{"id":36466,"date":"2026-08-08T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ispah.org\/?p=36466"},"modified":"2026-08-05T00:09:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T23:09:40","slug":"international-day-worlds-indigenous-peoples-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ispah.org\/ar\/international-day-worlds-indigenous-peoples-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Movement is Culture: Indigenous Resilience Through Physically Active Lifestyles"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>For Indigenous Peoples, movement has always been part of our ways of life and is being reclaimed on our own terms.<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On this International Day of the World\u2019s Indigenous Peoples, we honour the movement traditions that have sustained Indigenous Peoples since time immemorial. Long before \u201cphysical activity\u201d became a public health category, movement was inseparable from everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Movement served vital community purposes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list is-style-list-style-check\">\n<li><strong>Running and walking<\/strong> carried messages across vast distances.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Canoeing and wayfinding<\/strong> moved trade and connected families.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hunting, fishing, and harvesting<\/strong> fed communities through every season.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Traditional games<\/strong> like Tewa:ar\u00e1ton (the Haudenosaunee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanindianmagazine.org\/story\/the-creators-game\">Creator\u2019s Game<\/a> popularly known as lacrosse) doubled as medicine to resolve conflict and bring people together.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Across Indigenous Nations worldwide, movement has always been integral to wholistic health. It maintains balance between one\u2019s physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional dimensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;6aaf0be02b5a2&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"6aaf0be02b5a2\" class=\"wp-block-image size-full wp-lightbox-container\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/ispah.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/38800402.jpeg\" alt=\"Close-up of an Ecuadorian farmer holding a bundle of straw in the Andes mountains.\" class=\"wp-image-36483\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ispah.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/38800402.jpeg 1600w, https:\/\/ispah.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/38800402-960x640.jpeg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-bind--aria-label=\"state.thisImage.triggerButtonAriaLabel\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.thisImage.buttonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.thisImage.buttonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewbox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"health-is-a-verb-movement-as-culture-1\">Health is a Verb: Movement as Culture<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What movement looks like is itself a manifestation of culture. In Kanyen\u2019k\u00e9ha (the Mohawk language), health is a verb. Health is something people continually do by maintaining relationships with land, community, family, and one&#8217;s own body, mind, and spirit. The forms that movement takes and the meaning it carries emerge directly from the culture of the people practicing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Colonization did not simply disrupt Indigenous movement practices. It actively reshaped the social, political, and environmental conditions that determine opportunities to be active. Legislation such as the Indian Act in Canada, the Dawes Act in the United States, State Protection Acts in Australia, and the Native Lands Acts in Aotearoa New Zealand systematically drove these disruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Land dispossession, the criminalization of ceremony, forced assimilation, and the privileging of Western institutions continue to influence access to culturally meaningful movement today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key Shift:<\/strong> Framing Indigenous physical activity only in terms of what is &#8220;missing&#8221; obscures the structural roots of contemporary health inequities. The issue is not a deficit in Indigenous ways of knowing, doing, and being, but the enduring impacts of colonial systems that sought to suppress them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indigenous Peoples are reclaiming their relationship to physical activity and physically active lifestyles on their own terms, and the evidence shows what is possible when these efforts are Indigenous-led:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul style=\"border-style:none;border-width:0px;padding-right:0;padding-left:32px\" class=\"wp-block-list is-style-list-style-check\">\n<li>\u0627\u0644 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/nova-scotia\/naig-sports-youth-positive-space-1.6908765\">North American Indigenous Games<\/a>, whose founding vision took shape in the 1970s in part among residential school survivors, reclaimed sport as a tool for healing and self-determination; today it brings together thousands of athletes from hundreds of Nations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/journals\/public-health\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2023.1307685\/full\">He Huarahi Tautoko (Avenue of Support) programme<\/a>: In Aotearoa New Zealand, this strengths-based, intergenerational program pairs cultural exchange with physical activity for M\u0101ori kaum\u0101tua (Elders). Grounded in te whare tapa wh\u0101 (a holistic M\u0101ori wellbeing model), it shows that movement benefits extend far beyond physical outcomes to lift social, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing (Oetzel et al., 2023).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list is-style-list-style-check\"><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list is-style-list-style-check\">\n<li>Land-based programs like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/22423982.2023.2252595\">Sibi (River) fishing program<\/a> \u0648 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rrh.org.au\/journal\/article\/9055\">Niska (Goose) harvesting program<\/a> in subarctic Ontario, and Native Hawaiian-led initiatives like the <a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/ajcp.12355\">Waim\u0101nalo Pono Research Hui<\/a>, show physical activity thriving where communities set the terms (Ahmed et al., 2023, 2024; Chung-Do et al., 2019).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" src=\"https:\/\/ispah.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3098642.jpeg\" alt=\"A vivid image of a fish with distinct markings, cradled gently in hands against a rocky backdrop.\" class=\"wp-image-36484 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ispah.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3098642.jpeg 1600w, https:\/\/ispah.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3098642-960x640.jpeg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-the-research-tells-us-2\">What the Research Tells Us<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This centring of Indigenous knowledge and self-determination is strongly reflected in our own research. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/jps.library.