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.”

Indigenous Food Sovereignty and COVID-19

Source: Angela D’Elia Decembrini

Year: 2020

“For many Indigenous Peoples, the importance of food goes beyond its nutritional value. Maintaining access to traditional food sources is inextricably linked to Indigenous Peoples’ relationships with the land and environment, the exercise of their Aboriginal title, rights and Treaty rights and the continuity of their cultures and traditions. In recent months, concerns regarding food security have been heightened as COVID-19 related restrictions have placed increased pressure on food supply chains. For Indigenous communities across Canada, however, the pandemic has only exacerbated concerns about their already fragile food systems.”

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.”

Food Security & Three Sisters Sustainability - Conversations in Cultural Fluency

Source: Six Nations Polytechnic

Year: 2016

As part of the Conversations in Cultural Fluency webinar series, Six Nations Polytechnic explores Hodinoshon:hi worldviews. This one focuses on agriculture, food security, and Three Sisters sustainability.

Native Foodways with the Cultural Conservancy

Source: KCET

Year: 2020

“The commodification of food has led to a bottom-line approach that has disconnected people from their food sources entirely. The Cultural Conservancy, an inter-tribal organization headquartered on Ohlone land in modern-day San Francisco, is revitalizing Indigenous knowledge by inviting us to re-engage with the land, honor heirloom seeds, grow clean food and medicines, and decolonize our foodways.”

Chuck and The First Peoples’ Kitchen

Source: Aboriginal Peoples Television Network

Year: n.d.

“Members of Indigenous communities across Canada dish out their knowledge with professional chef Chuck Hughes. Sharing integral parts of their Indigenous culture and culinary heritage through the sharing of family and ancestral recipes. From lobster fishing in Chaleur Bay, moose hunting in Newfoundland, to ptarmigan hunting in Nunavut, the 25-year veteran chef travels through forests, rivers and snow-covered landscapes as he prepares world class meals using the resources the land provides. Guided by his mentors, Chuck becomes a privileged witness of the respect Indigenous Peoples have towards nature.”

Moosemeat & Marmalade

Source: Aboriginal Peoples Television Network

Year: n.d.

“Moosemeat & Marmalade brings together Bush Cook, Art Napoleon, and classically trained British Chef, Dan Hayes to explore and compare Indigenous and European culture and cuisine. Through his Cree heritage, and rough around the edges persona, Art is a man among men when it comes to hunting and surviving in the Northern wilds. From across the pond, Dan draws on years of history and tradition to create modern food that looks as good as it tastes. Every week one of these chefs choose an ingredient and lead the journey. They couldn’t be more different or more set in their ways but these two chefs come together to create and explore culture, culinary traditions, worldviews and, of course, really good food.”

Exploring Indigenous kitchens of North America with Sean Sherman

Source: The Splendid Table with the Sioux Chef

Year: 2017

“Chef Sean Sherman - founder of the company The Sioux Chef - has made a name for himself in the Upper Midwest by sourcing and cooking with ingredients originally used by Native American groups across the region. The result is an eye-opening and healthy take on modern cuisine. However, his interests are not limited to the native peoples of the Midwest. For his new book, The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen, Sherman and co-author Beth Dooley pulled from his travels to and experiences cooking with native cultures all over North America. Sherman talked with Francis Lam, and shared with him some unique food and ingredients. You can make Sherman's recipes for Maple-Juniper Roast Pheasant and Cedar Tea.”

Ocean and Way of Life: Haida Culture and the Ocean and Rivers of Haida Gwaii

Source: Council of the Haida Nation

Year: 2011

"Our knowledge about the ocean and Haida culture is handed down from generation to generation. lnherited teachings - the collective experience of fishing and harvesting areas and learning methods and times for gathering and preparing seafoods - are passed on by each generation to nieces, nephews, children and grandchildren. This further connects us to the land, sea and culture. ln passing on this knowledge we also pass on cultural values, ethics and laws.”

