Close to the land: Connecting northern Indigenous communities and southern farming communities through food sovereignty

Abstract

Southern rural farming communities and northern Indigenous communities in the Prairie Provinces of Canada each experience the Globalized Agri-Food System (GAFS) as detrimental to their food sovereignty. This study explores the Northern food crisis from an Indigenous perspective. It examines the degree to which rural-settler and Indigenous food sovereignty initiatives can benefit by combining their resistance to the GAFS through North-South collaborative networks, and the pivotal role that youth and youth learning might play in achieving these ends. Insights derived from a youth-focused garden project in the South were complemented by interviews with youth and adults in both locations. The outcomes of this research position the Northern food crisis as a justice issue with connections to culture, environment and food, which in turn reflect a historic and ongoing colonization of Indigenous territories and communities. Successful intercultural alliances towards Alternative Food Systems (AFS) must work towards Indigenous food sovereignty in addressing these issues.