Innovation Brief: Food Prescriptions

Food insecurity has a direct impact on health outcomes, affecting both physical and mental health. While it is a complex issue, health care can take leadership by working with communities to increase access to healthy, culturally appropriate foods.

Innovation Brief: Planetary Health Menus and Procurement

Food is the single strongest lever for planetary health, and health care can take leadership by integrating it as an organizational mandate, resdesigning menus with low-carbon options, and prioritizing values-based procurement.

Read more in our brief about Planetary Health Menus & Procurement.

Innovation Brief: Traditional Food as Medicine

Health care can take leadership on reconciliation by designing food menus with Indigenous communities, developing legislation and policies to navigate barriers to wild game, and encourage staff to get training on Indigenous foodways.

Read more in our brief, "Traditional Food as Medicine."

Indigenous Food Responses to COVID-19 in Health Care

Source: Nourish

Year: 2020

In June 2020, Nourish hosted two conversations about food responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in health care by/for Indigenous communities. The purpose of the calls was to share learning focused on health care led interventions and document ongoing activities across the country responding to the particular needs in Indigenous communities. The hope is to identify strategies working well and document gaps that exist.

Food Sovereignty, Justice, and Indigenous Peoples An Essay on Settler Colonialism and Collective Continuance

Author: Kyle Whyte
Year: 2017

Indigenous peoples often claim that colonial powers, such as settler states, violate Indigenous peoples' collective self-determination over their food systems, or food sovereignty. Violations of food sovereignty are often food injustices. Yet Indigenous peoples claim that one of the solutions to protecting food sovereignty involves the conservation of particular foods, from salmon to wild rice. This essay advances an argument that claims of this kind set forth particular theories of food sovereignty and food injustice that are not actually grounded in a static conception of Indigenous culture; instead, such claims offer important contributions to how settler colonial domination is understood as a form of injustice affecting key relationships that support Indigenous collective self-determination through food sovereignty. The essay describes some of the significant qualities of reciprocal relationships that support food sovereignty, referring widely to the work of Indigenous leaders and scholars and Tribal staff on salmon conservation in North America.

Building healthier Northern and Indigenous communities through Nourish

In the face of the pandemic and a growing awareness of systemic anti-Indigenous racism in the health care system, Nourish worked with leaders from several communities to strengthen food security, celebrate Indigenous ways of knowing, and increase understanding of Indigenous realities. The following is an excerpt from our final report to the Frontline Fund, whose support made this work possible.

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With the onset of the pandemic, food insecurity was exacerbated and Indigenous communities, especially those that are rural and remote, experienced increased pressure on their food systems as a result of disruptions in food supply chains, reduced ability to travel and harvest, and fewer occasions to celebrate and share food together.

In response, Nourish took a multi-phase approach by supporting community initiatives, facilitating knowledge exchanges, addressing systemic anti-Indigenous racism in health care, launching a national learning series, and creating opportunities for health care and community leaders to learn on the land from local Indigenous leaders.

PHASE 1 - Food Rx grants & knowledge exchanges

Nourish awarded five $50k Food Rx grants to mobilize community-led, innovative, capacity-building projects that supported both food security and Indigenous foodways. Food Rx initiatives built and promoted Indigenous leadership and centered Indigenous foodways and values, supporting the transformation of health services to better reflect Indigenous understandings of food sovereignty and wellbeing.

Nourish hosted two virtual Food Rx grantee knowledge exchanges to facilitate networking, sharing, and peer learning between grantees, the Nourish team, and the Indigenous and Allies Advisory. Participants appreciated this space to share their insights, innovations, successes, challenges and questions.

PHASE 2 - Short film

Nourish produced a short film exploring food security, experiences of anti-Indigenous systemic racism in health care, and the power of traditional Indigenous foodways. Called "Why does hospital food matter for reconciliation?" it resonated with many across the country, and has been viewed 3347 times in English (as of June 17, 2021), with a version available with French subtitles as well.

PHASE 3 - National Action Learning series

In April 2021, Nourish launched a national education Action Learning series called Food is Our Medicine (FIOM). The Action Learning series highlights and amplifies Indigenous voices and perspectives to contextualize Indigenous foodways work through multimedia resources, and contributions of Indigenous leaders in medicine and systems change.

Additionally, FIOM features the work of several Indigenous artists in its visual identity and beadwork (the first 200 learners to complete the learning journey will be gifted a handcrafted beaded pin). FIOM provides health care leaders with knowledge and tools to decolonize food in health care and use it as an organizational pathway to deepen conversations about systemic racism and reconciliation.

