Renfrew Collingwood Food Security Institute

Inaugural Seniors' Telling Stories Event: January 22.

A storytelling series might like an odd initiative from the Food Security Institute. But we are excited to provide a forum for community seniors to share their wisdom and life stories. We want to create a space for different generations to explore the cultural importance of food, our changing food systems, and imagine a more sustainable future.

In October, I attended the biennial Food Secure Canada National Assembly. People came from across the country to search out and share ideas to make our food systems sustainable again. But even for farmers and fishers, it is difficult to explain the human experience of unsustainable food systems. No one can tell the story of these changes quite like our community elders.

We were honoured to hear stories of traditional foodways from First Nations Elders. Elizabeth Penashue has been imprisoned dozens of times for trying to protect the Innu People and their land. She traces the diabetes epidemic among the Innu to nutritionally poor convenience foods, and mourns the mercury poisoning of fish through contamination of local waterways.

Henry Lickers is a Haudenosaunee citizen of the Seneca Nation who raises awareness of environmental contamination at Akwesasne. He shared memories of harvesting fruit from neglected trees in Downtown Toronto, and how classmates called him poor for eating goose sandwiches instead of processed bologna and Kraft cheese slices!


Reclaiming Our Food System

The 2008 theme of Food Secure Canada’s National Assembly was Reclaiming Our Food System: A Call to Action. “Food system” refers to many things: where food is grown, what livestock are fed, how fish are caught, who earns a profit from our groceries, and so on. The workshops were diverse, but all speakers referred to the sweeping food system changes that occurred through the 20th Century and continue today.

In the space of our grandparents’ lifetimes, the food system has shifted from local farming/hunting/gathering to industrial farms thousands of kilometers away. Much of our food is flown or trucked to Vancouver, using lots of fossil fuels and adding to air pollution. Pesticide use has increased, affecting environmental and human health; most local rivers and streams are too polluted for us to fish; and food just doesn’t taste as good as it used to!

The Renfrew Collingwood Food Security Institute is always looking at ways we can reclaim our food system (and make food delicious again!). Please contact us if you’d like to get involved.

Thanks for reading, and happy eating!