Food insecurity has reached a record high of 25.5 per cent in Canadian households, according to the latest Canadian Food Sentiment Index report published by the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.
Another recent report from Island Health shows one in five Vancouver Island residents were concerned about food security.
Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council dietician and diabetes educator Rachel (Dickens) Greening thinks those numbers are probably even higher for Indigenous communities.
“Colonization is directly linked to food insecurity. It has resulted in deep poverty for our people,” said Greening, who is of Ts’msyen (Tsimshian) First Nations and Hong Kong descent.
“There are so many examples, like we weren’t allowed to go to university, we weren’t allowed to leave the reserve, we weren’t allowed to sell our fish. There are so many reasons why we are behind in that respect,” she said.
“And for many, the residential school system has really impacted our relationships with food. Our traditional foods were vilified. We were taught that European foods are better and healthier and they are not dirty like traditional foods,” Greening continued.
She brought up the malnutrition experiments that took place across the country in several residential schools.
“They identified that children attending the school were malnourished and instead of feeding them they were used as control subjects. It’s so sad,” said Greening.
In 2013 Ian Mosby, a food historian and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Guelph in Ontario, made headlines across the country on this issue. His academic article ‘Administering Colonial Science’ revealed details of how the Department of Indian Affairs of Canada performed medical atrocities on close to 1,000 Aboriginal children at six residential schools between 1942 and 1952.
These institutions included the Alberni residential school in Port Alberni, B.C.; the St. Mary’s and Cecilia Jeffrey schools in Kenora, Ontario; the Schubenacadie school in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia; and the St. Paul’s and Blood schools in Southern Alberta near Lethbridge, according to Mosby.
“The investigations employed a variety of different experts, ranging from nutrition professionals, doctors, and nurses to dentists, photographers and lab technicians,” Mosby wrote. “Research included medical and dental examinations, blood tests, and intelligence and aptitude tests, as well as collection of menu and dietary records from each of the schools.”
At the Alberni Indian Residential School, Mosby reported that “the diets of the children were lacking in vitamins A, B, and C and iodine because they were not being provided with enough foods like milk, fruit, vegetables, eggs, cheese, and iodized salt” and that the Indigenous children at Alberni had the highest rates of riboflavin (B2) deficiency.
The increased rates of riboflavin deficiency at Alberni led to an experiment that tested the effects of tripling milk consumption on vitamin levels. However, inadequate milk consumption continued for two more years to provide researchers with a baseline measure they could use to evaluate the results of the study, Mosby wrote.
At St. Mary’s School, Mosby’s research revealed that a “Newfoundland Flour Mix” was introduced to the diets of Indigenous children – a product that could not be legally sold outside of Newfoundland under Canada’s laws against food adulteration because it contained added thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and bonemeal.
The flour provided no benefits to the children, and the incidences of anemia exponentially grew shortly after the flour was introduced to the school diet, Mosby reported.
“These experiments therefore must be remembered and recognized for what they truly were: one among many examples of a larger institutionalized and, ultimately, dehumanizing colonialist racial ideology that has governed Canada’s policies towards and treatment of Aboriginal peoples throughout the twentieth century,” Mosby concluded.
Greening says other contributing factors to food insecurity amongst Indigenous people include a loss of territory diminishing the capacity to harvest traditional foods as well as climate change.
“Clams can only be harvested small windows of the year because of the red tide, which is linked to warmer waters,” she said. “There are lots of reasons why we can’t eat our traditional foods.”
Changing the narrative
Greening says many nations are doing amazing work to revitalize Indigenous food sovereignty; Some initiatives include building community gardens and mentoring youth in seasonal harvesting practices like hunting seal.
“That is food security and that is food sovereignty. They are getting food from a source that is abundant and then distributing it out to the community,” said Greening.
At the Wickaninnish Community School in Tofino within the traditional territory of Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, chef Ron Weeks feeds 180 students from kindergarten to Grade 7 a daily lunch and healthy snacks under a monthly “pay as you can” model. Every month, he sends an envelope with a menu inside, and parents return it with a contribution that fits their budget.
Lunch program funding and food is also supported by the Pacific Rim School District 70 Feeding Futures School Meal program, Tofino Co-op, Tofino Ucluelet Culinary Guild and local businesses.
“When you’re here, you have access to food. Everybody eats,” said Weeks, who has been making homemade pizza dough (a classroom favourite), chicken noodle soup, fish cakes and focaccia sandwiches for west coast kids for about nine years.
“I feel grateful to be working on Tla-o-qui-aht land,” said Weeks.
“It’s trying to change the narrative. Obviously, there are a lot of horrific things that happened in residential schools that now the schools are addressing through reconciliation and one of those ways is trying to build that food culture and food community through the school systems, so kids have access to healthy food when they attend schools,” he said.
Among youth in 2023, Island Health’s 2025 Population Health Status Report showed that 87 per cent reported eating fruit, vegetables or salad, a decrease from 94 per cent in 2013. Forty four per cent reported consuming fast food, an increase from 38 per cent in 2013 and 16 per cent reported energy drink consumption the day prior – nearly triple the 2013 figure of six per cent.
“Energy drinks are heavily addictive. Kids just need water and a good snack,” said Greening.
Greening encouraged any Nuu-chah-nulth members who want guidance with healthy meal planning or to talk about traditional food recipes to connect with her by emailing: Rachel.Dickens@nuuchahnulth.org.
