Presentación de Dawn Morrison (Canadá) en el marco del Seminario Internacional de Expertos sobre 'Diversidad Cultural, Sistemas Alimentarios y Estrategias Tradicionales de Vida' realizado del 4 al 6 de noviembre de 2014 en Cusco Perú.

1. BC Food Systems Network
Prepared by: Dawn Morrison
Prepared for: UN FAO
Cultural Diversity, Food
Systems and Traditional
Livelihoods
November, 2014

2.  Name, nation, ancestry
 Working Group on Indigenous Food
Sovereignty out of which the Indigenous Food
Systems Network was born
 BC Food Systems Network – Board of
Director’s
 Research Associate, leading Indigenous
engagement –KPU Bioregional Food System
Design and Planning Project

3.  Personal healing journey – life’s work
intertwined with the research
 Realizing myself in a web of extended
relationships in both Indigenous and non-
Indigenous communities
 Ecstatic and transformative
 Contemplative traditions and rituals
 Indigenizing methodologies

4.  Sacred Seeds of Life Project
 Bringing balance to adversarial conditions through the feminine
 Shedding light on the darkness – regenerating our bio-cultural
heritage in the land and food system

5. Indigenous Peoples – Cultural
and Biological Diversity what
is known to the setters as BC
and Canada

6. Indigenous Language Groups in Canada

7.  Indigenous Peoples are not new
populations…their presence pre-dates the
urban centres
 While the concept of food sovereignty has only
recently been introduced - food sovereignty
has been a living reality for thousands of years
 Law of the locale

8.  According to the most recent Statistics Canada
Census information (2006), nearly 1.2 million
people living in Canada today report
themselves to be Aboriginal (i.e., First Nations,
Métis or Inuit).
 Estimates range from 40,000 – 100,000 in
Greater Vancouver area
 Approximately 56% of all Indigenous peoples
have migrated to urban areas across Canada
 Vancouver has the third largest Aboriginal
population in Canada

9.  High population of Indigenous peoples from
communities across BC
 High population of Plains (Cree & Nishnawbe)
peoples from across Alberta, Saskatchewan,
and Manitoba
 Aboriginal Peoples over-represented in most
poverty stricken neighbourhoods in Canada
(DTES)

10.  Displacement from Indigenous communities
across Canada
 Estimate 50 – 60% of all Indigenous Peoples
have migrated to urban areas for education,
employment and housing
 On reserve programs and services are limited
in their ability to service off reserve

11.  Link between agriculture and colonial
expansion – imposed cultural hiearchy, policy,
planning and governance
 Complex realities in the 4th World – Indigenous
nations within a nation state – unceded
territories
 Ensure participation reflects a cross section of
current priorities, political issues, situations
and strategies
 Significant laws and policies – land title and
rights

12.  1827 – Hudson’s Bay
established post in
Langley
 Sto’lo refused to trade
fir because their life was
based on salmon and
fishing
 1830’s Langley became
the first major
agricultural centre in
British Columbia
 1850’s – Gold Rush
 1860’s -farming and
cattle raising operations
began in the western
sections of the Valley
 By 1877, the valley had
been surveyed into six-
square-mile townships.
 Much clearing, draining
and dyking was
necessary before the
land could be worked.

13.  Breakdown of sophisticated traditional social
structures – potlatch governance, tribal
economies, intergenerational learning etc…
 Displacement from traditional land and food
system
 High levels of stress and uncertainty
associated – effects of PTSD
 Social issues and declining health (mental,
emotional, physical and spiritual)
 Comparable to the holocaust

14.  Prior appropriation
 Establishment of legal
doctrines and
property rights
 Doctrine of discovery
 Terra nullus
 Civilization Act
 Gradual
Enfranchisement Act
 Indian Act

15.  With the arrival of the Europeans (Xwelitems or
"Hungry People") many of our traditions have been
challenged and threatened. Ultimately, our spirituality
was declared immoral and illegal, our right to sell and
trade salmon was taken away, our children were
placed in foreign residential schools and taught to
reject their Elders' teachings. We were forbidden to
move about freely among our villages. We became
registered members of individual Bands governed by
protocols and regulations that were not of our own
making.“
 Excerpt taken from Kwikwetlem First Nations website

