Decolonizing Our Plates: Restoring Our Health
Image Description: Image of the Welcome Mural at NorWest Co-Op Community Food Centre, who provided us space for this gathering.
On May 25, team members from Righting Relations Canada and the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights were joined by over 40 food stakeholders from over 20 organizations that came together in Winnipeg, MB to discuss food security. We are so thankful to our hosts at NorWest Co-Op Community Food Centre who welcomed us and provided an amazing lunch for all attendees. There was an incredible amount of engagement and conversation from all, and we appreciated all the input that was provided and having the chance to learn more about the challenges and great work being done by the community.
Image description: A picture of the lunch attendees enjoyed at the Winnipeg gathering, including a bowl of wild rice and asparagus soup, bannock, salad, and fruit.
A lot of the Calls to Action from the Winnipeg Food Security Report spoke to those in attendance, but a few that were highlighted included: Access to enough food and the impacts on well-being of both people and organizations as inflation and costs of living increase, creating an increase in demand and strain on those who are trying to fill the gaps. Guaranteed Basic Income was piloted with CERB and we know it’s successful, so there is a large desire to push and advocate for this. The desire for many in the community to become more self-reliant and build their skills and capacity toward achieving food sovereignty is something many organizations identified. And the ongoing gaps in funding continue to be an issue, leading many organizations to competing or being unable to sufficiently plan long-term, and many programs face risks of being unable to continue due to inconsistent funding. There is a need for collective advocacy and spaces for connection and collaboration so that community organizations can work together to push for long-term changes to policy and strengthen existing work, rather than continuing to work in silos.
We express our gratitude to everyone who joined us at these gatherings, to the fantastic facilitators and hosts who granted us use of their space and time, for the nourishing food that we enjoyed and the many connections that were made. A fantastic art piece was also produced to memorialize this gathering, created by talented local artist, Azka, pictured below. You can find them on Instagram: @azka.jpg
Image Description: The background is white, within the background is a hand that holds up some food in the middle of the image.In the forefront of the center of the hand is the outline of a teepee in black. The title, in large black writing at the top of the image states: Decolonizing our Plates, Restoring our Health. On the bottom there is additional large black writing stating: Indigenous Food Sovereignty is Solidarity. On the right hand side of the hand is the words Blackfoot Nation in black writing - the words are broken up into 5 levels, so it reads “BLA, CKF, OOT, NAT, ION”. On the left side of the hand is more black writing that reads: “Colonialism forcibly displaced Indigenous communities and poisoned the land. It has led to food insecurity, loss of biodiversity, cultural erosion, and health disparities.
During the Winnipeg session, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs was mentioned several times, and it was highlighted that this was inspired by Blackfoot teachings. This and other discussion items are what inspired the artwork created. Here is an article that showcases the relationship between blackfoot teachings and maslow’s hierarchy of needs: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2021-06-18/the-blackfoot-wisdom-that-inspired-maslows-hierarchy/
To get involved in Righting Relations Circles, Change Labs or for other questions around our Food Security Reports, contact our local coordinators:
Edmonton Food Circle Coordinators: Jessica - jessica@jhcentre.org
Regina Circle Coordinator: Lisa Oodle - reginacircle@rightingrelations.org
Winnipeg/MB Circle Coordinator: Mehrangiz Monsef - winnipegcircle@rightingrelations.org
Righting Relations West Hub website: Western Canada Regional Hub - Righting Relations
Our fantastic group of facilitators and local artist:
Top left-right: Mehrangiz, Lisa, Miriam, Azka (local artist), Jessica. Bottom - Esther
Image Description: The background is a beige wall with 3 large pieces of flipchart paper held up with green tape, with guiding questions/discussion points from the day’s conversations. Several multi-colored post it notes adorn each piece of paper that represents attendee’s contributions to those points. In the foreground, 6 people smile and group together for the photo. The top row has 5 people - from left to right: Mehrangiz is wearing a pink shawl and has curly hair; Lisa has short grey hair and is wearing a black blazer and yellow blouse; Miriam has very short black hair and glasses, and is wearing a patterned sweater; Azka is a local artist and has shorter black hair; and is wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, with their hands clasped together in front of them. Jessica is last on the far right, with shoulder-length brown hair and glasses, wearing a black top, long gold necklace and jeans with their hands clasped in front as well. Esther is kneeling on the floor in front of them, has short black hair pulled back from their face, making a peace sign (v shape with index and middle fingers) with both hands, and is wearing a white blouse with a collar.