ARC works in collaboration with KDC Health, which provides preventative and health promotion services for seven member nations on-reserve on northern Vancouver Island (Kwakiutl, Mamalilikulla-Qwe’Qwa’Sot’Em Band, Da’naxda’xw First Nation, We Wai Kai Nation, Wei Wei Kim Nation, K’omoks First Nation, and Kwiakiah First Nation. They reach approximately 2,100 eligible people from five health centres: Campbell River, Cape Mudge on Quadra Island, Quinsam (south of Campbell River), Comox, and Fort Rupert (south of Port Hardy).

Linda says that “collaborating with ARC and KDC Health have proven beneficial to community members, as it continues to provide opportunities for residents to not only access information on arthritis, but also to obtain massage services at reserve health offices. This service has expanded over the years, as there are three RMTs that go regularly into the KDC Health communities.”

The RMTs that currently work in the KDC Health offices are non-First Nations, so Linda says they “have learned and continue to learn and observe First Nation culture, which we all do with great respect. As massage therapists, we feel very fortunate to be included in the hospitality provided by the KDC Health offices. They are well equipped to provide, not only only space for massage services, but also with modern technology to allow the opportunity of teleconferencing and video conferencing.

“Over time, as massage therapists, we have learned to listen to the stories of the Elders and community members. It is so important to build a lasting relationship of respect and trust. This is something that cannot be hurried. There is great tradition in First Nations cultures, not only in its people but also in its land, and in the balance of life and nature. As in all clients in all cultures, we as humans are individuals and deserve and expect to be treated with respect and dignity. As RMTs, I feel it is our job to maintain this standard of service, no matter who we work with.”

Kim Goetzinger, an RMT on Haida Gwaii, sees this same interconnection between her culture and her practice. “First Nations and massage therapists are a lot alike. Very much needed and very much a part of this planet. We are helping people get to where they want to go, but are often the voices that aren’t heard.”

Kim is half Haida of the Ts’aahl Eagle clan, and wears a five-finned sea monster as a family crest on her mother’s side, and is half Yugoslavian on her father’s side, born in the small Haida village of Daajing Giids (formerly known as Queen Charlotte). Although her early plans to attend massage therapy school in Vancouver were foiled, she never let go of her dream to become an RMT (and a class one truck driver, which she also accomplished) and was finally able to go to school at Victoria’s West Coast College of Massage Therapy. She now has a practice in Skidegate.

But there are some differences between her practice and a non-Haida clinic: “There is a lot to the culture about being respectful to each other and oneself. For example, normally when you walk into a massage therapy clinic, you’ll likely see a skeleton, great structures like that sitting around to aid the therapist and patient. However, the Haida view bones as sacred and not to be shown.”

I’m [also] aware of some of the bigger issues at hand and some of the bigger challenges here, and my local knowledge allows me to have an acute awareness of people’s daily activities. Like when someone says, “Oh, I’ve been getting octopus all day and I hurt my shoulder,” I’ll know exactly what’s involved in that, whereas a massage therapist who hasn’t experienced pulling a halibut line, for example, which is gruelling, or if someone has danced all night at an 18-hour potlatch, I’m going to be in-the-know of exactly what muscles are overused and susceptible to repetitive strain. That is the basis of my practice, to always speak up for those overused soft tissues.”

Her life as an RMT is deeply connected to her life as a Haida, as seen in the changing seasons on the island. “In a little town where people are fishing and hunting and climbing trees, and digging in the sand and soil, the extreme weather (25 hurricane force storms last season) makes it a tough place to survive. But those who call this place home have it built into their DNA to thrive (just like the great trees) with much-needed assistance of a RMT. It tends to be cold and damp, and the perfect recipe to aggravate trigger points.”

Kim continues: “It’s beautiful and majestic [in Haida Gwaii], and we are blessed to be able to live and harvest traditional foods, which keeps us quite busy. Right now is spring salmon and halibut fishing season, and herring, roe and kelp season, and then there’ll be potlatch season, and there’ll be all these different seasons that allow us to do exactly what we need to do as Haidas. If we want sockeye, we have to go and get that fish, as well as being massage therapists, as well as being community members, thus making this a busy, unique universe all on its own.”

RMT Samantha Jones, who is also of Haida descent and grew up in both Skidegate and Daajing Giids (and now has a practice in Vernon called Balanced Harmony Massage Therapy) agrees that her beliefs are quite complementary to her practice as a massage therapist.

“As an RMT, you’re educating about your own health and educating people about their bodies and how they work,” she explains. “As a First Nations person, you’re always educating people about your culture and your beliefs, and not taking comments [from uninformed people] as a slight, but knowing that they just don’t know and they’re curious. I love getting asked questions about my First Nations background and my upbringing, just like I enjoy people asking me questions about their body and my education and my background in the medical profession.”

Samantha sees that connection even in the way that Haida people think. “In the Haida culture, we believe there’s a higher being and a higher power, and it’s all about respecting the earth and having respect for yourself. I do that a lot with people who have been injured, because they can get on that negative train. I always joke around, saying, ‘No negative Nancy’s around the treatment room. We’re all about Positive Patty.’ It’s teaching people how to love themselves and connect with their soul and their spirit, which is a lot of Haida culture.

“We firmly believe there is a greater being out there, the Creator, and having respect for Mother Nature, and having respect for yourself and your family. And that’s what it’s all about. I try to get that back into people because we get so disconnected from Mother Nature and from ourselves, and that’s the reason why people are in such chronic pain, because they’ve totally disconnected themselves.”

She believes that massage therapy is needed everywhere, and that includes First Nations communities. “I know there is a great need for it and I believe there needs to be more education and opportunity for people everywhere to experience the power of massage therapy. In my experience, I observe that First Nations people who live on Reservations are often overlooked, so I personally try educating and getting my patients involved in their health.”

Samantha credits the Massage Therapists’ Association of BC (MTABC) for helping to spread the awareness of massage therapy’s importance to all people, whether First Nations or not.

“I think that the MTABC is doing an amazing job of educating people about what massage therapy is capable of. I think that the field of massage therapy is only going to keep growing and expanding from here on in. I couldn’t be prouder of the trade that I am privileged to be involved in. I love waking up every morning and knowing that I get to make a difference in my little part of the world.”

This article was first published in Massage Matters Canada: A Journal for Registered Massage Therapists (summer 2012).