…including ways we can right our environmental wrongs and help nature thrive…”

I do not believe that humans are inherently bad for nature. In history, humans lived harmoniously with nature for generations, living as an intertwined part of nature rather than separate from or in control of it. In fact, even today, in many places in the world, healthy ecosystems actually depend on human intervention and stewardship to thrive.

Does that mean the problem is that humans aren’t living in harmony with nature anymore, as we should be? Well, that may be a piece of it; however, in addition to being better environmental stewards by taking measures to protect the environment, I also believe that we should be taking reactive measures to fix the problems we have already caused. This is where ecological restoration comes into play. There are plenty of things individuals can do to help the environment, including ways we can right our environmental wrongs and help nature thrive in places it used to. Ecological restoration is just that – righting the wrongs, repairing the relationship.

WHAT? – Defining Ecological Restoration

The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) is the leading organization in ecological restoration across the globe. SER defines ecological restoration as “the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed”^[1]. In other words, ecological restoration involves looking at spaces that used to be natural areas that have been ruined in some way as a result of human activities and disturbances, and then taking measures to turn those areas back into functional ecosystems.

The process of ecosystem restoration // SOURCE: Medium

An example of this process in a community could be transforming a damaged, unused parking lot space into a city park where native vegetation can be planted. A larger scale project might look like reverting a decommissioned, highly polluted mine site back into a thriving natural ecosystem. But, wait. Isn’t this supposed to be about how individuals can practice ecological restoration? Absolutely! Ecological restoration does include large scale projects, research, and experiments, since restoration ecology is an academic field of study. But the concept of restoring natural spaces can also be scaled down to the local, household level. So let’s get into what ecological restoration has to do with YOU.

WHY? – The Benefits

Before we discuss the how, we should discuss the why. Why should you care about ecological restoration? Because it benefits you!

Restoring natural areas can do wonders for human health and wellbeing by making our communities healthier and more desirable places to live. For example, transforming degraded areas into functional, natural spaces may improve air and water quality. Ecological restoration projects could also combat climate change, since plant life takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and cools our environment.

Natural areas also directly benefit human mental health and wellbeing by providing recreational outdoor space, and making urban and suburban areas more aesthetically pleasing. Several studies, including one conducted by the NASA Earth Observatory, have shown the link between positive mental health and both the accessibility and proximity to green spaces. Green spaces are valued by many for enjoyment, boosting their mood, and inspiring deeper connections with nature. To break it down: Ecological restoration = more parks and gardens = more outdoor fun and good-looking cities = happier people.

Ecological restoration projects also usually provide increased and improved habitat spaces for wildlife. Now, I know this article is focused on why ecological restoration is relevant to people, and you are probably not a butterfly or toad looking for habitat, but hear me out. Some very important species are at risk of extinction since their habitat needs are becoming harder to meet in this era of urbanization and climate change. Many natural areas have been reduced or destroyed, and the animals who need to live in those spaces are struggling to survive in many cases. The karner blue butterfly is just one of many examples of a pollinator species that has gone locally extinct in Ontario.

The Karner Blue Butterfly // SOURCE: Nature Canada

Pollinators are especially valuable species for the health of the entire planet, so we really can’t afford to lose any more of them. It is estimated that up to 95% of flowering plants depend on pollination^[2]. In terms of plants that humans eat, that means roughly one out of every three bites of food that you take exists because of pollinators. So if pollinators can’t find habitats and continue to decline, our entire global food system could be at stake. Now that is a scary thought. Allow me to bring back the optimism. It is truly amazing that we have the capability to stop those environmental dooms from happening, and a key method to do so is ecological restoration!

HOW? – The Actions

The individual’s role in ecological restoration is simple: transform your areas with little to no diversity into biodiverse paradises, and take part in local community projects.

One great starting point for figuring out where you should do ecological restoration is identifying areas outdoors that have little to nothing growing there. The average North American lawn is a great example of this. What comes to mind when you think of a lawn? Probably an expanse of short, uniform grass. Let me explain why lawns are one of the areas with the most potential for ecological restoration at the household level.

Lawns are very common green spaces in urban and suburban areas, yet they have no ecological value. Many lawns actually do more harm than good for the environment because they require lots of water and can even release more greenhouse gases than they absorb. It is nonsensical that these precious areas of green space are being wasted on lawn grass!

The key to remember here is simply – restore your green spaces so they are welcoming to a diversity of species in order to create functional ecosystems and promote sustainability.

nstead of having a boring, homogenous lawn, you can transform that space into something more beautiful and ecologically-beneficial! Alternative lawns may look different depending on where you live and what kind of space you have available, but planting a diversity of native plants is a good start. Using a diversity of plants, meaning plants of different species, is important to create habitats. The more diverse your space is, the more types of pollinators and other species it will accommodate, and the more functional the ecosystem will be! If you take pride in the beauty of your yard, then now is the time to let your creativity shine! Check out Credit Valley Conservation’s tips and resources on how to “ecologically landscape” your lawn.

SOURCE: Hamilton Pollinator Paradise

If you don’t have the resources to completely change your lawn right away, don’t worry. You can also just let your grass grow longer instead of regularly cutting it, which can lower the lawn’s water requirements and still foster a space for pollinators. Even simply taking a break from raking leaves in the fall is a strategy to make your spaces more ecologically beneficial because leaf piles are actually super important spaces for small critters to live and hide, like butterfly larvae, salamanders, and shrews!

The key to remember here is simply – restore your green spaces so they are welcoming to a diversity of species in order to create functional ecosystems and promote sustainability.

 For those who don’t have a lawn and don’t have any areas where you can create habitats and gardens, there are still things you can do – just get involved. There are so many local ecological restoration community projects, practically across the whole globe. Finding a project near you that you can help with is just a few clicks away! Just research ecological restoration projects near you. You can also go to the project database on SER’s website to find some larger scale projects in your area if you’re interested in learning more! Many ecological restoration projects welcome volunteers with open arms. You could spend a day in nature by joining a team pulling invasive species in a natural area, or donate to a local initiative trying to turn an old landfill site into a park in your city, or even take a field trip to a conservation area! For example, the Ontario branch of SER hosts several field trips each year in order to introduce the public to restoration efforts near them. Even during the pandemic, they are hosting virtual field trips and webinars.

I study at the University of Waterloo and I like to go for walks on my study breaks. Recently, I took a walk in Filsinger Park, in Kitchener, and I found out that the Filsinger Park stream had been a restoration project. The city replaced the concrete stream channels with native vegetation to create a naturalized, functional stream ecosystem, and it is now a beautiful place to take a walk and appreciate nature! My point is, simply going for a walk and discovering ecological restoration in your city could be the first step in making your mark on the environment a positive one. Ecological restoration is relevant to you. We can all contribute to restoring natural spaces in our own backyards and communities. And by making these contributions, we can restore our relationship with nature, one step at a time.

