, culture, and surrounding lands (Ray, 2007). For example, Adelson (2000) studied
the meaning of health among the Cree in Northern Quebec and observed that “being alive well”
(Miyupimaatisiiun) is determined on a daily basis by the nature and quality of the person’s
interactions with others, as well as his or her ability to participate in activities that are essential to
being Cree, including the consumption of traditional foods and activities that connect the
individual to the land. She further argues that “being Cree” connects the individual to the
community through a common oral history in the recollections of families and individuals.
Therefore, health in this Cree worldview includes the individual’s connectedness with both
community and culture, through common identity, oral history, and traditional activities.
Likewise, in his qualitative exploration of suicide in the north, Kral (2003) observed that
connection to a larger sense of family as captured in the term, “all my relations” is fundamental
to well-being.


The Aboriginal worldview of connectedness is infused by a sense of spirituality.
Individuals, communities, and land are held together by a common, dynamic, spiritual bond. In
other words, the connectedness occurs as a result of spiritual dynamics linking family,
community, nature, land, ancestors, and creator. Traditional ceremonies, spiritually significant
figures and medicines tap into this level of spirit and can thus play a role in the dynamics of
nature and human communities (e.g., Mattern, 1999). This connection through the spiritual realm
also means that humans, non-human animals, and the land share a common essence and are
granted respect and a sense of equality (Simpson & Driben, 2000; Hill, 2006; McPherson &
Rabb, 1993).
This worldview of connectedness may serve to protect the health of the individual and
community. For example, McPherson and Rabb (1993) indicate that a sense of connectedness
with the land in which non-human beings are seen as being part of the community ensures that
the wellness of the individual is maintained. For example, “Plants and animal species are, as it
were, other tribes or nations. Human economic intercourse with other species is not represented
as the exploitations of impersonal material, natural resources, but as reciprocal gift giving in
which both parties exchange benefits” (McPherson & Rabb, 1993, p. 89). For example, the
hunter is provided with the skin and flesh of the caribou and in exchange the hunter provides
tobacco and artefacts to the spirit of the caribou. The hunter is able to maintain wellness by
eating the meat of the caribou and the caribou maintains wellness because the offering allows it
to be reborn. Likewise, Wilson (2004) explored the relationship between cultural identity and
wellness among Aboriginal women in Manitoba, and observed that many of the women spoke of
their personal responsibilities to family and community as part of their own sense of wellness,
recognizing that their health and the health of their communities were inseparable.


In this worldview of health as connectedness, ill-health can be seen to stem from a sense
of disconnection from the unity of individuals, communities, and land. Barrios and Egan (2000)
suggest that separation from a sense of connectedness within kin networks and community,
whether voluntary or resulting from government policies, may lead to various emotional and
physical health problems. Separation from this sense of connectedness can occur as a result of a
number of factors, including historical trauma, disruptions to the land, and disruptions to
community functioning.
There is considerable literature on the effects of colonization and historical trauma on
generations of Aboriginal people. This literature ultimately suggests that through the loss of land,
language, and cultural and spiritual practices, individuals lost the structures which helped to
maintain a sense of connectedness and that these experiences further led them to internalize the
suffering and marginalization of their people (e.g., Duran & Duran, 1995; Hill, 2006). This
trauma is then passed along over successive generations through the symptoms and behaviour
patterns of parents (addictions, violence, abuse), which disrupt the adjustment of children
(Wesley-Esquimaux & Smolewski, 2004).
There is also literature suggesting that the destruction of the land causes a disconnection
between individual and land. Wilson (2003) argued that the land provides a sense of connection
to the creator, and that engaging in traditional activities on the land, like hunting, fishing, or
gathering medicines, brings emotional as well as social and physical benefits. Destruction of the
land through the activities of industry and hydro-electric projects has undermined the ability of
Aboriginal people to experience this connection with the land. For example, Wheatley (1997)
reported the experiences of the people of Grassy Narrow, whose lands were contaminated by
mercury. This resulted in a loss of subsistence and a new lifestyle that was less active and less


social than traditional lifestyle. This new lifestyle was argued to reduce self-esteem and render
people unable to provide for community and family members, which in turn undermined
traditional values of respect, sharing, and caring. The ensuing hopelessness was argued to result
in higher rates of chronic disease, substance abuse, suicide, and loss of fitness. Gabriel Echum, A
past Chief of Ginoogaming First Nation, one of the partner communities in this project, describes
the devastation brought to their lands and traditional activities following water diversion and
industrial activities in their area in a panel hearing available as a transcript online.
“Ginoogaming people have suffered immensely from hydro development. Our river
systems were diverted, our Elders recall, the rivers became confused. Along with river
diversion, other industries used the water systems for transporting logs. We began to
witness the deterioration of our waters. The aquatic life began to deform and disintegrate.
Today we cannot eat the fish from this lake, our children cannot walk to the beach and
enjoy an afternoon swim. This lake will take decades upon decades before it is restored.
It is contaminated by industry and no industry is willing to take responsibility for the
destruction of the waters.
The people of Ginoogaming will never forget the tragedy experienced when we saw our
lands flooded, the four legged relations dislocated and our scaled ones become deformed.
Our fathers and grandfathers vividly recall the nature, the rivers in turmoil when its very
directions which were designed by our creator were redirected by man” (Echum, 2008)1
.
Disconnection from the family and community may also undermine health in Aboriginal
communities. Traditional activities, which are often social in nature, reinforce a sense of
connection (Abadian, 2006; Turton, 1997). Past policies of assimilation which discouraged or
banned traditional activities resulted in the loss of opportunities for meaningful social connection
and the intergenerational transmission of cultural values. It has been suggested that a loss of
these activities may result in alienation and substance abuse (Cheah & Nelson, 2004), as well as

1
Accessed from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency website:
http://www.ceaa.gc.ca/010/0001/0001/0012/0002/0038/s11_e.htm


lateral violence in the community (Duran & Duran, 1995; Waldram, Herring, & Kue Young,
1995). Significant correlations have been found between participation in traditional activities and
lower levels of acculturative stress and substance abuse in Aboriginal communities (Duran &
Duran, 1995). Traditional Aboriginal youth who are connected with their family and community
have been found to consume less alcohol than youth who are not as traditional and connected
(Cheah & Nelson, 2004). The causal direction of these findings is unknown, and it is likely that a
downward spiral is triggered whereby a sense of disconnection triggers addictions and other self-
alienating behaviours, which in turn lead to further isolation from the community.
This Aboriginal research is supported by a growing body of literature on the social
determinants of health, which indicate that factors such as social structure, social position, and
social environment have implications for physical and mental health (e.g., Raphael, 2004,
Graham, 2004). Within this literature, social capital has received increasing attention as a factor
affecting health. The term social capital broadly refers to the collection of features of social
groups which act as resources for individuals and which facilitate collective action (e.g.,
networks, trust, reciprocity) (Kawachi, Kennedy, Lochner, & Prothrow-Stith, 1997). Many of
these features, particularly social cohesion, trust, social control, and perceived neighbourhood
safety have been found to be associated with higher levels of self-rated health (Drukker, Buka,
Kaplan, McKenzie, & Van Os, 2005; Ziersch, Baum, MacDougall, & Putland, 2005). In an
attempt to organize this expansive concept, social capital has been conceptualized to include
bonding (trusting, co-operative relationships among members of a group), bridging (relations of
respect and mutuality between members of different groups), and linking (norms of respect and
trust between people interacting across explicit lines of power or authority) components (Szreter
& Woolcock, 2004). A scale assessing these components of Social Capital has been developed


