There is a strong relationship between the health of our planet and its direct and indirect impacts on human health. Health is a matter of balance: an internal balance between physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being, and an external balance between ourselves, the land, the sky, the water, and all the beings with whom we share this world.
I’m a third-year undergraduate Health Sciences student with a driving passion rooted in the place where environmental health intersects with human health. I’m Métis with ties to the Red River Settlement through Lac Ste. Anne, and a current member of the Métis Nation of Ontario.
Through the STEM Indigenous Academics (STEMInA) Research Experience Program at Queen’s, I’ve had the opportunity to work with Dr. Élise Devoie in the Department of Civil Engineering, exploring the impacts of climate change on aquatic ecosystems in the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada. Changes in average air temperature, wildfire activity, precipitation patterns, ice cover, and permafrost thaw are altering lake ecosystems, in turn, harming fish habitat and health.
In 2022, Tłı̨chǫ Elders and land-users from the community of Whatì, NWT, brought to light observations of recent changes in fish health and abundance in their lake, particularly following a large forest fire that occurred in the area in 2014. Many of the Tłı̨chǫ people rely on fishing and hunting to access healthy country foods, but climate change is posing a threat to these ways of living.
PHOTO BY JACQUELINE GOORDIAL
The main objectives of the broader study are to understand large-scale changes in the lake, including: increases in water temperature because of climbing air temperature, whether contaminants are entering the lake from the surroundings after wildfire, how microbial communities are changing, where and when fish spawn, and how we can support lake preservation and recovery by predicting how climate change impacts these delicate lake systems.
As a Métis Health Sciences student, I’ve joined this team to explore how these climate-related changes impact human health, using storywork and narrative methods to capture a holistic view of community health. This component of the broader research project complements the quantitative methods by centring community voices as a critical form of knowledge that both contextualizes and enriches scientific findings.
More specifically, this project aims to produce a community-centred storytelling product that captures the voices and stories of Elders and community members in Whatì. By connecting these stories to our broader lake and fish research, this component of the project facilitates bidirectional communication between researchers and the community, serving as a meaningful form of knowledge sharing and giving back.
Stories help both the community and researchers alike to understand what the lake was, what it is now, and what it represents from a human perspective that extends beyond numerical reconstructions. This storytelling aspect will allow community members to feel a stronger connection to the research process, understanding what exactly we’re doing in their community and how our work impacts their daily lives.
Rather than generating parallel data, this project weaves together community knowledge and quantitative environmental research to support transparency and understanding between researchers and the community of Whatì.
Ultimately, our planet’s health and our own health are connected in ways that aren’t always visible, but which require action and care. By bridging environmental research and community knowledge, this work highlights the importance of protecting lake and fish health, which is inextricably intertwined with human health. In listening to the land and to the stories of those who know it best, we can move towards a future that honours this interconnectedness and supports healthier futures for both people and planet.
Skyler Gruner is a third-year Health Sciences student.
Tags
Enviroment, Health and wellness, indigenous research, Opinions, Voices of Indigenous Research
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