In 2019, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) released a report containing 231 Calls to Justice to address the disproportionate level of violence faced by Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in Canada. Six years later, there has been little progress towards implementing the Calls to Justice, and the MMIWG crisis remains urgent. As four women (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) engaged in Indigenous food systems work, we analyzed the calls to action through a food studies lens and highlighted key connections between gendered violence against Indigenous bodies and food studies. Calls for all governments; calls for industries, institutions, services and partnerships; and distinctions-based calls were all deemed relevant to food studies, with areas of interest including human security, culture, extractive and development industry, and correctional services. We offer these connections between MMIWG and food studies as a call to action for settler food systems scholars and practitioners to engage with these calls in their own work in order to advance justice for, and prioritize the safety and wellbeing of, Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. We urge settlers to practice kinship with the land and Indigenous Peoples as a way to hold the government accountable to the 231 Calls, and discuss rematriation as a path towards addressing the MMIWG crisis in Canada.

In 2024, our team organized the pan-Canadian, bilingual event, “Food insecurity: Let’s move beyond charity!” / “L’insécurité alimentaire : allons au-delà de la charité!”, which convened community and academic actors in a discussion of food insecurity in the country. In addition to serving as a space for knowledge exchange, the event anchored a broader set of collaborative efforts with the participating community groups, efforts that began well before the event and continued in the weeks that followed. In these fieldnotes, we report on our approach to this work, the importance of community-academia dialogue, and the challenges and opportunities for food security work in institutional contexts. Our observations suggest that community-engaged activities require a significant time and administrative commitment as well as careful navigation of institutional obstacles. Such efforts, however, are justified by the value of community expertise when discussing issues of significant social importance.

In this paper, we invite readers to engage with different possibilities for relating to the world and to food by imagining and enacting future food systems rooted in relational ontologies and interrupting the ontological dominance of settler-colonial food systems. We outline a framework that supports individuals, communities, and organizations to unlearn and disinvest from a Eurocentric agrifood paradigm that requires violence and oppression, and employs neoliberal, racist, patriarchal, capitalist logics. The framework is intended to provide language and concepts that may support food system actors to engage with critiques of colonialism, and their own complicities in maintaining contemporary food systems and structures. We advance promising pathways to creating relational communities of respect, care, accountability, and reciprocity These pathways are vital to healing intergenerational trauma, embodying reciprocal forms of mutual aid, unlearning dominant ontological and epistemological foundations, and imagining and enacting alternative food system configurations and relationships to food, nature, and other-than human beings in pursuit of just food futures and food sovereignties.

Introduction This inaugural column by the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Editorial Circle (IFSEC) in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD) introduces a dedicated section of articles on Indigenous food sovereignty in partnership with First Nations Development Institute (FNDI). The column and the IFSEC reflect both our mission to work toward a more equitable and just food sys­tem, and JAFSCD’s long-standing commitment to Indigenous food sovereignty, illustrated by the 2019 special issue[1] on “Indigenous Food Sover­eignty of North America.” An Indigenous-led edi­torial circle as part of JAFSCD, IFSEC uplifts Indigenous values and community food system aspirations in academic publishing. As an intro­duction to the IFSEC, this column will briefly outline the centrality of food, place, and learning in Indigenous lifeways, the main differences between Indigenous and Western approaches to the food system, and some thoughts on the role of Indige­nous ways of knowing and being for the collective flourishing of humanity and all our relations, human and otherwise. The cycle of themes, along with other emergent topics related to Indigenous food systems, will thread throughout future columns. The current geographic focus in­cludes the continental United States, Hawai’i, and Canada. The geographic scope is determined by the terri­torial affiliations of IFSEC members and may broaden to include other nations and regions over time. [1] See the special issue, JAFSCD volume 9, supplement 2, at https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2019.09B.024

Interconnected health between humans, animals, and the land is a concept held by many Indigenous Peoples. Systematic problems such as climate change, zoonotic diseases, environmental contamination, and commercialized food systems threaten the collective health of creation. This article explores Indigenous perspectives of One Health through the concepts of well-being taught from Cree and Secwepemc perspectives. The ethics of living a "good life" are embedded in both Secwepemc and Cree languages and hold a responsibility to be in good relation with your food system. Being well is more than meeting nutritional requirements for survival, but also caring for the connections between the land, food systems, culture, and knowledge. Indigenous scholars have critiqued One Health research for not fully encompassing collective health and breaking relationships into parts, such as the narrowed focus on zoonotic disease transmission. The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs released a statement rejecting factory farming due to its disrespect toward animals and its impacts on the environment. Given the disrespect, oppression, and violence commercialized farms possess, they cannot be a part of living a good life. If One Health research focuses on the relationships between the land and food systems, we could address the cause of the imbalance rather than mitigating its symptoms.

