Indigenous Food Systems Network

For the purpose of promoting social learning and a deeper cross cultural understanding of the current situations, issues and concerns in one of the last remaining sensitive alpine mountain ecosystems in the Southern Interior Plateau of B.C., this presentation will discuss the negative impacts of the Sun Peaks Ski Resort development on culturally important food harvesting sites in an area known to the Secwepemc (Shuswap First Peoples) as Skwelkwekwelt (highest alpine mountains).

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The following file is a 261 KB pdf document you many need to download Adobe Reader to open the file.

Mountain Forum Presentation Paper Apr .08.pdf

With a process of developing a new fishing policy for the small-scale sector ahead of us, we feel that it is the right time to discuss how and at what level fishers are going to participate in the process. Fisheries management science and empirical evidence from participatory management programmes in South Africa and abroad clearly indicate that shared responsibility and participation is a precondition for successful small-scale fisheries management.

Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions among Canada’s Aboriginal People. Because of unique genetic, social and lifestyle circumstances, they are 3 to 5 times more likely than the general population to be diagnosed with the disease. Along with this diagnosis comes an increased risk of serious complications—for children, adolescents and adults alike. Diabetes complications include heart disease, kidney failure, stroke, blindness, and amputations.

Subsistence harvesting is the hunting, fishing, and gathering of natural resources to meet the
food, fuel, clothing, and livelihood needs of individuals, households, and communities. The
exchange of subsistence products is embedded within the social relations existing with communities
and can take various forms such as gift, reciprocal exchange, barter, and sale. This position paper focuses on subsistence fisheries in Canada.

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Subsistence_Fishing_in_Canada.pdf

Representatives of Indigenous Peoples from the regions of Asia, the Pacific, Latin America, North America, Africa and Northern Europe, gathered at the Global Forum for Peoples’ Food Sovereignty in Rome from the 13th to the 17th of November 2009.

Reaffirming our right to Food sovereignty, which is intrinsically linked to our historical, cultural and spiritual relations with our Mother Earth, our lands and territories,

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The following file is a 97 KB pdf document you many need to download Adobe Reader to open the file.

Declaration of Indigenous Peoples for Food Sovereignty Rome 2009.pdf

To improve health care, education, and prevention, a larger cultural and historical contextual framework is needed which pays heed to the impact of colonization and its effects on Native peoples. Such a holistic framework evaluates the long-term impact of introduced diseases and the cultural trauma caused by the removal of Indians to reservations (Jaimes 1992), the boarding school era (Johansen 2000), and the forced sterilizations of Native women (Carpio 1995; Torpy 1998).

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The following file is a 458 KB pdf document you many need to download Adobe Reader to open the file.

Culture_Colonization_Policy_Native_American_Health .pdf

The purpose of this article is to provide, to tribes faced with an era of genetic research, some guidance about how to establish strong protections over their genetic material and Indigenous knowledge. The first section will discuss why genetic material should be protected as cultural property and will briefly examine why tribes need to be concerned about research involving genetic material and Indigenous knowledge, with a particular focus on human genetic research. The second section will examine a variety of examples of human genetic research on Indigenous peoples.