Cultivating Food Security: Indigenous Food Systems on Vancouver Island outlines the story of food sovereignty for Indigenous People on Vancouver Island

Cultivating Food Security: Indigenous Food Systems on Vancouver Island outlines the story of food sovereignty for Indigenous People on Vancouver Island, past and present; and presents some hopes for the future. This report, one of four created as part of VICRA’s Local Food Project, a collaboration involving community and academics, draws on information gathered from First Nations’ organizations, and literature from both academic and community sources. The first section highlights how the principle of stewardship rather than ownership of natural resources; trade for purposes of food diversity, learning skills and social relations; combined with abundant resources, created a sustainable lifestyle for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. The second section describes the change from respectful trade between First Nations and Europeans to colonization policies that eroded both food security and food sovereignty for First Nations peoples. The third section, ‘What Is’, describes the impact colonization is having on the diets and traditional practices of First Nations on Vancouver Island as well as the cultural shift taking place to revive those traditional practices and diet. The third section, ‘What Can Be’, highlights opportunities for action including increased knowledge and awareness of traditional practices for both Indigenous and non-indigenous peoples of Vancouver Island; processes for protecting medicinal plants, and; protection of natural resources, moving towards conceptualizing our relationship with the land and surrounding sea as stewards rather than owners.