Indigenous Food Systems Network

Members of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, joined by prominent environmental advocates, went out to Burrard Inlet today to participate in a prayer ceremony for the earth and protest against oil sands development, as well pipeline expansions and tanker traffic along the coast. Participants rowed their boats near the terminal of American pipeline giant Kinder Morgan, which intends to triple the capacity of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline and potentially quadruple oil tanker traffic around Burrard Inlet.

Our program to advocate for indigenous peoples affected by multilateral development banks is a cornerstone of the work at the Indian Law Resource Center. This project began in the late 1970s when the Center represented the Yanomami people of Brazil. The Yanomami lived a peaceful and self-sufficient life, with no ties to the global economy, until Brazil received money from the World Bank to build a road through their territory. The road unleashed chaos within the Yanomami communities. Road workers brought malaria and many Yanomami died because they had no resistance to the disease.

See a complied list of some great food, land and culture books. Please contact Fiona Devereaux if you have others you would like to share.

Many thanks

Fiona.devereaux@viha.ca
250-886-2122

File: 

The following file is a 555 KB pdf document you many need to download Adobe Reader to open the file.

FFC Resources Basket.pdf

DIGITAL HARVEST Project
The 2 days before the conference the Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities Indigenous Food Network (VICCIFN) worked on the Digital Harvest Project.
Please see this great story for some insight into this project http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBYNaufoYOo&feature=related

Over the 2 days the Elders and youth created 23 stories.
See the amazing stories at this link. All the stories are on the right hand side of the screen.
http://mapping.uvic.ca/vicra/VICCIFN

Updated: June 2, 2009

"We believe it is much better to prevent a cancer than to treat it after it has developed."
Dr. David McLean, Head, BC Cancer Agency Prevention Programs

Did you know that more than 50% of cancers are preventable? What you eat, whether you smoke, your level of activity, and how you spend time in the sun are all lifestyle choices that can affect your chances of getting cancer - and your chances of preventing it.

You can also protect yourself through the BC Cancer Agency's Screening Programs, which can detect breast and cervical cancer at early stages.

The concept of food sovereignty was developed by Via Campesina and brought to the public debate during the World Food Summit in 1996 and represents an alternative to neoliberal policies. Since then, that concept has become a major issue of the international agricultural debate, even within the United Nations bodies. It was the main theme of the NGO forum held in parallel to the FAO World Food Summit of June 2002.

ork – Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty

On February 1, 2010, the Indigenous Food Systems Network Website was launched! The IFSN Website Project is a web-based centre for increasing awareness of issues, concerns and strategies related to protecting, conserving and restoring the myriad of Indigenous food based cultures across Canada.

Related File: 

The following file is a 61 KB pdf document you many need to download Adobe Reader to open the file.

IFSN_Website_Launch_Press_Release_Feb_2.10.pdf

Since the time of contact with non Indigenous settlers in the southern interior of B.C. many traditional Indigenous harvesters including hunters, fishermen, and gatherers from the Ktunaxa, Nlaka’pamux, Secwepemc, St’at’imc, Syilx, and Ts’ilqotin nations have repeatedly expressed concern about the declining health and abundance of culturally important foods in our respective traditional territories. Therefore, the Interior of B.C.

File: 

The following file is a 122 KB pdf document you many need to download Adobe Reader to open the file.

IFSC2006FinalReport.pdf