Human-wetland relations in an agricultural landscape: Ojibway and non-Indigenous perspectives from the Swan Lake region, Manitoba

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorWiebe, Leanna
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeVanrobaeys, Jason (Health Canada)
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeOakes, Jill (Environment & Geography)
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeScott, David (Swan Lake First Nation)
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeMcLachlan, Stephane (Environment & Geography)
dc.contributor.supervisorBaydack, Rick
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-16T17:57:37Z
dc.date.available2025-01-16T17:57:37Z
dc.date.issued2024-12-03
dc.date.submitted2024-12-05T20:51:34Zen_US
dc.date.submitted2025-01-16T17:24:09Zen_US
dc.degree.disciplineEnvironment and Geography
dc.degree.levelMaster of Environment (M.Env.)
dc.description.abstractWetlands in the Swan Lake region were historically seen as highly valuable parts of the landscape by Ojibway Peoples and early non-Indigenous settlers alike, providing vital food and water on an arid prairie. Contrastingly, wetlands today are often seen as a nuisance, incentivizing their ongoing drainage. As a result, Swan Lake, like other prairie lakes, faces cumulative impacts from wetland drainage including an accumulation of sediment, lowering lake depth, damaged wildlife habitat, as well as increased nutrient loads causing algae blooms and deoxygenation. In short, the introduction of colonial land management and governance systems has transformed the relationship between humans and wetlands from a mutually beneficial to a dysfunctional one. This thesis examines the transformation described above by looking at the influence of historical and individual decision contexts experienced by Ojibway and non-Indigenous land users today in the Swan Lake region. In this thesis, wetlands become a prism refracting a much bigger context, one where dysfunctional relationships between humans and wetlands are part of a polycrisis affecting all earth systems. A gatekeeper sampling method and semi-structured interviews with six Ojibway participants from Swan Lake First Nation, Gaubiskiigamaug, and six non-Indigenous farmers from the surrounding region were used. Data were analyzed using thematic and grounded approaches. Results emerge in five themes: 1) Historical contexts shaping today’s wetland-related decision-making, including colonization and changes in the agricultural industry; 2) Tensions between Ojibway and non-Indigenous worldviews related to wetlands; 3) The influence of individual decision contexts including differences in land use on wetland-related decision-making; 4) Land user perspectives on the future of human-wetland relationships; and 5) The dynamic nature of human-wetland relationships in shaping the landscape itself. This thesis concludes that enduring solutions to today’s wetland crisis can only occur at pace with healing relationships between people and land.
dc.description.noteFebruary 2025
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1993/38832
dc.language.isoeng
dc.subjectagriculture
dc.subjectagriculture wetland drainage
dc.subjectCanada
dc.subjectCanadian prairies
dc.subjectcolonization
dc.subjectcultural ecosystem services
dc.subjectdeterritorialization
dc.subjectfragmentation
dc.subjectcontextualizing wetland issues
dc.subjectgrounding water studies
dc.subjectgrounding wetland studies
dc.subjectland
dc.subjectmultiple theoretical approach
dc.subjectontological ecology
dc.subjectontological plurality
dc.subjectontological politics
dc.subjectpolycrisis
dc.subjectrelational qualitative methodology
dc.subjectrelationality
dc.subjectrestorative narrative
dc.subjectrural ecological knowledge
dc.subjectsocial-ecological landscape
dc.subjecttheoretical pluralism
dc.subjectwater
dc.subjectwetland governance
dc.subjectwetland history
dc.subjectwetland policy
dc.subjectwetland politics
dc.subjectworldviews
dc.subjecthuman-land relationships
dc.subjecthydrosocial territories
dc.subjectpolitical ecology
dc.subjectsocial and ecological relationships
dc.subjectsocial dimensions of human-water systems
dc.subjectsocial dimensions of human-wetland systems
dc.subjectsocio-ecological system
dc.subjectsociohydrology
dc.subjectcolonial mind control
dc.subjectcolonization of mind
dc.subjectdecolonial thought
dc.subjectmonoculture of the mind
dc.subjectFirst Nation
dc.subjectIndigenous
dc.subjectOjibway ecological knowledge
dc.subjectOjibway water governance
dc.subjectOjibway wetland knowledge
dc.subjectOjibway wetland relationships
dc.subjecttraditional knowledge
dc.subjectcross-cultural studies
dc.subjecttwo-eyed seeing
dc.subjectweaving knowledge systems
dc.subjectsocioecological studies
dc.subjectsystems thinking
dc.titleHuman-wetland relations in an agricultural landscape: Ojibway and non-Indigenous perspectives from the Swan Lake region, Manitoba
local.subject.manitobayes
oaire.awardTitleCanadian Graduate Scholarships - Masters
project.funder.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13039/501100000155
project.funder.nameSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Human-Wetland-Relationships.pdf
Size:
1.48 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
770 B
Format:
Item-specific license agreed to upon submission
Description:
Download
Collections
FGS - Electronic Theses and Practica
Manitoba Heritage Theses