^[1] Society for Ecological Restoration, “International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration: Second Edition” (accessed January 7, 2021) <https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ser.org/resource/resmgr/docs/ser_international_standards_.pdf>^[2] Ollerton J, Winfree R, and Tarrant S, “How many flowering plants are pollinated by animals?” (accessed January 7, 2021) <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18644.x>

^[2] Ollerton J, Winfree R, and Tarrant S, “How many flowering plants are pollinated by animals?” (accessed January 7, 2021) <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18644.x>

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Today, Alternatives Journal is releasing our latest issue, Getting There: The Ecosystem of Human Movement.

The carbon footprint of an individual within a developed country is drastically higher than someone in a developing country. The reason behind this is partly in how we choose to get around. We drive to work every morning. We board cruises and airplanes to glamorous, far away destinations. We like to be always on the move.

The question becomes; how do we move from point A to point B and design the systems that help us to do so in a way that lowers our carbon footprint and leaves behind a positive lasting impact on the natural, social and economic environment? These questions will be answered in our latest issue, Getting There: The Ecosystem of Human Movement.

In this issue, we will discuss population growth and planning. As our population changes, we have become required to rethink city planning and discover the positive impacts of sustainable solutions such as greenways, bike lanes, improving city walkability, and retrofitting existing transportation infrastructure to better facilitate the movement of people and goods.

This issue will also explore the sustainability of traveling and the tourism industry. In the last few months, many airlines and cruise ships have had to park their fleets and seen a massive decline in customers. However, in the wake of a global pandemic that forced us to cancel our vacation plans, we were presented with the opportunity to reflect on how we travel and what tools we can use, like carbon offsetting, to help mitigate the impact we have.

Finally, this issue will critically assess our public transportation systems. How do we move away from a single car culture to a transit culture? What is the economic value of public transportation? How are other communities making their public transportation systems more sustainable? Asking these questions will have positive trickle-down effects to the entire community – whether that be through improving our physical and mental health, ability to access employment, or by protecting our natural spaces.  This issue will answer these questions and hopefully prompt you to ask a few new ones.

This was an incredibly special issue. In the summer of 2020, four students from the Centre for Environment and Sustainability (CES) at Western University undertook this issue as co-op placements. There is an old Persian saying: “If you want to make God laugh, make a plan”. At A\J, we had lots of plans for how this summer was supposed to unfurl. We had a great team and a great work plan arranged in the early winter to start in May 2020. Of course, those plans were made oblivious to the deadly and tragic impacts of Covid-19 that were about to ensue.

Thankfully, the ‘sustainability’ focus of their education – with strong leadership from our issue’s guest editor, Professor Stephan Vachon (and the CES director) – allowed the team to dodge the flaming chainsaws of uncertainty and chase the golden unicorns of new opportunities. This issue is a testament to the power and capacity that emanates from campuses in London, Ontario and across the country, from coast to coast to coast. 

ABOUT AJ

Small but mighty, Alternatives Journal (A\J) is Canada’s environmental voice. Publishing intelligent and informed environmental journalism since 1971, A\J fosters positive change and seeks sustainable solutions that our 30,000+ readers can use to improve their communities and our world.

References to this issue can be found at this link. 

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Complete communities are a development of convenience for those living within them as they provide the necessities for daily needs. Complete communities encompass many options for housing, jobs, walkability, transport, retail, services and amenities while preserving natural features and significant areas of farmland. Historically, compact development was the norm before areas became more car-dependent – and are good models for the creation of complete communities. This approach of compact communities limits sprawling development while catering to all ages, previously existing infrastructure and all income groups. The Greenbelt Foundation published a report “Growing Close to Home: Creating Complete Rural Communities” which highlights the opportunities and challenges that rural communities across the Greenbelt face when attempting to create complete communities. A summary of their report will be provided but all details of the report including opportunities, challenges, case studies, community consultations and interview feedback from municipal staff can be viewed in full here.

Landscape in Halton

Source: Greenbelt Foundation

“The Greenbelt Foundation’s top-level objective is to contribute to rural prosperity and wellbeing, by leveraging the Greenbelt as an economic, social and environmental resource. For the Greenbelt to work it has to work for the people who live within and adjacent to it. The Growing Close to Home report is one example of how the Greenbelt Foundation shares resources and helps our municipal partners across the region build prosperous, resilient communities.”   – Edward McDonnell CEO, Greenbelt Foundation

The report was produced after thorough research, data collection from stakeholder engagement and reviewing of plans and policies. In an interview with Edward McDonnell, CEO of the Greenbelt Foundation, he mentioned that the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, published in 2006, promotes the advancement towards complete communities in an urban setting but was lacking information regarding rural areas with the report filling this knowledge gap, specifically for areas within the Greenbelt.

With a goal of knowledge mobilization in mind for residents, municipal planners and for those in the economic development field, this report helps break the barriers in thinking that development of rural complete communities is impossible said Anna Shortly, Research and Policy Analyst, Greenbelt Foundation. It shows case studies of advancements in public transit and housing in certain areas of the Greenbelt that can be applicable in areas where there is doubt about its existence. McDonnell said that while rural communities present unique challenges, shared challenges also exist and the approach to addressing those issues such as those faced by the aging population, transportation, economic development and good compact use of land, are important to note.

The report focused on 7 factors that need to be considered for achieving a complete rural community and include: Management of rural growth; Housing; Active and public transport; Economic development; Character; Agriculture and environment; and Public consultation.

A rural Canadian community

Source: Infrastructure Canada

Firstly, concerning the management of growth in rural communities, it was seen that rural Greenbelt municipality growth varies and some areas are still building, attempting to build or are in the process of trying to provide more services and housing options for future growth. The goal of complete communities is to promote densification, compact-building and mixed-use areas to be directed to settlement areas to encourage population increase which will, in turn, support wastewater servicing (which affects the existence of other housing types apart from single-detached homes), municipal water and transit in a rural area. Directing growth in areas with pre-existing infrastructure capacity and municipal servicing is more economically feasible than in rural areas where these services will have to be established. Despite increased population densities allowing businesses and other services to increase their income, issues with parking, traffic, increased spending on infrastructure maintenance can arise.

Housing in rural communities

Source: Greenbelt Foundation

Secondly, on the topic of housing in rural communities, the report highlights that some municipalities are creating zoning by-laws and policies promoting a shift away from the current 80% single-detached houses to various denser and diverse housing styles including rental housing. These styles include townhouses, apartment buildings or condominiums, semi-detached houses with some areas being mixed-use between housing and commerce. This presents options to potentially meet the demand for more housing, for various age demographics and that fit a resident’s lifestyle such as seniors wanting to move into retirement homes. It was seen that many industries such as tourism and manufacturing are being affected in rural communities due to lack of employees because of the insufficient affordable housing resulting in employees commuting from outside of the municipality. However, diverse housing styles may not equate to affordable options but municipalities have been encouraging this through incentives (e.g. Community Improvement Plans) for the creation of apartments above stores, garden suites and secondary suites. This can ensure that people can live in the same area they work in. Shortly said this can help areas such as Blue Mountain that have seasonal labour shortages which claim to be due to the lack of housing.

