Food Sovereignty & Security Resources
The colonization of Canada dramatically affected the food systems of the existing peoples on this land. Much of the impetus for the First Nations initial request for and/or signing of the Numbered Treaties was because their people were starving. Settler encroachment disrupted traditional hunting, fishing and gathering. Treaty terms severely reduced access to food-giving land and water. And even the history of residential schools as laboratories for nutritional experiments on hungry children colour everything about food in Canada.
The legacy of Treaty reaches deeply into the present day Canadian food systems, for Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, and puts this at the heart of our collective Truth and Reconciliation journey. The more self-sufficient and secure Indigenous food systems can be, the better. This is intrinsic to true sovereignty for these nations, their ability to care for their own people, and the knowledge that can be shared with non-Indigenous people to make us all more healthy in the future.
“It’s really important to provide support to communities to be self-determining about what food they are putting on their table. And it goes beyond this concept of nutrition, it goes beyond this concept of a food guide. It’s really about engaging in those relationships. It’s really about reconnecting and reclaiming those cultural pathways to better engage in our food systems. ”
Articles
“Indigenous children facing food security ‘crisis’ in Canada’s North,” Global News
“Indigenous food gathering nourishes culture and climate resiliency,” National Observer
“Reimagining Food Security through Indigenous Food Sovereignty,” National Habitat Adventures
“Ways of Knowing: Honouring all relations that sustain life," Earth to Table Legacies
“What will it take to make traditional foods thrive again?,” The Narwhal
Videos
Other Resources
Decolonizing Your Plate, episode from PBS environmental justice documentary series Deeply Rooted
"Food Sovereignty: A Growing Movement,” episode from the All My Relations podcast
Gather, feature documentary & resources about “the movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide”
Indigenous Food Systems Network, members provide input and leadership on ways to increase awareness and mobilize communities around the topic of Indigenous food sovereignty
“Reconnecting with Ancestral Foodways,” episode from the Well for Culture podcast
Image detail: Masthead photo by Sydney Rae on Unsplash