Supporting the trajectories of our spirit: Living Cree Pimatisiwin and Blackfoot Kiipaataapiisiinii (Our spiritual way of life)

Indigenous knowledge states that we originate from the stars and that our life begins before conception (Buck, 2009). All Indigenous peoples have a creation story which details the instructions on how to live our spiritual way of life. This project will support the trajectory of our spirits by ensuring our children have access to their spiritual way of life from birth. The spiritual way of life includes speaking the language, connection to land and water and participating in ceremonies that support wellness across the lifespan. The long history of colonial practices in this country has disrupted the traditional lifeways of nations, including the transmission of birth knowledge and practices. The project will seek to answer the question, How do cultural, spiritual, land-based and community connections from the time of birth impact the health and wellness of our children as defined by our nations? The all Indigenous research team will work with three Cree communities in Manitoba and three Blackfoot communities in Alberta. The project will be governed by the Collaboration Circle and the Knowledge Keeper Circle. In addition each community will have a community-based research associate and an advisory circle that will oversee the implementation of the project activities in their community. The focus will be on examining what is working to promote wellness rather than measuring contributors to chronic illness. At the end of the two years the project will have (1) developed and refined nation based indicators of well-being, (2) have documented the existing culturally based activities that support living the good life, (3) will have a cohort of children that were born with the support of a culturally trained birth helper, (4) will have preliminary data on the impacts of culture as a foundation of wellness starting at birth for the Cree and Blackfoot nations and (5) key recommendations for biological sampling in research for the Cree and Blackfoot nations.