Cycling in a rural community

Photographer: Shane Rounce via Unsplash

Thirdly, regarding public and active transportation in rural areas, car-usage is more dominant as it is more convenient for connecting people to places. Infrastructure promoting urban transit, trails, bike lanes and even sidewalks are inadequate or missing and are difficult to develop due to low user-ship. However, municipalities are conducting feasibility studies for transit and master plans for cycling and trails to determine what improvements can be made to rural communities. Shortly said from her data collection interviews, some cities had jobs but the lack of public transit to get people around affected the quantity of job positions filled. However, public transit is possible in rural communities and are convenient for those who cannot drive or may not have a car. On-demand transit is also being used as a cost-effective option in dispersed, low-density areas where a fixed-route transit is not present.

Economic development is necessary to ensure that rural communities thrive. The report states that local jobs are affected by close proximity to larger cities with many employment opportunities such as within the Greater Toronto Area. However, opportunities exist locally where stores and services can be attracted to the area and increase the development of waterfronts and historic downtowns. As well as, promote value-added agriculture which includes wineries/breweries, agri-tourism and equine-related businesses. Challenges arise when there are limited housing and transport options, unreliable broadband internet and inadequate investment in businesses.

The character of rural areas can also be threatened when there is development to create a compact community. However, municipalities seek to protect the character by defining what it accurately means through character studies. This will help identify valued physical landscaping and built form and ensure their protection in urban design policies and guidelines. A challenge with this is ensuring that new development occurs while preserving character but also conserving the unique and valued aspects of a community that residents perceive.

Simcoe County Farmland

Source: Greenbelt Foundation

“It’s a growth management question of how do you accommodate that growth in the most sustainable and equitable way as possible.” – Anna Shortly, Research and Policy Analyst, Greenbelt Foundation

Both agriculture and the environment are important to consider when creating complete communities as these areas have critical water sources and provincially designated natural heritage and crop areas. Shortly highlighted that investments in trail systems would help support the natural environment, preserve the beauty of natural areas, provide recreational amenities to residents and can also be designed in a way to support active transportation. Erin Riverwalk trail in the town of Erin is being constructed to connect two settlement areas which will improve accessibility and spending within the local community since people can be able to get to daily essential services from they live, Shortly said. She also noted that historically rural development expanded to the boundaries of farmlands and agricultural communities affecting their character. However, from her fieldwork, several areas within the greenbelt recognize that there is growth and are interested in doing it in the proper way to encourage a complete community while minimizing negative impacts on the environment and agriculture. McDonnell raised the point that one must be careful about disruption of the overall agricultural system when incorporating transportation and other factors as it can lead to risk of incompatible use such as increased traffic on previously rural roads or hinder the viability of farming in those areas.

The last factor to consider in the development of complete communities is public consultation.  This necessary step in the planning and development process allows for the voicing of concerns of residents who would be impacted directly by changes. Informing residents of these changes, challenges and the positive impacts can allow them to be more accepting of modifications in the community.

Rural landscape

Source: Third Way

McDonnell reiterated that the Greenbelt Foundation doesn’t make policy but rather informs it and the report is to help communities engage in conversation. Shortly also agreed by saying knowledge transfer and knowledge translation can encourage rethinking how things are being done and inspiring change. She highlighted that it’s not impossible to get a bus system in rural areas, as well as, confirming that community character can still be preserved despite population growth. Shortly noted that all these seven factors are interconnected and are needed to make a community complete.

More information from the Greenbelt Foundation can be found in an article about greenways and their contribution to complete communities in the Alternatives Journal’s September 2020 Issue “Getting There: The Ecosystem of Human Movement ”.

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On a beautiful stretch of green fields and trees on the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve, two rounded structures stand out from the landscape of rolling hills: an open-air greenhouse and a 17th century replica longhouse. This is the site of Kayanase (pronounced Guy-yawn-na-say), an Indigenous owned and operated ecological restoration and ecotourism company. Their name, meaning new trails, new tracks or fresh tracks in Mohawk, describes the company well. As industry leaders in ecological restoration, Kayanase is always seeking out new ways to grow and to bring people together to build greater cultural understanding and ecological connectedness. 

The company emerged from the Red Hill Valley restoration project. After a decades-long opposition from the Haudenosaunee and various environmental groups, the Red Hill Valley expressway was approved by the City of Hamilton in 2007. The city and the Six Nations community then negotiated several agreements to protect and preserve Haudenosaunee heritage and history in the valley. Part of this agreement included a contract to undertake a large-scale ecological restoration project in the Red Hill Valley. More than one million native trees were planted over five years in what was one of the biggest ecological restoration projects undertaken in a major urban area in North America. 

Kerdo Deer and A\J correspondents on an eco-walk (Image Credit: Theo Ossinga)

The project was an economic opportunity as well, as the success of the Red Hill Valley restoration project led to more opportunities to work on restoring marginal lands and improve habitat quality in Hamilton and the surrounding area, and Kayanase has since grown into an impressive operation.

Kerdo Deer, Kayanase’s ecotourism coordinator, greets us with a smile and takes us on a tour through the nearly 55,000-square-foot greenhouse and production building, where Kayanase does all of their own seed collection, seed processing and plant propagation. 

Ecological restoration is a complex process. Kerdo explains that Kayanase works within the area known as seed zone 37, which stretches from Niagara to Middlesex. The employees are all certified seed collectors, and they gather wild seeds within 75 kilometres of any site they are restoring. He shows us the chilly seed storage area, the soil mixer, and the compound where trees go once they have outgrown the greenhouse. 

Kayanase uses a combination of science-based approaches and traditional ecological knowledge in their efforts to restore the land to its native Carolinian forest and tall grassy plains ecosystems. “This means incorporating traditional knowledge about respecting the land in all aspects of our restoration work,” says Kerdo. The land guides the company’s efforts in all of their projects. They observe what is currently growing there, take into account what native plants would have grown there before development, and consider how the land will be used as they determine how to restore each site.

This philosophy of letting the land guide Kayanase’s work flows into their ecotourism projects as well. Kerdo walks with us out into the field next to the greenhouse and has us look out over the prairie, “Almost all the grasses you can see in this prairie are introduced.” He shows us different types of clover, wild carrot (also known as Queen Anne’s lace), wild parsnip, and dame’s rocket, all of which are introduced and invasive. “I use the space I have as a teaching tool. There are no big forests here, and most of the plants you can see are invasive, but there is still a lot people can learn.” 

