Occupational transaction in support of miyupimaatisiiun (wellness): Eeyou/Eenou community voices

ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of a community-based study on participation in miyupimaatisiiun (wellness) planning, conducted in partnership with the Eeyou Istchee Cree Nation (Northern Québec, Canada). Nested within a broader developmental and participatory evaluation undertaken by the regional Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay, the study aimed to generate an in-depth understanding of community perspectives on their participation and engagement in local miyupimaatisiiun (wellness) committees (MCs). Over 4 years (2016-2020), 13 visits to four communities, 22 individual conversation-based interviews, and 50 hours of community-based activity observations took place. Data were analysed using an occupational transaction lens to co-construct the meanings and processes of participation in planning for miyupimaatisiiun, and how participants perceive and coordinate their actions with local, regional, and global contexts. This manuscript, the first of two, presents results for three themes addressing the meaning, processes, and challenges to participation: 1) healing from residential school trauma and its intergenerational impacts; 2) revitalizing Cree culture for miyupimaatisiiun, and 3) decolonizing health and wellness systems and policies. Through the concept of ‘occupational consciousness,’ this research suggests that MC members were drawing on their awareness of colonial influences on their own journeys towards healing and cultural recovery as they planned and designed occupations that support community wellness. Implications include the need for cross-community sharing on ways forward for strengthening community cohesion, as well as for improved regional entity acknowledgement of community capacity.