Abstract Background In Canada, few studies have examined how place shapes Indigenous food environments, particularly among Indigenous people living in southern regions of Ontario. Objective This paper examines and compares circumstances of food insecurity that impact food access and dietary quality between reserve-based and urban-based Indigenous peoples in Southwestern Ontario. Methods This study employed a community-based survey containing a culturally adapted food frequency questionnaire and cross-sectional study design to measure food insecurity, food access and dietary quality among Indigenous respondents living in urban (n = 130) and reserve-based (n = 99) contexts in southwestern Ontario. Results Rates of food insecurity are high in both geographies (55% and 35% among urban and reserve-based respondents, respectively). Urban-based participants were six times more likely than those living on-reserve to report three different measures of food insecurity. Urban respondents reported income to be a significant barrier to food access, while for reserve-based respondents, time was the most pressing barrier. Compared with recommendations from Canada's Food Guide, our data revealed overwhelming trends of insufficient consumption in three food categories among all respondents. Close to half (54% and 52%) of the urban and reserve-based samples reported that they eat traditional foods at least once a week, and respondents from both groups (76% of urban and 52% of reserve-based respondents) expressed interest in consuming traditional foods more often. Conclusions Indigenous Food Sovereignty and community-led research are key pathways to acknowledge and remedy Indigenous food insecurity. Policies, social movements and research agendas that aim to improve Indigenous food security must be governed and defined by Indigenous people themselves. Indigenous food environments constitute political, social and cultural dimensions that are infinitely place-based.

Indigenous families are overrepresented among those within Canada who experience food insecurity. Studies have largely focused on northern populations, with less attention paid to southern and urban communities, including the social, cultural, and geographic processes that challenge food security. In this study, we present findings from a decade‐long community‐based study with the Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre (London, Ontario) to examine family perspectives related to the social determinants of food security. These topics were explored through qualitative interviews (n  = 25) and focus groups (n = 2) with First Nation mothers with young children from the city of London, and a nearby reserve community. Interviewees from both geographies identified a number of socio‐economic challenges including household income and transportation. However, some interviewees also shed light on barriers to healthy eating unique to these Indigenous contexts including access issues such as a lack of grocery stores on‐reserve; loss of knowledge related to the utilization of traditional foods; and the erosion of community, familial, and social supports. Resolving these unique determinants of food security for urban and reserve‐based First Nation families will require a range of economic and culturally specific interventions, particularly those that support development and uptake of Indigenous foodways.

This paper presents the results of primary research with 40 survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in two communities: Khao Lak (n=20) and Koh Phi Phi Don (n=20), Thailand. It traces tsunami survivors' perceptions of vulnerability, determines whether residents felt that the tsunami affected different communities differently, identifies the populations and sub-community groups that survivors distinguished as being more vulnerable than others, highlights community-generated ideas about vulnerability reduction, and pinpoints a range of additional vulnerability reduction actions. Tsunami survivors most consistently identified the 'most vulnerable' community sub-populations as women, children, the elderly, foreigners, and the poor. In Khao Lak, however, respondents added 'Burmese migrants' to this list, whereas in Koh Phi Phi Don, they added 'Thai Muslims'. Results suggest that the two case study communities, both small, coastal, tourism-dominated communities no more than 100 kilometres apart, have differing vulnerable sub-groups and environmental vulnerabilities, requiring different post-disaster vulnerability reduction efforts.

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