Understanding and Healing the Colonial Wounds of Family Violence with Indigenous Traditional Wholistic Practices

• In Event: Mana ’Ulu: Indigenous Action—Feeding Our Communities, Feeding Families

Abstract

Research indicates the primary contributing factor of family violence is colonization, specifically, the negative legacy of forced residential schooling upon Aboriginal children across Canada; thousands of children suffered physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually while attending the Residential School System in Canada. Education-driven research is highlighted throughout this salient discussion about family violence, such as surveying, learning, critiquing, and documenting the past in order to effect the present and futures; introducing and demonstrating new (to some non-Aboriginal researchers and greater community members) theories and methods; bringing to the forefront some of the systemic violence society impresses on First Peoples of Canada; and, most importantly, hearing the voices of some of the most oppressed, discriminated, and marginalized Aboriginal men, women, and children.

Author

• Donna Lester-Smith, The University of British Columbia