for Aboriginal respondents (Mignone, 2003). This measure was included in the present research
to assess the effects of the learning program on the social aspect of holistic health.
With holistic health understood as a state of connectedness that includes connection to
land, community, and culture, food plays a unique and meaningful role in holistic health. Food
serves a social function in that families and communities gather over the preparation and
consumption of regular meals and special feasts (Sered, 1988; Vennum, 1988). Food serves a
cultural function as a symbolic expression of a particular collective identity. For the Inuit and
other Aboriginal people, consumption of traditional foods is a way to practice a connection with
the land (Statistics Canada, 2001; Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1996; Willows,
2005). Given its importance in holistic health, it is important to consider the overall food system
within which Aboriginal health unfolds, and to question the resilience of a community in relation
to its capacity to provide for the food needs of its population.
Community Resilience, Food and Health
When health is understood to include a sense of connectedness among healthy individuals
within a healthy community, it becomes necessary to consider essential aspects of community
functioning, such at its food system. In other words, health thrives within a resilient community
that is able to offer a range of social and tangible supports to its citizens even under changing
circumstances and external shocks. As such, it is important to examine the quality, resilience and
sustainability of essential systems within the community such as the food system.
Like most people today, those in the communities that participated in this research access
the mainstream food system, particularly convenience stores and grocery stores in nearby towns
for their food (Ray, 2007). The sustainability and resilience of this global food system in general
has been questioned elsewhere (e.g., Heinberg & Bomford, 2009; FAOUN, 2008), but the issues


are exacerbated for people living in remote communities. Specifically, the mainstream food
system is heavily dependent upon a processing and distribution matrix that is only able to exist in
the presence of affordable fuel and well developed transportation routes (Petrini, 2007). In
remote communities, food and other goods must travel further along less developed highways,
and in some cases be flown in, resulting in greatly increased cost and reduced quality of fresh
produce. Therefore, in these communities, fresh produce tends to be of poorer quality, and the
food options that are available and accessible tend to be of lower nutritional value overall
(INAC, 2007; Lawn & Harvey, 2004). Furthermore, this international food system is particularly
vulnerable at its edges, in its capacity to support people in remote communities under conditions
of shock or change. A spike in the cost of fuel, a highway wash-out, or weather that prohibits
flying could mean that store shelves dwindle, decreasing community food security, and revealing
the limited resilience of communities that depend exclusively on this food system to support their
populations.
Resilient communities are those which have the resources, infrastructure, and capacity to
meet their own essential needs in the event of an external crisis (Hopkins, 2008). As such, these
communities are able to maintain basic functioning while adapting quickly to new situations. The
degree to which a community can provide its own essential food needs is an important indicator
of its resilience. Typically, a community that is resilient in its food supply is one that produces
food nearby to the people who consume that food; and in which there is a constant exchange and
evolution of food related knowledge, including knowledge of all aspects of the food system,
from production through preparation, consumption and waste management (Feenstra, 2002).
Again, one can argue from this definition that the entire mainstream food system is lacking in
resilience (Heinberg & Bomford, 2009). However, in remote Canadian communities that are


primarily Aboriginal the issue is again exacerbated by the suppression of local knowledge that
occurred over the past few hundred years. Specifically, for Canada’s Aboriginal peoples, a
locally rooted base of food knowledge has been dwindling as a result of residential school
experiences, disruptions to intergenerational transfer, past policies and practices of forced
assimilation, and environmental contamination from industry and resource extraction (Ohmagari
& Berkes, 1997; Waisberg & Holzkamm, 1993). Therefore, an important part of increasing
community resilience is to facilitate the exchange and development of food knowledge that is
grounded in place, in the reality of the land and the life it encompasses.
Based on the preceding review of the literature, Aboriginal Canadians adopt a holistic
understanding of health in which the health of individuals, community and land are seen to be
fundamentally linked. Our purpose was to develop a health promotion program, the Learning
Garden, that would foster this holistic vision of health by increasing the physical and emotional
well-being of individuals, as well as their perceptions of the social capital in their community.
Food is an important component in several aspects of holistic health, from nutrition to cultural
and social connections. It is also fundamental to community resilience, and so our health
promotion program unfolded in the context of an experiential learning program in cultivated
gardening and forest foods. Thus the second purpose of the program was to increase knowledge
of both cultivated and forest gardens2
, and the connection between nutrition and health. An

2
“Forest gardens” refers to the food and medicine available naturally in the forests and waterways, as
well as to foods that may be planted, cultivated, or otherwise manipulated by humans prior to harvest in the forest
environment (e.g., transplanting wild rice to different lakes). This is often referred to as “country food.” We chose
the term forest garden to explicitly recognize that the line between cultivated and forest food may not be as rigid
as often assumed.


increase in knowledge and community capacity for local and cultivated food should ultimately
help foster community resilience and the other components of holistic health.
The interconnected and holistic Aboriginal worldview has implications not only for
conceptualizations of health but also for approaches to learning. The Learning Garden program
drew on the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model (Canadian Council on Learning,
2007) for its design. This model will be described next followed by a description of the
pedagogical approach and content of the Learning Garden program.
First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model
In the design of the Learning Garden program we sought an approach that would resonate
most effectively with the Aboriginal learners. The First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning
Model (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007) was developed by a team of First Nations
educators and advisors and describes an approach to learning that is consistent with the First
Aroland potato harvest


Nation worldview. In this model it is recognized that the purpose of learning is to develop the
skills and wisdom that will ensure the sustainability of life. Furthermore, it is understood that
individual learning occurs in a cyclical manner throughout the lifespan. Therefore, rather than
being a linear progression that is compartmentalized in specific ages or locations (e.g., school),
learning is understood to be a developmental process that seeks to balance the spiritual, physical,
mental, and emotional dimensions of the person’s being and ultimately produce both individual
and collective well-being. The model also describes the First Nation worldview in which the
learner is embedded as “a world of continual reformation, where interactive cycles, rather than
disconnected events, occur. In this world, nothing is simply a cause or an effect, but is instead
the expression of the interconnectedness of life” (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007).
This holistic and life-long view of learning that is directed toward well-being and
sustainability is consistent with the purpose and perspective of the Learning Garden program.
For example, the Learning Garden program uses the metaphor of the garden to conceptualize
health learning. In the context of this program, the garden is not understood to be a plot of land
that is separated and demarcated from the surrounding lands, but is rather understood to be the
sustainable tending of any environment, forest, backyard, or community field, to produce
indigenous healthy foods. As such, learning in the Learning Garden is viewed through the lens of
the cyclical, interconnected, life-and health-sustaining garden, and is therefore profoundly place-
based, experiential, and holistic.


