Local food development in the Moose Cree First Nation: taking steps to build local food sustainability

ABSTRACT

It has been well documented that northern Indigenous communities in Canada have disproportionately high rates of food insecurity which is contributing to chronic health conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Indigenous communities face complex challenges getting regular access to healthy food, whether through traditional food harvesting practices or through imported market food items. In response, many Indigenous communities are seeking ways to develop locally derived solutions that increase local food procurement capacity and rebuild local food systems. The purpose of this paper is to further understand local food initiatives in Moose Cree First Nation, a remote northern community at the base of James Bay, Ontario, Canada. This paper builds on the Indigenous Health Research Group’s focus on understanding and documenting the steps taken in support of building local food capacity, more specifically through a community garden project. With a deepened understanding of the challenges and opportunities the community faces in regaining greater autonomy over their food system, the findings presented here build on community-based participatory action approaches when learning and working with communities in support of local food efforts.

KEYWORDS:

• Food security
• indigenous
• gardens
• health
• culture
• local food procurement

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the Moose Cree First Nation for supporting this research project. We are especially grateful for all the help we received in coordinating the field research. We wish to also thank the wonderful people in the Moose Cree First Nation community who were so kind to us throughout our stay. You have shown us what it means to be great hosts. This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada under Grant [435-2018-1090].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. In 2017, the MoCreebec Council of the Cree Nation, a First Nations group that occupies a small portion of the island independent of the Moose Cree First Nation, developed multiple greenhouses and elaborate gardens through their EcoLodge business enterprise and with assistance from Health Canada. The funding has since ended and the project lead no longer lives in the community which has limited gardening activities at this site.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada [435-2018-1090].

Notes on contributors

Celeste Ferreira

Celeste Ferreira is the Indigenous Health Research Group Research Coordinator and conducts research on food security challenges in remote northern Indigenous communities in Canada. She has been involved in two years of field research documenting land-based food practices and helping support local food capacity building.

Janice Cindy Gaudet

Janice Cindy Gaudet belongs to a strong lineage of Métis women’s families located along the South Saskatchewan River and farming community of St. Laurent, Saskatchewan. She is an Assistant Professor at Campus Saint-Jean, University of Alberta and a Canada Research Chair in Metis Kinship and Land-Based Wellness. She is committed to a de-colonial approach in research, wellbeing and pedagogy by centering Indigenous women’s knowledge, stories, and lived experiences.

Anthony Chum

Anthony Chum (Tony) belongs to the Cree people of the southern tip of James Bay on the “little island” of Moose Factory on the Moose River. He is a Local Food Developer for Moose Cree First Nation. He is committed to providing his community with healthy foods with a local Food Market held twice a month. His work involves supporting Moose Cree food initiatives and helping build food sovereignty.

Michael A. Robidoux

Michael A. Robidoux is a full professor in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa who has led research programs studying land based food practices in rural remote Indigenous communities for over a decade. Working with northern Indigenous communities, he examines the impact of local food procurement on local dietary practices and studies how building local food capacity can address high levels of northern food insecurity.