Linking health and the environment through

Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition

ISSN: 1932-0248 (Print) 1932-0256 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/when20

Linking health and the environment through education—A Traditional Food Program in Inuvik, Western Canadian Arctic Tiff-Annie Kenny, Jullian MacLean, Patrick Gale, Susan Keats, Hing Man Chan & Sonia D. Wesche To cite this article: Tiff-Annie Kenny, Jullian MacLean, Patrick Gale, Susan Keats, Hing Man Chan & Sonia D. Wesche (2018) Linking health and the environment through education—A Traditional Food Program in Inuvik, Western Canadian Arctic, Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, 13:3, 429-432, DOI: 10.1080/19320248.2017.1420330 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2017.1420330

Published online: 10 Jan 2018.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 62

View Crossmark data

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=when20

JOURNAL OF HUNGER & ENVIRONMENTAL NUTRITION 2018, VOL. 13, NO. 3, 429–432 https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2017.1420330

Linking health and the environment through education—A Traditional Food Program in Inuvik, Western Canadian Arctic Tiff-Annie Kennya, Jullian MacLeanb, Patrick Galec, Susan Keatsd, Hing Man Chana, and Sonia D. Weschee a Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada; bInuvialuit Regional Corporation, Community Development Division, Inuvik, Canada; cEdward Milne Community School, Sooke, Canada (formerly East Three Schools, Inuvik, Canada); dDepartment of Health, Athabasca University, Inuvik, Canada; eDepartment of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

ABSTRACT

A Traditional Food Program was developed at East Three Schools (Inuvik, Northwest Territories) in the western Canadian Arctic as part of a research collaboration with school staff and local Indigenous organizations focused on building evidencedbased strategies to promote food security in the region. The program promoted youth engagement with traditional foods in a school-based setting, including the development of traditional knowledge and skills (e.g., butchering, cooking, and preserving). Students engaged in the full cycle of TF procurement—harvest, preparation, consumption, and sharing. While students benefitted from increased access to traditional foods in the short term, the capacity-building aspect has the potential to improve long term food security. Additional program benefits included enhanced traditional language learning with Elders and an ongoing connection with Inuvik’s Long Term Care Centre. More broadly, this program highlights the importance of experiential education for Indigenous youth, policy support for such activities, and the potential role of multisectoral partnerships in addressing food security challenges.

KEYWORDS

School program; traditional food; Indigenous; inuit; first nation; Arctic

Traditional Food Program development Indigenous peoples of the Canadian Arctic have sustained themselves by harvesting local wildlife and plants (termed “traditional food” (TF)) for CONTACT Sonia D. Wesche, Ph.D. [email protected] Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada. Web: http://www.geography.uottawa.ca/prof/wesche.htm

FIELD NOTES: people, programs, & policies* * The Field Notes column presents best practices in community-based projects and programs that address hunger and environmental nutrition issues. The Journal will highlight the work of an organization or program that exemplifies the goals of the Journal to examine hunger and the interconnectedness among individual, political, and institutional factors that govern how people produce, procure, and consume food and the implications on nutrition and health. Readers are encouraged to submit original contributions on programs and/or project “snapshots” that give a program or project’s mission, objectives, implementation process, outcomes, evaluation and contact information. Limit to 500-800 words. Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/WHEN. © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

430

T.-A. KENNY ET AL.

millennia. Rapid sociocultural change during recent decades, however, has fostered greater reliance on store-bought foods (particularly those of poor nutritional quality)1,2 and eroded subsistence-based economies and lifestyles. In the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR) in the western Canadian Arctic, nearly half (46%) of Inuit households experience food insecurity, a rate significantly exceeding the Canadian average (6.1%).3 In response to a strategic planning process to address regional food security challenges,4 we worked with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (Inuit land claim organization) and school staff to collaboratively develop a Traditional Food Program (TFP) at East Three Schools in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. The goal was to support youth in acquiring traditional knowledge and skills in a school-based setting by convening youth, harvesters, and Elders around traditional food and medicine. Through varied activities, the program addressed a number of community-identified priorities4: capacity building regarding traditional food procurement and preparation; training in identifying local vegetation; further incorporating traditional skills in the school curriculum; and promoting experiential learning opportunities for students.

Research setting Inuvik (pop. ~3200 in 2016) is a planned Arctic community situated at the confluence of the traditional territories of the Inuvialuit (Inuit) and Gwich’in (Athapaskan) Peoples. During the mid-twentieth century, Indigenous peoples of the region transitioned from seminomadic lifestyles into permanent communities, and by the 1970s most Indigenous children were enrolled in residential day schools.5 Today, East Three Schools (elementary and secondary) service over 700 students from Inuvik and the surrounding communities.