About three quarters of all primary and secondary students in Ontario live within reasonable field trip driving distance of Kayanase, so their cultural and ecotourism program has been a hotspot for school tours. Kerdo shows us his salamander cookies, round blocks of wood under which insects and decomposers will gather. “[These walks] are a moment in time for experiential learning,” says Kerdo. 

“I try to include tactile learning to keep the kids engaged and help them get comfortable.” He gets the kids to peek under the salamander cookies to see the beetles, snails and slugs which work to decompose the wood, and lets them taste some edible plants like garlic mustard. In the winter there are bird feeders and screens of pine boughs behind which visitors can hide to watch the birds.  

Kerdo Deer talking with Mimi Shaftoe (Image Credit: Theo Ossinga)

The intention of the eco-walks that Kerdo leads through the grounds is to help people become comfortable in nature, and connect to ecology. “The more you know about the ecosystems you live in, the less likely you are to destroy them,” says Kerdo. He laughs telling us about a group of high school students from Toronto who he had to coax into walking into the tall grasses because they were so uncomfortable. By the end of the walk, they were much more relaxed, and even picked up the salamander cookies to check out the bugs underneath. There is something incredible about learning to identify plants, and how they can be used by humans as well as their uses for other animals. 

“Part of the tourism is also passing on teachings and sharing culture,” says Kerdo. He tells us about how the Haudenosaunee use family terms to refer to the world around them. Historically, members of the community could be far from their village and out in the wilderness for long periods of time, so it was important to feel at home wherever they went. “If you consider all living things to be your relatives and your family, then you will always feel at home” he says. 

But more importantly, having a relationship with the natural world comes with responsibility. The motto of Kayanase is “Restoring Mother Earth”, and Kerdo explains the importance and the weight of this phrase. “By referring to the Earth as our Mother, there is a responsibility there. A responsibility to give back to the Earth and the ecosystems around us because of all of the gifts they provide us.” 

The end of the eco-walk takes us to the entrance to the longhouse, called Kahyonha:kta, meaning “by the river”. The longhouse is a 17th century replica and was built in 2017. “We always speak with members of the [Six Nations] community first, and make sure we are listening to them about what they want to see come from the project,” explains Kerdo. The longhouse serves as a place of memory and learning for members of the Six Nations community and visitors to connect authentically with Haudenosaunee history and culture. 

A\J correspondents and Kayanase employees inside the longhouse (Image Credit: Theo Ossinga)

We head inside, into the cozy, dark space and sit by the fire, where a few other employees are relaxing. Kerdo tells us a little about how life would have been in a Haudenosaunee village in the 17th century. Fifty to one hundred people would have lived together in each longhouse, with two families per fire. Everyone in the house would have been related through the women, because the Haudenosaunee are a matrilineal society. 

But conversations get heavy as well. Kerdo tells us a story that he often shares with visitors, about his grandparents and great aunts having to hide in the woods in the dark at seven years old, to escape from people coming to take them away to residential school. “We tell people what they need to know, not what they want to hear,” says Kerdo. Meeting someone with a personal connection to these events can transform people’s perceptions, so the Kayanase guides often use their platform to shed light on the tragedies and struggles that the people of the Six Nations have endured.

“When they come visit, people leave their preconceptions behind and depart with a new point of view.” Kerdo tells us. The longhouse acts as a vector for cultural awareness, where visitors witness first hand the richness and resilience of Haudenosaunee culture, and build greater cultural sensitivity and understanding. 

In a time where ecological and social stresses are increasing due to climate change, Kayanase addresses the issue of environmental degradation holistically. Their projects are not only restoring ecosystems, but also building stronger communities and promoting environmental stewardship by restoring people’s connections to each other and to nature. 

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Kayanase holds events, workshops and open houses on a variety of cultural topics, as well as greenhouse plant and sales. Check out their website to book a tour, and follow them on social media to stay in the loop about upcoming events.

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The Recap is part of our Student Summer Takeover series which aims to amplify the voices of young people in environmental media. New episodes will be released at the beginning of every week, don’t miss out!

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The A\J Recap is a weekly video series we’ll be bringing you throughout the summer. We’ll be rounding up the most important environmental news and taking an in-depth look at one environmental problem in our feature every week.

The Recap is part of our Student Summer Takeover series which aims to amplify the voices of young people in environmental media. New episodes will be released at the beginning of every week, don’t miss out!

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Follow up:

If you’re interested in learning more about Hold the Line Waterloo Region, you can find them here: https://www.holdthelinewr.org/

Sources: News this week

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tasker-andrew-scheer-clean-fuel-standard-1.5204091
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/07/one-climate-crisis-disaster-happening-every-week-un-warns
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/07/09/news/exclusive-doug-ford-didnt-tell-you-ontario-cancelled-227-clean-energy-projects
https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/water-environment/environmentally-friendly-city-initiatives/transformto/torontos-greenhouse-gas-inventory/

Sources: Feature

https://davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/discourage-urban-sprawl/
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/2013/02/21/urban_sprawl_is_destroying_ontarios_farmland.html
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/article-montreals-sprawl-is-shocking-urban-planners/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/urban-sprawl
https://www.therecord.com/sports-story/2562267-waterloo-region-on-the-front-line-in-province-s-battle-against-urban-sprawl/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/stats-can-population-census-1.5075855

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Marcia Ruby interviewed Tom Wilson in May 2019, about his art, his music and his journey to discovering his identity.

I saw Tom Wilson’s show for the first time at Hillside Inside in Guelph, Ontario, last January. Hillside is a thirty-five-year-old music festival that ups the ante every summer with its sustainability initiatives and community-building ethos. Hillside Inside is more recent and was born of the desire for winter community building and love of sharing live music. Wilson and his bands Junkhouse and Lee Harvey Osmond have played Hillside Festival. Alternatives Journal (A\J) and Hillside are long-time friends. A\J covers the favourite July weekend each year, when bands, volunteers and folk gather on Guelph Island for music, workshops and Indigenous engagement. Every Hillside begins with an Indigenous welcome – and a standing invitation to join the Indigenous circle in the heart of the Guelph Island grounds throughout the festival. 

It was fortuitous and fun when last March (2019), A\J, Hillside and the Greenbelt Foundation created two evening events of music, art and celebration of the Southwestern Ontario lands that feed us and nurture our souls with natural beauty. The waters, forests, escarpment and karst topography also provide invaluable ecosystem services to keep our environment healthy, but that’s a story for another time. This is the web of connections and events through which I find myself sitting in a Hamilton café to talk to Tom Wilson about his recent journey – to himself – to his true identity.

It was important to me to meet Wilson in the place he grew up – Hamilton Ontario. Yes, I love the idea of being in a city that boasts more waterfalls than any in North America. More so, I wanted to be on a common ground, as I knew his stories were about to transport my imagination to his birthplace on the Kahnawà:ke [pronounce the “Ks” as “Gs”] Reserve in Quebec.

