About

First Peoples Food  Wellness Hub

For First Peoples, our lands have historically provided us with sustenance, nourishment and medicines that have maintained our health and well-being since time immemorial. Our food systems and land-based ways of life, nurtured within our social, spiritual, and cultural ways of being, are our processes of sharing and practicing knowledge and values. During this time of reclamation, a growing consensus from mainstream society and science is sharing and demonstrating what Indigenous peoples have known all along: that strong connections to land and food systems results in improved physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional health.

First Peoples across British Columbia are diverse, yet share a common goal, to protect our food systems and support the health and well-being of our communities and future generations. With the release of the 2019 Canada’s food guide, Health Canada committees to working with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis partners to support the development of Indigenous-led healthy eating (food wellness) tools, that recognize and honour the specific and unique cultures, traditions, languages, knowledges, and needs of First Peoples. Rooted in this commitment, the Indigenous Food Wellness Advisory was formed; an incredible group of Indigenous food champions and leaders from across B.C.

The need for distinctions-based food wellness tools for the First Peoples of these lands has been raised by the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), regional health authorities’ Indigenous health team leaders, the B.C. Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres, as well as from First Nations communities directly. In 2022, a tripartite partnership was formed between I·SPARC, Sa̱nala Planning, B.C. Ministry of Health and Health Canada to begin a multi-year, province-wide engagement process to first determine what type of ‘food wellness tool’ would be most helpful to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples across BC in supporting their families and communities. This needed to consider the geographic, linguistic, and cultural diversity of the territories.

The First Peoples Food Wellness Hub was created to honour and raise up the diversity of Indigenous knowledge around food wellness and holistic health to support the well-being of Indigenous peoples in B.C. This website is a living knowledge basket, a place to share all of the incredible region-specific resources that already exist, as well as create a space for future tools and resources. This virtual space shares and honours resources related to food and wellness while recognizing the geographic and cultural diversity of First Peoples in B.C., and was created through a process that’s Indigenous-led, trauma-informed, self-determined, and honours Indigenous food sovereignty.

Resource Hub Intentions

The intention of the First Peoples Food Wellness Hub is to honour and raise up Indigenous knowledges around food wellness and holistic health to support the well-being of Indigenous peoples across B.C.

Indigenous Food Wellness Advisory

This project is taking leadership from the Indigenous Food Wellness Advisory (IFWA), an advisory of Indigenous peoples from across B.C. which was created for them to be able to share their knowledge and guide this work. Over the duration of this project hundreds of people have offered their insights, ancestral teachings, and guidance. This is the work and product of many minds coming together. It is important to note that members at the time of the Hub’s launch include Leah Morgan, Qwustenuxun Williams, Rachel Greening (Dickens), Kymberlee Stogan, Shannon Peltier, Geddes Wells, Shyla Cross, Cheryl Schweizer, Teleia Dettieh, and Tara Ritchie. The knowledge held by and brought forward by IFWA is the result of generations of hard work and kinship to land before them. Members of IFWA have been the recipients of knowledge from many teachers and having been able to hold onto this information, were able to share this wealth of generational wisdom with this project. We raise our hands to the ancestors of this land for their commitment to regenerative foodways since time immemorial and for beautifully and intentionally passing along their teachings to the next generations. May the continuation of knowledge reclamation grow stronger through this work. May the people and the land continue to reconnect for the betterment of all.

About Our Logo

This beautiful logo was created over many rounds of discussion with the Indigenous Food Wellness Advisory and include five sections of holistic wellness: lands and waters, plants, animals, community, and food tools. These components of the logo are all gathered and held within the birch knowledge basket, a motif you will see repeated throughout the Hub." Also change/replace titles of logo sections to correspond with above text "lands and water, plants, animals, community and food tools.