The Relationship Between Food Security and Climate Change
For centuries, Aboriginal Peoples, including First Nations, Inuit, and Metis communities, have used resources from the land to feed and support themselves. Their culture has been shaped by their relationship with the land and the Traditional Knowledge they’ve passed down through generations about gathering plant and animal foods from their land. Hunting and foraging are a part of Indigenous culture and allow Indigenous Nations to obtain valuable food sources that can be enjoyed and shared within their communities
Image created by Noah Maniapik.
Unfortunately, climate change has altered the land we live on today, making it hard for many Indigenous Nations to gain valuable food sources and carry on their traditions. Over the years, climate change has caused many disruptions to the environment, leading to things like:
Altered land, air, and water temperatures
Increased extreme weather events (e.g. wildfires, floods, heat waves, tornadoes)
Drought
More frequent heavy rainfall events
Coastal erosion along oceans and lakes
Melting ice and permafrost
These changing climate and weather patterns affect wildlife habitats and migration pattern.This means that the number of wildlife available to hunt is going down and hunters now have farther distances to travel to obtain them. Along with creating hunting challenges, the effects of climate change also disrupt transportation routes, making it even harder for communities to obtain vital food supplies.
Wildfires in Canada’s Yukon Territory will reduce winter habitat for the Porcupine caribou herd by up to 21 percent in the near future[x].
Less bounty from hunting and foraging means remote communities have to rely more on expensive store-bought food which is higher in preservatives, salt, and sugar. This has been linked to health issues such as diabetes, obesity, and mental health disorders because of a change in the gut microorganisms[xi]. A diet filled with typical Western foods high in sugar and fat can also impair the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which can lead to depression and anxiety[x]. This makes it very clear why it’s so important for Aboriginal Peoples to maintain the ability to hunt and forage traditional foods, so they can support their community’s physical and mental health.
(Li & Galloway, 2023)
The Relationship Between Food Safety and Climate Change
Food safety is another issue brought on by climate change that affects the health and wellbeing of many First Nations, Inuit, and Metis communities across Canada, especially remote and coastal communities.
In a survey conducted by the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER) with Indigenous Nations and organizations across Canada, it was mentioned
Some Indigenous communities in Alaska have created scientific networks to test toxin levels in shellfish due to harmful algal blooms that exist in warmer waters[xiv].
Climate Change and Salmon Populations in Yukon
In 2020, the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation in Old Crow, Yukon noticed a loss in the salmon available in traditional fishing areas. Many of their community members try to live off
Photo by Peter Mather; Red Chinook salmon populations have been declining in the Yukon River[xvi].
Current Food Security and Safety Strategies
To combat some of the food security and safety issues that Indigenous Nations have been facing, communities and organizations have developed some useful strategies, providing a good start towards Indigenous food sovereignty!
Directly Harvesting Traditional Foods
Directly harvesting foods in their own territories, such as sweetwater sap from maple trees, allows communities to enjoy traditional foods without having to rely on transportation routes or storage freezers.
Sweetwater sap is a traditional food source full of minerals and nutrients harvested from maple trees[xvii]. As a bonus, it’s very hydrating and refreshing!
Safely Handling and Preserving Foods
Using safe handling and preservation techniques allow communities to use their own sources of traditional foods such as fish, clams, and wild game in a way that supports their food security and allows them to share the food with those don’t have direct contact with country foods.
Techniques like smoking, pickling, and salting are three methods used to preserve food like fish[xviii].
General Food Bank Programs
Being able to obtain free food from a general food bank helps Aboriginal community members fill in the gaps of their diets with safe goods.
Food bank programs like ‘Anishnabeg Outreach’ offer deliveries or pickups of essentials such as food, clothing, and household items to Indigenous families in need[xix].
“Backpack” Programs for Children
Providing children with breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks when available throughout the school year helps combat food security and health issues for vulnerable children.
Programs like ‘Indigenous School Food Circle’ run by the organizations, The Coalition for Healthy School Food and Canadian Feed the Children, support school food programs for students in Indigenous communities[xx].
Community Freezers
Having a community freezer to store country foods like seal, moose, and other game meat allows any member of the community to obtain traditional foods, helping support community and cultural tradition. In some programs, gas is even provided to the hunters that fill the freezers with meat, allowing them to get to traditional food sources that wouldn’t be available to them otherwise[xxi].
The community freezer in Nain, Nunatsiavut provides wild meat such as caribou, Arctic char, and seal to upwards of 500 people per monthxvii. That’s a lot of food!
Friendship Centre “Country Food Orders”
Having a program that distributes game meat and other country foods such as seal, whale, and Arctic char found in northern areas to Indigenous communities in southern parts of Canada allows Indigenous communities in the South to enjoy traditional foods even when the sources aren’t found near their location.
Country food orders allow members in the North, like Inuit seal hunters, to share traditional foods with southern Indigenous communities[xxii].