A Conversation on Indigenous Food Sovereignty (Part 1)

Source: Kitatipithitamak Mithwayawin and guests

Year: 2020

“This video is a shortened version of the full length webinar. It highlights some of the key points and moments. Some of the things discussed include the importance of dismantling structural racism in the food system, how Covid-19 speaks to the inequities of our broken food system, and how intertwined the social and environmental implications of food are for Indigenous peoples.”

Métis Cookbook and Guide to Healthy Living

Source: Métis Centre, National Aboriginal Health Organization

Year: 2008

“This cookbook is full of many more modern recipes than those of olden times, but some of them still have the essence of the old. They are also a testament to the Métis mothers of the past who always found a way to throw together a great meal. To the young parents who will be using this book, remember the good things of your childhood, and as you prepare this food, use the energy from those good memories to re-create those old traditions of sharing good food, stories and laughter. That, I know for sure, will build strong families and a strong people.”

First Nations Health Authority Traditional Foods Fact Sheets

Source: First Nations Health Authority

Year: n.d.

The First Nations Health Authority has published an informative set of facts sheets on traditional food and its nutrition value, traditional harvesting methods, and history of use. Topics include: fish, seafood, wild game, birds, berries and other plant foods.

Resource folder from the Yukon Hospital Traditional Food Program

Source: Yukon Hospital Corporation

Year: n.d.

How does it look like to implement a traditional food program in a hospital, and what are some considerations for food safety? This folder contains policies, forms, and processes for the traditional food program from the Yukon Hospital Corporation.

Urban Access to Traditional Food: Understanding Wild Game

Source: Understanding Our Food Systems Project (Thunder Bay District Health Unit and the Indigenous Food Circle)

Year: 2020

“The Urban Access to Traditional Food: Understanding Wild Game documentary was developed to capture the relationships being built and work happening within the Thunder Bay District Health Unit and the Indigenous Food Circle and partner organizations around the topic of accessing wild game in an urban context. The short documentary provides viewers with the cultural importance of accessing traditional foods for Indigenous people and presents the barriers that organizations face, while focusing on a path forward for further collaboration and understanding.”

Planning for Food Security: A Toolkit for the COVID-19 Pandemic

Source: First Nations Health Authority

Year: 2020

"Since time immemorial, First Nations people in BC have had intimate and long-standing relationships with the land, forests, oceans and waters, creating vibrant and sustainable food systems. All aspects of life supported a sustainable and safe food system that relied upon hunting, fishing, gathering, preserving, storing, distributing, trading and more. Stories shared and Indigenous methods of research show that individuals, families and communities did not worry about long-term food security and were prepared in the event of short-term food shortages. Colonialism, the Indian Act, reserve systems and ongoing colonial policies have had devastating impacts on Indigenous food systems in BC and across Canada. Other pressures such as industrialization, population levels and environmental impacts mean that today’s food system is very different than it was for our ancestors."

Indigenous Hunter Keeps Traditions Alive in Boreal Forest

Source: Pew

Year: 2016

““An intact boreal forest is essential for the survival of Dene communities,” says James Marlowe. Marlowe is a Dene hunter and guide from the Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation, a remote Indigenous community on the east arm of Great Slave Lake in Canada’s boreal forest. The lifestyle of the Dene is experiencing some changes, and so is the forest landscape, as demand for the area’s rich natural resources expands.”

Honouring Our Strengths: Indigenous Culture as Intervention Recipes

Source: Thunderbird Partnership Foundation, the University of Saskatchewan, the Assembly of First Nations, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Year: n.d.

“These cards feature recipes from coast to coast and are a reminder that food is essential to the healing process. The aim of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of First Nations culture as a health intervention in alcohol and drug treatment.”

Inuit and their traditional foods

Source: McGill Centre for Indigenous Peoples' Nutrition and Environment

Year: n.d.

“In recent decades Indigenous Peoples globally have experienced rapid and dramatic shifts in lifestyle that are unprecedented in history. Moving away from their own self-sustaining, local food systems into industrially derived food supplies, these changes have adverse effects on dietary quality and health.”

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.”

Why is Eating Traditional Foods Important?

Source: Jared Qwustenuxun Williams

Year: 2020

Why is eating traditional foods important? This diagram shows the interconnected parts of culture and traditions that are integral to traditional diets and wellbeing.