Visioning Exercise:
Visioning includes looking ahead. Please write a one-page piece on the vision you have for your
learning in this course. Look to the Course Outline for inspiration. Please be sure to answer the
following questions:
ï‚· What is one question you want an answer to by the end of this course in relation to
Indigenous food systems?
ï‚· What resources you might use to learn about this?
Course Description:
The course introduces students to Indigenous peoples’ food,
nutrition, and health issues. Using the concept of food security as a
framework, food availability, accessibility, appropriateness,
acceptability, and agency will be discussed in the context of
historical and current Indigenous food systems. Through lectures
and class discussions, topics covered include: colonization and
reconciliation; Indigenous worldviews; oral history and food;
traditional foods; the social determinants of health; emerging health
trends; food policy, community nutrition, and Indigenous food
sovereignty.
This course provides an opportunity for an exploration and
discussion of the issues concerning Indigenous peoples food
systems, nutrition and health. Indigenous food systems include
locally, naturally sourced traditional foods, obtained through
Indigenous ways of knowing attached to a cultural and linguistic
identity. Indigenous peoples in Canada have experienced a decline in the availability of their traditional foods, due to environmental changes, reserve systems, or
the loss of traditional knowledge and skills in obtaining food. Students will develop a deeper
understanding of the policies that have affected Indigenous food systems, contributing to a
negative nutrition transition. Using the concept of food security as a framework, the pillars of
food availability, accessibility, appropriateness, acceptability, and agency will be discussed in
the context of historical and current Indigenous food systems. The course critically engages
students on topics of: colonization and reconciliation, Indigenous worldviews, oral history and
food, traditional foods, the social determinants of health, emerging health trends, food policy,
community nutrition, and Indigenous food sovereignty.