Conference 2023 Keynote Recap - "The Regulation of Wild Meats: Perspectives from Indigenous Food Sovereignty to Food Safety"

Panel: The Regulation of Wild Meats: Perspectives from Indigenous Food Sovereignty to Food Safety

Speakers: Rick Chichou, chloe Langlois, Keira Loukes and Kim McGibbon (intro from Kathy Loon)

What does it actually mean to work toward reconciliation? From this panel, I learned that “food is a good start… food is culture. There are different cultures in this world, and they should be allowed to eat their own food, especially when they are vulnerable.”

Wild food, also known as country food, is regulated by conflicting colonial regulations, and at least five different ministries. These regulations present some of the biggest barriers to accessing country food for Indigenous communities. Panelist Keira Loukes explained that regulations bar access, but that the greatest barrier of all, where she lives, is Treaty 9. Keira expressed that “Treaty 9 was designed to dislocate people from the land”, but that communities in this region are working within and between the treaty’s language to embed and foster land-driven rights.

This panel was aimed at addressing harmful and limiting regulations, but the speakers focused on resistance. They shared how their communities are “re-storying” treaties and regulations to build networks between country foods and community, whether in hospitals, schools, or between friends. The Miichim program, for example, has created community-driven methods of inspection to serve hunted meat in hospitals to Indigenous patients from northern communities. Indigenous hunters donate caribou, rabbits, wild rice, beaver, and more, which can support two traditional meals a week. As Rick Chichou shared “when you are sick physically, you are sick spiritually as well.” Country foods are meaningful; they nourish the spirit, and they connect people to health and home.

“What we hear again and again is that people want more access to this food – this is not about caloric intake, but about how it feels to be connected to the land and community”, explains Kathy Loon. Although policies and regulations have attempted to separate Indigenous people from the land, people are still hunting, people are still passing down the knowledge. And the panelists shared how new generations are taking up this knowledge. One of the panelists shared stories of women in their 40’s who are learning to hunt in adulthood. Another panelist spoke of how an Alberta food sovereignty declaration has developed programs to bring country food into elementary schools to pass food cultures down to children and younger generations. Although regulations have in many ways inhibited the sharing of country food on paper, communities can, and indeed do hunt and share country foods across wide networks of people and place.

The next steps will continue to be creative and community-driven. Community leaders are lobbying for legislative changes, they are becoming food safety certifiers themselves, and they are building meaningful relationships between land and community. More is to come.