“Years ago there were no drugs and we used herbs. In our way of life we depended on traditional medicine, and we helped ourselves…Today, modern medicine and doctors have taken over.“
– Stoney Creek Nation Elder, British Columbia; excerpt from “Traditional Medicine for Canada’s First Peoples”, Raymond Obomsawin, Ph.D.
As a department immersed in biomedical research, we are conditioned to a reductionist understanding of how diseases evolve. Indeed, much of our immunology research and project proposals suggest that eliminating, blocking, or altering specific cellular or molecular offenders driving a disease phenotype would improve a person’s disease outcome. Prior to the technological advancements allowing us to delve deep into mechanistic explanations of some diseases, people have relied on instinct, trial-and-error, and spiritual meaning to treat maladies.
Many Indigenous peoples of Canada, collectively First Nations, Inuit, and Metis, traditionally view the individual as integrated within overlapping mental, social, spiritual, physical, and ecological spheres; this holistic perspective has significantly shaped the methods and practices of Indigenous medicine. Maladies are believed to arise from an imbalance between the individual, society, and the natural world. As such, holistic healing is focused on identifying and resolving internal and external factors contributing to an ailment, such as performing nature and spiritual cleanses and negative energy extraction. While herbal treatments are the most common, other therapeutic methods and practices include sweat baths and lodges, fasting, massage, special diets, and poultices – medicated masses that are applied on sores or lesions. Some other common Indigenous healing practices, such as healing circles during which members sit in a circle passing around a “talking stick”, have been shown as productive, positive discussion spaces to obtain emotional support.
The responsibility of treating the sick is bestowed on the healer or the shaman of the tribe. There are strict ceremonies relating to the harvesting, preparation, and administration of these medicines that may be specific to the individual and tribal families. In some cases, healers themselves undergo purification rituals, which may include fasting or eating certain plants, that allows them to gain special energy to conduct their work.
Ethnobotanical research is the term for the discovery of plant-based medicines. Indigenous peoples have identified over 400 different species of plants, lichens, fungi, and algae with medicinal applications. Different parts of the plants have been used including: roots, bark, leaves, buds, flowers, fruit, sap, and pitch. Components of these medicinal plants and parts are known to contain different ratios of organic compounds, including alkaloids, glycosides, tannins, flavonoids, resins, and essential oils. However, instead of extracting specific compounds, in concordance to how many Indigenous peoples closely view food and medicine, they tend to be taken as food, or in combination with other plant parts. Therefore, it becomes challenging to isolate the medicinal component(s). Additionally, we should consider that there could be synergistic and/or additive effects when taken as a whole, further challenging the idea of a single magical bullet.
Nonetheless, Canadian academic researchers and pharmaceutical companies believe that a significant amount of knowledge can be obtained by learning from Indigenous medicine practices. Researchers in Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia are now working with Mi’kmaw elders to develop birch bark oil, known locally as Maskwio’mi, into a registered cosmetic through Health Canada for improving skin conditions such as rashes, eczema, and psoriasis.
However, moving forward, these collaborations should properly acknowledge this contribution is based on Indigenous knowledge that has been passed down for generations. A major hurdle to this type of collaboration is not knowing which plant component promotes the healing properties. This is not only important for passing Health Canada safety regulations and testing, but also for biomanufacturing. As of now, more than 200 compounds in Maskwio’mi have been identified as potentially helpful to combat infections and inflammation, however systematic screening is required to test and validate these compounds.
Indigenous peoples’ holistic view and treatment of the human body is a reminder of how we do not live in isolation. Our physical, mental, and emotional health is influenced by our genetics, diet, exercise/sleep habits, but it also impacted by relationships within our community and the environment.
Zi Yan Chen
