Paper short abstract:

Indigenous youth-led participatory film project which investigates how efforts to revitalize the land and remove invasive plants are interconnected with the work of restoring traditional foodways and cultural relationships to the land.

Paper long abstract:

Access to the land is an essential part of the health and food sovereignty of Indigenous peoples. Colonization sought to disconnect Indigenous peoples from their ancestral territories and food systems, by placing them on reserves, disrupting the transmission of knowledge between Elders and youth, and prohibiting traditional agroecological practices. Meanwhile, settlers from Europe were creating ‘Europeanized’ landscapes, by introducing plants from their homelands, which spread and colonized new ecosystems, making it increasingly difficult for native plants to survive. In the present day, there are numerous communities working to remove invasive plants and restore traditional foodways, effectively revitalizing the land and their cultural relationships to it. On Vancouver Island, invasive species have spread rapidly and are outcompeting native plants, with negative consequences for the health and food sovereignty of local Indigenous people. This research empowered youth from Sc’ianew Nation, an Indigenous community in Canada, by engaging them in the creation of a participatory short film, which investigated the impacts land revitalization projects are having for their community. Youth were trained in filmmaking techniques, and they interviewed Elders and Knowledge Keepers. The study found that land revitalization work is connecting people on-reserve, it is strengthening partnerships with likeminded organizations off-reserve, and it is creating space for native plants, including medicinal and food plants to flourish, which also benefits non-human kin. This study contributes to a growing body of scholarship which uses participatory and visual methods to make knowledge more accessible and useful to research communities.