instance, within a First Nation’s community. In every aspect
of the planning, Sasakamoose and Snowshoe were careful
to engage with elders, knowledge keepers, community
members, students, and faculty. Sasakamoose says "Every
decision made regarding this space has been guided by our
ancestors and spiritual keepers who sit at the directional
doorways of East, South, West, and North." Even the name
for the Lodge has come out of ceremony. Sasakamoose
says, "Early in 2016, we offered Noel Starblanket tobacco
and cloth and he went into ceremony with other Treaty
4 and 6 Elders to vision a name for the space that would
engage the work of all our efforts."
Sasakamoose and Snowshoe have utilized the concept
of two-eyed seeing (Etuaptmumk is the Mi’kmaw word for
two-eyed seeing), meaning to see from one eye with the
strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing,
and from the other eye with the strengths of Western
knowledges and ways of knowing. This concept originated
through the work of Mi’kmaq Elders Murdena and Albert
Marshall from Eskasoni First Nation.
Artwork on doors and inner window ledge is by Cliff Dubois, an artist from the Pasqua First
Nation
Sasakamoose says, "We believe that this space allows
us to grapple with each other’s cognitive universes and
learning, to see through the minds of each other's work for
generations to come." 3 She points out that the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Aboriginal
Peoples’ Health has adopted the two-eyed seeing concept
with the goal of transforming Indigenous health and figures
it prominently in its vision for the future. 4
Newhouse, D. (2004). Indigenous knowledge in a multicultural world. Native Studies Review, 15(2), 139–154.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health. (2011, March). Aboriginal
peoples’ wellness in Canada: Scaling up the knowledge. Cultural context and c ommunity aspirations. Retrieved from
http://www.integrativescience.ca/uploads/files/2011_Aboriginal_Peoples_Wellness_in_Canada_scaling_up_the_
knowledge.pdf; Hall, L., Dell, C. A., Fornssler, B., Hopkins, C., & Mushquash, C. (2015). Research as cultural renewal:
Applying two-eyed seeing in a research project about cultural interventions in First Nations
addictions treatment. International Indigenous Policy Journal, 6(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2015.6.2.4
3
4
Counselling students meeting in The Nanatawihowikamik Healing Lodge and Wellness Clinic.
Photo credit: JoLee Sasakamoose
"The Nanātawihowikamik Healing Lodge and Wellness Clinic is in effect a middle ground space for healing,
wellness, and for truth and reconciliation to begin."
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