Implementation and activities The TFP increased opportunities for students to engage in the full cycle of TF procurement—harvest, preparation, consumption, and sharing. Two students were hired to assist with program development and delivery, and implementation involved the participation of local harvesters, Elders, and communitybased organizations (e.g., Hunters and Trappers Committee). Students from grades 7 to 12 participated in a suite of TF activities on the land, in the classroom, and in the community (Figure 1). On-the-land activities included identifying and gathering traditional medicinal plants and berries, and harvesting birch tree sap to prepare syrup. Elders shared stories of life on the land before permanent settlements and about the importance of berries to traditional culture in the region. Subsequently, an Elder led students in preparing recipes with the berries and shared

JOURNAL OF HUNGER & ENVIRONMENTAL NUTRITION

431

Traditional plants and medicine (on-the-land and in the classroom) •Identifying local vegetation; learning about nutritional and medicinal values of local plants •Gathering local berries (e.g. cranberries, crowberries) •Learning to collect birch sap and make birch syrup •Learning to prepare and preserve local berries, and about their nutritional importance Traditonal food preparation (in the classroom) •Expanding the scope of Foods classes •Traditional food butchering •Traditional food preparation / recipes •Traditional food preservation Traditional food sharing (in the commmunity) •Preparing stews and soups with traditional food to share with Elders •Preserving (e.g. freezing and drying) animal parts highly valued by Elders (e.g. fish heads, caribou bones) and donating them to the community Elder luncheon program Intergenerational connections (in the community) •Convening Elders and youth on a weekly basis to prepare traditional food with the Long Term Care Centre •Building planter boxes for donation to the Long Term Care Centre

Figure 1. Summary of Traditional Food Program themes and activities.

knowledge about their nutritional and medicinal value. Berry-based foods were shared with younger students during snack breaks. Middle and high school students enrolled in Foods classes learned traditional (and contemporary) methods of butchering, preparing, and preserving (e.g., smoking and drying) various TF species (e.g., Arctic char and caribou) from community Elders. Once prepared, these TF provided nutritious snacks and meals to students and were also shared with community Elder programs. A series of food-based activities were also developed in partnership with the Intergenerational Program, a therapeutic recreation program at the Inuvik’s Long Term Care Centre (LTCC), to promote intergenerational connections and build on the inherent strength of Elders to share their traditional knowledge with youth. During the scholastic year, middle school students visited the LTCC weekly to prepare traditional food with Elders. Outcomes The complete TFP ran from spring 2015 to spring 2016, while the traditional food activities with the LTCC remain ongoing. While provisioning an abundant supply of TF for use in school activities (e.g., community feasts), the program provided an opportunity for Elders, harvesters, and Indigenous community organizations to support hands-on traditional ways of teaching—on-the-land,

432

T.-A. KENNY ET AL.

in the classroom, and in the community—and a means of valorizing traditional knowledge and skills. Resultant increases in youth capacity regarding traditional skills and knowledge enhances community food security potential over the long term. Indigenous language learning (Inuvialuktun and Gwich’in) emerged as an extension to TFP activities. More broadly, this program highlights the merits of place-based, experiential education for Indigenous youth and the need for appropriate policy to sustain these activities over the long term. Furthermore, it illustrates the potential of multisectoral collaborations between researchers, the education sector, and community-based organizations in Indigenous communities to address important food security challenges. Funding Project funding was provided by the Students for Canada’s North program at the University of Ottawa, and the Canada Research Chair Program.

References 1. Erber E, Hopping BN, Beck L, Sheehy T, De Roose E, Sharma S. Assessment of dietary adequacy in a remote Inuvialuit population. J Hum Nutr Dietetics. 2010;23(Supplement 1):35–42. doi:10.1111/j.1365-277X.2010.01098.x. 2. Kuhnlein HV, Receveur O, Soueida R, Egeland GM. Arctic Indigenous peoples experience the nutrition transition with changing dietary patterns and obesity. J Nutr. 2004;134(6):1447–1453. 3. Egeland GM. Inuit Health Survey 2007-2008: Inuvialuit Settlement Region. Montreal, Quebec: Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment; 2010. https:// www.mcgill.ca/cine/files/cine/adult_report_-_inuvialuit.pdf 4. Fillion M, Laird B, Douglas V, Van Pelt L, Archie D, Chan HM. Development of a strategic plan for food security and safety in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Canada. Int J Circumpolar Health. 2014;73(1):25091. doi:10.3402/ijch.v73.25091. 5. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Canada’s Residential Schools: The Inuit and Northern Experience: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Vol. 2. McGill-Queen’s University Press; 2015. www.jstor. org/stable/j.ctt19rm9tm.