Abstract:

Among the global Indigenous population, concepts of health and healthy living are wholistically intertwined within social, physical, natural and spiritual systems. On-going processes of colonization and experiences of environmental dispossession have had the effect of removing Indigenous Peoples from the lands, people and knowledge sys-tems that have traditionally promoted their health. In 2014, Big-Canoe and Richmond introduced the idea of environmental repossession. This concept refers to the social, economic and cultural processes Indigenous People are engaging in to reconnect with their traditional lands and territories, the wider goal being to assert their rights as Indig-enous People and to improve their health and well-being. As Indigenous mothers, both who live in urban centres away from our families and traditional lands and knowledge systems, we highlight the ways in which this conceptual model can promote Indigenous health and healing in urban institutions and spaces not located within or near traditional territory.