'They got far too little food'
Study links residential school diets to diabetes in Indigenous people
Robin Grant
Northern News Services
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Former residential school students have a greater chance of developing diabetes as a result of prolonged exposure to hunger and malnutrition, according to a recent article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Residential school survivor Stephen Kakfwi, shown here during a 2014 talk about his time in the residential school system, says his experience of being deprived of meals in residential school still affects him today. |
The article, 'Hunger was never absent': How residential school diets shaped current patterns of diabetes among Indigenous people in Canada by University of Toronto professors Tracey Galloway and Ian Mosby, examines the biological consequences of prolonged hunger in Indigenous people who went to residential school.
Galloway and Mosby looked at testimonies from residential school survivors provided to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) and conducted their own research into the experiences of Indigenous people and hunger in communities in southern Ontario.
"What is consistent is that they got far too little food, that it was of too poor quality and that it was frequently contaminated," said Galloway, who was a medical doctor before she became an anthropologist.
"So many, many children experienced food borne illnesses and vomiting and diarrhea while they were at residential schools."
Residential school survivor Stephen Kakfwi said his experience of being deprived of meals in residential school still affects him today.
He remembers being locked in a storage room on many occasions as a child, missing meals.
"I remember many, many times being left there when it was dark," he said.
"Everybody would disappear and everybody would come back and I was still in there when the lights went out, but the kids would go to sleep. I was nine-years old. It was a long time to wait to get something to eat."
He was also forced to eat food he is allergic to, such as dairy products, he said. When he didn't eat, he said he was force-fed.
"A nun would come over and basically beat me and force me to eat to the point of just holding my head and stuffing my vomit
and the tapioca
back in my mouth," he said.
As a result of these experiences, he says making sure he has adequate access to food "can get to be an obsession" to this day.
Galloway explained some of the science of how malnutrition can change the biology of the human body.
"What happens is the physiology of the child changes to prioritize fat storage over muscle and so whenever a child eats any food even a small quantity, that food is converted into fat rather than healthier tissues," she said, adding malnutrition can also lead to a condition called insulin sensitivity, which is a precursor to diabetes.
"(These) children have the cells that will be passed on to be their own children and grandchildren," said Galloway. "The next generations of children born to hunger survivors also carry a higher risk for these conditions."
She pointed out this has manifested itself in Canada, where Indigenous populations are at the highest risk of diabetes.
"For most Canadians, it is one in 10," she said. "For First Nations on reserves it is one in six and in some Indigenous communities, especially very remote ones, it is reaching one in four."
Galloway said health professionals need to be aware of this research when providing care to Indigenous people.
"We want providers to always have within their mindset the knowledge that this isn't a behavioral issue," she said.
"The risk of diabetes isn't just people making bad choices about their diet and physical activity. There is a long history and it involves peoples' parents and grandparents."
Chief public health officer Dr. Andre Corriveau agrees. He said the health effects of malnutrition are widely known but there is often more of a focus on psycho-social effects of residential schools rather than the negative health consequences.
"It doesn't mean because you've been to residential schools that you will ultimately develop diabetes because it is a multi-factorial problem," he said.
"But I think it is an important aspect to consider in doing an overall assessment of risk."