It was also important to me to interview Tom Wilson because he’s now part of Louis Riel’s prophecy, which touches me to the core every time I think of it. Riel was the leader of the Métis resistance to the British army who was hanged in 1885 for high treason. Before he died, he proclaimed, “My people will sleep for 100 years, and when they awake, it will be the artists who give them back their spirit.” I seek out these artists.

Wilson’s most recent creations – Beautiful Scars: Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers and the Road Home (the book) and Mohawk (the music album) combined to become an incredibly dramatic performance at this year’s Hillside Inside. The performance opened the door to reveal Wilson’s unconventional timeline of discovery:

September 2012: Wilson, at the age of 53, discovers that he is adopted and his parents, Bonnie and George Wilson, are really his great aunt and uncle. Wilson spends two years of research trying to find details of his birth.

June 29, 2014: On Tom’s birthday, his Mohawk “cousin” Janie reveals that she’s his mom.

April 7, 2015: Wilson’s band Lee Harvey Osmond releases Beautiful Scars album.

May 29, 2015: Wilson debuts “Beautiful Scars,” a song inspired by the work of Miriam Toews in Dave Bidini’s Torn from the Pages project. The song ends up on a Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (a super band that Wilson is part of) album.

November 21, 2017: Beautiful Scars book released.

January 25, 2019: Lee Harvey Osmond releases Mohawk album.

Meanwhile, Wilson is also a prolific painter. His work has been in celebrated gallery exhibits and you can see it on billboards. Wilson’s painting is among esteemed Indigenous works from Maxine Noel, Roy Henry Vickers, Christi Belcourt, Norval Morrisseau, to name a few of the many who are part of the Eagles Rising campaign through Artists Against Racism. 

It’s Wilson’s painting endeavours that I’m most excited to explore in this interview. 

Shapeshifter by Tom Wilson.

* * * 

Alternatives Journal: What’s your full name? 

Tom Wilson: My given name was Thomas George Lazare. But that was changed because it sounded too Indian. 1959 was an era where it was okay to be Indian, but you shouldn’t really tell anyone that you are Indian. So, Bonnie Wilson, who was the most loving person that I’ll ever meet – and the most generous – always disguised Janie, my mother’s identity, and she disguised my identity till the day she died. 

When she introduced Janie she would never introduce her as “this is my niece from Kahnawà:ke,” the name of the reserve. So she changed my name because Thomas George was way too Indian for her. 

A\J: What name did she give you?

TW: Thomas Cunningham Wilson. George Wilson’s father’s name was Thomas and his mother’s maiden name was Kelly. 

A\J: Describe your connection to Kahnawà:ke. 

TW: The umbilical cord from Kahnawà:ke to all Mohawks is something that a lot of us are not aware of. But it does pull us home. Do I feel that pull that right now? I don’t feel the pull to go back and live there. But I used to dream myself there. I was connected to the place through the adults – the voices around my kitchen table, talking about characters on the reserve, relatives on the reserve – my relatives on the reserve. So there was always this heroic romance that went along with the people of the Mohawks from there. 

I don’t know if I naturally would have felt that way as a kid, if they were talking about people on the West Side or East Side of Hamilton. But I definitely felt it for everything that went on in the reserve. So that connection; what connects all Mohawks – I’m learning about still. I don’t know if it’s a spiritual connection, or just that we recognize, in this plane of existence, and we will probably recognize each other on the next plane of existence. But it’s something that I’m being told about only recently. When I have doubts about myself, sure enough, some Mohawk shows up and says, “I’ve read your book. I wasn’t going to read your book, I don’t know who you are, but I read it and it moved me. And your words are the words of a Mohawk. They aren’t the words of a white man. And the way you speak is the way of the Mohawk. 

So there’s this blood memory that goes on. There’s blood memory that happened in my art. I’ve been painting really simple images since 1997. Even with a lack of identity, I was still expressing myself as an Indigenous artist, or as a Mohawk. And sure enough, now that I know that I’m a Mohawk, that sense of identity that I was lacking is now coming completely into focus in the work that I do. 

A\J: Describe your connection to where you grew up.

TW: Hamilton is like growing up in a comic book, for me, because there were Mafioso guys living on one side of the street; TV wrestlers growing up on the other side of the street. We used to joke that you needed a passport to get on our street because there are so many nationalities there, with the European – Portuguese, Italian, Irish. It’s a working class neighborhood. I don’t think that I could really ask for a much more vibrant neighbourhood to grow up in. Besides the ghosts around my kitchen table or the heroes that were talked about around my kitchen table, the Hamilton Tiger Cats were a big deal to me, the mayor of Hamilton, Vic Copps, all these names all these people were very influential in a way that I never really had to look past the borders of Hamilton to be inspired or be influenced. I still feel the same way. I’ve been writing music about this city for 45 years, so it’s a constant inspiration.

A\J: Right on. Some of my favorite singer songwriters are people who make you fall in love with their place because they’re in love with that place. Some of my favourite Texas singer songwriters do this amazingly.

TW: Well it’s pretty hard to get away from Texas. I mean the West Texas songwriters – Townes van Zandt, Joe Ely – those those guys – Buddy Holly – you go to West Texas and there it is – nothing there. Nothing but some oil refineries –

A\J: And sunsets.

TW: Yeah that’s it, nothing but the sunset – that’s good. 

Wilson’s book “Beautiful Scars” tells the story of his search for truth.

A\J: Are you thinking of Kahnawà:ke when you are singing “This whole town is in love with magic”?

TW: We’re in love with things that we can’t touch. As an artist growing up in Hamilton – I don’t know what an artist feels like growing up in Kahnawà:ke – but as the underdog, we’re not walking out on the Queen Street West and seeing 30 other people doing exactly what we do. Really, we’re insulated in a way that we end up being in love with the things that we can’t actually touch, things that are coming to us – the magic that’s delivered to us. I haven’t thought too much about that, I thought it was a great line. And I knew that as I kept singing it. There are some songs that you write, and some things that you write in general, and some things that you say, that you know are going to take on a greater meaning later on. And that’s happened a lot. It takes sometimes 20 years of singing a song before the definition of it starts to become clear to you.

I like that song and I forgot about it. I’ve performed that with symphonies. It’s an album that was never released commercially that I just bring to shows. It’s called Symphonic Scars. It has readings and songs performed from the book. The other thing that I’ve been doing is putting my art on my album covers, which my manager has wanted me to do for years. It happens when it’s time. So that’s the cover of the symphonic record. You can actually see in there all the writing – the detail of the writing from the book. I think I’ll just keep painting and making my own covers for a while.

A\J: Did you paint or draw when you were a kid?

TW: We all did. It’s the whole thing. I never say that I’m an artist. I always say I’m working on becoming an artist. We all paint and write, or make up stories, act things out, sing freely – and then we go to school. And all that’s kind of taken away from us to organize us in a suitable fashion. So those ways of expressing ourselves are robbed from us. 

