scholarly journals An Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis Examining the Complexities of Access to Wild Game and Fish for Urban Indigenous Women in Northwestern Ontario

2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Breanna Phillipps ◽  
Kelly Skinner ◽  
Barbara Parker ◽  
Hannah Tait Neufeld
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Indigenous Women ◽  
Wild Food ◽  
Wild Game ◽  
Northwestern Ontario ◽  
Indigenous Foods

The destruction of Indigenous food systems is a direct consequence of the settler-colonial project within Canada and has led to decreasing access to Indigenous foods, disproportionate rates of food insecurity and disconnection from Indigenous food systems and environments. We interviewed Indigenous women, non-Indigenous staff of Indigenous-serving organizations, and policymakers (i.e., those who develop, interpret, or implement wild food policy) to explore how the policy context has impacted Indigenous women and their communities’ experiences of accessing Indigenous foods in urban northwestern Ontario. We applied an Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis (IBPA) Framework to shape our research questions and guide the thematic analysis of the data. We found that stakeholder groups had differing understandings of the issue of accessing wild foods and Indigenous food security and their actions either supported or disrupted efforts for access to wild food to promote food security or Indigenous Food Sovereignty. Policymakers cited necessary barriers to promote food safety and support conservation of wildlife. Staff of Indigenous-serving organizations approached the issue with consideration of both Western and Indigenous worldviews, while Indigenous women spoke about the ongoing impacts of colonial policy and government control over their lands and territories. The main policy areas discussed included residential school policy, food regulation, and natural resource regulation. We also investigated community-level strategies for improvement, such as a wild game license. Throughout, we tied the colonial control over ‘wildlife’ and the Western food safety discourse, with infringements on Indigenous Food Sovereignty, experiences of racism in food settings and on the land, as well as with broad control over Indigenous sovereignty in Ontario. This work contributes to an increased understanding of how Western discourses about health, food, and the environment are perpetuated through systemic racism in government policy and reiterated through policymakers' views and interpretations or actions. Government institutions must develop culturally safe partnerships with Indigenous leaders and organizations to facilitate a transfer of power that can support Indigenous Food Sovereignty.

Nimíciwinán, nipimátisiwinán – “Our food is our way of life”: On-Reserve First Nation perspectives on community food security and sovereignty through oral history in Fisher River Cree Nation, Manitoba

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shailesh Shukla ◽  
Jazmin Alfaro ◽  
Carol Cochrane ◽  
Cindy Garson ◽  
Gerald Mason ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Community Food Security ◽  
Consumption Practices ◽  
Indigenous Foods ◽  
Oral History Interviews

Food insecurity in Indigenous communities in Canada continue to gain increasing attention among scholars, community practitioners, and policy makers. Meanwhile, the role and importance of Indigenous foods, associated knowledges, and perspectives of Indigenous peoples (Council of Canadian Academies, 2014) that highlight community voices in food security still remain under-represented and under-studied in this discourse. University of Winnipeg (UW) researchers and Fisher River Cree Nation (FRCN) representatives began an action research partnership to explore Indigenous knowledges associated with food cultivation, production, and consumption practices within the community since 2012. The participatory, place-based, and collaborative case study involved 17 oral history interviews with knowledge keepers of FRCN. The goal was to understand their perspectives of and challenges to community food security, and to explore the potential role of Indigenous food knowledges in meeting community food security needs. In particular, the role of land-based Indigenous foods in meeting community food security through restoration of health, cultural values, identity, and self-determination were emphasized by the knowledge keepers—a vision that supports Indigenous food sovereignty. The restorative potential of Indigenous food sovereignty in empowering individuals and communities is well-acknowledged. It can nurture sacred relationships and actions to renew and strengthen relationships to the community’s own Indigenous land-based foods, previously weakened by colonialism, globalization, and neoliberal policies.

scholarly journals Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Indigenous Foodways in the Andes of Peru

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-110
Author(s):  
Mariaelena Anali Huambachano
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Traditional Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Global Food Security ◽  
The Andes ◽  
Oral History Interviews

This article explores the Quechua peoples’ food systems as seen through a traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) lens and reflects on the vital role of Indigenous peoples’ knowledge for global food security. Data was collected from two Quechua communities, Choquecancha and Rosaspata, in the highlands of Peru, from March 2016 to August 2018. This data was collected via participatory action research, talking circles with femalefarmers, oral history interviews with elders, and Indigenous gatherings at chacras with community leaders and local agroecologists. Analysis of this data suggests that Quechua people’s in-depth and locally rooted knowledge concerning food security provides an Indigenous-based theoretical model of food sovereignty for the revitalization of Indigenous foodways and collective rights to food rooted in often under-recognisedaspects of their Indigeneity and TEK.

scholarly journals Mobilizing Networks and Relationships Through Indigenous Food Sovereignty: The Indigenous Food Circle’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northwestern Ontario

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Z. Levkoe ◽  
Jessica McLaughlin ◽  
Courtney Strutt
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Emergency Situation ◽  
Indigenous Leadership ◽  
Northwestern Ontario ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Meaningful Relationships ◽  
Settler Population