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/ijih\/article\/view\/45613\">narrative review of a decade of Indigenous health promotion literature<\/a>, we found that programs were more successful, and produced stronger health outcomes, when they challenged colonial assumptions and centred Indigenous knowledge systems rather than simply adapting Western approaches (McBeath, Jock, et al., 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Complementing these findings, <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC12697345\/\">interviews with First Nations communities identified cultural grounding<\/a>, including experiential and land-based learning, intergenerational knowledge transfer and personal cultural healing journeys as foundational to effective health promotion practice (McBeath, L\u00e9vesque, et al., 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As we mark the International Day of the World\u2019s Indigenous Peoples, we celebrate not only the enduring strength of Indigenous cultures, but also the resurgence of Indigenous-led movement, sport, and land-based practices. Supporting these efforts means recognizing that movement is more than a health behaviour \u2014 it is an expression of culture, relationship, and self-determination that has sustained Indigenous Peoples since time immemorial and will continue to do so for generations to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"take-home-messages-3\">\u0631\u0633\u0627\u0626\u0644 \u0625\u0644\u0649 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0646\u0632\u0644<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list is-style-list-style-check\">\n<li><strong>Movement is Political:<\/strong> Indigenous lifeways have always woven movement into relationship with land, community, and spirit. Because colonial policies deliberately disrupted these relationships, resilience and resurgence must also include political action that advances Indigenous rights and self-determination.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Culture-First Approaches Win:<\/strong> Indigenous-led programs that centre culture, language, land, and community consistently demonstrate stronger engagement and broader health benefits \u2014 including physical, social, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing\u2014 than programs that simply adapt Western models.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Self-Determination is Foundational:<\/strong> Self-determination is the bedrock of effective Indigenous health promotion. Indigenous Peoples must define, lead, and evaluate what meaningful physical activity and health promotion look like in their own communities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-default\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"authored-by-4\">\u0645\u0646 \u062a\u0623\u0644\u064a\u0641:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Brittany McBeath (PhD) <\/strong>is a Kanyen&#8217;keh\u00e1:ka woman of mixed ancestry with roots in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. She is a post-doctoral fellow at the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto, Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lucie L\u00e9vesque (PhD)<\/strong> is a woman of French and Irish settler ancestry. She leads the Community-Engaged Heath Promotion Research group in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen\u2019s University, Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide is-style-wide--1\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"references-5\">\u0645\u0631\u0627\u062c\u0639<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Ahmed, F., Liberda, E. N., Soloman, A., Davey, R., Sutherland, B., &amp; Tsuji, L. J. S. (2023). Indigenous land-based approaches to well-being: The Sibi (River) program in subarctic Ontario, Canada. <em>International Journal of Circumpolar Health<\/em>, <em>82<\/em>(1), 2252595. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/22423982.2023.2252595<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Ahmed, F., Zuk, A., Sutherland, C., Davey, R., Solomon, A., Liberda, E., &amp; Tsuji, L. (2024). Promoting women\u2019s wellbeing through the Niska (Goose) Harvesting Program in subarctic Ontario, Canada. <em>Rural and Remote Health<\/em>, <em>24<\/em>. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.22605\/RRH9055<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Chung-Do, J. J., Ho-Lastimosa, I., Keaulana, S., Ho Jr, K., Hwang, P. W., Radovich, T., Albinio, L., Rogerson, I., Keli\u2018iholokai, L., Deitschman, K., &amp; Spencer, M. S. (2019). Waim\u0101nalo Pono Research Hui: A Community\u2013Academic Partnership to Promote Native Hawaiian Wellness through Culturally Grounded and Community-Driven Research and Programming. <em>American Journal of Community Psychology<\/em>, <em>64<\/em>(1\u20132), 107\u2013117. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/ajcp.12355<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">McBeath, B., Jock, B. W., Delormier, T. W., &amp; L\u00e9vesque, L. (2025). Recentering Indigenous knowledge: A narrative review of recent developments in Indigenous health promotion. <em>International Journal of Indigenous Health<\/em>, <em>21<\/em>(1). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.32799\/ijih.v21i1.45613<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">McBeath, B., L\u00e9vesque, M. C., L\u00e9vesque, L., P\u00e9rillat-Am\u00e9d\u00e9e, S., Sahajpal, R., Tremblay, M.-C., &amp; Delormier, T. (2025). An exploration of cultural grounding in Indigenous health promotion: Perspectives from First Nations communities in Canada. <em>Health Promotion International<\/em>, <em>40<\/em>(6), daaf211. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/heapro\/daaf211<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Oetzel, J. G., Zhang, Y., Nock, S., Meha, P., Huriwaka, H., Vercoe, M., Tahu, T., Urlich, J., Warbrick, R., Brown, G., Keown, S., Rewi, P., Erueti, B., Warbrick, I., Jackson, A.-M., Perry, T., Reddy, R., Simpson, M. L., Cameron, M. P., &amp; Hokowhitu, B. (2023). Enhancing health outcomes for M\u0101ori elders through an intergenerational cultural exchange and physical activity programme: A cross-sectional baseline study. <em>Frontiers in Public Health<\/em>, <em>11<\/em>. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2023.1307685<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For Indigenous Peoples, movement has always been part of our ways of life and is being reclaimed on our own terms. On this International Day of the World\u2019s Indigenous Peoples, we honour the movement traditions that have sustained Indigenous Peoples since time immemorial. Long before \u201cphysical activity\u201d became a public health category, movement was inseparable [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":36471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jf_schedule_form":"","_jf_limit_responses":"","country-income-classification":"","slim_seo":{"title":"Movement is Culture: Indigenous Resilience Through Physically Active Lifestyles - ISPAH","description":"For Indigenous Peoples, movement has always been part of our ways of life and is being reclaimed on our own terms. On this International Day of the World\u2019s Indi"},"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,23,103,101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-8-investments","category-blog","category-community-wide-programmes","category-sport-recreation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ispah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ispah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ispah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ispah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1154"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ispah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36466"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ispah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36485,"href":"https:\/\/ispah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36466\/revisions\/36485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ispah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ispah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ispah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ispah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36466"}],"curies":[{"name":"\u062f\u0628\u0644\u064a\u0648 \u0628\u064a","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}