First Nations and Indigenous people history in agriculture and agri-foods today has existed long before Canada confederated. There has always been a relationship between Indigenous people and the land. Indigenous people harvested plants, ranched livestock, and cultivated plants to create medicines and design companion planting systems like the Three Sisters. Canada’s agriculture and agri-foods industry is critical to the sustainability and independence of the country, and of growing importance to Indigenous communities nationwide.
As part of our mandate to support human resource development in the sector, CAHRC continues to work on providing research, tools, and understanding to support an equitable, inclusive, and diverse workforce in primary agriculture.
An example of this work includes exploring with the Indigenous community ways to increase Indigenous participation in the agriculture population as operators and through employment. Another example includes conducting research focused on Indigenous farm management training to further support the development of agriculture and agri-food initiatives.
CAHRC continues to build relationships with Indigenous communities and producers through these initiatives.
Through collaborating with Indigenous communities and producers across the country, the Council has identified numerous risks and challenges faced by Indigenous peoples as they seek to expand or enter into agricultural production (CAHRC 2020). Agricultural businesses face many complex challenges as they navigate their operations; however, for Indigenous producers, these barriers are even more prevalent as they face additional complexities and barriers to entrance or expansion of agricultural operations.
Though the Council has worked towards many objectives and recommendations laid out in its Growing Security Report, there is much work that can still be done to better support the Indigenous community when it comes to agriculture.
For the last two years, the Council has been co-hosting online National Indigenous Agriculture and Food Sharing Circles (2021, 2022). These sessions offered a glimpse into how Indigenous people are leading and restoring cultural practices in agriculture. With Indigenous and industry experts sharing their experiences in agriculture, aquaculture, and traditional foods. The sessions offered both Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants an opportunity to learn more about Indigenous agricultural practices and facilitate connection and collaboration. The Council is seeking to continue these sessions in the later half of 2023 by providing further commodity specific Sharing Circles, as well as additional Sharing Circles on Human Resource topics. The hope is that these sessions will continue to promote sharing of knowledge, the facilitation of connection and collaboration, and training opportunities with best practices for Indigenous agricultural operations. The Council is also seeking to expand upon topics covered in previous sessions, to offer written guides that are easily accessible and usable by Indigenous producers and communities.
The Council is also looking to collect information from participants to guide future research and material development for Indigenous producers and communities across the country.