16.  Positioning hunting, fishing and gathering in an ag-centric research and
development paradigm in the 21st century
 Most sustainable adaptation strategies of humanity
 2/3 of North American Tribes have adapted hunting and gathering
strategies over 90% of human existence on earth(Cambridge Encyclopedia
of Hunting and Gathering)
 Adopted mainstream model of agriculture to supplement traditional diets
 Diversified cultivation and harvesting strategies and techniques on a
landscape and watershed scale
 Applied over a longer temporal scale
 Original bioregions defined by language, trade relations, kinship ties, and
watersheds
 Giving economy -cooperative social structure persists in the present day
 Wild Salmon – most important food strategy

18. Fishing is primary Indigenous food harvesting strategy for all Salishan speaking peoples.

19.  Special Designated status
within the CHRMS
 Entire basin drains one
third of the area of the
province and is home to
2.4 million people – 63%
of British Columbia’s
population
 Most productive salmon
fishery in the world
 Used for transportation
 Support for agriculture
and community life
 Threats from extractive
industries and agriculture

20. “Traditional diets, based on a combination of salmon
and other fish, shellfish, marine and land mammals,
gamebirds and birds’ eggs, and a range of plant
foods, from berries and other fruits to green
vegetables, root vegetables, and the inner bark of
trees, as well as some mushrooms, have nourished
and sustained people over generations”.
Nancy J. Turner, Professor,
School of Environmental Studies,University of
Victoria September 2007
Written for the Biodiversity Technical Subcommittee
for The Status of Biodiversity in BC

21. Food species = 100 animal species + 150 plant
species
Material or technology species = at least 100
Medicinal species = 300 or more across the
different nations and regions of the province.
Thus a total of about 400-500 species (some are
used for more than one purpose) are named and
utilized or have had specific cultural importance
for First Peoples of the province.

22. What is Indigenous Food Sovereignty?
 Sacred
 Participatory
 Self-determination
 Policy
 http://www.indigenousfoodsystems.org/cont
ent/1st-annual-interior-bc-indigenous-food-
sovereignty-conference-final-report

23.  Relationship to BC Food Systems Network
 Purpose, goals objectives
 Notable projects and activities
 Representation and responsibilities

24.  WGIFS operates primarily on a volunteer project to project basis in a decentralized
administrative structure with no ongoing expenses. We strive to ensure Indigenous
voices are carried from a strong and balanced representation based on geography,
culture, and community of focus. We appreciate and build upon traditional hunting,
fishing and gathering as the most sustainable adaptation strategies that have persisted in
the present day reality of Indigenous peoples living in the 4th world. The WGIFS also
invites cross cultural participation of non-Indigenous advocates who support
Indigenous self-determination, and our participation in the agri-food system research,
action and policy discussions happening within larger society.
 Numerous research institutions, community organizations, and regional, provincial and
federal health agencies have provided critical input, administrative and technical
support, and direction at various times throughout the 8 years duration of the WGIFS.
Several regional and international networks and relationships have also emerged
including: Vancouver Island Coastal Communities Indigenous Food Network, South
African Cultural Exchange (Coastal Learning Communities & Masifundise Development
Trust), Peoples Food Policy Project Indigenous Circle (Ch.1 Resetting the Table: A
Peoples Food Policy for Canada), and US Food Sovereignty Alliance (Honouree for Food
Sovereignty Award).

25. • bring together key Indigenous knowledge holders
(relevant to Grease Trails) and scholars to solicit
input and direction in the development of the
WGIFS research strategy and protocol .
• outline criteria that will enable the WGIFS to engage
in research that strategically aligns with the vision,
values and goals of Indigenous food sovereignty.
• outline an ethical process for working across
cultures (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) to
decolonize methodologies for research that will
serve to revitalize Grease Trails (traditional trade
routes)

26.  Traditional trade routes
 Spanning from Alaska to Arizona
 Area of study

27. Researchers at the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems endeavor
to explore and compellingly delineate the food self-reliance,
environmental stewardship, social capital and economic potentials of
bio-regional food system predicated on; small scale, low-input,
human intensive, environmentally sound, community focused
agriculture and a full expression of Indigenous food system
predilection. The multidisciplinary ISFS team consists of experts in;
Sustainability Policy, Planning, & Governance, Resource Economics,
Ecological Footprint Analysis, Sustainable Agriculture, and
Indigenous Food Systems.

