Indigenous families are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity in Canada. While some of the barriers that contribute to food insecurity are the same for Indigenous and non-Indigenous mothers, several important barriers are different or more pronounced due to historical and ongoing colonization.
According to PROOF (a food insecurity policy research organization with the University of Toronto), there are high rates of food insecurity for off-reserve Indigenous peoples in Canada. A study in the Canadian Journal of Public Health shows that nearly half of on-reserve Indigenous households were food insecure. This rate is higher than that experienced by non-Indigenous households.
A study by Richmond et al. (published in 2021 and entitled “Supporting Food Security for Indigenous Families through the Restoration of Indigenous Foodways”) conducted in Ontario, Canada in recent years found that, in addition to common barriers to food security such as transportation and household income, Indigenous families experienced other factors related to colonization such as a “lack of knowledge related to the utilization of traditional foods” and “the erosion of community, familial, and social supports.” The lack of knowledge of traditional foods was intimately linked with “processes of environmental dispossession,” meaning the deprivation of access to the lands and environments traditionally used to hunt, gather, and grow traditional foods through the advent of reservations and other means. Traditional foods are more nutritious than store-bought foods, but the harvesting of traditional foods is affected by “industry-related activities” and climate change. The erosion of community, familial, and social supports can be linked to major issues such as residential schools and the “Sixties Scoop” and their legacy of splitting up families and causing inter-generational trauma.
Solutions to the food insecurity crisis for Indigenous families include better income support and transportation infrastructure, as well as focusing on Indigenous Food Sovereignty, which encompasses working with nature, localizing food systems, and recognizing that food is sacred. Land stewardship and increasing the consumption of traditional foods also play important roles in food sovereignty. Potential long-term effects of food insecurity on mothers and their infants include both mental and physical health deficits. With the added burden of historical and ongoing colonization and inter-generational trauma, Indigenous mothers face more obstacles to accessing adequate and culturally relevant foods than their non-Indigenous counterparts. Governments must step up to support Indigenous Food Sovereignty, land stewardship, and adequate income (in addition to the 94 calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission) both on and off reserve for Indigenous mothers and their babies to help ensure a thriving next generation.
Photo by Saad Chaudhry via Unsplash