Indigenous food centres gather in Iqaluit to talk, learn

A three-day gathering of Canadian Indigenous-led community food centres ended Thursday with a local hunter’s presentation on how to slice up a seal at Iqaluit’s community food centre.

About a dozen representatives from British Columbia, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan met to share knowledge and hold policy discussions on food insecurity.

Some of them sampled the seal meat they had just watched being sliced by Iqaluit hunter Hawly Paton.

Most had never been to Nunavut before this week, and tasting seal meal was a whole new experience. A few had to leave the room while the animal was being cut up.

Iqaluit hunter Hawly Paton shows how to slice a seal at the Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre in Iqaluit on Thursday. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)

The gathering was hosted by Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre, which “is a hub of food culture in Iqaluit,” according to its website.

The centre prepares between 300 and 500 free meals daily Monday to Friday and offers a country food box program.

Now the food centres will issue a report and a joint manifesto on Indigenous food sovereignty and wellness as a result of this week’s meetings, said Raymond Johnson-Brown, Indigenous network manager for Community Food Centres Canada, who took part in the meetings.

Community Food Centres Canada is a national organization based in Toronto that helps open food centres across Canada.

“These words are a guide for taking actions on our own terms, asserting our responsibilities and defining our future without waiting for approval,” the draft of the manifesto said.

Johnson-Brown said the food centres will work to gain more independence from different levels of government to better serve Indigenous communities across Canada better.

There are four Indigenous community food centres as part of Community Food Centre Canada, including Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre.

Representatives from all four were in Iqaluit this week.

As part of the visit, Qajuqturvik’s co-executive director Joseph Murdoch-Flowers gave a tour of the centre and explained how its country food program works.

Every Thursday, anyone in Iqaluit can pick up an Inuliqtait Food Box with three to five different types of country food.

The value of that box is $125, but the program works on a pay-what-you-can basis and accepts anything starting at $12.50 per box.

This was particularly interesting to some food centres as they are looking to start similar programs, Murdoch-Flowers said.

The visitors also had the chance to try samples of Inuit food and take part in the daily meal preparation.

The trip was paid for by a $75,000 grant from Justice Canada’s Indigenous Partnership Fund, which aims to help implement the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People.

Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre hosts a gather of Indigenous-led community food centres from across Canada in Iqaluit this week. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)

“So we are all striving for reclamation, Indigenous resurgence and food sovereignty in all of our communities,” Johnson-Brown said.

Different obstacles are faced in various regions. The British Columbia government, for instance, strictly regulates hunting in the province.

Regulations like that make the creation of a country food program difficult for Lil’wat Nation’s food centre north of Vancouver, said Shannon Didier, one of the centre’s managers who was in Iqaluit this week.

Despite that, Johnson-Brown said they need to work to create more country food programs like Qajuqturvik’s across Canada.