Assessing the contribution of traditional foods to food security for the Wapekeka First Nation of Canada

Abstract

The food security crisis and disproportionately high burden of dietary related disease amongst northern Indigenous populations in Canada continues to be a troubling reality with little sign of improvement. The Government of Canada is responding by developing programs to support local food initiatives for northern isolated communities. While such investments appear commendable, the impact of local food harvesting to improve food security has yet to be determined. While there are clear nutritional and cultural benefits to traditional food sources, communities face considerable barriers acquiring it in sufficient amounts because of historically imposed lifestyle changes that have increased food insecurity rates. This study responds by providing a novel multidisciplinary approach that draws from firsthand experiences working with First Nations community members in a remote subarctic region in northwestern, Ontario to estimate their community’s total food requirement and the amount of wild animal food sources needed to sustain yearly food intake. This transferrable energy demand approach will be critical for policy makers to put into perspective the amount of wild food needed to have an impact on food security rates and ultimately improve dietary related diseases. 
 Novelty:
 • It will provide government policy makers information about current harvest yields in a remote northern First Nation to understand the potential contribution of traditional food to improve local food security 
 • Provides Indigenous communities a means to assess local food resources to measure the caloric contributions of traditional foods toward household food security

Community collaboration in the face of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Examples of How Remote First Nations in Northern Ontario Managed the Pandemic

“…Indeed, there were several examples of this: high levels of overcrowding, a higher burden of chronic disease, and reduced access to clean drinking water, healthcare, and food security in many rural and remote First Nations across northern Canada have increased their vulnerability to COVID-19 (ICT, 2020). In Northern Ontario specifically, 27% of First Nations are geographically remote 2 (OECD, 2020), and experience reduced access to clean drinking water (Government of Canada, 2022a), healthcare (Government of Ontario, 2018), and food security (Robidoux et al, 2021). Despite this, in the Nishnawbe Aski region of Northern Ontario, data from the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority indicates that First Nations communities were able to limit COVID -19 infection and had an overall fatality rate that was lower than the general Canadian population.…”

Decolonizing research in high-income countries improves Indigenous peoples’ health and wellbeing

“…Ten research articles are included in the collection, all which have free access (Blanchet et al 2022;Blekkenhorst et al 2022;Cooper 2022;Ferreira et al 2022;Ironside et al 2021;McKay and Godrich 2021;McEachern et al 2022;Robidoux et al 2021;Senftleber et al 2021;Valaitis et al 2022; the main collection page can be accessed here: https://cdnscience pub.com/topic/apnm-strength-based). These articles discuss health research with Indigenous populations in Australia, Canada, and Greenland, high-income countries where Indigenous peoples have experienced European colonialism.…”

“…These articles discuss health research with Indigenous populations in Australia, Canada, and Greenland, high-income countries where Indigenous peoples have experienced European colonialism. One article presents a current opinion of Indigenous women's worldview of food-related research in Canada (Ferreira et al 2022), five articles address a diversity of decolonizing health promotion research in Canada (Blanchet et al 2022;Cooper 2022;McEachern et al 2022;Robidoux et al 2021;Valaitis et al 2022), one article describes the relationship between social determinants and physical activity among Indigenous adults in Canada (Ironside et al 2021), two review articles summarize health interventions in Australia (Blekkenhorst et al 2022;McKay and Godrich 2021), and one review article describes the role of genetics and lifestyle changes on metabolic health in Inuit in Greenland, since colonization (Senftleber et al 2021). Most articles have Indigenous authors to ensure an Indigenous perspective.…”

“…Most articles in the collection exemplify community-based participatory research (CBPR) (Blanchet et al 2022;Cooper 2022;Ironside et al 2021;McEachern et al 2022;Robidoux et al 2021;Valaitis et al 2022). CBPR is a decolonizing research approach where researchers and community members are partners in the research process.…”

“…Considering the difficulties in obtaining adequate local Indigenous foods it is crucial to understand the potential impact of local food procurement on the food security challenges Indigenous communities face. The article by Robidoux et al (2021) estimated the amount of wild animal food sources needed to sustain yearly food intake in a remote subarctic region in Canada. The authors concluded that while traditional food procurement has the potential to contribute to food security, given the tremendous challenges faced by communities to harvest traditional food, imported market foods are a critical part of the solution to prevent Indigenous food insecurity.…”