28.  Relationship building
 Cross cultural communication and capacity
 Minimizing impacts of agri-food system as a
whole
 Weaving an Indigenous narrative into the
project
 Benefits and challenges of ag-centric focus

29.  Describe how the Indigenous food system is being
expressed – key points of entry
 Identify the cultural interface between Indigenous
and sustainable agri-food system i.e. points of
intersection
 Assess the ways the Indigenous food system intra-
acts with the bioregional agri-food system –
identifying points of complementarity and
contention
 Highlight the potential that exists within the gaps
of food system literature

30.  Terms of Reference
 Planned, coordinated and chaired 5 IRAC
meetings
 Accuracy of interpretation, translation and
summarizing input, advice and direction
 9 Indigenous Advisors from diverse
communities and academic focus

32.  Scope and refine the areas of focus and identify components of
Indigenous food systems research that is doable within the limitations of
project
 Cross cultural communication and building capacity of research team to
bring deeper understanding of the ways that project materials can be
more responsive to Indigenous paradigms, priorities, principles, and
political and cultural sensitivities. Develop a common language on how
the Indigenous worldview, paradigm and ways of expressing the
relationships can inform sustainability in the agri-food system design.
 Review project communications (website, descriptive project briefs,
brochures, maps and reports) to ensure terminology, images and
materials are culturally responsive.
 Ongoing communication with researchers at domain leads meetings, and
individual researchers to share culturally appropriate language, and
identify points of entry, intersection, complementarity and contention
between Indigenous food system and sustainable agri-food system
paradigms as they are identified.
 Work with project team to inform and engage Indigenous communities in
project activities (i.e stakeholder engagement workshops, project advisory
committee, IRAC meetings)

33.  Ongoing presence
 Providing project information and updates - one on one
meetings, participation in relevant community activities and
events
 Stolo community meeting in Chilliwack
 First Nations Health Authority – Health Transfer Honouring
Ceremony, North Vancouver
 Pacific Association of First Nations Women - 13 Matriarchs
Cedar Cape Ceremony & Sacred Seeds of Life Ceremony,
Musqueam First Nation
 Cheam Elders
 Vancouver Native Health Society – Tu’wusht Project
 Registered project with Sto’lo Research and Resource
Management Centre
 BC Food Systems Network – Working Group on Indigenous
Food Sovereignty: Revitalizing Grease Trails Project

34.  Seabird Island – Excellence in Centre for
Diabetes, rich arable lands
 Katzie Band – revitalization of Wapato potato
harvesting and cultivation
 Cheam– resurgence in the area of governance
and traditional wild salmon fishery – formal
partnership with UVIC – IGOV program
 Musqueam Indian Band – community gardens

35.  Seabird Island includes policies in their land
use plan advocating for the protection of
agricultural land
 Seabird Island operates a hazelnut orchard,
eco-tourism, forestry, and leases of cultivated
land
 Integrates traditional food program with
Aboriginal Title and Rights

36.  All things are connected
 Strong sense of place and identity in relation to
the land
 Humans are a part of the ecosystems – not
separate
 Work with and adapt to natural systems rather
than try to control or work against
 Adaptive management – policy driven by
practice

37.  Ag-centric focus too narrow
 Lack of access and control over decision making matters
impacting land and food systems
 Imposed decision making structures and processes
 Contradicting epistemologies i.e. prodcutionist paradign,
concept of time etc…
 Lack of awareness of impacts of residential schools in
families and communities
 Lack of funding, time and resources
 Lack of capacity of research team – cross cultural
understanding
 Conceptualizing project before Indigenous participation
 Epistemological differences

38.  Deconstructing the reductionist mindset that
has dispossessed us (humans) from the land
and food system
 Broadening the ecological and temporal scale
 Participatory
 Non-linear
 Precautionary vs. restorationist
 Local control

39.  Non – static
 Non- exhaustive
 Avoiding pan Indian approach
 Indigenous peoples are at varying places along
the continuum of influences from mainstream
society

40.  Indigenizing Research and Relationships
 A strategy and institutional framework for
reconciling past injustices
 Reclaiming Indigenous space within the land
and food system
 Moving beyond sustainability towards
Indigeneity, change, and regenerative food
system