The First Nations Learning Model also recognizes the importance of integrating both
Western and Indigenous knowledge in the learning process. The sources and domains of
knowledge that individual learning draws upon in this model includes the natural world,
ancestors, traditions and ceremonies, as well as the wider nation, other nations, and multiple
languages. Western and Indigenous knowledge and ways of learning are viewed as
complementary, and their integration forms the core of the individual learner as they seek
balance among the emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical aspects of their being.
The Intervention: A Learning Garden Program
The present research was conducted in the context of a Learning Garden program, which
was run with two Ojibway First Nation communities in Northwestern Ontario, Ginoogaming
First Nation, and Aroland First Nation. Individuals from a third community, Constance Lake,
also participated by commuting to Ginoogaming to attend workshops. The purpose of the
program was to increase holistic health in program participants and to increase experience-based
knowledge of both vegetable gardening and forest foods, as well as nutrition and its link to
Blueberry harvest, Aroland


health. Based on the definition of health held by individuals in Ginoogaming (Ray, 2007) and on
literature in psychology (e.g., Şimşek, 2009; Xu & Roberts, 2010; ) and Aboriginal health (e.g.,
Barnett & Barnett, 2009), we operationalized holistic health to include self-rated physical health,
emotional well-being, satisfaction with life, and social capital. The program incorporated the
principles of the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model and the insights of the
community partners and their experiences and reflections on a community garden pilot project in
2007. A detailed description of the intervention will be provided following a summary of the
pedagogical approach that was adopted in the design and delivery of the program.
Building and setting out the
Ginoogaming garden boxes


Learning Approach
As stated earlier, the definition or model of health that is held by community members is
a critical factor when developing health promotion programs intended to benefit that community.
Likewise, a health promotion program that emphasizes learning should also work within the
model of learning that is held by its participants. In light of this concern, the Learning Garden
program drew on the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model developed by the Canadian
Council on Learning (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007) and the insights of the community
partners the previous summer (Ray, 2007) in establishing its approach to learning. As such, the
pedagogical approach taken in the design and implementation of this program was holistic,
experiential, and place-based.
Recent research in education has sought to define holistic education (Forbes, 2003) and
its implications for learning and well-being (e.g., Cornelius-White, 2007). The common defining
feature is a basic assumption that the purpose of education is to facilitate the discovery of
identity, meaning, and purpose through connections to the community and the natural world
(Forbes, 2003). Therefore, while a given program might be on literacy or health, the holistic
approach recognizes that in addressing any of these issues, the whole person and his or her
dynamic inter-relationships with family, community, and nature must be considered (e.g., Jones,
2003). For example, a management education program in a business school for economically
disadvantaged students in South Africa provided a holistic approach by going beyond the
provision of career-oriented skills and knowledge to include the development of psychological
strengths and community engagement (Heaton, 2008).
A holistic approach to learning is appropriate in the context of an Aboriginal learning
program because the First Nations worldview is likewise holistic and interconnected. Holistic


approaches to Aboriginal learning focus on education for the whole individual (Corbiere 2000),
with frequent reference to the four dimensions of the medicine wheel: emotional, spiritual,
physical, and mental3
. These approaches to learning also foster connections with family,
community, nature, and society (Friesen & Friesen, 2002). Holistic approaches to learning in
Aboriginal communities can help to restore balance and promote individual and community
health (Gould, 2006). The Canadian Council on Learning recognized holistic learning to be a key
component of Aboriginal approaches to knowledge and learning. In the Aboriginal worldview
which sees all things as interconnected in balance, knowledge is not fragmented or categorized
but rather considered in the context of their underlying unity (Canadian Council on Learning,
2007).
The approach to learning in this program was also experiential. Experiential learning is
the process of creating knowledge through the grasping and transformation of experience (Kolb,
1984; Kolb, Boyatzis & Mainemelis, 2000). Experiential learning occurs in a cyclical manner
with concrete experiences forming the basis for observation and reflection, and reflection leading
to the development of abstract concepts that can be tested with more experience. Experiential
learning is often conducted in the context of adventure-based or outdoor learning programs with
the key feature being direct, hands-on encounters with the material to be learned (Moote &
Wodarski, 1997). According to the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model, Aboriginal
knowledge is based on observation and direct experience in the living classroom of the

3
The precise meaning of the medicine wheel varies across different First Nations but is generally
considered a symbol of wholeness that represents the sacredness, equality and interconnectedness of all living
things or all races. It represents the four directions and links these with the four aspects – mental, physical,
emotional, and spiritual. Health and well‐being are understood to derive from wholeness and balance across these
four aspects (Dapice, 2006).


community and natural environment. Learning by doing in the context of family and community
experience is seen as being an essential component of learning for Aboriginal people (Canadian
Council on Learning, 2007).
Another important feature of the present approach is that learning is viewed as being
place-based. Recent thinking in the field of education emphasizes the importance of place in
learning and development across the lifespan. Learning in place (re)connects the individual with
all levels of the human and biological ecology, grounding the person in the local bioregion, and
in the history and culture of the community (e.g., Gruenewald, 2003; Knapp, 2005; Rahm, 2002;
Smith, 2002). As such, it is particularly relevant to Aboriginal learning, as place is fundamental
to the individual’s experience of the unity of creation, and particular places can hold deep
spiritual significance. The meaning of place in Aboriginal learning was reviewed in the report on
Learning from Place by the Canadian Council on Learning (2007). It can also be seen in recent
research on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) (see also Barnhardt, 2006; 2008). TEK is
the cumulative body of knowledge, beliefs, and practices held by a community about the
interrelationships of all living things and the environment (Berkes, 1999). Research on TEK with
Aboriginal peoples suggests that cultural knowledge, beliefs, and values are learned in dynamic
interaction with the local ecosystem, so that culture and ecosystem are understood to be a social-
ecological system, with individual learning taking place within this nexus (Davidson-Hunt &
Berkes, 2003).
In sum, the approach to learning that informed the design and implementation of the
Learning Garden program was holistic, experiential and place-based, as these three components
of learning have been identified as important in Aboriginal models of learning.
Program Description.


