Having experienced the power of Cree traditional healing first hand, Chisasibi’s Larry House was thrilled to share the positive impact of these practices this past June at the International Indigenous Development Research Conference in Auckland, New Zealand.

House appeared at the June 27-30 conference on behalf of the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay (CBHSSJB) and the Cree Nation of Chisasibi. He was joined by Ioana Radu of Concordia University and DIALOG (Research and Knowledge Network Relative to Aboriginal Peoples).

The conference brought together more than 400 researchers and Indigenous peoples from around the world to discuss everything from policy development to address the effects of colonialism as well as economic development, health and governance.

House and Radu delivered a presentation titled “Miyupimaatisiiun” (To be alive and well and in good health), which covered the implemention of traditional knowledge in the management and delivery of health and social services through active engagement of community members.

It detailed Cree traditional healing methods as a means to wellness. This includes ceremonies, sweats, shake tents and herbs to address the social and health issues within the community, explained House.

It all goes back to a program that began in 2005 on behalf of the CBHSSJB to integrate integrating traditional approaches to health and wellness through local Miyupimaatisiiun committees to engage the people of Chisasibi in the management and delivery of health and social services.

“The people have shown very positive results with this program that we did here in Chisasibi. Part of it is based on the fact that people are more inclined to connect with an individual who speaks their own language. Another part of this kind of healing is involving more of the family as a support system for an individual trying to keep wellness in their lives. This goes back to whatever their issue is: residential school and everything else in terms of colonialism that has brought us here today,” said House.

House said that these practices are particularly helpful when it comes to helping those who suffer from addictions because having a positive cultural identity helps address the wellbeing of an individual.
House said his presentation received a positive response from the Indigenous peoples in New Zealand and abroad attending the event. He partially credited this to how he related his own experience about how Cree ceremonies, traditional living and medicines put his own life back on track in his youth.

As a self-described “juvenile delinquent,” House said that as a teen he bounced back and forth between Montreal and Chisasibi under the jurisdiction of Youth Protection. However, thinking it was easier than life in the lock up unit, House proposed he spend a year in the bush living with an Elder. And that is where his journey into healing from devastating sexual abuse issues began.

“I told them that I needed to go somewhere because I was having these anxiety attacks and then what happened was that I wound up doing a sweat that evening. I didn’t tell the sweat conductor why I was there but a lot of what I needed to do to deal with what I was going through happened in there. My life continued down a specific course after this point where I really was able to find what I needed through these ceremonies like the shake tent and the sun dance. All of these ceremonies are what has brought me to this point,” said House.

Since that time House has spent his career devoted to integrating these aspects of culture into healing processes for his community.

“I think that my resilience is a testament to the inherent healing in our culture,” said House.