Looking Forward
Some forward-looking strategies can also be used to address Indigenous food security issues in the long-term. One strategy identified by communities involves the collection and storage of heirloom seeds of vegetables, herbs, and flowers within Indigenous communities. These seeds can then be donated to various communities to establish gardens of traditional plant and herb varieties.
Other forward-looking strategies include things such as:
- Supporting and funding research projects that help community researchers and regional food security coordinators make food easier to forage and obtain
- Establishing and maintaining sustainable year-round greenhouses that can provide fresh and inexpensive produce
- Funding Indigenous-run grocery stores
- Monthly food supplement programs for families
- Increasing support for the harvesting and distribution of traditional foods
- Providing support for Elders to obtain country and sea foods
- Creating programs that support the spreading and awareness of Traditional Knowledge
A community-owned grocery store in Pukatawagan First Nation opened in October 2022 to provide residents with quality food at cheaper prices[xxiv].
The Mashkikiiaki’ing (Medicine Earth) garden in Toronto, Ontario provides Indigenous Peoples living in an urban centre the opportunity to grow native crops and share Traditional Knowledge with the community[xxiii].
Watari and Their Hot Meal & Grocery Programs
To support Elders and other vulnerable community members, Watari Counselling & Support Services in Downtown Eastside (DTES), Vancouver, British Columbia run ‘Hot Meal & Grocery Programs’. One of their programs provides traditional, fresh, nutritious food to 45 Elders each week[xxv]. This program shows that it’s important for local organizations to support vulnerable members of Indigenous communities who are struggling with food security and could be used as an example for other organizations looking to get involved!
Delivering fresh food to Elders helps support their health and minimizes challenges related to food security[xxvi]
These initiatives are a good start to support Indigenous communities battling issues from the food insecurity as a result of climate change, and work to preserve both culture and community.
Making an Impact
To make a real difference in Indigenous communities in relation to climate change and food security, it’s important to consider the full impacts of these changes on each community. The effects of climate change make it hard for many Indigenous communities to get to traditional hunting and fishing territories and affects the quality and quantity of local food sources. They also impact Indigenous culture and the ability of Indigenous knowledge holders to share Traditional Knowledge with future generations.
As mentioned, a few strategies are currently being implemented to help communities facing food security-climate change challenges, including meal programs, community freezers, ‘country food order’ programs, and more. Even with the implementation of these strategies, along with some forward-looking tactics, there’s still a lot of work to be done to improve food security and safety in Indigenous Nations, especially in remote areas!
If some of these strategies, or a combination of these methods are established and supported by organizations and governments, the impacts of climate change and food security issues in Indigenous communities could be minimized. This would help ease the stress of food security and safety challenges in communities and allow Traditional Knowledge and Indigenous culture to thrive.
Traditional Knowledge is an important part of Indigenous culture that allows individuals from older generations to pass down information and experiences to younger community members[xxvii].
Check it out! An Indigenous community in Inuvik transformed a former hockey arena into a community greenhouse to provide fresh vegetables, herbs, and wildflowers to the community[xxviii].
“A Tribute to Aboriginal Women” created by Leah Dorion (“Artwork,” n.d.) [xxix].
Acknowledgements
Much of the information used in this story book has been adapted from the ‘Food Security – Environmental Scan’ produced by CIER in August 2023. To gather information for this report, CIER consulted with a number of Indigenous communities and organizations and conducted a national survey to gain insight on the challenges faced by Indigenous Nations across Canada. Along with this, CIER referred to various journal articles and reports, all of which were credited in the “Appendix” section of their report.
End Notes
[i] Huggins, Katherine, and Ariel Gans. “Bison Pastrami, Anyone? Preschool Assistant Makes Sure Kids Get to Know Indigenous Foods.” KFF Health News, 12 Sept. 2022, kffhealthnews.org/news/article/indigenous-foods-preschool-minneapolis/.
[ii] “Noah Maniapik: IAQ Profiles.” Inuit Art Foundation, www.inuitartfoundation.org/profiles/artist/Noah-Maniapik. Accessed 15 Jan. 2024.
[iii] Novo, Cristina. “What Is a River?” Smart Water Magazine, smartwatermagazine.com/q-a/what-a-river. Accessed 8 Jan. 2024.
[iv] Finn, Ryan. “What Is a Fire Tornado?” Spectrum News 1, 18 Aug. 2020, spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/weather/2020/08/17/what-is-a-fire-tornado-.
[v] “Causes of Drought: What’s The Climate Connection?” Union of Concerned Scientists, 18 May 2021, www.ucsusa.org/resources/drought-and-climate-change.
[vi] Miller, Ashley. “How Heavy Rainfall Can Affect Your Plumbing.” Miller’s Services, www.millers-va.com/how-heavy-rainfall-can-affect-your-plumbing/. Accessed 8 Jan. 2024.
[vii] Anthony, Andrew. “Sands of Time Are Slipping Away for England’s Crumbling Coasts amid Climate Crisis.” The Guardian, 1 Jan. 2022, www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/01/sands-slip-england-crumbling-coasts-erosion-rising-sea-levels.