This paper explores the crucial role of Cree elders’ knowledge in revitalizing Indigenous food sovereignty, focusing on food as a cornerstone of Cree identity, spirituality, and wellbeing. Based on a study of Cree elders in Manitoba in 2020, this paper highlights the depth of Cree food knowledge, intertwined with spiritual practices, language, and land ethics. Using an Indigenous research paradigm, ten Cree elders were interviewed and shared their experiences of traditional communal practices, the detrimental impacts of colonialism on food systems, and the spiritual connections between food, land, and community. The elders emphasized the need for education and the preservation of Cree languages, which encode critical knowledge for sustaining food practices. Through their stories, elders illustrated how food sovereignty is not merely about physical sustenance but involves maintaining sacred relationships and responsibilities to the land and all its inhabitants. This research underscores the importance of Cree knowledge in reclaiming and sustaining Indigenous food systems, essential for the health and resilience of Cree communities.

Introduction This inaugural column by the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Editorial Circle (IFSEC) in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD) introduces a dedicated section of articles on Indigenous food sovereignty in partnership with First Nations Development Institute (First Nations). The column and the IFSEC reflect both our mission to work toward a more equitable and just food sys¬tem, and JAFSCD’s long-standing commitment to Indigenous food sovereignty, illustrated by the 2019 special issue on “Indigenous Food Sovereignty of North America.” An Indigenous-led editorial circle as part of JAFSCD, IFSEC uplifts Indigenous values and community food system aspirations in academic publishing. As an introduction to the IFSEC, this column will briefly outline the centrality of food, place, and learning in Indigenous lifeways, the main differences between Indigenous and Western approaches to the food system, and some thoughts on the role of Indigenous ways of knowing and being for the collective flourishing of humanity and all our relations, human and otherwise. The cycle of themes, along with other emergent topics related to Indigenous food systems, will thread throughout future columns. The current geographic focus includes the continental United States, Hawai’i, and Canada. The geographic scope is determined by the territorial affiliations of IFSEC members and may broaden to include other nations and regions over time.

There is growing interest among Western-trained scientists in engaging with Indigenous sciences. This interest has arisen in response to social pressures to reckon with the colonial foundations of Western science and decentre Western ways of knowing, as well as recognition of the need to draw upon the gifts of multiple knowledge systems to address today's many complex social and ecological challenges. However, colonial patterns and power relations are often reproduced at the interface between Western and Indigenous sciences, including the reproduction of epistemic Eurocentrism and extractive modes of relationship between settlers and Indigenous Peoples. This paper seeks to support Western-trained scientists to recognize and interrupt these patterns in order to create the conditions for more ethical, respectful, and reciprocal engagements with Indigenous sciences. We also offer a map of the different ways that Western sciences have thus far engaged Indigenous sciences. We particularly highlight the emergent possibilities offered by a reparative approach to engagement that emphasizes the responsibility of Western science to enact material and relational repair for historical and ongoing harm, including by supporting Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty in science and beyond.

