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.”

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.”

Strawberry Teachings

Source: Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health

Year: n.d.

“The strawberry teaches forgiveness and peace. The strawberry is shaped like a heart, and strawberries are known to our people as heart berries.” —Elder Lillian Pitawanakwat Often referred to as the heart berry because of its shape, the wild or natural strawberry is an important food and medicine in many indigenous cultures in North America. This little plant carries many teachings. Our Elders say, “Just as the O-day’-min (heart berry) is connected to the strawberry plant by a vast system of leaves, runners, and roots, so is the heart connected to all the organs and parts of the human body. The heart is at the centre of the human.”

Decolonizing diets through Indigenous-focused food guides

Source: University of Winnipeg

Year: 2020

“Taylor Wilson’s paper, Decolonizing Diets through Indigenous-focused food Guides, has recently been published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. Her research comes in response to the latest Canadian Food Guide, which 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. Wilson’s paper is the result of a project she developed with Dr. Shailesh Shukla during her Master’s in Development Practice: Indigenous Development. Their research examines the scope and limitations of the most recent Canadian food guide and the opportu­nity to decolonize it.”

Indigenous Health Primer

Source: Indigenous Health Writing Group at the Royal College of Physicians

Year: 2019

The following document is designed to provide key approaches, ideas and background knowledge for health care providers, learners and educators in caring for Indigenous Peoples. The primer was written and edited by Indigenous and non-indigenous authors. Many of us are practising Indigenous physicians from a breadth of specialties. Each reference section is linked to detailed sources, the majority of which were created by Indigenous organizations. In addition to the theoretical and medical content, we aimed to include stories to illustrate the experiences of Indigenous Peoples in the health care system.

Thirteen Moon Traditional Harvesting Map

Source: Collaborative: Indigenous Health Circle, Thunder Bay District Health Unit, Lakehead University, Sustainable Food Systems Lab

Year: n.d.

Historically the Anishinaabe / Anishinaabeg / Anishinabek of the Lake Nipigon and Lake Superior regions used the sun, moons, planets and stars to guide community practices around time, harvesting, gathering, storing and preparing food and medicines. Most common is the use of the thirteen-moons to guide seasonal cycles and community practices.

Etuaptmumk / Two-Eyed Seeing and Beyond

Source: Reconciling Ways of Knowing

Year: 2020

Mi’kmaq Elder Albert Marshall, Drs. Jesse Popp, Andrea Reid and Deborah McGregor discussed the idea of Etuaptmumk or Two-Eyed Seeing and other related frameworks for understanding across ways of knowing with moderator Jacquie Miller, MA.