Mental Health –Orthomolecular Impacts for First Nations
The Indigenous Peoples of Canada have caught the attention of headlines in these recent months. The current Prime Minister pledged better relations with and subsequently won many votes from the Indigenous People as record number of them turned out to the polls. His government has agreed to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Pimicikamak Cree Nation, known as Cross Lake and Attiwapiskat caught national attention for a State of Emergency issued in their communities due to the high incidence of suicide and attempts.
First Nations people have higher rates of suicide, about 6x the national average. Though the communities mentioned above, are northern communities, Indigenous communities in the south are also plagued with suicide. In my lifetime, I know about 20 people who have taken their own life in my southern Ontario situated reserve. I would think that the average non-native person might say they know 1-3 people within their own close circle that have committed suicide. What is also disproportionate is the number of very young peoples in Aboriginal communities that suicide or attempt to. Suicide or attempted suicides of eleven year olds and even younger occur in First Nations communities. So dire circumstances like this impacts the whole community. Imagine when many of your family members, friends and community members are committing suicide, how this has a rippling effect of sadness. That has a very stressful effect on everyone in the community. Stress also impacts cortisol levels and which in turn affect mental wellness. Indigenous people have been in flight of fight states for too long.
So aside from the more talked about and obvious historical factors affecting Indigenous peoples,
(such as the impacts of attempted genocide, stolen lands, broken treaties, forced relocations to barren lands, residential schools, the 60’s scoop where many native children were taken from the families, forced Christianity, laws forbidding indigenous people to practice their customs and ceremonies, forced language loss, long standing land claims still unsettled.)
I will also focus on the impact of nutrition of First Nations peoples and how that affects mental wellness.
These historical treatments of Indigenous People certainly offer a vivid backdrop to the present day reality of Indigenous life which include poverty, lack of employment, inadequate housing, lack of clean water, higher rates of other diseases and physical and sexual abuse, missing and murdered Indigenous women. Many Indigenous people still live in third world conditions here in Canada. All these accumulative issues can wreak havoc on a person’s psyche. Certainly it is easy to see, the despair that so many First Nations people feel.
Bruce Lipton talks of cellular memory in his book Biology of Belief, and this is essentially has to do with how memory is embedded in cells. Cellular memory also has to do with how this memory gets reproduced in offspring. Given these theories, the cellular memory of Indigenous people consists of a lot of downloaded trauma through the generations. This is compounded with the continued oppression and racism that still occurs.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is also widespread in Indigenous populations. The Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, just the other day issued an official apology for the brutalities that occurred in the residential schools, also citing “that the residential schools are only one example of systemic, intergenerational injustices inflicted upon Indigenous communities throughout Canada.” The last residential school closed in 1996.
With the arrival of the lost and malnourished settlers to this land, the Indigenous people shared their incredible knowledge of food and medicine with the settlers to save them from impending death. They nourished the settlers back to health with medicinal teas like pine, cedar and other nutrient rich foods. One of the common food practices of Indigenous people was to plant three times the amount of food needed. This was in case there was a food shortage, to save some for seed, to save some for the animals, and to have enough in case others needed to be fed. It was only their custom to share their food and so they did just that.
Once back to health, the settlers’ mission became to claim the land for their own and needed to rid the Indian from existence. One of the settler’s genocidal tactics was to destroy the Indigenous people’s crops and food stores. This is well documented in history.
When the settlers confined the Indigenous People to reserves, they also made it illegal for them to leave the reserves without permission. In this way they limited their hunting and foraging practices. They also limited their ability to trade or sell their goods, so if they were farmers, their produce would rot before they were allowed to leave to sell it. Their once healthy diet from hunter/fisher/gatherer then became replaced with staples provided by the missionaries and the government Indian Agent. Some of these staples became known as the 5 whites – white flour, white sugar, white salt, white milk, and white lard. These were given in rations at times as a method of control and getting the Indigenous people to do as told. The high carbohydrate diets introduced to the Indigenous people have had devastating effects on their health. Indigenous people have the highest rates of Diabetes. Some research suggests that their metabolism was not equipped to handle the diet. However their once nutrient rich diet was just replaced with nutrient poor food.