Land-based learning grants

With the end of the pandemic in view, seven teams in the Nourish Anchor Cohort will have access to grants up to $7k to participate and host on-the-land learning and relationship-building with Indigenous partners and knowledge keepers in their area. This program will start off in a good way with a Cultural Mindfulness session on June 28, hosted by George Couchie from Nipissing First Nation, with the goal of sowing the seeds or building upon existing relationships between health care, community organizations, and Indigenous communities.

Along with supporting Nourish programming, the Food Rx grants are addressing the unique challenges found at the complex intersection of three factors within health care: the COVID-19 pandemic, systemic anti-Indigenous racism, and food (in)security.

The entire process of this work was guided by the Nourish Indigenous and Allies Advisory, with participation from a wider circle of Indigenous leaders.

Getting Back To Normal? Not If “Normal” Means Indigenous Food And Health Insecurity

With the summer solstice behind us and the prospect of a post-COVID “two dose” summer ahead, many are anticipating a return to normal. But the COVID era has revealed health inequities and structural realities that make return to “normal” untenable.

Incidents in the last twenty months, including the death of Joyce Echequan in a Quebec hospital, a higher death toll from overdoses than from COVID in Indigenous communities, and the continued-unearthing of mass graves of children at Indian Residential Schools, highlight that systemic racism has flourished in our collective silence and inaction. 

This is not a baseline to which we can return.

As we reopen, we must all confront a question that stands between a return to normal and advancing toward a future that affirms the self determination of Indigenous peoples.

Read more in the policy brief from Elisa Levi and Hayley Lapalme.

Indigenous Food Sovereignty

Source: Food Secure Canada

Year: 2011

"We are a group of community-based activists, scholars and storytellers who work on issues of food sovereignty. We come from diverse regions of Turtle Island and share fundamental beliefs towards the land and all she stands for. We represent fishing, hunting, and gathering peoples and bring an understanding of the impact of colonialism on our regions. Indigenous food systems include all of the land, soil, water, and air, as well as culturally important plant, fungi, and animal species that have sustained Indigenous peoples over thousands of years of participating in the natural world. "

Pathways to the revitalization of Indigenous food systems: Decolonizing diets through Indigenous-focused food guides

Source: Taylor Wilson, Shailesh Shukla

Year: 2020

“The 2019 Canadian Food Guide (CFG) was launched in January 2019 with a promise to be inclusive of multicultural diets and diverse perspectives on food, including the food systems of Indigenous communities. Some scholars argue that federally designed standard food guides often fail to address the myriad and complex issues of food security, well-being, and nutritional needs of Canadian Indigenous communities while imposing a dominant and westernized worldview of food and nutrition. In a parallel development, Indigenous food systems and associated knowledges and perspectives are being rediscovered as a hope and ways to improve current and future food security. Based on a review of relevant literature and our long-term collaborative learning and community based research engagements with Indigenous communities from Manitoba, we propose that Indigenous communities should develop their food guides considering their contexts, needs, and preferences.”

Community Champions for Safe, Sustainable, Traditional Food Systems

Source: Kathleen Yung, Casey Neathway

Year: 2019

“This study will describe how the First Nations Health Authority supported increasing access to the processing and sharing of safely preserved traditional foods through the facilitation of a Community Champion model and the development of accompanying resource materials. Engaging Community Champions recognized the positive social impacts of sharing foods and traditional food systems, including access to nutrient-rich harvested foods, while the curriculum development and engagement of environmental health professionals ensured advice given would lead to decreased risks of foodborne illness.”

Assembly of First Nations Report: Traditional Foods: Are they Safe for First Nations Consumption?

Source: Assembly of First Nations

Year: 2007

“This paper focuses on the critical issue of First Nations exposure to environmental contaminants through the consumption of traditional foods. It discusses the potential health risks and benefits to First Nation communities, as well as, other issues of concern with respect to the economic and socio-cultural aspects of traditional food systems. The Environmental Stewardship Unit (ESU) of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) has reviewed relevant research on this subject and will provide an overview of the current situation in this paper.”

