Colonialism has created a myriad of social issues for all Indigenous people in Canada. Among these is the intergenerational trauma caused by the Residential School system, whereby the Canadian government and the Church forcibly removed thousands of Indigenous children away from their families, languages, culture, and land.1 Due to this attempted genocide, thousands of years of traditional knowledge was lost, with only a few people retaining our traditional medicines and healing practices. Thus, the assimilation that was meant to occur in Residential Schools was nearly successful, which left us, as Indigenous people, with severely poorer health than our Canadian counterparts.2 The removal of our Peoples from the land has created a grave disparity in health due to our removal from many or most traditional foods and medicines, too.3
Indigenous people’s resilience over the past several decades has led to a resurgence in our healing practices, including the use of sweat lodges. This mode of healing, which is both transformative and restorative,4 uses ceremony to achieve harmony, and sweat therapy leads to the expulsion of bodily toxins. As with most healing techniques of Indigenous people, ceremony and physical healing are combined by the cleansing of the mind, body, and spirit, all of which are addressed during sweat lodge sessions.5 Although Western medical practitioners have some difficulties with these alternative forms of care, their acceptance continues to increase.6 Like all forms of alternative treatments, the average Canadian is increasing his/her use, such as chiropractic, massage, and relaxation treatments. Similarly, Indigenous people increasingly prefer to use our traditional healing techniques and sweat lodge access is steadily becoming more common.7
In fact, along with decolonization, Indigenous people are reconnecting with their respective cultural practices across Canada, for example, with the desire to use traditional medicine and healing practices. As such, decision-makers and health providers realize that the provision of care for Indigenous people needs to use Indigenous knowledge to affect positive health outcomes.8 However, even though traditional healing practices are becoming more common, biomedical health care services are still the primary way in which Indigenous people access health services.9 Furthermore, ill-health among Indigenous people is exacerbated by mistrust of the Canadian healthcare system. Looking at the death of Joyce Echaquan, one understands the racism that Indigenous people have endured both past and present. This Indigenous woman was severely berated and belittled by a French nurse in Quebec as she lay dying in her hospital bed, all of which she recorded on her mobile phone prior to her passing.10
That said, it will take a lot of effort on behalf of the government and a significant quantity of time before Indigenous people recover from their treatment in the healthcare sector, among other facets of Canadian society. As the instigator and propagator of this mistrust and severely reduced health outcomes of Indigenous people, the Canadian government and other similar institutions are responsible for making amends. Furthermore, it will take a long time for Indigenous people to trust the healthcare system if possible. As there are many benefits for Indigenous people’s access to traditional healing services, it is prudent that the Canadian government funds Indigenous wellness and healing centres across the country. Moreover, it should be just as easy for an Indigenous person to access traditional healing practices as the average Canadian to access the biomedical model of care delivered by Indigenous healthcare organizations. Thus, it is also prudent that architects prepare for a new healthcare building typology, one in which Indigenous culture and modes of healing be the central focus of its design. This has begun in a limited capacity by the National Committee for the CSA Z8000, which is the Canadian national standard for hospital and healthcare facility design in Canada, and for which I serve as a Member of the Board.
Ceremonial Healing Practice Design
For instance, the programming required to accommodate the sweat lodge into a building design must be determined. Although there are somewhat more facilities for treating mental illnesses, there is very little in the healthcare milieu.11 Although proper Indigenous consultation is required to determine the materiality and sequencing of design for this ceremonial healing practice, Garrett et. al.12 provide a good description of this culturally significant place of healing. The sweat lodge is a dome structure typically constructed of bowed and interwoven willows spaced in the cardinal directions and traditionally covered with animal hides. When inside, one is within complete darkness. The cardinal directions represent the four elements of wind, water, air, and fire, all of which are not only required for the functioning of the sweat but are symbolic as well. The opening is through a flap, which is low and accessed only by crawling on hands and knees, thus making participants one with the earth. A firekeeper tends to the grandfathers; the stones are heated in a fire outside the entrance and brought in and covered with water to produce steam. Ceremonial healing and the physical excretion of toxins occurs within, and always with the direction of a traditional healer who determines the length of time one remains inside. When the sweat is complete, participants emerge from the low access as though emerging from the womb; reborn. The sequence is followed by quenching one’s body in a nearby stream to complete the ritual.
To design a facility that incorporates one or more sweat lodges into a contemporary building, the cultural elements and ceremonial procession of the lodge must be understood. Once this is complete, one can begin to conceptualize those spaces required and the sequencing thereof. Firstly, space is necessary to grow cleansing plants13 or for the equipment needed to seek out and harvest them. Once harvested, processing space is required to dry those plants, along with preparation space for the healer and firekeeper. The participants must have space for waiting and changing, and all would lead to an antechamber which would contain the fire for heating of the stones and a pool of water beyond for quenching to complete the ritual. Thus, all these spaces are meant to serve the most sacred of them; the lodge itself. Finally, the architect must determine if this can be done inside a public building by reviewing building and fire codes, and consultation with the engineering disciplines, amongst others. Ultimately, this must be completed through the direction of Indigenous elders, healers, and medicine people, which will ensure the suitability for using the sweat lodge in proper ceremonial protocols.
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1 Vanessa Ambtman-Smith and Chantelle Richmond, “Reimagining Indigenous Spaces of Healing: Institutional Environmental Repossession.” Turtle Island Journal of Indigenous Health 1, no. 1 (October 12, 2020), https://doi.org/10.33137/tijih.v1i1.34239.
2 James B. Waldram, "Transformative and Restorative Processes: Revisiting The Question Of Efficacy Of Indigenous Healing," Medical Anthropology 32 (3) (2013).
3 Vanessa Ambtman-Smith and Chantelle Richmond, “Reimagining Indigenous Spaces of Healing: Institutional Environmental Repossession.”
4 James B. Waldram, "Transformative and Restorative Processes: Revisiting The Question Of Efficacy Of Indigenous Healing."
5 Michael Garrett, et. al., “Crying for a Vision: The Native American Sweat Lodge Ceremony as Therapeutic Intervention.” Journal of Counselling & Development 89, no. 3 (2011).
6 Elizabeth M. Zubek, “Traditional Native healing. Alternative or adjunct to modern medicine?" Canadian Family Physician 40 (1923).
7 National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO). 2008. "An Overview Of Traditional Knowledge And Medicine And Public Health In Canada."
8 Ibid.
9 Virgil D. Moorehead et. al., "A gathering of Native American healers: Exploring the interface of indigenous tradition and professional practice," American Journal of Community Psychology 56 (3-4) (December 2015).
10 Aboriginal People’s Television Network (APTN) National News. 2020. “Remembering Joyce Echaquan: Frequently asked questions and the facts so far.” October 7. https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/remembering-joyce-echaquan-frequently-asked-questions-and-the-facts-so-far/?fbclid=IwAR33Dn0H4CYpBlEuUHT7sKk21mxIKQVhngOGWXIW7dtD6EjbE6IYyA5e5Jw. (Accessed November 17, 2020).
11 Stephen Verderber et. al., “Indigenous Ecohumanist Architecture for Health in Canada’s Far North.” HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal 13, no. 4 (October 2020): https://doi.org/10.1177/1937586720933176.
12 Michael Garrett et. al., “Crying for a Vision: The Native American Sweat Lodge Ceremony as Therapeutic Intervention.”
13 Michael Garrett et. al., “Crying for a Vision: The Native American Sweat Lodge Ceremony as Therapeutic Intervention.”