The program consisted of a series of 10 full-day workshops that were held in alternating
weeks in each community from May though September, 2008. Each workshop was facilitated by
a community-based project coordinator who was directed and supported by the research team to
follow the workshop outline (Appendix A) by covering the topics associated with each while
pursuing the goals of the program as a whole in a manner adapted to the particular backgrounds
and perspectives of the workshop participants. In this way we sought to ensure that the key
aspects of the intervention were conducted in each community while giving the coordinator the
flexibility to co-create the learning experience with the workshop participants. This responsive,
bottom-up approach proved essential to the success of the intervention as the cultural uniqueness
of the communities involved made it difficult to create a single format that would have been
appealing to all workshop participants.
The coordinators were first instructed in the holistic, experiential, and place-based
approach to learning that was to guide the program. The First Nations Learning Model (Canadian
Council on Learning, 2007) and its tree imagery were used to help make this approach clear to
the coordinators. The Ginoogaming coordinator also chose to discuss this model with the
learners in one workshop. Ideas for how to adopt a holistic approach to learning that were
discussed with the coordinators included incorporating traditional ceremonies and imagery such
as the medicine wheel into the workshop design, and discussing with participants the
interconnections among physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health of the individual and
community. The coordinators keenly understood the need for an experiential approach to the
workshops and ideas that were discussed included ways that the coordinators could guide and
share in the learning process, reflecting on the success of different techniques, while working as
a group outside on garden planting, maintenance, and harvest or while engaged in forest food


acquisition. Ideas for how to adopt a place-based approach to learning that were discussed with
the coordinators included seeking out the knowledge of local elders and garden enthusiasts to
inform the group, and building local forest and cultivated garden knowledge that was based on
the unique social-ecological system of the immediate surroundings.
Some elements that the coordinators were instructed to incorporate in different
combinations in the workshops included an outdoor, experiential component, a discussion and
reflection component, activities or discussion on the cultivated garden, activities or discussion on
the forest garden, development of a local food map and the development of each workshop
participant’s food journal. The local food maps were developed over the course of the first half
of the workshops with some minor additions occurring later. The food mapping exercise involves
the use of a large map of the community’s traditional land use area. Through open sharing and
dialogue, participants locate areas of the traditional lands that are used for the acquisition of
foods including large (moose) and small (grouse) game, fish, wild rice, and blueberries. These
areas are then marked on the map providing the community with a visual resource of important
zones in the local food system (Raymond, Bryan, MacDonald, Cast, Strathearn, Grandgirard &
Kalivas, 2009). The food journal exercise (based on the diet diary used in nutrition research; e.g.,
de Castro, 2009) involves having each participant keep track of the foods they have eaten each
day (or most days). This exercise brings awareness to patterns of food consumption and offers a
starting point for group discussion on trends in the group and implications for nutrition and well-
being. Traditional ceremonies were also recommended for the coordinator or designate to
implement at each workshop. The workshop group was also to prepare healthy food to eat for
lunch and snacks as a group, and a prize draw of healthy groceries was to serve as an incentive
for attending each workshop.


The outline of topics covered in each workshop is shown in sequence in Appendix A. The
manner in which these topics address the goals of the program will be discussed next. There
were two broad goals of the program: (1) to increase holistic health and (2) to increase
knowledge in the areas of vegetable gardening, forest food, and nutrition and health.
Holistic health was conceptualized to include physical and emotional health, satisfaction
with life, and social capital. We sought to increase physical health by increasing the nutritional
value of workshop participants’ diets through access to a greater amount and variety of fresh
vegetables and forest foods including blueberries and local fish. Community gardening projects
have been found to enhance nutrition and physical health in a range of urban and rural settings
(e.g., Wakefield, Yeudall, Taron, Reynolds, & Skinner, 2007). Likewise, participating in the
planting and maintenance of a cultivated garden is known to increase levels of physical activity
(Armstrong, 2000), and while there is no research in precisely this area, we assumed that
increasing participants’ activity levels in the acquisition of forest food would likewise increase
levels of physical activity and health. Therefore, many of the program activities were aimed at
both enhanced diet and increased physical activity. Every workshop meeting involved some
amount of physical activity, varying in intensity from the building and moving of garden boxes
to weeding and thinning of the vegetable garden, as well as excursions on foot to areas for
fishing and blueberry gathering. Every workshop meeting included the preparation of healthy
food and snacks and a prize draw of healthy groceries. The final 4 workshops also included
harvesting, preparation, and consumption of vegetables from the garden.
Emotional health and satisfaction with life have both been found to be increased by
community garden experiences (Armstrong, 2000; Wakefield, et al., 2007) as well as by time
spent in nature (e.g., Mayer, Frantz, Bruehlman-Senecal, & Dolliver, 2009). An increase in


social capital or sense of community has also been described as one of the main benefits of
garden experiences, as individuals exchange experiences and ideas relating to the garden and
engage in conversation over shared tasks such as weeding or watering (Patel, 1991). While this
has not been studied specifically in the past, we also expected that the experience of developing a
community food map would likewise stimulate an enhanced sense of community belonging and
connectedness.
The second overall goal of the program was to increase knowledge in the areas of
cultivated gardening, forest foods, and nutrition and health. Every workshop included time spent
learning experientially in the cultivated garden or forest garden. Workshop participants were to
be engaged physically in every aspect of planning, preparing, planting, maintaining, and
harvesting the cultivated garden. The first workshop included a guided experience in planning
and assembling 3 large garden boxes. The second involved a hands’ on comparison of soils
under different combinations of compost and peat moss as well as a guest leader with specific
insight on composting. In the planting workshop, participants handled and planted different seeds
and explored the reasons for planting under different depths and condition of soil. Weeding,
thinning, and watering, as well as plant supports were discussed as circumstances warranted.
Harvesting and preparation were likewise covered as participants engaged physically with these
activities in the harvesting and kitchen workshops. This experiential approach to learning how to
garden has been found to be effective in other garden programs (Parmer, Salisbury-Glennon,
Shannon & Struempler, 2009).
We sought to increase forest food knowledge by encouraging the workshop coordinators
to access the local knowledge of elders and hunters in the community for activities and
demonstrations relating to the acquisition and preparation of forest foods. Discussions and story-


telling among the workshop participants themselves also allowed for knowledge sharing in
strategies relating to forest foods. The food mapping exercise was a vivid demonstration of
community knowledge sharing in forest food. Opportunities to learn about food and nutrition
were likewise built into most workshops. Discussions and presentations relating to the nutritional
quality of processed food, forest food, and the products of the cultivated garden allowed for
comparison and insight into the health impacts of various foods. Such techniques have been used
successfully in several similar programs (e.g., Parmer, et al., 2009; Lautenschlager & Smith,
2007). Kitchen activities conducted at each workshop for the preparation of group snacks and
lunch also provided an opportunity for experiential learning in the skills needed to prepare a
variety of healthy food options. The food journals allowed participants to become aware of the
trends in their food choices and to connect the nutritional quality of their diet with their sense of
well-being (de Castro, 2009).
Experiential learning about the
role of worms in composting, in
Ginoogaming.


