1. Information to Improve Health in PEI First Nations Communities: A Review of Successful Food Security and Food Sovereignty Initiatives Robyn Gray, MLIS 2016, @RobynG8 Supervised by Dr. Vivian Howard and Dr. Debbie Martin

2. Introduction: Food is Medicine -Indigenous communities are experiencing escalating rates of obesity and Type II Diabetes -74% of Indigenous adults are overweight in comparison to 52% general population -2.5-4% times higher rate of diabetes amongst Indigenous adults Taylor et al., 2014

3. Primary Cause: Food Insecurity and Lack of Food Sovereignty Food Insecurity: the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food Food Sovereignty: being able to access healthy, locally determined, and culturally appropriate food

4. Factors Causing Food Insecurity Lack of funds for buying fruits and vegetables, so people buy processed foods. In addition: Lack of transportation to grocery stores Food banks often provide shelf-stable foods instead of nutritious foods (Townend, 2016)

5. The Most Convenient/Local Source of Food (Francis, J., 2014)

6. Potential Improvements -Offer workshops on label reading for healthier foods that are within budgetary constraints -Offer transportation programs -“Healthy Corner Stores NL”

7. Community Kitchens Introduce families to new foods through culinary demonstrations and tastings Offer new foods at community dinners and events Offer sessions on how to flavour food more healthily, by using herbs and seasonings instead of salt and fat Cooking classes can teach healthy eating, shopping, and cooking skills that help participants to stretch their food dollar (First Nations Health Council, n.d.)

8. Community Gardens In Fort Albany, Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA) launched a community garden Women plant the seeds and tend to them Members participate in weekly Community Kitchen using ingredients from the garden Take home recipes and food made at these events (Wawatay Native Communications Society, 2015)

9. Connecting Children to Nutritious Foods -School nutrition programs, to provide children with healthy foods their parents may not be able to otherwise afford -School gardens, to teach children about sustainability and help them produce their own nutritious foods -Cooking classes for kids, and nutrition day camps (Food Security Reference Group, n.d.)

10. Making Nutritious Foods Affordable -The Good Food Box initiative: centralized buying and coordination allow for cheaper prices -Fresh 4 Less: food purchasing club, working with a local food wholesaler to supply fresh produce in bulk (Food Security Reference Group, n.d.)

11. Charitable Food Assistance Programs Traditional food security interventions: soup kitchens and food banks Users of these services are often female, housing insecure, middle-aged, unemployed, and lacking a high school education, and tend to be chronically food-insecure (Ford et al., 2013)

12. Education Through Food Assistance Programs Allow users to select their own donations Provide users with instruction on how to cook the foods they receive Include recipes with donations Provide food demonstrations and tastings, and teach food preservation methods (Greater Vancouver Food Bank, 2015)

13. Food Banks that Focus on Healthier Donations Important to increase the nutritional value of foods being donated Encourage “fundraising” instead of “food-raising” so people donate money for fresh produce, instead of donating processed foods. (Greater Vancouver Food Bank, 2015)

14. Connecting to Traditional Foods -Cultural Awareness classes (ex. Mikisew School in Cross Lake, Manitoba) -Contemporary methods (ex. informational videos) -Traditional methods (ex. ceremonial practices) -Community-organized hunts (Townend, 2016)

15. Enhancing Local, Communal Food Production -Increase financial support for hunters -Pay hunters a salary, and share the food caught with lower income families -Support wild food gathering activities like hunting, fishing, and medicine harvesting

16. Conclusion Have a multifaceted approach to dealing with Food Security and Food Sovereignty Contextualize barriers facing First Nations communities when considering what actions to take Provide people with the skills to get the most out of the food they eat Consider how to make the food bank provide nutritious food Offer opportunities to reconnect with a traditional diet and lifestyle

17. Thank you! Any Questions?

18. References BC Ministry of Health (2011). Evidence review: Food Security. Core Public Health Functions for BC. Population Health and Wellness: Ministry of Health. Companion, M. (2013, February 19). Obesogenic cultural drift and nutritional transition: Identifying barriers to healthier food consumption in urban Native American populations. Journal of Applied Social Science, 7(1), 80-94. doi: 10.1177/1936724412467022 Council of Canadian Academies (2014). Aboriginal food security in Northern Canada: An assessment of the state of knowledge. Expert Panel on the State of Knowledge of Food Security in Northern Canada. Ottawa, ON: Council of Canadian Academies. FarmStart (2016). About Us. FarmStart: Supporting a New Generation of Farmers. Retrieved from http://www.farmstart.ca/about-us/ http://www.farmstart.ca/about-us/ First Nations Health Council (n.d.). BC First Nation Community Nutrition Needs and Assets Survey. West Vancouver, BC. Food Matters Manitoba (2013). Manitoba traditional foods initiative planning and resource development project: A traditional foods resource for Northern and First Nations communities. Winnipeg, MB. Food Security Network of Newfoundland and Labrador (2014, March). Evaluation report on the community-based food security fund. Prepared for the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Health Canada, Atlantic Region. Food Security Reference Group (n.d.). First Nations and Inuit communities are working in many ways to help address food security. Our community, our food: Capacity building workshop on food security.

19. References Continued Ford, J.D., Lardeau, M., Blackett, H., Chatwood, S., & Kurszewski, D. (2013). Community food program use in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. BMC Public Health, 13(970). Garrick, R. (2015, Dec. 1). Fort Albany continues building healthy food network and garden. Wawatay News. Retrieved from http://www.wawataynews.ca/health/fort-albany-continues-building-healthy-food-network-and-garden Greater Vancouver Food Bank. (2015). Greater Vancouver Food Bank 2015 Community Report. Retrieved from https://www.foodbank.bc.ca/wp- content/uploads/2015/11/GVFB_Community_Report_2015_Online.pdfhttps://www.foodbank.bc.ca/wp- content/uploads/2015/11/GVFB_Community_Report_2015_Online.pdf Office of Community Based Research (2011, August). Local food project: Strategies for increasing food security on Vancouver Island. Vancouver Island Community Research Alliance. Retrieved from http://www.uvic.ca/assets/media-releases/VICRA-summary-report.pdfhttp://www.uvic.ca/assets/media-releases/VICRA-summary-report.pdf Roncarolo, F., Bisset, S., & Potvin, L. (2016). Short-term effects of traditional and alternative community interventions to address Food Insecurity Sales, C. (2009). Community gardening and urban aboriginal food security [PowerPoint Slides]. Winnipeg, MB: 2009 Annual CED Conference. Taylor, J et al. (2014, Oct. 15). Food is Medicine: Addressing Obesity and Diabetes by Building Food Security and Food Sovereignty Among Prince Edward Island First Nations. Townend, C. (2016, January 25). A different kind of classroom. Community News Commons. Retrieved from http://www.communitynewscommons.org/culture/a-different-kind-of-classroom/ http://www.communitynewscommons.org/culture/a-different-kind-of-classroom/ Turner, N.J. & Turner, K.L. (2008). “Where our women used to get the food”: Cumulative effects and loss of ethnobotanical knowledge and practice; case study from coastal British Columbia. Botany, 86(2), 103-115. doi: 10.1139/B07-020. Wawatay Native Communications Society. (2015, Dec. 1). Community garden brings families together. Wawatay News. Retrieved from http://www.wawataynews.ca/health/community-garden-brings-families-together