41. “In local knowledge systems, the plant world is not
artificially separated between a forest supplying
commercial wood and agricultural land supplying
food commodities. The forest and the field are in
ecological continuum, and activities in the forest
contribute to the food needs of the local community,
while agriculture itself is modelled on the ecology of
the tropical forest. Some forest dwellers gather food
directly from the forest, while many communities
practise agriculture outside the forest, but depend on
the fertility of the forest for the fertility of agricultural
land”. Dr. Vandana Shiva in Monocultures of the Mind
(1999)

43.  Cultivating Food Systems Symposium
 BC Food Systems Network & Working Group
on Indigenous Food Sovereignty
 Vancouver Food Policy Council meeting
 Civic Governance Forum
 United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization – Cultural Diversity, Food
Systems and Traditional Livelihoods,
International Expert Seminar
 University of British Columbia - Critical Issues
in Land and Food Systems: First Nations'
perspective on history, food, and health.

44.  Indigenous foods are not treated as a
commodity
 Food is a spiritual relationships not just a
“product”
 Indigenous hunters, fishers and gatherers do
not identify themselves with the neoclassic
economic classification of “producers”
 Concern of over exploitation of Indigenous
foods for global market (case in point – decline
of commercial sockeye fisheries).

45.  Infrastructure needs in neighbourhoods where
Indigenous peoples are over represented in Vancouver
area
 Feasting halls and social gathering places in culturally
inviting spaces – cultural responsive visual spaces
(buildings and native gardens)
 Adequate food processing, storage and distribution
facilities
 Secure land in close proximity as well as within more
natural park spaces
 Urban forests – putting Indigenous individuals and
organizations back in the land and food systems
 Applying Indigenous harvesting techniques as a
strategy for enhancing biodiversity in the parks

46.  Outline complete and draft #1 in progress
 Written description of the ways the Indigenous
food system is being expressed. (Date of
expected completion January, 2014)
 Photos and images
 Format and writing styles
 Citing oral history, local and traditional
knowledge

47. Creating extensive database/bibliography for reference in
present and future Indigenous food systems research.
Making Indigenous peoples visible in food systems
literature
Historical, anthropological, agricultural, cultural, food
security/sovereignty, health, environment – technical,
academic, and policy papers
Oral history – personal communications

48.  Develop a matrix and tool to assess the ways in which the KPU Bio-regional Agri-food
System Design intra-acts with the Indigenous food system. I.e. Identify points of
complementarity and contention, and the potential that exists within the gaps of
knowledge.
 Build consortium that will contribute to the generation of a body of knowledge within
research institutions across Canada to support the Revitalization of the Grease Trails:
Decolonizing Research and Relationships Project being led by the WGIFS.
 Develop research strategy and proposal to link the Grease Trails (traditional trade
routes) to Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems. Map Indigenous Bio-
cultural Heritage Harvesting along the Grease Trails
 Facilitate and promote more Indigenous food related trade based on applying
Indigenous values and cooperative structures for a giving economy, and making small
scale markets work for Indigenous communities

49.  “It is humbling to remember that our species is
perhaps been around 600,000 years. The Neolithic
revolution which gave us agriculture, at which time we
succumbed to the cult of the seed, the poetry of the
shaman was displaced by the prose of the priesthood,
we created hierarchy, specialization, surplus, is only
10,000 years ago. The modern industrial world as we
know is barely 300 years old. Now that shallow history
doesn’t suggest [to] me we have all the answers for all
the challenges that will confront us in the ensuing
millennia”.
 http://intercontinentalcry.org/wade-davis-on-
cultural-diversity/

50.  Ta’Kaiya recorded her latest song, Earth Revolution in the studio in fall,
2011. The first time she sang it in public was at Occupy in Vancouver, BC
in October 2011. Earth Revolution calls on the “Children of the Future,”
which Ta’Kaiya has named “Generation Now” to act now to save the
earth “I’ll do my part to fix what is broken, give back what we’ve
taken…” before it is too late: “..because there won’t be a tomorrow, if we
don’t change today.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP9ZFgNQckg
 Ta’kaiya’s bio: http://www.takaiyablaney.com/bio/