Maamawitaawining

Decision-Making at the Community Level

For the members of Red Rock Indian Band, the moose hang and butcher shop are one big step towards food sovereignty.

The moose hang, built in 2019, can hold four moose at a time, and serves as a communal space for dressing moose during the traditional fall harvest. Next came a butcher shop for processing and storing wild game. The butcher shop is called Maamawitaawining, which means “at the gathering place.” The grand opening, held last year on September 30, Canada’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, was a great celebration, says Chief Marcus Hardy. “The impact of food planning on the community is extremely positive, for many reasons.”

“People are producing their own food. There is planning, and strategizing. It wakes up young people to think about a different direction, to be not just a consumer but a provider and producer, and taking care of your own,” Hardy adds.

Accessing affordable and healthy food can be a challenge for many living in northern Ontario. For Indigenous people, those challenges are compounded by the historical and ongoing impacts of colonization. More than just a fundamental need, food is sacred and central to the identities and traditions of Indigenous peoples. The loss of their food sovereignty has affected their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

A community food sovereignty plan is a way for people to exercise more control over the food available in their community and to work toward food security at a local level. The Thunder Bay District Health Unit (TBDHU) recognizes the importance of Indigenous food sovereignty as well as the challenge of accessing affordable, fresh and healthy food in many First Nation communities.

In support of reclaiming their food sovereignty, the Red Rock Indian Band works with a number of partners and sponsors, including Understanding Our Food Systems, a collaborative action-based project led by 14 First Nation communities and supported by a partnership with the TBDHU and the Indigenous Food Circle. The project works with a variety of organizations to help meet the unique needs of each community. “We are a sovereign nation. We want to be dependent on ourselves for growing and harvesting, and educating our young people what foods to grow and harvest and to distribute to the community. We want to bridge the gap between elders and youth,” Hardy says.

The band also started a community garden, where people can take what they need. The community’s goal is to be self-sustaining; to have the capacity to feed themselves, and, equally important, to make their own decisions. “It’s a better quality of life when you are in control, it’s less expensive, and keeps money in the bank,” says Hardy.

The band also hopes to open a farmers’ market by expanding their gardens and greenhouses. “[That’s] a chance for economic value,” he adds. “You plant a seed and you have to wait, but there is that pride.”

Food Secure Canada defines food sovereignty as “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems." This means people and communities have the power to make their own choices.

Food security, according to the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security, means that “all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.”

“It’s a better quality of life when you are in control, it’s less expensive, and keeps money in the bank.”