The cultural fit of a health promotion program is critical to its success (e.g., Prior, 2009;
Anderson, Scrimshaw, Fullilove, Fielding, Normand, 2003). The program was designed to
flexibly adopt a shape that was consistent with the cultural perspective of the given community.
For example, traditional ceremonies and celebrations (Powwow, Trapper’s festival) were
incorporated into the workshop cycle under the direction of the coordinators. Dialogue and story
telling in the area of traditional forest foods and the development of the food map were also
intended to ensure a traditional cultural perspective. By bringing people outdoors to connect
physically with the land and the food it provides, we also intended to increase a sense of
connection to the land, which is intimately related to culture in the Aboriginal worldview
(Wilson, 2003). The fourth and fifth workshops explicitly connected culture with health and food
by taking participants through a “mindful eating” exercise (Bays, 2009) in relation to both
Western junk food and more traditional Aboriginal food. Discussion concerning the values that
support consumption of each type of food followed from questions such as “why do you eat
traditional food (e.g., moose meat) / Western food (e.g., chips)? Who are you with when you eat
each type of food and what are you doing? How do you feel after eating large quantities of each?
What cultural values are reflected in each type of food and eating experience? Guided discussion
then explored how the different cultural values reflected in food behaviour and choices may
affect individual and community health and well-being.
The Present Study
As stated above, the specific goals of the program were to increase self-rated physical
health, emotional well-being, life satisfaction, and social capital, and to increase knowledge of
vegetable gardening, forest foods, and nutrition and health. The purpose of the research was to
(1) examine the outcomes of the program against these goals and to explore three additional


research questions based on the gaps identified above in the literature review. Specifically, (2)
we observed through qualitative analysis the process of learning that unfolded in the context of
the program with an eye to understanding whether the holistic, experiential, and place-based
approach we used resonated with program participants. In addition, (3) we drew upon
quantitative survey data to better understand participants’ current food behaviours, food values,
and perceptions of the food system, in addition to how these perceptions and behaviours
correlated with other variables of interest, including holistic health and cultural identity. Finally,
(4) we explored through qualitative data the participants’ perceptions of place and sought a better
understanding of the interactions among place, food, and culture.
The research design involved a mixed methods approach including quantitative, survey
data, and qualitative data in the form of observations, transcribed workshop sessions, and
interviews. In order to test the outcomes of the program, we intended to conduct a pre-test survey
of program participants in the spring and a post-test survey with the same participants in the fall.
The survey included measurements of the indicators of holistic health (self-rated physical health,
emotional well-being, life satisfaction, and social capital), as well as self-rated knowledge of
forest foods, gardening, and nutrition, and measures of food behaviour, food values, perceptions
of the food system, and cultural identity.


Communities
The Learning Garden Program was implemented in partnership with two First Nation
communities (Ginoogaming and Aroland) to increase health and knowledge of gardening, forest
foods, and nutrition and health within each community. Aroland, Ontario is a Cree and Ojibwe
First Nation community located 330km North East of Thunder Bay where approximately 325
reside. Ginoogaming, Ontario is an Ojibwe First nation community located 300km North East of
Thunder Bay where approximately 303 reside. Both communities participated in this partnership
in the hopes of building capacity in their communities, and had pre-existing relationships with
the university researchers through a community garden project conducted in 2007 and ongoing
work on food system contaminants. In addition, several members from Constance Lake First
Nation, which has a population of approximately 283 and is located 172km east of Ginoogaming,
participated in the workshops held in Ginoogaming First Nation. Members from the communities
Elders and youth planting a garden in
the bush, Aroland.


were actively involved in the program: community-based coordinators ran the knowledge
exchange workshops, and many others participated in maintenance of the cultivated gardens.
Method
Participants
Participants in the workshops were a broad sampling of community members, including
children from science classes in each community (Aroland 12, Ginoogaming 10) and their
teachers (Aroland 2, Ginoogaming 1), adolescent youth who participated through summer
employment opportunities run by their band councils (Aroland 3, Ginoogaming 22), adults
employed by the health centres (Aroland 1, Ginoogaming 3, Constance Lake 5), elders and other
community members (Aroland ~ 25, Ginoogaming 6). In Aroland, a large number of community
members participated in a community blueberry harvest that was run as a workshop, but was also
a broader community venture. In Ginoogaming, approximately 8 individuals employed by their
health centres, including 5 from Constance Lake, participated regularly throughout the summer.
Ginoogaming coordinator leading a
workshop


With the exception of this core group, most individuals in Ginoogaming and all of those in
Aroland participated intermittently, attending a small number of workshops throughout the
summer, with particular attendance in spring and fall. All workshop participants were
volunteers. We had not expected to see such variability in attendance throughout the program
and to see the greatest dedication to the program coming from existing community health
workers. These community health workers (8 in Ginoogaming / Constance Lake and 1 in
Aroland) were particularly interested in learning about gardening and forest foods as ways to
enhance their own health and that of their community members. Several indicated that
opportunities for training in this area were otherwise limited.
All individuals who participated in a workshop were provided with a copy of the cover
letter (Appendix B). The purpose and design of the program and research were explained and
individuals were invited to participate in the quantitative research and interviews. The children in
the sciences classes participated in the workshops but not in the quantitative research, nor in the
interviews. As explained in the cover letter, all participants in the workshops understood that
audio recordings and notes would be taken during the workshops.
As a result of this intermittent pattern of attendance, it became clear that we would not be
able to run the quantitative study as a pre-post survey design as we had intended. This meant that
we were not able to conduct a quantitative assessment of the outcomes of the program (i.e.,
change in holistic health and knowledge over time), which presented a significant limitation to
the research. However, we were able to explore the outcomes of the program through the
qualitative data. Furthermore, instead of having each of one group of participants complete the
survey twice (spring and fall) as we had intended, we collected survey data from each willing
participant throughout the program, regardless of the number of workshops they attended and


when. This allowed us to explore the second research question regarding food system usage and
its correlates with quantitative data. This revised procedure resulted in N=18 participants
including 5 males and 13 females. The age of this sample ranged from 16 to 66, with a mean age
of 30. Five individuals, including 4 from Constance Lake and 1 from Aroland, participated in the
more focused interview questions.
Materials and Procedure: Quantitative Study
Workshop attendees who were interested in completing a survey first completed an
informed consent form (Appendix C), and were then provided with a copy of the survey
(Appendix D). Participants generally completed the survey during a break from the workshop,
although a small number took the surveys home to return them at the next workshop. Following
informed consent, participants generated a code name based on certain letters of their own names
and their mothers’ names for the purposes of matching pre and post-test surveys, and then
responded to a number of demographic items including age, gender, and language use.
Participants then completed each of the following sections of the questionnaire. Upon
completion of the questionnaire, participants were thanked and given a debriefing letter
(Appendix E).
Food Knowledge. The first set of questions assessed participants’ self-rated knowledge of
forest and cultivated food production and nutrition. Participants indicated on a 5-point likert
scale (1 = not at all, 2 = a little, 3 = moderately, 4 = quite a bit, and 5 = extremely) how
knowledgeable they felt they were of 14 areas, such as locating where whitefish can be caught,
planting seeds for vegetable plants, and preparing healthy food. These items were grouped into 3


