Health Progress

First Nations Community Food Systems for Healthy Living

The Canim Lake Band does a lot with food. It operates a successful community garden, provides fresh organic produce for Elders and residents, and sells the rest at the 100 Mile House Farmers Market. The band built raised garden beds and greenhouses for Elders and people with disabilities, provided seeds, and taught them how to grow their own food. Members use the food industry to teach traditional food and medicine gathering and preservation, as well as job-readiness skills. They also operate a community kitchen that’s the backbone of every social event on the reserve, as well as a number of workshops and treaty meetings.

One of many bands to receive provincial funding through Act Now B.C., the Canim Lake Band created the First Nations Community Food Systems for Healthy Living program.
“There is a high level of diabetes and pre-diabetes among our people on reserve,” says Pam Theodore, the band’s land administrator. “That was one of the main reasons we received support from the government to do this, by explaining how this project will give our people healthy alternatives and the ability to supplement their diet with vegetables and fruits, instead of starches and carbs. We’re learning healthy eating habits.”

Theodore is pleased to report that the program is already changing attitudes throughout the community, including her own home. “I have two raised garden beds and two greenhouses. My family really enjoys fresh produce, and my husband and I are hooked now.”

Métis Women’s Health

Victoria Pruden, the Director of Women for Métis Nation B.C., sees the value of signatures. When the Province of British Columbia and the Métis Nation BC signed the Métis Nation Relationship Accord in May 2006, Pruden says it made an immediate impact on the Nation’s ability to do its work.

“The Accord is allowing us to set benchmarks for Métis-specific data, and we really need that,” she said. “One of the gaps we experience as Métis is higher prenatal alcohol  consumption and tobacco use among Métis women than non-Aboriginal women. The financial support that’s flowing through the accord is assisting us with an opportunity to do focus groups with Métis women across B.C. to determine what kind of information products we can use to support Métis maternal health.”

Pruden is also working with the Ministry of Community Services on issues around women and girls who experience violence. “There is very little Métis-specific work being done in the area of violence against Métis women and girls. Their experience may be very different than First Nations women living on reserves, for example. The more we can document the information and come together as a community, the more we can help women and girls who have experienced trauma.”

A third health initiative is a Métis-specific ActNow B.C project to develop active living programs with a traditional Métis approach. Pruden says she has seen a tremendous change in the relationship between the provincial government and the Métis since 2005. “It is very positive. It has moved forward, and we are finding ourselves in a place of acceptance and mutual respect, much more than ever before. We’re also seeing that ripple out into other government departments, which are now recognizing us and saying that the Métis Nation Relationship Accord really means something.”