I’m not blaming schools, my wife’s a teacher. It’s not like I’m anti education. I’m just saying the institution itself, like most institutions, just try to get you in line. So we spend most of our lives trying to get back to being that three-year-old artist that we all were. Same way, we go searching through this world trying to feel the same love that we had for parents who we were three years old. So yeah, I drew things – I did all that. I was an artist when I was a child. 

A\J: Did your compulsion to paint and your painting make more sense when you discovered your true roots? 

TW: To me, that’s about identity. I was working my entire life trying to create things with no identity – with no true identity – with always suspecting that I wasn’t where I was from and I was who I was – and I didn’t really know my background. Like a lot of adopted people that don’t have that information, you instinctively know that you’re not in the place that you’re supposed to be. 

You work regardless of that lack of identity. But in the last seven years, everything is down to such a fine point for me – with a goal. Not only the goal in the creation, but the goal in what my work can hopefully do in a broader sense: to heal this country and heal my community – and spread some of my understanding of the world. 

In the last seven years, everything is down to such a fine point for me – with a goal. The goal in what my work can hopefully do in a broader sense: to heal this country and heal my community – and spread some of my understanding of the world. 

A\J: That’s always helpful. I get to listen to your Mohawk songs over and over again.

TW: I don’t listen to those songs. I get to sing them. But it’s funny – we were talking about how songs kind of wait for them to bring their true meaning to you after singing them for 20 years. Songs like “Mohawk” or even “40 Light Years” for me – these songs are defined already. They come from a place – they are born out of knowing my identity. 

A\J: When you started painting, were there particular artists that inspired you, or did you simply let shapes spring from your imagination?

TW: I just drew what came naturally to me. I wanted things to be simple. I am the first person to say I am not an author but seem to write books now. I’m not a musician but I like to write songs. And I’m not a visual artist but I like to paint. So maybe I’m keeping things too simple for my own good. But it is the truth.

The one thing I want to be as a communicator and all those things enable me to be able to communicate. So I painted simple ideas that could be understood by a child. I could hang one of my paintings up, walk away and you’d know what was on the canvas. The devil’s in the details, right? It’s all the writing. 

It’s the fact that people showed up to Open Doors where I have my studio – a place called the Cotton Factory – it’s fantastic. It’s like walking on to the set of Peaky Blinders every day. It’s like an old industry – old cotton factory. And people came in and said, “Oh I’ve seen your artwork online, but I didn’t know I was so involved. I didn’t know there was so much to it. I didn’t know all the detail in it.” And that’s kind of it right there. 

A\J: Are your subjects always people and words?

TW: Yes, although I started painting shape shifters, which I’m pretty pleased with. I’m sticking with the stories off my reserve. There’s a legend of a hoofed woman in Kahnawà:ke. My mother knew about shape shifters – about a man who turned himself into dogs. There’s a little bit of caution about the dogs in Kahnawà:ke as far as I can gather. I remember my wife and I were at my cousin’s wedding three or four summers ago. I was going to walk back to my sister’s house and another cousin said, “Oh no no, we’ll drive you. It’s night time.” Then, driving through the reserve, the dogs were running along side the car, barking, kind of acting up. And I thought about all those shape shifters that my mother used to talk about. 

I need to learn a little bit more about that. So I’m painting what I know about it; what I remember hearing. There are a lot of stories off of that reserve that I have to dig into and start enjoying.

A\J: Why did you start painting guitars?

TW: Because you know, when you got a hammer in your hand, everything looks like a nail, right? 

Tom Wilson’s beautiful painted guitars.

A\J: You told radio host Alison Brock that, compared to writing, painting was more of a meditation. Do you still feel that way? 

TW: Oh yeah. I don’t have time and I don’t have the attention span to be able to meditate. The painting is something that shuts out everything. I can be completely focused on that. 

A\J: In a 2015 episode of q – CBC, you debuted the song “Beautiful Scars” – after you had released the album of the same name. 

TW: I was inspired by Miriam Toews’ book All My Puny Sorrows. And then I was presented in a show that was honouring the work of Miriam Toews through dance, music and a little bit of theatre. I was asked to write a song for her – and I did. A lot of myself went into that because I related to the depth of pain in that book. I kind of related too, through from my own mother. So I wrote a second verse that I didn’t include in that CBC q radio show. I have that verse. In the q performance I stuck to the first and third verse, which were more related to her. I thought, on the way there, oh geez, I hope this doesn’t have a negative effect with her – I hope it doesn’t make her cry. And then I thought, no, it won’t make her cry. It did make her cry. It was devastating moment. 

A\J: Is that song going to go on your next album? 

TW: That song went on a Blackie and the Rodeo Kings album. And it was recorded with a guy named Dallas Green, who has a group called City in Color. So the song actually did see the light of day on an album called Kings and Kings. And it’s also on the symphonic record. 

A\J: When he won the Polaris last fall, Jeremy Dutcher invited Canadians to bear witness to the Indigenous renaissance that is happening now. Then, on the brink of spring this year, when he won the Juno, Dutcher said reconciliation will take time, stories, shared experiences – and music. Meanwhile, you have hinted that we need to treat with respect our sometimes challenging, crazy life experiences. If we recognize the beauty inside people, then they won’t come back and haunt us. These are survival skills. And this can be the place that inspires our art. Do you see this dynamic influencing reconciliation in our country?

TW: Yes, completely. I think that we make the big mistake of wanting somebody to take care of us. So we look to churches. We look to governments. We look to corporations to pacify us and make us feel okay; make us feel that somebody is taking care of us. Art doesn’t do that. Art challenges. Art is with us to challenge us – gently or abrasively. 

But it’s the voice of the artist – funny you said that Louis Riel thing because man I believe that wholeheartedly. Art is going to fill the gap between the Indigenous world and the colonial world. It’s not harsh words. It’s not accusations. It’s not finger pointing. It’s not name calling. It’s a gentler way of communicating with each other. Art, with the challenges that it gives us, is a gentler voice than any of those controlling factors. 

Artists want to create something to help the world. Politicians, churches, corporations want to control the world. So do we go to controlling powers to heal us, or do we go towards new creations to heal us. For me the answer is really simple. You can nail Justin Trudeau to as many crosses as you want – it doesn’t matter. It could be anybody failing – it’s a position to fail. But as an artist, you’re completely freewheeling to succeed and to really help people. 

That’s really what I’m trying to do now. I found with identity, my intent is now defined. I don’t expect things to happen in my lifetime. I don’t expect the pain to be healed while the people who are feeling the pain are still alive. But if we start to understand one another better, which is what my art is trying to do – help us understand one another. Wouldn’t that be better? Not necessarily even open up points of discussion. Just try to teach us to be a little gentler with one another. 

Tom is involved in Artists against Racism’s Eagles Rising project, this billboard is part of that campaign. 