[viii] World Economic Forum. “Permafrost Is Thawing so Fast It’s Gouging Holes in the Arctic.” The European Sting, 15 Feb. 2020, europeansting.com/2020/02/15/permafrost-is-thawing-so-fast-its-gouging-holes-in-the-arctic/.
[ix] Jacques, Matt. “On the trail of the Porcupine caribou herd”. The Narwhal, 26 September. 2018, https://thenarwhal.ca/on-trail-porcupine-caribou-herd/.
[x] Gustine, David D., et al. “Climate-driven effects of fire on winter habitat for caribou in the Alaskan-Yukon Arctic.” PloS one 9.7 (2014): e100588.
[xi] López-Taboada, Isabel, Héctor González-Pardo, and Nélida María Conejo. “Western diet: implications for brain function and behavior.” Frontiers in psychology 11 (2020): 564413.
[xii] Li, Nicholas, and Tracey Galloway. Comment: How the Food Subsidy System Is Failing Northern Canada, 23 Oct. 2023, www.manitobacooperator.ca/comment/comment-how-the-food-subsidy-system-is-failing-northern-canada/.
[xiii] “Water – at the Center of the Climate Crisis.” United Nations, www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/climate-issues/water#:~:text=Water%20quality%20is%20also%20affected,pathogens%20and%20pesticides%20(IPCC). Accessed 12 Jan. 2024.
[xiv] Pinchin, Karen. “Protecting People from Deadly Shellfish.” Scientific American, 1 Jan. 2022, www.scientificamerican.com/article/these-shellfish-could-kill-you/.
[xv] Rall, Katharina, and Rachel LaFortune. “‘My Fear Is Losing Everything.’” Human Rights Watch, 21 Oct. 2020, www.hrw.org/report/2020/10/21/my-fear-losing-everything/climate-crisis-and-first-nations-right-food-canada.
[xvi] Barclay, Michael. “The Decline of the Chinook Salmon Threatens a Whole Way of Life.” Macleans.Ca, 14 May 2018, macleans.ca/culture/books/adam-weymouth-kings-of-the-yukon/.
[xvii] GreenUP. “‘Sweet Water’ of Sugar Maple Connects Us to Indigenous Heritage and Settler Traditions.” kawarthaNOW, 24 Feb. 2022, kawarthanow.com/2022/02/24/sweet-water-of-sugar-maple-connects-us-to-indigenous-heritage-and-settler-traditions/.
[xviii] Kirsch, Haldan. “The Reason Preserved Fish Were Once More Common than Fresh.” Tasting Table, Tasting Table, 9 Sept. 2022, www.tastingtable.com/1001323/the-reason-preserved-fish-were-once-more-common-than-fresh/.
[xix] “Spirit Bundle Program.” Anishnabeg Outreach, 211ontario.ca/service/75495814/anishnabeg-outreach-inc-spirit-bundles/. Accessed 8 Jan. 2024.
[xx] “Indigenous School Food Circle.” The Coalition for Healthy School Food, 2023, www.healthyschoolfood.ca/indigenous-school-food-circle.
[xxi] Gaudi, John. “Nain Community Freezer Helps Tackle Food Insecurity While Enhancing Sharing Tradition.” CBCnews, 16 Feb. 2020, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/community-freezer-nain-traditional-food-1.5459985.
[xxii] Levon Sevunts. “Inuit Seal Hunt.” Eye on the Arctic, 18 Nov. 2015, www.rcinet.ca/eye-on-the-arctic/2013/03/05/inuit-seal-hunt/.
[xxiii] “Indigenous Gardens and Organizations.” Toronto Urban Growers, 5 Oct. 2023, torontourbangrowers.org/indigenous-gardens-and-organizations.
[xxiv] Grabish, Austin. “Pukatawagan Residents Celebrate Opening of First Nation’s New Community-Owned Grocery Store.” CBCnews, 2 Oct. 2022, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/pukatawagan-gets-new-grocery-store-1.6601153.
[xxv] “Food, Land & Culture Programs.” Watari, www.watari.ca/community-programs-watari/gardens/. Accessed 8 Jan. 2024.
[xxvi] Tanner, Jase, and Emma Gregory. “This Is Good Food — Muchas Gracias, Watari.” Rabble.Ca, 18 May 2021, rabble.ca/rabbletv/good-food-muchas-gracias-watari/.
[xxvii] “Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Climate Change.” Indigenous Climate Hub, indigenousclimatehub.ca/traditional-knowledge-tk-and-climate-change/. Accessed 8 Jan. 2024.
[xxviii] Blake, Emily. “Greenhouses Aim to Bring Fresh Produce to North, Putting a Dent in Food Insecurity | CBC News.” CBCnews, 21 July 2023, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/greenhouses-aim-to-bring-fresh-produce-to-north-putting-a-dent-in-food-insecurity-1.6913730.
[xxix] “Artwork.” University of Alberta, www.ualberta.ca/admissions-programs/online-courses/indigenous-canada/artwork.html. Accessed 8 Jan 24.