This article examines the extent to which Indige­nous-led food systems and sovereignty goals, frameworks, and priorities are recognized, affirmed, and supported within the agri-food pub­lic sector. For this study, we focus on the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), but the findings and analysis have implications for settler-Indigenous relations more broadly. First, we situate Indigenous food systems and sovereignties within the context of agri-food bureaucracies in Canada. We then present the research design, which involved 27 interviews with people working within or collaborating with OMAFRA on issues related to agricultural land use, programming, and development, and Indige­nous relations and food systems. The find­ings are categorized into five themes: differing needs, visions, and priorities; land access, conver­sion, and health; representation; consultation and consent in agri-food programming; capacity build­ing. The findings reveal major gaps in Indigenous represen­tation, leadership, and control, and an absence of Indigenous-led planning and decision-making in the agri-food public sector. The findings further show that non-Indigenous people lack cru­cial knowledge concerning treaties and Indigenous rela­tionships to land and stewardship, which cre­ates ongoing and significant barriers to reconcilia­tion. We close by discussing key barriers and opportuni­ties for supporting Indigenous food sys­tem and sovereignty programming and ways forward for deepening settler knowledge of Indigenous issues and experiences. The perspec­tives shared in this study are intended to provide food system research, planning, policy, and practice with insights in order to begin to address structural injustices and better support Indigenous food sovereignty.

Food sovereignty is a relatively new concept in the literature that has evolved as a way to address widespread food-related issues for many Indigenous communities around the world. One of the many crucial lessons we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is the importance of this concept in ensuring food sufficiency in Indigenous communities in Canada. In this article, we provide a commentary on food insecurity in Indigenous communities in Canada and how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated it. We also highlight the government's response to mitigating hunger and spotlight how Indigenous peoples are navigating the pandemic's impact through food sovereignty.

Many Canadian universities have committed to becoming more accountable to Indigenous Peoples by confronting the systemic, historical, and ongoing colonialism and anti-Indigenous racism that shape their campuses. In this Perspective in Practice piece, we invite the field of dietetics to consider how colonialism has shaped dietetics research, teaching, and practice. We also consider how we might transform the field of dietetics in ways that accept settler responsibility for interrupting racism and colonial harm; support the resurgence of Indigenous food and health practices; and recognise the connections between struggles to ensure that Indigenous Peoples can access culturally appropriate food and health care, and struggles for Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. We do this by reviewing the history of the dietetics field, examining critical responses to existing Indigenisation and decolonisation efforts, and reflecting on recent changes to required dietetics competencies. We argue that curricula in dietetics programmes must teach the history of the colonial food system and equip students to identify and interrupt the individual and institutional colonial dynamics that contribute to the ongoing dispossession of Indigenous Peoples' lands and food sources and negatively impact Indigenous patients.

Historically, hunger was used as a tool of coercion and manipulation, and as a weapon to eradicate Indigenous populations. Through policy decisions, the support for and removal of Indigenous children, and other assimilative practices, social work has contributed to the perpetuation of ‘helping practices’ which damaged Indigenous cultures and well-being. Today, experiences of hunger are still tied to colonialism. There is a need to examine the complex history of feeding Indigenous peoples in Canada and to work to reclaim and heal Indigenous food systems. For social work, this requires an emphasis on Indigenous ways of helping led by Indigenous peoples.

Though qualitative methods are often an appropriate Indigenous methodology and have dominated the literature on Indigenous research methods, they are not the only methods available for health research. There is a need for decolonizing and Indigenizing quantitative research methods, particularly in the discipline of epidemiology, to better address the public health needs of Indigenous populations who continue to face health inequities because of colonial systems, as well as inaccurate and incomplete data collection about themselves. For the last two decades, researchers in colonized countries have been calling for a specifically Indigenous approach to epidemiology that recognizes the limits of Western epidemiological methods, incorporates more Indigenous research methodologies and community-based participatory research methods, builds capacity by training more Indigenous epidemiologists, and supports Indigenous self-determination. Indigenous epidemiology can include a variety of approaches, including: shifting standards, such as age standardization, according to Indigenous populations to give appropriate weight to their experiences; carefully setting recruitment targets and using appropriate recruitment methods to fulfill statistical standards for stratification; acting as a bridge between Indigenous and Western technoscientific perspectives; developing culturally appropriate data collection tools; and developing distinct epidemiological methods based on Indigenous knowledge systems. This paper explores how decolonization and Indigenization of epidemiology has been operationalized in recent Canadian studies and projects, including the First Nations Regional Longitudinal Health Survey and how this decolonization and Indigenization might be augmented with the capacity-building of the future Our Health Counts Applied Indigenous Epidemiology, Health Information, and Health Services and Program Evaluation Training and Mentorship Program in Canada.

