For more than 20 years, Chantelle Richmond has been strengthening Indigenous communities, preserving traditions and preparing the next generation to engage respectfully.

“Change doesn't happen merely through policy or because we wish it would,” says Chantelle, professor of geography and environment and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Health and Environment at Western University. “It happens because people, especially in our Indigenous communities, use our relationships to talk about what is possible in places like Western.”

Chantelle, a member of Biigtigong Nishnaabeg on the north shore of Lake Superior, does some of this through her work with the Indigenous Health Lab.  

Based in the Faculty of Social Science, the lab trains and supports Indigenous and non-Indigenous students who work with communities on environmental and health concerns.

Chantelle says this gives students hands-on experience while making a real difference for Indigenous communities.  

“We are developing a new generation of students who understand how to work with Indigenous communities and listen to their concerns. They also understand how to be in the community and how to care for elders, how to play with the children, how to do the sorts of things you probably wouldn't learn sitting in a classroom.”

Chantelle also has a long partnership with the Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre (SOAHAC). Their research has shown Indigenous people make up one per cent of the population in London, Ont. but are 10 times more likely to experience food insecurity. And the fact that many Indigenous people are leaving their lands to live in cities means many are losing touch with their traditional foods.  

With a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Chantelle, along with a number of her Western colleagues and trainees, collaborated with SOAHAC to launch a five-year project to support Indigenous people in food-related initiatives.  

The project supports and extends SOAHAC’s traditional Indigenous food bag program, by incorporating local land-based activities that restore cultural knowledge and practices.

Drawing on the expertise of local knowledge keepers, Richmond and her team are taking a holistic approach to food security, providing SOAHAC clients with traditional Indigenous foods and the cultural knowledge and skills to grow, hunt, cook and store them.

“It’s about nourishing bodies, but it’s also about nourishing minds, nourishing spirits and nourishing community.”

Chantelle believes her students’ experiences in these programs and in their class discussions will prepare them to support Indigenous communities – and to better understand how non-Indigenous people perceive those communities.  

“I'm just planting little seeds that I hope students can take into their careers and their personal lives. For example, someone might hear a comment about Indigenous people at Thanksgiving dinner. I want to help them respond, not with anger, but with love, and to be able to say, ‘What you've just said could be hurtful’. If I can do this, then I’ll have done something meaningful.”