Indigenous Health & Well-Being

Good nutrition is crucial in determining the health and well-being of Aboriginal people in Canada. Many Aboriginal communities face unique food security considerations related to the harvesting, sharing and consumption of traditional food. One-third of Aboriginal households located off-reserve are food insecure due to limited economic opportunities.

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Food security can only be truly realized by addressing the challenges faced by First Nations people to achieve a nutritious diet that upholds Traditional Knowledge and utilizes food for mental, physical, social, and environmental health. Eating patterns arise from complex and holistic food acquisition and distribution systems that provide health benefits beyond nutrition. In understanding the transition that has occurred over the past several generations as a result of colonial systems, researchers and policy influencers have focused on understanding the levels of food insecurity among First Nations households.

We work in partnership with Indigenous communities to support community-led food security. These initiatives help reduce childhood hunger by increasing access to good food and traditional food practices, and by encouraging healthy eating. Indigenous children in Canada are 2.5 times more likely to live in poverty than non-Indigenous children. Indigenous people carry a disproportionate burden of nutrition-related illness including Type 2 diabetes. Food insecurity for children and adults living on and off-reserve ranges from 21% to 83%, compared to 3% to 9% for Canadians.

Studies of Indigenous peoples repeatedly demonstrate their extraordinary vulnerability to household food insecurity. Indigenous households in Canada are more likely than non-Indigneous households to experience the sociodemographic risk factors associated with household food insecurity (e.g. extreme poverty, single-motherhood, living in a rental accommodation, and reliance on social assistance). Even after these factors are taken into account, Indigenous households remain at a much higher risk of household food insecurity and are more likely to be severely food-insecure.

Food insecurity presents a serious and growing challenge in Canada’s northern and remote Aboriginal communities. In 2011, off-reserve Aboriginal households in Canada were about twice as likely as other Canadian households to be food insecure. Finding lasting solutions will require the involvement not just of policy-makers but of those most affected by food insecurity: people living in the North.

Aboriginal peoples have been experiencing a nutrition transition that has resulted in a greater proportion of their diet being comprised of nutrient poor market foods. This has led to a growing crisis linked to unhealthy weights. Socio-economic, cultural and environmental factors are contributing to this transition. Nevertheless, harvesting and consumption of traditional foods remains important for Aboriginal peoples, providing numerous cultural, economic, social and health benefits.

Canada urgently needs a national food policy. Close to 3.9 million Canadians are food insecure. Farmers and fishers are going out of business, our natural environment is being pushed to the limit, a quarter of Canadians are considered obese, and we are the only G8 country without a nationally-funded school meal program. The status quo is no longer an option. The need for change is widely recognized and plans to develop national food policies are being advanced by many sectors, including the majority of federal political parties and influential industry groups. The People’s Food Policy is significantly different from these initiatives. It is the first-ever national food policy to be developed by the food movement itself – a diverse and dynamic network of organizations and individuals working to build a healthy, ecological, and just food system for Canada.

Official assessments of Canadian food security, which greatly inform policy and perception, paint an insufficient picture of the ways many Indigenous peoples, and in particular Indigenous children who are most impacted by food insecurity, actually experience and understand the problem. This article begins with a discussion of how these metrics neglect the vital connection between access to Indigenous food systems and Indigenous food security. To address the serious food insecurity experienced by Indigenous peoples, this connection must be acknowledged, and revitalisation of these food systems, which are damaged by settler-colonial practices, must become a focus of the discourse and action.