UNDERSTAND THE CHALLENGE

European and American settlement of North America displaced Indigenous peoples from their lands, stripping them of their resources, and denying them access to traditional foods, which resulted in widespread food insecurity. 

Ongoing discrimination and land grabs for development and extractive industries like mining, dams, and logging on ancestral lands has likewise pushed down the livelihoods and traditions of Indigenous peoples.

In Canada, 33% of off-reserve First Nation and Métis consider food insecurity prevalent and harmful, compared to 9% food insecurity among non-Indigenous Canadians. Conditions for on-reserve Indigenous communities are worse, with approximately 54% of people food insecure.

In the U.S., one in four Native Americans lack reliable access to healthy foods, and Indigenous peoples are disproportionately affected by diet-related diseases.

According to Food Secure Canada, Inuit, First Nations, Inuit and Métis folks across the North experience five to six times higher levels of food insecurity than the Canadian national average. People living in Nunavut have the highest documented rate of food insecurity among Indigenous populations in developed countries.

Indigenous food security is being further threatened by the spraying of glyphosate (weedkillers) on adjacent forest lands where they gather wild berries, flowers, roots, bark and plants for food and medicine.

Indigenous nations and communities have the right to revitalize their local food systems in order to have access to healthy and culturally appropriate foods, control of their own food system, and the ability to choose their own food-producing resources—free of control or limitations by outside governments or organizations.