Harvest Reflection for our Urban Aboriginal Folks
Harvest Reflection for our Urban Aboriginal Folks
by Diana Bird of the I-Collective
Harvest is such a busy season for my family as we are getting the goods out of the garden before frost, chickens need to be harvested and my sister has long tunnels where we all pitch in when we can. Our traditional foods such as berries, ducks and moose are also ready. Just yesterday my mother came by with 6 ducks and that was it, all my freezers are now full - it has been a busy season. I am one of the lucky ones who have kinship ties and was taught about gardening, hunting, fishing, canning and all aspects of food security. Not everyone is lucky and in fact, many of our Urban Aboriginal folks out there are food insecure.
Urban populations all across the nation are food insecure but to add insult to injury, we rarely have access to our Indigenous Foods. I sit on the Board of Directors of my Band and we oversee the funding for our Urban Members. I bring the knowledge of Social Work, Mental Health and Food Security to the table. Just the other day, I applied for two grants: one was for setting fishnets, getting youth to help with land-based learning and to distribute the fish to our Urban Elders and Parents; the other is to take youth to go hunting for Elk or Moose for the Elders and Adults with families. I received both grants for the folks, a proud moment.
When I took on the job as Board of Directors, I sat and spoke to one of our oldest Elders, Norman. He spoke to me about the issues Urban people face. He said, “for whatever reason, our people moved away from the reserve, to work or for school. They have their good reasons. We pay taxes. We should not be punished to live off reserve.” He went on to say that the children suffer the most, they need to be given clothing and food. I almost cried when he spoke as I know this to be true. I told him that I would take his words to the Board so that we can start doing things in a better way to benefit both the youth and the Elders, as these two populations are profoundly affected by poverty.
This weekend, I was able to get 250 pounds of newly harvested potatoes for $250, that is a huge savings for our Urban Elders and it gives me so much hope for what lies ahead. There is a way! I have a volunteer and we will now go see our 51 Elders this weekend. I will probably be just as emotional as my heart has always been in giving. Whenever I hear those words and humbling gratitude, I feel that Creator has given me two hands to help. This is a small drop in the bucket, but it is teaching me that food security is possible.
In the future, we will be doing a Fill the Freezer program to ensure that we are properly supplying the Urban folks with Traditional Foods. This is so important because many of the people have lost touch with the reserve, lost kinship ties and therefore cannot access their traditional foods, such as fish, moose meat, berries or ducks. They have highly processed foods that are creating epidemic proportions of high blood pressure, diabetes and other chronic diseases related to poverty and a diet of non-traditional foods.
What are some of the answers? In Canada we have what is called Jordan's Principal funds as well as Land-Based education funds. These can be accessed by anyone who has the time and who belongs to an organization. Keep your eyes out for these funding opportunities and get creative! It takes a little bit of work, passion and desire to help others to get through this life in a good way.
Diana Bird, BISW, B. Arts and Science, Holistic Wellness Worker at Muskoday Health Centre, Board of Directors for the ML Urban Services Inc., Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. September 2020.
Read more about Jordan’s Principal at: https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1568396042341/1568396159824
COMING IN OCTOBER: I-COLLECTIVE RESIDENCY AT BELLY OF THE BEAST. A COLLABORATIVE KITCHEN.
https://www.bellyofthebeastma.com/
The chefs at the collective have been given the opportunity to collaborate with a restaurant called Belly of the Beast, located in Northampton, MA! The goal is multi faceted. One, to educate the community about Indigenous foods and bring awareness to the general food insecurity that people have. Two, how can the community help and we can help uplift the community while we are there. The IC has no desire to be a burden during our residency. Three, most importantly, we want to keep the BotB, its staff, and its presence in Western Mass around for many more years.