A\J: Where do you see the most hope that we’ll take better care of our land and water.

TW: It comes from an understanding. A lack of greed would help. I don’t have problem-solving answers. All I have is observations. There’s a lack of spirituality with the people of this land – North America, for example. Listening can touch it. Unless it punches them in the face, they actually don’t get it.

So how are we supposed to nurture our land and our air and our water? How are we supposed to take care of these things without true believers? How do we make this population into true believers. Why would you want to deny climate change? Why wouldn’t you want to at least hear it out? 

I don’t really have an answer for that one. I know you don’t either. You have some ideas and I have some ideas. Sadly, I haven’t really been very much into it enough because it’s just such a daunting task. I don’t even have the mind to be able to fight Doug Ford properly. But you know what? My daughter does. Somehow being born, coming from a knucklehead has served her properly. 

A\J: Well, the knucklehead really found his way, and you have to heal yourself for your kids. 

TW: Yeah.

A\J: What message would you like people to take away from this interview? 

TW: “I could do that.” It’s really the same as the door of possibilities.

I was being interviewed by Tom Power and he said, “What do you want people to take away? What do you want people to think when they see your art?”

And I said, “I can do that.” And that’s really the only takeaway I want people to have. 

***

Adding to Wilson’s take-away message, go to live music events. Go to see art in art galleries. See live theatre. Take in a movie at a cinema. There is an energy in these live, shared, crowd experiences that cannot be emulated through browsing on your gadget. Gadgets have their place. But you will gain a lot by seeking out live artistic experience. And you’ll be supporting the arts. Catch Wilson’s live shows.  @leeharveyosmond on Instagram | @lhosmond on Facebook | tomwilsononline.com

Marcia Ruby has designed and produced Alternatives Journal for over 30 years. She interviewed Tom Wilson in May 2019. She is a miner of stories and projects that help this deal along. She often hangs out at the intersections of art and environment.  

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Educational Video Companion: Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Housing Security

Environatives Training Initiative

Educational Video Companion: Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Housing Security

Environatives Training Initiative

Environatives Training Initiatives is a not-for-profit started by Becky Big Canoe which aims to design and deliver training programs for Indigenous women and youth that address food security, natural building skills and entrepreneurial skills. The goal is to provide culturally sensitive and targeted training in order to help lift people out of poverty, dependence, and vulnerability to harm. The food security and permaculture training offered by Environatives provides knowledge and skills to create community gardens, take produce to the market and start microbusinesses. Experts in the sustainable building industry deliver the natural building training, and the entrepreneur training is designed to be relevant to students and their local communities. These programs empower Indigenous women and youth by helping them find independence and overall well-being in their lives. 

Indigenous Entrepreneurship in Canada

Basic assumptions of mainstream theories of entrepreneurship sometimes conflict with certain Indigenous cultural values. This is because the perception of opportunity is culturally relative, as is the measurement of success, both of which are important elements of entrepreneurship (Dana 2015). Indigenous entrepreneurship often incorporates community needs and objectives more holistically than Western forms of entrepreneurship. 

Becky Big Canoe and many other Indigenous entrepreneurs, approach entrepreneurial activities with the desire to be environmentally sustainable. This comes from a strong connection to the land as its original inhabitants, which has been disrupted by colonization. As such, taking part in entrepreneurial enterprises offers a chance to reassert control over traditional territories and build community (Sengupta & Vieta, 2015). A significant amount of Indigenous entrepreneurial activity occurs outside the realm of traditional market exchanges. In the absence of market transactions, wealth can be generated by individuals and within the community without the sale of a good or service for profit. Regulatory barriers often prompt Indigenous entrepreneurs away from the traditional market setting. While there are multiple approaches to Indigenous entrepreneurship, it is often designed to be inclusive of economic, environmental, social and cultural goals, typically with a greater emphasis on cultural values than more non-Indigenous social enterprises (Sengupta & Vieta, 2015). 

Canadian Indigenous Housing Security

Housing insecurity disproportionately affects the Indigenous population in Canada. The fact that Indigenous people are the fastest growing demographic in the Canadian population increases the challenges of supplying housing and puts greater pressure on band councils to do so.

According to 2016 census data, one in five Indigenous people in the country lived in a home in need of major repairs. Comparatively, in the same year, only six per cent of the non-Indigenous population reported living in a dwelling that required major repairs. In addition, those living on-reserve are more likely to live in the least adequate housing conditions, as people with registered Indian status who lived on reserve were 3 times more likely to need major housing repairs, with 44.% requiring repairs, compared to 14% for those living off-reserve. 

On top of the issue of repairs, about one quarter of Indigenous people live in crowded housing. A higher proportion of Indigenous people with a registered Indian status lived in crowded housing than without (27 per cent versus 12 per cent). This proportion is even higher among those living on reserve than off (37 per cent versus 19 per cent).

Overcrowding can lead to a number of health and social issues. As Becky Big Canoe mentioned, mould is often found in poorly constructed and crowded houses, and poses health risks as a result. In some communities, there are so many people living in one house that they must sleep in shifts, revealed an interim report of the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. This can disrupt a child’s focus in school, resulting in lower education achievement rates and lower employment rates. Overcrowding can also lead to homelessness. 

Furthermore, a number of houses built on reserves are not constructed for the environment they’re situated in. Due to the costs of construction northern regions, many receive below-par construction. This is something Big Canoe directly addressed by building her own home from straw. There is also big problem with inadequate water infrastructure, resulting in drinking water advisories. Health Canada indicated that there were 100 long-term drinking water advisories and 47 short-term in 102 First Nations communities south of the 60th parallel as of Oct. 31, 2017. Boiling water for so many people can also contributes to mould growth, and thus worsen housing conditions.

***

To find out more about Becky Big Canoe’s non-profit Environatives Training initiatives, check out her website http://www.backtobasicscanada.com/environative-training

To find out more about the problem of inadequate housing for Indigenous peoples, see the following sources: 

• HOUSING ON FIRST NATION RESERVES: Challenges and Successes Interim Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, February 2015. https://sencanada.ca/content/sen/committee/412/appa/rms/08feb15/Home-e.htm

• Statistics Canada. (2017). The housing conditions of Aboriginal people in Canada. Retrieved from https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016021/98-200-x2016021-eng.cfm 

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Dr. Andrew Judge is an Anishinaabe-Irish Scholar and founded the ongoing Indigenous knowledge project, Minjimendan, at rare Charitable Research Reserve. Minjimendan is an Ojibway word meaning “in a state of remembering.” It is a reference to the state of mind in which the ancestors lived in order to thrive. They would remember where the places of sustenance were and nurture those places for the betterment of future generations. Minjimendan was designed as a sustainable Indigenous foods garden. The project grounds Indigenous knowledge and philosophy rooted in land-based sustainability practices. In the words of Dr. Judge, “The Indigenous Food Garden seeks to foster a welcoming, safe and inclusive environment for all — a sanctuary where threads of ancient wisdom can be woven into the tapestry of consciousness.”