Increasing Indigenous Children’s Access to Traditional Foods in Early Childhood Programs

Source: Provincial Health Services Authority, British Columbia

Year: 2016

"Traditional Indigenous foods are part of a healthy diet. Moreover, traditional foods also have cultural and spiritual value and can contribute to the health of young First Nations and Métis children, many of whom experience food insecurity. Early childhood programs are ideal settings to introduce, explore and share traditional foods. However, in licensed childcare settings, the current food regulatory system effectively excludes the type, frequency and/or where traditional foods can be served."

We are not being heard: Aboriginal Perspectives on Traditional Food Access and Food Security

Source: Bethany Elliott, Deepthi Jayatilaka, Contessa Brown, Leslie Varley, and Kitty K. Corbett

Year: 2012

“Aboriginal peoples are among the most food insecure groups in Canada, yet their perspectives and knowledge are often sidelined in mainstream food security debates. In order to create food security for all, Aboriginal perspectives must be included in food security research and discourse. This project demonstrates a process in which Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal partners engaged in a culturally appropriate and respectful collaboration, assessing the challenges and barriers to traditional foods access in the urban environment of Vancouver, BC, Canada.”

Towards Improving Traditional Food Access for Urban Indigenous People

Source: Robyn Ermine, Rachel Engler-Stringer, Patricia Farnese, Glenda Abbott

Year: 2020

“Our purpose in carrying out this project has been to support the development of actions that can remove barriers to traditional foods in urban environments for Indigenous people. Traditional foods are hunted, trapped, fished, gathered and cultivated to various extents depending on the community and their respective traditional territories. Communities and organizations across the country are finding innovative ways to bring traditional foods to urban residing Indigenous people, but they are often navigating the relevant policies and regulations on their own. This situation places the burden of navigating current policies and regulations on Indigenous communities.”

Climate change and COVID-19: reinforcing Indigenous food systems

Source: Carol Zavaleta-Cortijo, James D Ford, Ingrid Arotoma-Rojas, Shuaib Lwasa, Guillermo Lancha-Rucoba, Patricia J García

Year: 2020

“Indigenous populations are at especially high risk from COVID-19 because of factors such discrimination, social exclusion, land dispossession, and a high prevalence of forms of malnutrition. Climate change is compounding many of these causes of health inequities, undermining coping mechanisms that are traditionally used to manage extreme events such as pandemics, and disrupting food systems and local diets. Addressing underlying structural inequities and strengthening Indigenous knowledge systems offer opportunities for building resilience to compound socioecological shocks, including climate effects and pandemics.”

What we heard: Indigenous Peoples and COVID-19: Public Health Agency of Canada’s companion report

Source: Public Health Agency of Canada

Year: 2021

“This report is to complement the CPHO’s Annual Report on the State of Public Health in Canada 2020, “From Risk to Resilience: An equity approach to COVID-19”. During late February 2020, COVID-19 became a growing concern in Canada with reported cases in multiple regions. COVID-19 has changed the way we live, work, and socialize. Dr. Mashford-Pringle and the research team were asked to author a companion report as a reflection of what was heard during the August and September engagement sessions.”

Traditional Plant Foods of Canadian Indigenous Peoples

Source: Harriet Kuhnlein and Nancy Turner

Year: 1991

“The primary purpose of this book is to describe and to reference the published literature on the nutritional properties, the botanical characteristics and the ethnic uses of traditional food plants of Canadian Indigenous Peoples. Since it is recognized that Canadian political boundaries are not honored by plants in their biological habitats, the nutritional and botanical information presented here is often relevant to other regions with northern latitudes where the same species are found, such as northern regions of the United States, Europe and Asia. However, the ethnographic information reviewed and presented in this book is only from Canadian Indigenous Peoples and their immediate neighbors in Alaska and other states bordering Canada.”

Keeping Our Traditions at Fish Camp Alive

Source: Selkirk First Nation

Year: 2016

“The traditions and values of the Selkirk people can be found in Northern Tutchone culture. The health and wellbeing of our people is linked to the land and to the traditional ways of our ancestors which are held by our traditional knowledge keepers. The use of family fish camps is at the heart of how this knowledge is passed on from one generation to the next. It is where our youth prepare for a changing future. It is in the fish camps that the cultural principles of the Northern Tutchone are taught, questions are answered, and guidance is provided.”

Nourish conversation summary: Health care food responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

Source: Nourish

Year: 2020

Nourish hosted two informal exchanges (on June 11 and June 25, 2020) about health care food responses by/for Indigenous communities during COVID-19. The need for this conversation emerged from discussions within the Nourish Indigenous & Allies Advisory and from checking in with others leading efforts in this vein in the grassroots and in philanthropy.