...................................................................................................................................... viii Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... x Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... xi Preface ......................................................................................................................................... xiii Commemoration Ceremony of the Unmarked Graves ................................................. xvi Chapter 1: Historical Context ..................................................................................................... 1 History of the Indian Residential School System.............................................................. 2 Canada’s Response to the IRS Legacy .............................................................................. 5 The Royal Commission on Aboriginal People and the Aboriginal Healing Foundation ............................................................................................................................... 6 The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada ............................................... 7 The oral tradition and the principle of witnessing ....................................................... 8 Statement of objectives and chapter outline ................................................................ 9 Chapter 2: Literature Review .................................................................................................... 12 Colonialism and Its Effect on Indigenous Peoples’ Mental Health .............................. 14 Historical Trauma and Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma ........................... 24 Assessing Healing Approaches ......................................................................................... 27 Resilience and Non-Pathological Responses to Trauma Events.................................... 34 POTENTIALIZING WELLNESS iii Chapter 3: The Methodology of Grounded Theory ................................................................ 38 What Is Grounded Theory? ............................................................................................. 39 Debates of grounded theory ....................................................................................... 40 Philosophical Positioning .................................................................................................. 41 Interpretative Understanding........................................................................................... 42 Relativism and the Co-construction of Data ................................................................... 44 Grounded Theory and a Two-eyed Seeing Approach .................................................... 46 The Classic Grounded Theory Approach ....................................................................... 52 Avoiding Preconception while Heightening Theoretical Sensitivity ............................. 53 Seeking expertise ....................................................................................................... 53 Engaging with peers .................................................................................................. 54 Knowing thyself ........................................................................................................ 55 Systematic Literature Review .......................................................................................... 57 Guidelines to Avoid Preconception .................................................................................. 58 Classic GT Criteria............................................................................................................ 73 Ethical Considerations ...................................................................................................... 75 Choosing GT over a Decolonized Methodology .............................................................. 80 Incorporating Indigenous Principles ............................................................................... 81 Contradictions for Indigenous Researchers and Students ............................................ 89 Types of Research Methodologies .................................................................................... 93 POTENTIALIZING WELLNESS iv Towards a Decolonizing Methodology............................................................................. 98 Chapter 4: Findings and Theoretical Framework ................................................................. 107 The Main Concern ........................................................................................................... 107 Kakwatakih-Nipowatisiw ........................................................................................ 114 Behavioural Typologies ................................................................................................... 117 The Significance of Gerunds........................................................................................... 121 A Basic Social Process ..................................................................................................... 121 Intergenerational Conditions and Consequences ......................................................... 124 Structural Conditions of IRS .......................................................................................... 125 Regimenting............................................................................................................. 126 Exerting force or power ........................................................................................... 127 Perpetuating Harm .......................................................................................................... 130 The “no talk” rule. ................................................................................................... 130 Arresting development ............................................................................................ 131 Cocooning ................................................................................................................ 132 Denying the truth ..................................................................................................... 134 No Reality Relationship .................................................................................................. 136 Core Category and the Theoretical Framework .......................................................... 140 Overview ................................................................................................................. 140 The Core Category .......................................................................................................... 141 POTENTIALIZING WELLNESS v The Theory ....................................................................................................................... 142 Building Personal Competencies .................................................................................... 143 Moral Compassing........................................................................................................... 145 Fostering the Virtues ....................................................................................................... 156 Movement in the BSP, Types and Perceived Consequences ....................................... 162 Escaping the norm ................................................................................................... 162 Between the norm .................................................................................................... 163 Living the norm ....................................................................................................... 163 Meeting the Criteria of the BSP ..................................................................................... 164 The Substantive Theory of Potentializing Wellness ..................................................... 166 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 167 Chapter 5 ................................................................................................................................... 170 Discussion: Integrative Literature Review ............................................................................. 170 Comparison to the Extant Literature ............................................................................ 170 Gender ..................................................................................................................... 171 Virtues ..................................................................................................................... 173 Finding a new normal .............................................................................................. 177 Ecological models, morality, and autonomy ........................................................... 181 Spirituality ............................................................................................................... 184 Situating the Findings within Existing Works .............................................................. 188 POTENTIALIZING WELLNESS vi Contributions of the Study ............................................................................................. 190 Chapter 6: Implications and Conclusions .............................................................................. 194 Limitations of the Study .................................................................................................. 195 Recommendations/Future Research .............................................................................. 196 Conclusion ..............