subscales and alpha reliability4
of each was found to be adequate. These were: traditional food
knowledge (6 items, alpha = .85), cultivated gardening (4 items, alpha = .94) and the role of
nutrition in health (3 items, alpha = .88). These items were developed by the research team to
allow respondents to self-assess their knowledge in the three areas of knowledge the program
was targeted to increase, forest foods, cultivated gardening, and nutrition and health.
Physical Health and Nutrition. Participants then completed a section on physical health
and nutrition, beginning with four single-item measures assessing (1) self-rated general health (1
= poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, 4 = very good, 5 = excellent), (2) self-rated mental health (1 = poor, 2
= fair, 3 = good, 4 = very good, 5 = excellent), (3) perceived levels of life stress (1 = not at all, 2
= not very, 3 = a bit, 4 = quite a bit, 5 = extremely), and (4) self-rated weight (1 = very
unhealthy, 2 = unhealthy, 3 = average, 4 = healthy, 5 = very healthy). They then checked off any
of 16 activities they had participated in within the past 3 months, including walking, gardening,
and bicycling, and self-rated their levels of physical activity (1 = not at all active, 2 = not very
active, 3 = a bit active, 4 = quite active, 5 = extremely active). Following these measures,
participants rated how much they typically ate each of 20 foods, including locally available (e.g.,
moose, blueberries) and store-bought foods (e.g., beef, bananas) on a 5-point likert scale (1 = not
at all, 2 = a little, 3 = occasionally, 4 = often, 5 = very often), and then self-rated the nutritional
level of their eating habits (1 = very unhealthy, 2 = unhealthy, 3 = average, 4 = healthy, 5 = very
healthy). Participants were then asked to circle yes or no if they had been diagnosed with any of
7 chronic health conditions including diabetes and high cholesterol, and indicated if they
smoked.

4
Cronbach’s Alpha assesses the reliability or internal consistency of a survey measure, it is an indicator of
how well the items in a scale correlate amongst themselves.


Subjective Well-Being. Participants then completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale
(Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) by indicating agreement with 5 items such as, “In
most ways my life is close to my ideal,” using a 5-point likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 2 =
disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree). Alpha reliability of this scale was found to
be .80. To assess emotional well-being, participants completed the Positive and Negative Affect
Scale (PANAS) (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988), a 20-item measure on which participants
indicate how often they feel each emotion using a 5-point scale (1 = very slightly or not at all, 2
= a little, 3 = moderately, 4 = quite a bit, 5 = extremely). Alpha reliability was found to be .94 for
the positive affect items (e.g., excited, enthusiastic) and .84 for the negative affect items (e.g.,
upset, guilty).
Social Capital. Participants then completed a 12 item measure of social capital adapted
to a First Nations context and based on the work of Mignone (2003). This measure assesses the
bonding, bridging, and linking aspects of social capital. Bonding refers to the quality of the
relationships among members of a group (e.g., “generally speaking, most people in this
community can be trusted”), and bridging refers to connections formed between groups (e.g.,
“People in this community tend to always associate with the same group of people”). Linking,
which was recently proposed by Szreter and Woolcock (2004), explicitly recognizes the
mechanisms with which people form links across different levels of social, economic, or political
power (e.g., “My community works together with other First Nations to improve the situation of
First Nations people”). Participants indicate agreement with these items on a 5-point likert scale
(1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree). Reliability of
this scale was found to be alpha = .88.


Food Security. The next section of the survey assessed participants’ perceptions of and
behaviours within the food system. The first questionnaire consisted of 21 items assessing
perceived food security. The first 17 are a measure of perceived food security generated by the
first author (Lychowyd & Stroink, 2008; Skavinski & Stroink, 2008), which assesses
individuals’ perceptions that they are able to access sufficient food (e.g., “I have easy access to
sources of nutritious food”). The remaining 4 were drawn from government-based measures of
food security and emphasize hunger or lack of food in the home (e.g., “In the past year, the food
that you and your family had ran out, and there was no way to get more”) (Bickel, Nord, Price,
Hamilton, & Cook, 2000). All items in this scale were rated on a 5-point likert scale (1 =
strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree). For the present
analyses, only the first 17 items were used, and were found to be reliable; perceived food
security was reliable at alpha = .95.
Participants then indicated how frequently they accessed food from each of 14 sources,
including grocery stores, gathering, hunting, and sharing on a 6-point likert scale (0 = Not
available in my community, 1 = never or very rarely, 2 = Rarely, 3 = Sometimes, 4 = Often, 5 =
Always or almost always). These food behaviour items, developed for the present study, were
grouped into 3 subscales, including (1) grocery/convenience (3 items assessing behaviours of
frequency of visiting a grocery store in Thunder Bay, grocery store in nearby town, and
convenience store), (2) gathering (5 items assessing behaviours of gathering berries, gathering
herbs, gathering medicinal plants, gathering wild rice, and gathering other forest products), and
(3) fishing/hunting/trapping (3 items assessing the behaviours of fishing, hunting, and trapping).
However, the item “grocery store in Thunder Bay” was removed from the grocery/convenience
subscale because of a low alpha reliability coefficient of 0.45. By removing the item, it improved


the alpha reliability coefficient to 0.60. The alpha reliability coefficients for the gathering and
fishing/hunting/trapping subscales in the present study were 0.81 and 0.84, respectively.
The perceived attributes of the food system were assessed by asking participants to think
about where their food comes from, and to indicate how much they feel that system possesses
each of 9 attributes developed for the present study on a 5-point likert scale (1 = not at all or very
little, 2 = slightly, 3 = somewhat, 4 = quite a bit, 5 = completely or very much). Items which were
developed by the research team included, “under your personal control?”, “safe?”, and
“trustworthy?” With the item, “influenced by corporate or business interests” removed, these
remaining items were found to have adequate reliability, alpha = .82.
The values that guide participants’ food choices were assessed by having participants
respond to the prompt, “When choosing food to eat, it is important to me that the food…” with
16 items developed for this study, including “is affordable,” “is healthy”, and “comes from the
land nearby”. Participants responded to these items using a 5-point likert scale (1 = strongly
disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree). The food values items were
grouped into 3 subscales on the basis of face validity and subscale reliability. These subscales
were, (1) cheap and easy, or how much the participant valued food that was inexpensive and easy
to prepare (8 items, alpha = .90), (2) healthy, or how much the participant valued the health of
the food they ate (4 items, alpha = .84), and (3) cultural, or how much the participant values
culture pertaining to the food they eat (4 items, alpha = .90).
Cultural Identity. There were three measures of cultural identity included in the survey.
The first 12 items are Cameron’s (2004) measure of social identity, adapted to assess
participants’ actual levels of identification with each culture (Aboriginal and Canadian).
Participants responded to each item twice, once for each identity. The 3-factor scale assesses (1)


