Accounting for Cultural Capital—Sustainability Agenda of Charities Serving the First Nations People towards Self-Determination—Evidence from the Northern Territory, Australia

This study examined the role of the First Nations beneficiary charities in contributing to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Northern Territory, Australia, as a way of attaining self-determination by closing the expectations gap between First Nations people and the mainstream Australians. Informed by the theory of self-determination (ethical and functional strands), a latent content analysis of 118 charities serving the First Nations people was conducted, coding the summary of their activities to ascertain their strategic engagement with the SDGs. A network analysis was also carried out to examine the charities’ connections with each other and their collective contribution towards the SDGs. The findings show that charities contribute to creating cultural capital through social capital, followed by intellectual capital dimensions. However, charities contributed little to building environmental capital dimension of the First Nations people. This study examined charities’ engagement with SDGs to build cultural capital in furtherance of self-determination of Australia’s First Nations people.

Cancer and the Environment projects with four First Nations organizations: working together to address concerns about carcinogens in the environment

Setting For First Nations people, human health and well-being are interconnected with a healthy environment. First Nations organizations commonly raise concerns regarding carcinogens in the environment; however, few case studies are available as guidance for working in a participatory and respectful way to help assess and address these concerns. Intervention Through four community-led pilot projects executed over two years, we collaborated with 15 participants from four First Nations organizations across four provinces to identify concerns related to environmental carcinogens and to address those concerns through an integrated knowledge translation (KT) approach. We co-developed and implemented strategic KT plans for each pilot project, and conducted evaluation surveys and interviews with participants at multiple time points to assess process, progress, barriers and facilitators, and impact. Outcomes The activities and outputs of the pilot projects are available at www.carexcanada.ca. Participants identified 18 concerns, and we co-developed 24 knowledge products. Tailored fact sheets for communities and briefing notes for leadership were deemed most useful; interactive maps were deemed less useful. Evaluation indicated that the collaborative projects were effective in addressing the concerns raised regarding exposures to carcinogens. Implications The participant-led approach and multi-year funding to support capacity enhancement and face-to-face engagement were facilitators to project success. However, participants did face important barriers to collaborate which should be considered in future projects of this kind: the most important being a lack of resources (people and time), given competing and often more urgent priorities.

The Terms of Our Surrender: Colonialism, Dispossession and the Resistance of the Innu

Based on extensive fieldwork and oral history, The Terms of Our Surrender is a powerful critical appraisal of unceded indigenous land ownership in eastern Canada. Set against an ethnographic, historical and legal framework, the book traces the myriad ways the Canadian state has successfully evaded the 1763 Royal Proclamation that guaranteed First Nations people a right to their land and way of life. Focusing on the Innu of Quebec and Labrador, whose land has been taken for resource extraction and development, the book strips back the fiduciary duty to its origins, challenging the inroads which have been made on the nature and extent of indigenous land tenure—arguing for preservation of land ownership and positioning First Nations people as natural land defenders amidst a devastating climate crisis. It offers a voice to the Innu people, detailing the spirituality practices, culture and values that make it impossible for them to willingly cede their land. The text is intended to bridge the gap in knowledge between legal practitioners and those working at the intersections of human rights, social work and public policy. The book offers a potent template for how we can use the law to fight back against the indignities suffered by all indigenous peoples.

Conducting decolonizing research and practice with Australian First Nations to close the health gap

The purpose of this paper is to highlight a perspective for decolonizing research with Australian First Nations and provide a framework for successful and sustained knowledge translation by drawing on the recent work conducted by a research group, in five remote communities in North-Western Australia. The perspective is discussed in light of national and international calls for meaningful and dedicated engagement with First Nations people in research, policy and practice, to help close the health gap between First Nations and other Australians.

Building Longitudinal Datasets From Diverse Historical Data in Australia

Australia is rich in population datasets generated to manage convicts, civilians, stock, land and the colonised and displaced First Nations people. It has also preserved all service and pension data from both world wars. Through nominal linkage using volunteers and paid research staff, it has been possible over the past twenty years to build four cradle-to-grave datasets derived from administrative cohorts: poor white babies born in a charity hospital 1858–1900; Aboriginal Victorians from 1855 to 1988; convicts transported to Van Diemen’s Land 1818-1853 and servicemen who embarked for World War I from the State of Victoria. The abundance of digitised historical sources from government archives to historical newspapers enables the practice of demographic prosopography, with a wide range of variables that have yielded new insights into Australia’s population and social history.

Indigenous Environmental Justice and Sustainability: What Is Environmental Assimilation?

Canada has a long history of assimilative efforts with respect to Indigenous peoples. Legal assimilation efforts occurred on two fronts: the voluntary and involuntary enfranchisement of First Nations people, and the dissolution of First Nations reserve lands. Cultural assimilation occurred through the residential school system, and the removal of Indigenous children from their homes by Canadian child welfare agencies in the “sixties scoop”. Another form of assimilation is through environmental assimilation. I define environmental assimilation as changes to the environment through development, to the extent whereby the environment can no longer support Indigenous cultural activities. Herein, I examine environmental assimilation in northern Ontario, Canada. The “taken-up” clause in Treaty No. 9, the “Exemption Orders” in the Far North Act, the “Except” stipulation in the Mining Amendment Act, and the unilateral streamlining of projects in the Green Energy Act and the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act—these pieces of legislation pose threats to the environment and serve to facilitate the reality of contemporary environmental assimilation of First Nations.

Should They Stay or Should They Go?:

This contribution considers the current debates about the place of monuments, such as the statue of Captain Cook in Hyde Park, which reached a recent high point during the Black Lives Matter protests across Australia in mid 2020. While removing contentious statues from public view may address concerns about their unwanted presence, we must ensure that the contested history they embody is not also erased from society’s memory. We need to develop an acceptable framework for dealing with such monuments within their historical context. Ultimately, there is no single answer to the question: should the vestiges of flawed historical narratives stay or go? It depends on the circumstances of each case. But some things are clear. There is a need for Australia to redress historical and current wrongs against First Nations people.