Pellt̓éxel̓cten - August

Summer Harvest & Food Sovereignty

There is a growing movement to revitalize the practice of seed saving, both to save old varieties from extinction and to develop new locally-adapted plant varieties. For hundreds of years, gardeners and farmers routinely saved seed from their crops and built up a rich gene pool with thousands of heirloom varieties.

The Kamloops Food Policy has a Community Seed Library to encourage gardeners to grow and share local seeds. They also offer workshops and demonstrations on seed cleaning and seed saving, and promote the importance of plant biodiversity.

What is Indigenous Food Sovereignty?

According to the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Network - The food sovereignty movement is building around the world and while there is no universal definition, it can be described as the newest and most innovative approach to achieving the end goal of long term food security. Indigenous food sovereignty is a specific policy approach to addressing the underlying issues impacting Indigenous peoples and our ability to respond to our own needs for healthy, culturally adapted Indigenous foods.

Community mobilization and the maintenance of multi-millennial cultural harvesting strategies and practices provide a basis for forming and influencing "policy driven by practice".

While the language and concept of food sovereignty has only recently been introduced in Indigenous communities, the living reality is not a new one. Indigenous food related knowledge, values and wisdom built up over thousands of years provides a basis for identifying four key principles that guide the present day food sovereignty movement in Indigenous communities.

1. Sacred or divine sovereignty – Food is a gift from the Creator; in this respect the right to food is sacred and cannot be constrained or recalled by colonial laws, policies and institutions. Indigenous food sovereignty is fundamentally achieved by upholding our sacred responsibility to nurture healthy, interdependent relationships with the land, plants and animals that provide us with our food.
2. Participatory – IFS is fundamentally based on “action”, or the day to day practice of maintaining cultural harvesting strategies. To maintain Indigenous food sovereignty as a living reality for both present and future generations, continued participation in cultural harvesting strategies at all of the individual, family, community and regional levels is key.
3. Self-determination- The ability to respond to our own needs for healthy, culturally adapted Indigenous foods. The ability to make decisions over the amount and quality of food we hunt, fish, gather, grow and eat. Freedom from dependence on grocery stores or corporately controlled food production, distribution and consumption in industrialized economies.
4. Policy - IFS attempts to reconcile Indigenous food and cultural values with colonial laws and policies and mainstream economic activities. IFS thereby provides a restorative framework for policy reform in forestry, fisheries, rangeland, environmental conservation, health, agriculture, and rural and community development.

Let's Learn Secwépemctsín:

Video: Indigenous Food Sovereignty

In this video, Charlotte Coté explains Indigenous food sovereignty and outlines its importance for building and nourishing strong and healthy Indigenous nations and communities. She explores the role of traditional foods in Indigenous Peoples’ physical, emotional, and spiritual health. This video introduces chapter 18 of Introduction to Determinants of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples’ Health in Canada.

Indigenous Research Highlight

Beyond Food Security: Understanding Access to Cultural Food for Urban Indigenous People in Winnipeg as Indigenous Food Sovereignty

By Cidro, J., Adekunle, B., Peters, E., & Martens, T. (2015)

Access to safe, affordable and nutritious food is an obstacle facing many Indigenous people in the inner city of Winnipeg, which is known for having vast food deserts. While food security is an urgent social, economic, cultural and health issue for Indigenous people in urban areas, and particularly those living in inner city areas, there are some unique elements of food security related to cultural values. Access to cultural food in urban communities is a challenge for Indigenous people. This paper discusses the results of preliminary research conducted that explored the experiences and meanings associated with Indigenous cultural food for Indigenous people living in urban communities and the larger goals of what is being called "Indigenous Food Sovereignty" (IFS) with regards to cultural food specifically. Three themes which emerged from this research include (1) growing, harvesting, preparing and eating cultural food as ceremony, (2) cultural food as a part of connection to land through reciprocity and (3) re-learning IFS to address food insecurity in the city.

Upcoming Conferences & Call For Proposals

Our Children Our Way: A National Forum for Indigenous Child and Family Well-Being

November 2 – 5, 2025

Vancouver Convention Centre

999 Canada Place, Vancouver, BC

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN – CLICK HERE

National Conservation Gathering: Upholding our Relationship with Mother Earth and Stewarding for Abundance

Oct 07 - 08, 2025

Membertou Trade and Convention Centre, Nova Scotia

50 Autwen Ma’sl Awti, 50 Maillard St, Membertou, NS B1S 3W3

Registrations Open - Click Here

Forward Summit - Indigenous Entrepreneurship

WEST: September 3 & 4 • 2025, Vancouver, BC

EAST: October 8 & 9 Rama Nation, Orillia, ON

To register Click Here

FNESC Education Conference

December 5-6

Vancouver BC

Currently accepting applications to present & lead workshops

Apply here: Click Here

2026 International Indigenous Tourism Conference

Event Date: Feb 17 — 19 2026

Venue: Edmonton Convention Centre

Location: Edmonton, AB

To register Click Here

Vancouver Foundation: Participatory Action Research Grants

Participatory Action Research grants fund health-related research projects that investigate and understand the root causes of pressing health issues affecting our communities in BC.

The research must be a collaboration between a community service organization and an institution with access to an ethics board, such as a university, health authority, or other research-based organization. 

Types of grants: 

• Convene grants: up to $25,000, for up to one year
• Investigate grants: up to $100,000 per year, for up to three years
• Deadline: August 5, 2025 

For more information about this grant program, please visit: Vancouver Foundation

SSHRC Indigenous Capacity and Leadership in Research Connection Grants

All funding for opportunity are reserved for First Nations or Métis not-for-profit organizations, Indigenous not-for-profit organizations serving more than one distinction, or Indigenous postsecondary institutions. The portion of the federal budget commitment dedicated to the Inuit Peoples will be allocated through a separate funding mechanism. 

• Up to $50,000 for 1 year
• Deadline: September 23, 2025

For more information about this grant program, please visit: SSHRC ICRL Connection Grants

Indigenous Science and the Impacts of Plastic Pollution

To help reduce plastic waste and pollution and progress towards a circular economy for plastics, Environment and Climate Change Canada is partnering with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council on this joint initiative. The funding opportunity provides research funding support through Research Partnerships grants to address knowledge gaps about the potential impacts of plastic pollution on Indigenous communities through the various stages of the plastic lifecycle, focusing on social, cultural and economic impacts. 

• Up to $237,500 annually for up to 2 years 
• Deadline: October 16, 2025

For more information about this grant program, please visit: Indigenous Science and the Impacts of Plastic Pollution

Indigenous innovation and Leadership in Research Network Grants

This funding opportunity affirms and seeks to build on Indigenous knowledge systems and Indigenous ontology, epistemology and methodology. Networks should be wholistic, reflecting the full range of collaboration across disciplines and subject areas pertaining to the social sciences and humanities; natural sciences and engineering; and health and wellness. 

Values and duration:

• Stage 1: Up to $75,000 for 1 year 
• Stage 2 (by invitation only): Up to $1.75 million for 4 years 
• Deadline: October 21, 2025

For more information about this grant program, please visit: Indigenous Innovation and Leadership in Research Network Grants