There is a deep and troubling history on Turtle Island of settler authorities asserting control over traditional foods, market-based and other introduced foods for Indigenous peoples. Efforts to control Indigenous diets and bodies have resulted in direct impacts to the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being of Indigenous peoples. Food insecurity is not only a symptom of settler colonialism, but part of its very architecture. The bricks and mortar of this architecture are seen through the rules and regulations that exist around the sharing and selling of traditional or land-based foods. Risk discourses concerning traditional foods work to the advantage of the settler state, overlooking the essential connections between land and food for Indigenous peoples. This article explores the ways in which the Canadian settler state undermined and continues to undermine Indigenous food sovereignty through the imposition of food safety rules and regulations across federal, provincial, and territorial jurisdictions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and cost economies trillions of dollars. Yet state responses have done little to address the negative externalities of the corporate food regime, which has contributed to, and exacerbated, the impacts of the pandemic. In this paper, we build on calls from the grassroots for states to undertake a strategic dismantling of the corporate food regime through redistributive policies and actions across scales, financed through reparations by key actors in the corporate food regime. We present a strategic policy framework drawn from the food sovereignty movement, outlined here as the “5Ds of Redistribution”: Decolonization, Decarbonization, Diversification, Democratization, and Decommodification. We then consider what would need to occur post-redistribution to ensure that the corporate food regime does not re-emerge, and pose five guiding principles grounded in Indigenous food sover¬eignty to rebuild regenerative food systems, out¬lined here as the “5Rs of Regeneration”: Relation¬ality, Respect, Reciprocity, Responsibility, and Rights. Together these ten principles for redistri¬bution and regeneration provide a framework for food systems transformation after COVID-19.

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has focused renewed public attention on the risks and harms generated by a globalized, industrialized, and corporatized food system. This crisis reinvigorates the need for a research agenda that identifies compelling ways of holding key actors in the corporate food regime accountable for creating and profiting from systemic risk in the food system. We draw upon theoretical conceptions of “risk,” “rights,” and “(ir)responsibility” to raise questions about how to move beyond narrow liberal notions of responsibility for postpandemic recovery. Redefining responsibility could be transformative in the pursuit of corporate accountability for past and present harms, and in financing pathways towards less risky, more resilient, and more just food systems of the future.

Indigenous peoples’ health is often reported through physical health disparities and prevalence of chronic disease experiences. Western perspectives often quantify health by reducing it to a set of numbers using a bio-medical approach. Health for Indigenous peoples in Canada is experienced more holistically, through a broader concept of “being well”, which is achieved through relationships to other people, to the land and creation, and to our ancestors in the spiritual realm. Using this Indigenous lens, the notion of health is applied to the food systems and to healthy eating. Indigenous peoples maintain their health through accessing fresh, original and healthy foods on their traditional lands. In order do so, traditional food systems are composed of a network of complex relationships that include the physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual aspects of learning and teaching ways of the land as well as food skills. These relationships feed people holistically through the connection to the land and vice versa. Colonization has created numerous barriers for Indigenous peoples to be healthy on their own terms. There is a great deal of pain associated with food for Indigenous peoples as a result of starvation tactics during treaty negotiation processes, residential schools, nutrition experiments, and hunting and fishing laws which have impacted Indigenous peoples’ ability to eat original foods and maintain their health. The concepts of health and wellbeing, in the context of Indigenous food systems and cultures, should be adapted to serve the needs and represent the realities of Indigenous peoples.

Food sovereignty has recently emerged as a means of addressing pervasive food-related problems in many Indigenous communities in Canada as well as around the world. This is particularly important for Indigenous people who still face threats to their food systems directly stemming from colonialism. Stories of community-based Indigenous food sovereignty are presented in this paper. Outcomes are summarized using a circle metaphor that describes four key elements of Indigenous food sovereignty that emerged from this research: history, connection to the land, relationships, and identity. Indigenous food sovereignty requires that we move beyond access to food, and critically interrogate Indigenous relationships to food. This is founded upon the notion that people should be able to be self-determinant in their own food and cultural traditions. Progress requires a shift in how Indigenous food relationships are understood and incorporating Indigenous worldviews and perspectives as part of a larger resurgence movement.