What a connection to the land means for Indigenous mental health – TVO.org
We ask Carol Hopkins of the Thunderbird Partnership Foundation about the role that land plays in Indigenous culture — and the effects it can have on health and wellness
On June 21 at Ottawa’s Canadian Museum of Nature, the Ontario Brain Institute will host a talk on Indigenous culture and connection to the land by Carol Hopkins, a member of the Delaware First Nation of southern Ontario and the executive director of the Thunderbird Partnership Foundation. In advance of the lecture, TVO.org spoke with Hopkins about the role land can play in helping Indigenous people with mental illness and addictions. The conversation took place on the traditional lands of the Mississaugas of the New Credit.
In what way can a connection to the land contribute to mental health?
As Canada thinks about connection to land, it’s often in the context around this idea of ownership and rights. And that’s a perspective that’s completely different than how First Nations people think about land. In a First Nations’ worldview, land is a living being. You’ll hear Indigenous people talk about the Earth as our mother. That’s an expression of a worldview that says everything that we need to sustain our life comes from the Earth. The water comes from the Earth. The elements of fire and air are connected to the Earth. They’re absolutely necessary for life. We depend upon them the same way we depend on our biological and extended family.