This paper explores the Indigenous Food Circle’s (IFC) response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. Established in 2016, the IFC is an informal collaborative network of Indigenous-led and Indigenous-serving organizations that aims to support and develop the capacity of Indigenous Peoples to collaboratively address challenges and opportunities facing food systems and to ensure that food-related programming and policy meets the needs of the all communities. Its primary goals are to reduce Indigenous food insecurity, increase food self-determination, and establish meaningful relationships with the settler population through food. This community case study introduces the IFC and shares the strategies and initiatives that were used during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to address immediate needs and maintain a broader focus on Indigenous food sovereignty. The food related impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Indigenous People and determining solutions cannot be understood in isolation from settler colonialism and the capitalist food system. Reflecting on the scholarly literature and the experiential learnings that emerged from these efforts, we argue that meaningful and impacting initiatives that aim to address Indigenous food insecurity during an emergency situation must be rooted in a decolonizing framework that centers meaningful relationships and Indigenous leadership.

scholarly journals Foraging Wild Food in Urban Spaces: The Contribution of Wild Foods to Urban Dietary Diversity in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hesekia Garekae ◽  
Charlie M. Shackleton
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
Wild Food ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Food Groups ◽  
Wild Foods ◽  
Vegetables And Fruits

Globally, approximately one billion people benefit from contributions of wild foods to their food security and dietary diversity. Wild foods are known to be important in rural communities in terms of food and micronutrient provision, diversifying diets, reducing vulnerability to non-communicable diseases and overall health. However, the potential contribution of wild foods towards food security and dietary diversity in urban food systems has been largely overlooked. This study examined the contribution of wild foods to household dietary diversity in two towns in South Africa, based on a survey of 137 households. Household diets were quite diverse, with half (51%) having consumed ≥ 8 food groups, 39% consumed 6 or 7 food groups, and only 10% recorded ≤ 5 food groups in the previous 48 h. Wild foods were prevalent across the sample, with 62% of the households consuming them to some degree. Wild vegetables and fruits were the most common wild foods, consumed by 96 and 79% of the households, respectively. Although wild foods had limited significance on overall dietary diversity, they exhibited substantial contributions within particular food groups. For example, the consumption of vegetables and oil and fats was most prevalent among households consuming wild foods than those who did not. The findings show that wild foods could contribute towards diversifying urban diets at a micro-level, within particular food groups consumed, such as vegetables and fruits. Hence, wild foods are important in ameliorating the monotonous diets of some households and in turn promoting dietary diversity.

scholarly journals Building Healthy Community Relationships Through Food Security and Food Sovereignty

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 25-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Treena Delormier ◽  
Kaylia Marquis
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Advisory Group ◽  
Personnel Turnover ◽  
Healthy Community

ABSTRACTBackgroundFood insecurity disproportionately affects Indigenous Peoples and is linked to poor health outcomes. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems once sustained their thriving societies; however, colonial policies of displacement and imposed assimilation severed connections to Indigenous food systems and lands, disrupting identity, culture, and well-being.ObjectiveIn this article we share a grass-roots designed program that addresses food security and heeds Haudenosaunee teachings. The Story of Creation, the Great Law, and Ohénton Karihwatéhkwen (the words that come before all else) were the basis of the framework. The program acknowledges and uses community strengths and skills to enhance social connections and links with land and creation.MethodsThe program brought together interested and knowledgeable community members and stakeholders to discuss and better understand food security in the community. This group formed as an advisory group called Ieiénthos Akotióhkwa – ‘Planting Group’ who shaped the food security activities.ResultsThe program delivered workshops to build skills and share knowledge about food production and preparation. It targeted diverse participant interests and needs within an environment meant to nurture social connections. The program planted food-bearing trees and plants and created a seed library to create edible landscapes. We invited a broad scope of community knowledge- and skill-holders to share their talents with the community, to reinforce positive connections with each other, and to carry on cultural practices.ConclusionsChallenges included program sustainability linked to short-term funding and personnel turnover. Strengths involved using a culturally based framework that enhanced program coherence, and facilitated collaboration with local initiatives focused on well-being, practicing culture, and respecting the environment. Haudenosaunee teachings hold values and principles for a society that provides food for all. These teachings are a framework for a culturally rich program to support food security skills and resources, but also Indigenous cultural identity and practices.

scholarly journals Land-Based programs in the Northwest Territories: Building Indigenous food security and well-being from the ground up

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia D. Wesche ◽  
Meagan Ann F. O'Hare-Gordon ◽  
Michael A. Robidoux ◽  
Courtney W. Mason
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Northwest Territories ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Wild Food ◽  
Food Procurement ◽  
Food Programs

Food security in Canada’s North is complex, and there is no singular solution. We argue that land-based wild food programs are useful and effective in contributing to long-term food security, health and well-being for Indigenous communities in the context of changing environmental conditions. Such bottom-up programs support cultural continuity and the persistence of skills and knowledge that, over time, increase local food security and food sovereignty. This paper (a) highlights the link between observed environmental changes and wild food procurement in two Indigenous communities in the Northwest Territories, (b) compares and discusses the impacts of two collaboratively developed, community-based programs to improve foodways transmission and capacity for wild food procurement, and (c) identifies lessons learned and productive ways forward for those leading similar efforts in other Indigenous communities.

scholarly journals Food security management in an innovative economy

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (79) ◽  
pp. 123-127
Author(s):  
A. Smagulov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Security Management ◽  
The State ◽  
Safety Measures ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Innovative Economy

The article deals with the topic of food security and marketing food sovereignty of Republic of Kazakhstan. The authors analyzed the state of food security in the Republic of Kazakhstan on the criteria of physical and economic access, quality and food safety. Measures of supporting the country’s food security are proposed.

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