Another blow to the Indigenous people were the nutrition studies. They were used as guinea pigs as discovered by a food and nutrition historian, Ian Mosby at the University of Guelph. He extracted these words from a study he found in the records. "It is not unlikely that many characteristics, such as shiftlessness, indolence, improvidence and inertia, so long regarded as inherent or hereditary traits in the Indian race may, at the root, be really the manifestations of malnutrition," the researchers concluded in a preliminary report on their study in March 1942. "Furthermore, it is highly probable that their great susceptibility to many diseases, paramount amongst which is tuberculosis, may be directly attributable to their high degree of malnutrition arising from lack of proper foods." These studies involve deliberate withholding of certain nutrients to groups of children on remote reserves and within at least 6 residential schools. This occurred over a 10 - year period. One has to wonder if there were more studies unaccounted for.
A residential school within my own traditional territory, the Mohawk Institute was nicknamed the Mush-hole. So aptly named as the children there were made to work the lush gardens, and orchards but were not allowed to eat the food. They were instead given mush on a daily basis. My grandmother told me of a story of how she used to give her cousins food through the fence, as they were often hungry.
Even today, many Indigenous people still live in poverty. They are not able to afford quality nutrient rich foods. Many reserves in Canada are also under a water boil advisory, and this has been long standing. Many reserves are near contaminated soils and waterways, given industrial factories are often located near reserves. Lead poisoning and mercury contamination are well documented in some native communities. All these affect the mental health of Indigenous peoples. Heavy metal toxicity and nutrient deficiencies are most likely an important factor in mental health status of Indigenous peoples but is not even being addressed.
This is the reason as a Certified Nutritional Practitioner, my immediate thoughts were to see if the people in the remote northern community of Attiwapiskat could be given donations of supplements like Vitamin D, Multivitamins, Omega 3, Magnesium, 5HTP, protein powders and bars, chlorella, hemp, seeds etc. I was already aware that some ideas were suggested to help them with greenhouse gardening but since I now look through the orthomolecular lens, I thought supplementation could possibly help with mood and depressive states. It is well documented that lack of Vitamin D can help Seasonal Affective Disorder, a type of depression more common for anyone living north of the 42nd parallel. Omega 3 is vital for optimal brain health. Niacin is also shown to benefit depression. Magnesium is a champion in combating stress and helps to promote relaxation. These are just some supplements known to help depressive states.
When Attiwapiskat became national attention, there were frequent rumblings that “they should just move.” Yet when Fort McMurray was burning, the sentiments were “we could help them re-build.“
Sadly when I sought donations, only one generous supplement company was willing to donate. One kind area representative purchased supplements with her own money to donate. One popular supplement company responded to the request by saying “it was just not in their budget to be able to help Attiwapiskat at this time.” However one week later they were sending out emails stating they would donate 25 cents for every supplement bottle purchased to Fort McMurray. I certainly was not expecting an equal scale donation, but a smaller scale as Attiwapiskat is but a few thousand people. This is just another way that Indigenous people’s lives in Canada matter less to the broader society.
Our Indigenous footwear – the moccasins tread lightly on Mother Earth. We are the caretakers of Mother Earth, we are the eyes, and ears of our Earth Mother. Our heart beats in unison with her and when her heart hurts, we hurt. When we partake in the destruction of Mother Earth we feel the guilt. When we cannot do our duty as caretakers, this weighs heavy in our hearts and minds. This impacts our mental wellness.
As we look to solutions for the wellness of Indigenous people, we are seeing a resurgence of the Indigenous diet and herbal wisdom across this country and south of the border. It is amazing that in my studies in Holistic Nutrition, the hunter/gatherer diet and herbals were frequently receiving accolades and are indicated in optimal health and wellness. Many of these herbals come from Indigenous knowledge, yet this knowledge was historically suppressed and frowned upon by the dominant society.
Will we see a change with the Canadian government signing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? Will the renewed relationship that the young Prime Minister vowed to create help with the insurmountable issues Indigenous Peoples face today including their mental wellness? Let’s hope that the cellular memories can be replaced for much more optimistic ones. Let’s hope that Indigenous Peoples lives will really matter, and they can fulfill their duties as stewards of Mother Earth. That’s a win - win situation.