Urban pathways to justice: exploring Indigenous women’s urban park, trail, bike and nature experiences and impacts on wellness
| dc.contributor.author | Nicholson, Leah | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Johnson, Jay (Kinesiology and Recreation Management) | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Rice, Brian (Kinesiology and Recreation Management) | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Redvers, Nicole (University of Western Ontario) | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Hatala, Andrew | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | McGavock, Jon | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-04-07T16:46:34Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-04-07T16:46:34Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-03-21 | |
| dc.date.submitted | 2025-03-21T15:51:33Z | en_US |
| dc.date.submitted | 2025-04-06T14:25:18Z | en_US |
| dc.degree.discipline | Community Health Sciences | |
| dc.degree.level | Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) | |
| dc.description.abstract | Introduction: This study focuses on Indigenous women’s experiences of urban biking, trail, park and nature experiences and impacts on wellness using an Indigenous gender-based analysis plus lens created by the B.C. Minister’s Advisory Council on Indigenous Women (MACIW). The goal of this study was to explore Indigenous women’s experiences of urban biking, park and trail use and nature experiences in the context of settler colonialism that emphasizes the historical and present-day cultural oppression experienced by Indigenous women that impacts urban wellness experiences. The research questions include Indigenous women’s experiences of urban trails, parks, biking and nature experiences and how do these experiences impact wellness; the role of gender for Indigenous women’s equitable access to urban spaces; and barriers to Indigenous women’s urban land experiences. Methods: The methods in this qualitative study were a blend of Indigenous and western research methods as “two-eyed seeing”. The study was guided by an Indigenous women’s advisory committee through several collaborative meetings throughout the study who also provided cultural protocols for the sharing circle. Data collection included Indigenous methods of conversational interviews (n=9) and a sharing circle (n=10). Interpretative phenomenological methodology and methods informed the analysis guided by the MACIW Indigenous gendered based analysis plus lens. A decolonizing approach with community participatory research methods guided the methods. Results: Indigenous women’s experiences of urban wellness activities reveal barriers to these activities embedded in settler colonial racism and misogyny toward Indigenous women that results in violence and extensive safety barriers in accessing safe urban land. Despite these barriers, Indigenous women resist and reclaim urban spaces as sites for cultural resurgence, while reinstating Indigenous women’s gendered roles as Matricidal leaders, caregivers, educators, and protectors of the Land that fosters their wellness. Family and community wellness as interrelated with personal wellness was an essential aspect of Indigenous women’s wellness models, drawing in cultural understandings of wellness. The wellness of the Land and its inhabitants are also a fundamental interrelated aspect of Indigenous women’s wellness. Implications: Women described a myriad of spiritual, mental, physical and emotional benefits from safe park, trail and bike use, grounded in Indigenous concepts of wholistic wellness centred on family and community wellness. Nature as kin is a fundamental aspect of women’s lives that supports wellness. Yet, the women and their communities cannot experience these benefits if settler colonial city-making barriers to safe urban land are not addressed. The barriers Indigenous women and their communities face is an issue of justice, whereas access to safe urban land and wellness is a profound right of Indigenous women and their communities. | |
| dc.description.note | May 2025 | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | University of Manitoba Graduate Scholarship | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1993/38993 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.subject | Indigenous | |
| dc.subject | women | |
| dc.subject | urban | |
| dc.subject | wellness | |
| dc.title | Urban pathways to justice: exploring Indigenous women’s urban park, trail, bike and nature experiences and impacts on wellness | |
| local.subject.manitoba | yes | |
| oaire.awardNumber | 767-2019-1954 | |
| oaire.awardTitle | Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Doctoral Scholarship | |
| oaire.awardURI | https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/students-etudiants/pg-cs/cgsd-bescd_eng.asp | |
| project.funder.identifier | https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000155 | |
| project.funder.name | Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada |