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The Yukon Field School on Food Security in Northern Canada will enable students to apply perspectives on international development to food security issues in Canada's North. In this field-based and experiential course, students will explore theoretical and conceptual knowledge during pre-departure classes in Guelph. They will then gain food security knowledge traveling around the Yukon over the course of two weeks. They will also interact with First Nations communities in the Yukon to learn more about foodways in the territory. Through an in-depth exploration of Yukon's food system, the course will push students to consider the challenges and opportunities associated with applying concepts and theories that originate in international development studies to the Canadian context.

We will pay particular attention to the social, political, economic, and environmental forces that impact the structure and functioning of the territorial food system and food systems across the Arctic. In particular, we will explore ways of assessing the extent to which the food system advances principles of sustainability and the right to food in Canada. We will explore food and nutrition issues linked to hunting, wild food gathering, and fisheries, and delve into topics including food entrepreneurship and governance to better understand food security situations in the Yukon.

In the field, students will be immersed in stimulating activities and opportunities for reflection, challenging them to learn about issues impacting food security, Canada's colonial history, First Nations communities, and environmental sustainability. The course format will consist of pre-departure classes at the University of Guelph before travel to the Yukon for the two week field school. In this course, we will also embark on outdoor adventures in scenic 'larger than life' Yukon!
The Yukon Field School is being offered by the Guelph Institute of Development Studies. Preference will be given to students who are majoring in International Development Studies, but students from other disciplines are also welcome to apply.
Application deadline: 11 January 2019

Information Session for Yukon Field School

Field School Instructor
Dr. Lauren Sneyd
Field School Dates

The Yukon Field School will be offered during the Summer 2019 semester, in May.

The tentative dates for the semester are:

On-campus, Guelph: May 6-9, 2019

Yukon Territories: May 13-24, 2019

Credits

Students will be registered in a 3000-level IDEV course worth 1.0 credits. Questions about possible substitutions for your ID major should be directed to Lisa Blenkinsop.

Costs
Students should budget for the following:

Round-trip airfare to Whitehorse, Yukon Territories.

Tuition and fees for 1.0 credits to the University of Guelph

The Yukon Field School fees: $2500 - 3000 (amount is dependent on the number of students registered in the program)

Personal expenses

Travel health and emergency insurance

Eligibility

Students applying to the Yukon Field School must have 7.5 U of G credits (by May 2019), and a 70% cumulative average.

Preference will be given to students who are majoring in International Development Studies, but students from other disciplines are also welcome to apply.

Applications

Click here to access the application.

Please submit the application in person to the GIDS office (8th floor, MacKinnon) or emailing to idadvisor@uoguelph.ca by January 11, 2019.

Questions?

If you have questions about the Yukon Field School, you can contact Dr. Sneyd or Lisa Blenkinsop.

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Yukon Field School on Food Security in Northern Canada

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The Yukon Field School on Food Security in Northern Canada will enable students to apply perspectives on international development to food security issues in Canada's North. In this field-based and experiential course, students will explore theoretical and conceptual knowledge during pre-departure classes in Guelph.

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Click here to learn about Dr. Sneyd

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Lauren Sneyd earned her doctorate at the University of Guelph in Geography and International Development Studies. She was previously a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, and a visiting Assistant Professor with the Development Studies Program and the Coady International Institute at St. Francis Xavier University. Lauren currently serves as a lecturer for courses linked to her areas of expertise for the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences (CSAHS) at the University of Guelph. She is the coordinator of the Guelph Institute of Development Studies (GIDS) Yukon Field School on Food Security in Northern Canada.

Lauren tweets from @laurensneyd, and she can be reached via email at lsneyd@uoguelph.ca

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Lauren Sneyd earned her doctorate at the University of Guelph in Geography and International Development Studies. She was previously a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, and a visiting Assistant Professor with the Development Studies Program and the Coady International Institute at St. Francis Xavier University.

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Yukon here we come ✈️

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Even in extremely developed nations and cities, food security may still be an issue. When availability concerns and accessibility concerns are met, the adequacy of the food may still be lacking. Some questions I asked myself throughout the field school were: Is this food nutritious? Is this food maintaining its nutrients? Is this food free of harmful chemicals? Is this food the best option for people?

One issue that kept coming up amongst the speakers we met, was that choices and interest played a large role in food adequacy. For example, Susanne Crocker reflected on her time eating entirely local food and said that some members of her family really struggling with choosing the healthier food option. Processed and nutrient lacking food is often cheaper, more appetizing (due to high sugar and starch content), and is more convenient to prepare. Crocker advocated for the health benefits and cultural benefits of eating local, claiming in many cases it helped the local economy but also avoided the nutrient loss that happens when produce is shipped over long distances. For many individuals, eating local may seem too complicated or unfamiliar which acts as a barrier to this nutritious food. For example, Crocker commented that one of the reasons she was successful in her year of eating local was because she was able to rely on community friends and connections for their knowledge and homegrown foods. This not only highlights the topic of adequacy but also touches on barriers to food accessibility as well.

Another aspect of adequacy that is important specifically in the North is the idea of cultural adequacy, or as Schutter put it, "culturally acceptable" food. For many Indigenous communities, it is important that they are able to further their traditional and spiritual practices with their food.  As well, transferrable knowledge surrounding traditional foods and dishes is an important part of maintaining culture. When different factors affect availability and accessibility, the adequacy of traditional food suffers and cultural adequacy is not entirely met. This can lead to a variety of issues and intergenerational loss.

Going forward, it is important for those studying food security to analyze the adequacy of the food being consumed in a specific area. As mentioned, places that may seem food secure on the surface may have underlying issues that need to be recognized.

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As Schutter highlighted in his work, food security is not achieved until the three A's are fulfilled. Providing "sufficient food on the market to meet the needs" is only one aspect of the larger idea of food security. Schutter highlights that there may be additional social factors that inhibit ones access to food.  The category of accessibility lends itself to a variety of disciplines. Coming with an anthropology background, when thinking of accessibility, I spent a lot of my time questioning ideas about gender, class, physical and mental ability, race and other intersectionalities in relation to the food system. During our time at Yukon college at the beginning of the field school we had the privilege of speaking with Ashley Komangaapik Rose Cummings, a Nunavut born women who has been heavily invested in development work in Canada's North, specifically through sitting on the Prime Ministers Youth Council. Cummings alluded to multiple food accessibility issues facing the North. She discussed the reality of high food costs, poor food quality, and limited selection of goods in fly in communities in the territories. Although food is made available, due to the lower income rates and higher food costs many folks are not able to access many foods. Unfortunately, this disproportionately affects those with less money, resulting in increased food insecurity amongst poorer individuals. Another speaker, Anna Lamb, highlighted that these daily struggles paired with existing generational trauma can have disastrous affects on the wellbeing of communities and individuals. Showing that food accessibility issues extend itself outside of the food system and into many facets of life. We also heard from Kerry Nolan from the Yukon Anti-poverty Coalition who introduced us to the importance of learning from the lived experiences of community members. Specifically highlighting past personal struggles with accessing food in the Yukon due to her class in society, which ultimately affected her ability to adequately provide for her family. These topics of cost and class are not unique to the Yukon and are issues that come up very often when analyzing the food accessibility in various locations. This time in the Yukon has taught me how to think beyond simply definitions and consider the various intersectionalities impacting food accessibility.

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As International Development students, we often discuss the rise of our current era of globalization and the success of this system. Due to the contraction of time and space and the ability to share knowledge, resources and necessities around the globe it has become possible for people to purchase goods of all varieties from places they never could have before. However, in the Yukon and other areas of the North, this idea of the contraction of time and space is not quite the same as we are used to seeing in the south. For example, many speakers we met with during our time in the Yukon discussed the issue of only one main road leading into Whitehorse. The city relies on this road for all of its imports, highlighting the fragility of this system. Mark from Independent Grocery discussed how this road has impacted his ability to make food available to the people of Whitehorse. Food must be trucked in which not only takes a long amount of time, it also contributes to costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Mark commented that another struggle with trucking is that they only send the trucks up when they're full, for efficiency, but this means that he may wait up to 4 days for an order to come in. In this time, someone may come to purchase the entirety of his stock in one item (such as tomato sauce purchased by a restaurant) resulting in customers being limited in their choices. Beyond these issues, on a more serious side of things, when the road is closed and nothing can be trucked in, many businesses and people lose a major food source for a period of time. The farmers, restaurant owners, and citizens we met while in the Yukon all mirrored the same panic that they experienced a couple of years ago when the road shut down. Referencing stores clearing of their stock and farmers sharing their food stores. Overall, when thinking of Whitehorse being a one road entrance city, it is made clear how vulnerable the city is to external forces impacting their food availability.

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Olivier De Schutter wrote a Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food as a Mission to Canada. The IDEV 3500 field school worked within this framework and duuring our course time would analyze our experiences through the three A's of Food security. To contextualize my upcoming reflections I have included Schutter's explanation of this framework;
"The right to food requires the possibility either to feed oneself directly from productive land or other natural resources, or to purchase food, and includes various elements. In its General Comment No. 12, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has defined these elements: (a)availability; (b) accessibility; and (c) adequacy. Availability relates to there being sufficient food on the market to meet the needs. Accessibility requires both physical and economic access: physical accessibility means that food should be accessible to all people, including the physically vulnerable such as children, older persons or persons with disabilities; economic accessibility means that food must be affordable without compromising other basic needs such as education fees, medical care or housing. Adequacy requires that food satisfy dietary needs (factoring a person’s age, living conditions, health, occupation, sex, etc), be safe for human consumption, free of adverse substances and culturally acceptable."