the centrality of the identity, or the subjective importance of the group to the individual’s
identity, (2) the in-group affect associated with the identity, or the emotions that arise for the
individual as a result of membership in the group, and (3) the in-group ties associated with each
identity, or the psychological ties that bind the individual to the group. Participants indicated
agreement on a 5 point Likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Neutral, 4 = Agree,
5 = Strongly agree). The alpha reliability coefficients for the overall measure of cultural identity
for Aboriginal culture and Canadian culture were 0.67 and 0.80, respectively. Two additional
measures of cultural identity, the first assessing aspects of participants’ implicit identity structure
and being developed by the first author, and the second assessing Bicultural Identity Integration
(Benet-Martinez & Haritatos, 2005; Haritatos & Benet-Martinez, 2002) were for exploratory
purposes only and were not analyzed in the present research.
Procedure: Qualitative Study
This research adopted a mixed-methods approach and incorporated both qualitative and
quantitative data to ensure as rich an understanding of the health learning process and the
perceptions of the people involved as possible. As described by Trull, Stroink, Nelson, & Ray
(2009), the mixed- methods approach is particularly advantageous in research involving First
Nations people. For example, in a quantitative survey design, the questions and variables of
interest are defined in advance by the researcher, who may not be fully aware of the complexity
of factors that define the issues at hand within the community itself. Therefore, the findings of a
purely quantitative study may not accurately reflect the full situation as perceived within the
community.


Qualitative research that adopts a phenomenological approach (Groenewald, 2004) brings
forward the voices of the community members themselves, taking in the actual lived experiences
of the participants throughout the research process. Therefore, the qualitative portion of this
research attempts to capture the essence of the people and their holistic experiences in the
context of the learning program, exploring the meanings that the individuals themselves create
and assign to events in the workshops. As such, a phenomenological approach to qualitative
research is considered to be compatible with Indigenous peoples as well as indigenous
approaches to knowledge and knowledge-sharing (Struthers & Peden-McAlpine, 2005).
Furthermore, one of our research questions involved an ongoing assessment of the
learning process and participants’ experiences in the program. This question is best addressed
through methods that are open to the emergent qualities of the experience as taken from the
participants’’ perspectives. The usual quantitative approach to assessing learning, by testing for
concrete pieces of knowledge in a paper and pencil quiz, would not have been appropriate in this
setting. Specifically, given the organic and community-driven nature of the program, and the
cyclical and holistic view of learning-for-wellness adopted in the Learning Model, a holistic
approach to observing the dynamic evolution of knowledge within the community as a whole is
more appropriate. Therefore, by conducting naturalistic observations within the workshops
themselves as well as more focused interviews with the participants as part of the qualitative
research, we are able to gain insight into the actual process of learning as experienced and
defined by the participants themselves.
In sum, the present research adopted a mixed-methods approach and considers the
contributions of both qualitative and quantitative approaches to be of equal and complementary
value. We will now describe each of the qualitative data collection techniques in more detail.


Observations. Field notes were collected by a student researcher who attended the
workshops in Ginoogaming and Aroland from May to September, 2008. Because workshops in
Aroland were at times held spontaneously, and the researcher was not always able to schedule a
trip to the community, there were three workshops in Aroland that were held with no student
researcher present. In these cases, a verbal report was received from the community coordinator,
and noted by the principle investigator. There were also three workshops in Ginoogaming that a
different student researcher from our team attended, again due to scheduling difficulties. The
researcher collected audio recordings of each workshop and kept observational notes of events as
they unfolded. The student researcher would also participate in the workshops, providing
knowledge of cultivated gardening where appropriate. Field notes are critical to qualitative
research (Neuman, 2000). Given the relatively narrow focus of this qualitative research on the
learning process, and to avoid having the student researcher’s interpretations obscure the essence
of the participants’ discussions (e.g., Fouche, 1993), only observational notes were taken, and all
analysis and reflection were conducted afterward by the researchers and community
coordinators. The student researchers were instructed to take note of events that would give
meaning and context to the audio recordings. For example, to note the actions and activities that
were taking place at different times (e.g., group moves to the garden, conversation occurring
during weeding, description of traditional ceremony), and to record reactions of individuals and
groups that may not be audible (e.g., group seems surprised by information on food miles).
Verbatim transcriptions from the audio recordings were made by a team of 3 students under the
supervision of the student who collected the data using ExpressScribe software equipped with a
foot pedal.


Interviews. Five interviews were conducted involving 1 male and 1 female from Aroland,
1 male from Ginoogaming, and 2 females from Constance Lake. The latter two women were
interviewed together. All interview participants were over the age of 18 and had participated in at
least one workshop. The interviews varied in length from 20 to 60 minutes and were conducted
between August and September, 2008. Four of the interviews were held by the primary student
researcher and one was held by the principle investigator.
Questioning was open-ended, with probes to ensure key topics were covered in detail.
These key topics were: (1) perceptions of individual and community health, (2) holistic, place-
based health learning, and what this meant to participants, (3) perceptions and knowledge of the
forest and cultivated gardens, (4) experiences of social capital, and (5) the nature and
compatibility of food-related cultural values. While this topic list provided the interviewer with a
guide, the dialogue was allowed to flow naturally, and interviews often focused more on one or
two of the topics than the others. Four of the interviews were recorded and transcribed. In one
interview the audio equipment malfunctioned and the interviewer took detailed notes of the
participant’s responses.
Data Analysis
Participants’ responses on each survey item were entered and analyzed using SPSS.
Preliminary analyses, including measures of central tendency, variability, and distribution were
conducted to check for entry errors, outliers, and normalcy. No issues were identified.
The phenomenological approach to qualitative data involves displaying findings in the
form of themes (Struthers & Peden-McAlpine, 2005). Data was analyzed through intensive and
repetitive reading through the transcripts and notes, sharing and discussing emergent themes
within the research team and community coordinators, and then refining and narrowing themes


into key findings. This process was guided by the research questions of the study. Upon analysis
of this data it became clear that emergent themes brought insight into the following research
questions (1) the outcomes of the Learning Garden program in terms of holistic health and
knowledge of forest and cultivated food and nutrition, (2) the process of learning that unfolded
in the Learning Garden program and participants’ experiences of gardening, (3) the state of the
current food system, its security and sustainability and its relationship with other variables such
as social capital, and particularly (4) the meaning of “place” and how learning in and through
place impacts both health and food security. The qualitative findings on the state of the food
system complement the quantitative data, both descriptive and correlational, in this area.
Results
The goals of the program were to increase self-rated physical health, emotional well-
being, life satisfaction, and social capital, and to increase knowledge of vegetable gardening,
forest foods, and nutrition and health. The purpose of the research was to (1) examine the
outcomes of the program against these goals, (2) to observe the process of learning that unfolded
in the context of the program, (3) to better understand participants’ current food behaviours, food
values, and perceptions of the food system, and how these correlated with holistic health and
cultural identity, and (4) to explore participants’ perceptions of place and the interactions among
place, food, and culture. The presentation of the results will follow the structure of these four
research questions, and will integrate findings from both qualitative and quantitative data where
possible, as this provides a rich image of the overall findings.
1. Outcomes of the Learning Garden Program