Indigenous Food Security

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, food security exists “when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” Unfortunately, however, rates of food insecurity are disproportionately higher for Indigenous people, in what is present day Canada. This can directly be attributed to racially motivated legislation like the Indian Act that forced Indigenous peoples to live on isolated reserve communities, sometimes far from their traditional land base. Further exacerbating the challenges posed by food insecurity are the negative health outcomes resulting from a working knowledge of food security developed in a non-Indigenous context – meaning today’s colonial views of food security do not reflect nor account for the traditional food practices of Indigenous people (Power, 2008).

The four pillars of food security identified by the UN are access, availability, supply and utilization. Each holds unique implications for Indigenous peoples and their wellbeing, which customarily depended on the region of the world where they originated. Access includes both physical and economic, which are influenced by income, purchasing power, ecosystem health, transportation, and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Availability requires adequate supplies, which are also influenced by ecosystem health, TEK, domestic productions, and trade.  Supply is highly dependant on the ability of a community to respond to the demands of their ecosystem. Utilization consists of knowledge of food safety, sanitation conditions, access to clean water, again ecosystem health, TEK, and knowledge of what makes up an adequate diet.

Climate change, which can directly be attributed to human colonial exploits, has severely impacted all four pillars of food security for Indigenous people – not to mention the theft of their lands. Any remaining potential for Indigenous people and all people to utilize their ecosystems in ways that support food security has been muted by environmental contaminants. This is all despite knowing that a traditional local diet tends to be more nutrient-dense than an imported or manufactured one. All of this is impacts quality of life for Indigenous people. Furthermore, the planting, nurturing, harvesting, and sharing of traditional foods is part of Indigenous peoples’ relationships to land, acting as a method for the transmission of values, skills and spirituality (Power, 2008). Food plays an important social and economic role and forms the basis of social activity, cohesion, and integration through the strong symbolic and spiritual values formed when the community comes together. For some, the ability to access traditional food is vital to cultural and physical well-being.

Indigenous identity has been marked as a key characteristic of vulnerability to food insecurity. Research indicates that Indigenous groups have a higher prevalence of sociodemographic risk factors that can leave an individual vulnerable to food insecurity. The lasting impact of colonialism has affected food security through issues including residential schooling, loss of culture, marginalization and relocation to remote locations, and a failure to settle land claims (Subnath, 2017).

While older individuals tend to consume more traditional foods when access permits, younger Indigenous people have become more reliant on store-bought foods, and often were not taught the skills or TEK to live with the land as their predecessors once did (Subnath, 2017). All the parts of an Indigenous food system are inseparable and are meant to function through interdependent and interconnected relationships that includes all parts of the ecosystem as relations, and transfer energy through the ecosystems to the social networks and eventually the economy.

Indigenous Farm Practices

Many modern agricultural system are unsustainable. From monocultures and excessive tillage of the land that harms the soil and attracts pests and diseases to artificial fertilizers polluting soil and water. Soil health becomes an issue when its ability to hold water is reduced, and farmers are forced to strain their reservoirs. Preserving traditional forms of farming knowledge and land-based sustainability practices can enhance food security, maintain biodiversity, and protect natural resources, but we must all work together to recover from the monophasic thinking – the thought that a single reproduced organism is the way to produce food, i.e. a multi hectare soybean field. Indigenous “farming,” and I use quotes here because the practices are about as far from farming as one can get, results when people connect deeply to the land and remember their role as human beings. The goal is to develop food systems that accent biodiversity and restore, revitalize and protect nature instead of destroying it. It’s actually a very simple concept, but due to colonial and media influences that have projected Indigenous peoples as primitive, there are few people today with even basic knowledge of this type of relational connection to our mother earth.

There are several practices that reflect Indigenous land-based knowledge. Agroforestry, the intentional planting of trees to develop microclimates that control temperature and protect against harmful weather related event. Crop rotation is a practice by which growing different crops on the same land can preserve the productive ability of the soil. Intercropping is when farmers sow more than two crops at the same time in the same field, which can maximize land use and create biodiversity. Polyculture involves growing many plants of different species in the same area in a way that imitates nature and result in better soil quality and more stable yields. Finally, water harvesting is the redirection and use of rainfall, which helps to create a storage of water in the event of drought or minimal rainfall. Each of these techniques were practiced in varying ways widely by Indigenous peoples and by looking to the Elders and people who still remember or still practice these techniques and others, we can begin to revitalize our destroyed ecosystems together.

There is some evidence suggesting that Indigenous communities grew the “three sisters”: a method of companion planting beans, squash and corn to create a polyculture that protects the soil, prevents pests, and maximizes yields. In wet regions this practice was used on elevated surfaces to help drainage, while in drier climates it was used to border gardens to contain rainfall. There is a lot more, however, to the three sisters than what meets the eyes, but to learn this knowledge, one must be committed to this work and actually start practicing it. It’s one thing to talk about something and another to do it! Soon you’ll realize the immense complexity and rewards of producing food for your community. Indigenous farmers combined intercropping and agroforestry to yield significant amounts of produce in small spaces. They exemplify sustainable practices and as we all attempt to decolonize, we can potentially get there again. Indigenous production methods were largely shunned by settler societies once they started to realize their profits from monoculture systems. But they were not thinking long term, as Indigenous people always did. Now those profits mean nothing, as the entire ecosystem of earth is in decline and the future ecosystem health we have left our grandchildren is bleak at best. With increasing awareness of the unsustainability of modern farming techniques, there’s a growing desire to look back at traditional methods, to look back to Indigenous peoples and ask how can we remember what it is to be a human being and how can we together create a more sustainable future for all.

Follow-Up

Find out more about RARE charitable research reserve.

If you would like to learn about how to incorporate Indigenous foods into your landscape, or contribute to the Indigenous Foods Garden, you can get in touch with Dr. Andrew Judge at mkomose19@gmail.com

Here are some resources to learn more about Indigenous food sovereignty:

• Coté, C. (2016). “Indigenizing” Food Sovereignty. Revitalizing Indigenous Food Practices and Ecological Knowledges in Canada and the United States. Humanities,5(3), 57. doi:10.3390/h5030057
• https://foodsecurecanada.org/sites/foodsecurecanada.org/files/DP1_Indigenous_Food_Sovereignty.pdf
• Subnath, Melissa, “Indigenous Food Insecurity in Canada: An Analysis Using the 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey” (2017). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 4459.
• https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4459
• Power, Elaine. “Conceptualizing Food Security for Aboriginal People in Canada.” (2008). Canadian Journal of Public Health. 95-97.
• https://www.resilience.org/stories/2017-08-14/five-indigenous-farming-practices-enhancing-food-security/
• https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/AHRC2250Add.1_English.PDF

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