The goals of the program were to increase holistic health and knowledge in the areas of
gardening, forest foods, nutrition and health. Given that we were unable to collect survey data
from a single group of workshop participants both before and after the summer, we were unable
to directly test these outcomes of the program. The lack of both pre- and post- intervention data
from a large group of consistent workshop participants means that we are unable to objectively
assess change in health and knowledge over time.
While the quantitative data did not allow us to test these outcomes, we were able to
document moments of transformative insight and behavioural indicators of learning through the
qualitative data. For example, the demonstration of mindful eating was clearly a unique
experience for program participants, who were actively engaged in the exercise and contributed
many observations of the taste, texture, and experience of different foods including healthy,
unhealthy, processed and local/traditional foods. The participants in this workshop were
primarily youth and young adults, and the usual background chatter and movement ceased during
this portion of the exercise. The ensuing discussion around the holistic experience of food, the
physical, psychological, social, and cultural or spiritual dimensions was likewise spirited and “a-
ha” moments or expressions of insight (e.g., utterances, facial expressions) were documented in
10 of 18 people present. One youth commented, “We pray before eating moose meat, we honour
it… we don’t do this when eating candy or other junk food.” At another workshop, one woman
laughed at the new realization that she had been throwing out rhubarb, which she had thought
was a weed, growing in her own backyard.Furthermore, behavioural indicators of learning were
recorded. In Aroland, 4 people planted their own gardens at home for the first time, in
Ginoogaming, 3 did so, in Constance Lake, participants from the workshops planted a garden


behind the Elders’ complex. In Aroland, a community-wide blueberry harvest resulted from
discussions that originated in a workshop session.
The quantitative data was also not sufficient to directly observe changes in participants’
holistic health throughout the learning program. However, observation of the participants in the
program suggest that some foundations were laid that could contribute to increases in
participants’ holistic health. For example, the workshops included a food preparation component,
including soups, salads, and sandwiches using food from the garden where possible. Participants
also took food home from the garden, excited to include it in their meals. For example,
participants were excited about being able to take home ripened onions, one declared, “I’m going
to make a salad.” With respect to cabbage from the garden, another was planning to include it in
a moose meat stew, and the making of cabbage rolls was discussed.
In Aroland, the coordinator observed that many community members were now gathering
blueberries, getting outside and physically active for the first time in a long time. There was also
recognition that attending to the forest and cultivated gardens builds holistic well-being and
connectedness. One individual in Ginoogaming spoke, “when I’m going through a stressful day
here, I go out and attend the garden, and I feel just perfect, I feel like I’m just on air.” An elder in
Aroland described feasting on wild game in the spring and fall as a way to connect with her
deceased parents, “I go and feed them theirs and it is sort of like feasting with them.”
Social capital was also considered a component of holistic health in this study. The
workshop coordinators gained skills in leadership and community development, as well as in
building partnerships with outside organizations including the university team and other
community groups. For example, in Ginoogaming, the coordinator and other staff at the health
centre planned to establish contact with the horticultural society in town for future gardening


projects. Youth from both communities were hired by the Band office to gain experience
working with the coordinator or in developing local food initiatives. The participants from
Constance Lake took leadership in establishing gardens in their home community. In
Ginoogaming, where an elder had an old garden box, a group of women from the workshops
went over, weeded and planted some potatoes in the garden, applying the knowledge they had
gained from the previous workshop. Existing traditional practices that were discussed and passed
along in the workshops may also build social capital. For example, one participant in Aroland
described, “with white fish we use nets, cause we never fish them we just get them and take them
out and bring them back to our grandfathers, and they smoke them. And everybody would come
and have a feast and eat. Anyone who is walking by will come and check it out, and end up
having a nice meal.” As further demonstration of increased social capital at the regional level,
the researchers have been contacted by other communities interested in pursuing gardening
projects themselves in the 2009 season.


2. Process of Learning
The second purpose of this research was to observe the process of learning as it unfolded
in the context of the Learning Garden program. Drawing on the qualitative analyses, we sought
to understand whether the holistic, experiential, and place-based approach we used in the
program resonated with program participants. These findings are organized around two key
themes: (1) Learning Process, and (2) Understandings of the Garden.
(1) Learning Process. Participants demonstrated a clear preference for experiential
learning, and workshops generally occurred either out in the bush with the coordinator, or around
the box gardens, with questions being addressed while everyone worked together on weeding or
One of 3 Ginoogaming box
gardens mid‐summer
Aroland fall harvest


thinning of plants. For example, when holding discussions in the health centre, on four separate
occasions youth were noted to ask, “when are we going outside?” and to become more engaged
and participatory once this transition was made. The composting workshop, in which participants
built their own composter and handled the worms and layers of “worm food,” were particularly
engaging opportunities for learners, and significant discussion was had on the science of compost
and soil preparation in this very hands-on learning environment. Learning was also clearly
understood to be lifelong, as attendance within one workshop could vary from a class of
elementary school students to adults and elders.
The Learning Garden program was explicitly designed to be holistic, addressing the
whole individual, including emotional, mental, spiritual and physical aspects, as well as his or
her connections with community and nature. However, participants showed us a new depth to the
idea of holistic learning that depends upon and reflects the particular cultural orientation of the
individuals involved. Specifically, we found that the bimonthly schedule of workshops held at a
set time in the health center worked well with some participants but also seemed to prevent other
potential participants from joining in. When set up as a formal workshop in this manner,
community members sent their children, suggesting the belief that children learn formally.
However, many adults in the community preferred to do “workshops” at a kitchen table, or in the
bush, to do them spontaneously one-on-one with the coordinator, to immerse their learning into
their settings and routines of daily living. This style of immersed learning is profoundly holistic.
This preference was communicated to the Ginoogaming coordinator by 3 community members
who did not regularly participate in the workshops. Based on this observation, the community
coordinator from Ginoogaming recommended that future versions of this program build in a
facilitation role for the coordinator, with this individual providing informal advice and support to

Place-based learning increases First Nations community health and food security

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