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What do we do now that the bridge is gone?

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What do we do now that the bridge is gone?

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Almost every single person we spoke with during this field school mentioned that they realized how dependent they were on an import based food system was when part of the Alaska Highway washed out back in 2012. In an almost apocalyptic fashion, people ran to the grocery stores and began to hoard supplies. After this, people began to realize that food resiliency was an important issue (although one farmer, Otto, does not believe it was enough of a wake-up call). Coming to Yukon was refreshing in seeing that there are so many people dedicated to changing their community's dependance on an import based food system. In Ontario, people hardly realize how dependant we are on grocery stores. Both in Whitehorse and in Dawson City I noticed brave men and women on the front lines of the battle against the corporate food systems. These farmers fight tirelessly to grow and harvest local foods and make them available to their communities.

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Throughout my journey on the Grizzly Lake Trail, our guide Cathie, showed us all of the edible items available right there. From cranberries to fireweed, we munched along up the trail.  My mind went to Olivier DeSchutter’s Right to Food Framework. I noticed all the availability (which is one of the first components to food security according to DeSchutter) of country foods during my hike. However, without my guide, Cathie, that food would have been inaccessible to me as I couldn’t tell the difference between edible food items and toxic plants. This highlights a larger issue within not only Yukon’s food system, but the Canadian food system at large. Country foods are out there, yet with out the knowledge they are inaccessible to us. Using DeSchutter’s framework, Canadians cannot fully experience the right to food as this issue showcases a failure within our food system.

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4:45 am airport trips. Dazed, confused, exhausted. I’m coming for you Whitehorse!

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I feel like the only person left on planet earth who hasn't made it to the West Coast yet. I am a changed person now, sitting in an airport restaurant sipping coffee waiting for my flight to Whitehorse.
Those of you know me know I am a MASSIVE Lord of the Rings nerd. Guys- a physical smile crossed my face seeing these mountains in BC. All I could think of was the Misty Mountains in LotR... so I went ahead and took a video. Enjoy!

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This hike was just amazing. After a really interesting morning at a community led garden and an independent grocery store that stocked and sold local foods, we traveled to Miles Canyon for a picnic and a hike. Wow. I can't truly describe how this place made me feel. I have never felt so moved, so emotional from a place before. It's really wild to me that I literally had tears in my eyes experiencing this amazing place. Like the Kacey Musgraves song goes "you got me smiling with tears in my eyes". But the most profound thing I realized on this hike, was that this amazing landscape had managed to light a fire in my heart that I subconsciously knew was dull for quite a bit of time. So with that, thank you Miles Canyon, thank you Yukon for re-igniting that fire in my soul. Not to be dramatic.

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This has to be the most striking, in-your-face impact of climate change that I have ever seen. According to our amazing guide, Jeff, the area used to be a large lake bustling with life and energy. In 2016, water stopped flowing into the lake due to a receding glacier. Within two short years, this large portion of the lake has gone dry, leaving a strange dystopian desert in it's place. The scene leaves you feeling hollow and hopeless. Shocked that your lifestyle could be leaving a permanent scar on this earth.

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Today's trip to Naturally Northern Meats Abattoir and Meat Shop was shockingly one of the highlights of the trip so far. For some reason, I assumed that it would be too hard to handle. I understand the ways in which our food industry deals with turning live animals into meat. I just never really wanted to be exposed to it as I believed it would be too painful to experience. Yet, Marie's (one of the owners) calm attitude toward the whole thing made me feel at ease. Also, she mentioned that they really only processed about 8 animals a day. I know that large operations  funnel way more animals than that. This experience led me to appreciate this necessary part of the food system as it seemed to be conducted with such a respect not only for the animals, but for the people and land also involved within a northern, local food system

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Functioning in a Food System as a Single Person 

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Functioning in a Food System as a Single Person 

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Today, Krista Craig and Kerry Nolan came to speak to us about the Anti-Poverty Coalition in Whitehorse at the Yukon College. One thing that Kerry had mentioned that really stood out to me was the notion that the food system in Whitehorse isn't accessible for single people. This really resonated with me. Think about how dependent we are on other people. For me, I’m dependant on my parents to help me out with tuition costs, rent, and other expenses. Taking it a step further, I won’t be able to move out unless I were to have another income to supplement mine. Where my mind went is the ease to stay in an unhealthy situation due to financial co-dependency.

When considering food systems and food security, there are so many factors that influence the systems. Off the top of my head- rent, minimum wage, food costs, transportation costs, etc. Being single, meaning only having one income coming in, restricts capacity to participate within a food system. Looking at the Right to Food, the framework for this class, single income people experience a more difficult time achieving that fundamental right.

Moving forward, development plans (for both Northern and Southern communities) need to begin to consider the ability to survive within a food system on a single income. As up an coming agent of change, this is something I will keep with me throughout my career and hope to implement in my future endeavours.

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A couple of days ago, Suzanne Crocker, director of the upcoming documentary "First We Eat", spent a year eating and serving her family purely local foods. Suzanne took us for a local food foraging tour around Dawson City. This was my first time trying juniper, lungwort, and spruce-tips. It was super cool to learn about local ways of improving food security. Local foraging sparks a movement to increase local knowledge about the foods that are available within the surrounding environment. This is a good example of Olivier De Schutter's Right to Food framework, with a specific focus on Availability. Foraging is going into the environment directly around you and retrieving the edible products in nature that are available. When other foods are unavailable, foraging offers a great opportunity for consumption. However, with the upcoming threats of climate change can threaten the availability of certain foraged foods.

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Tarek-Bos Jabbar is a coordinator for the Crop-Box in Whitehorse. Crop-Boxes utilize unused shipping containers and fit them with a Hydroponic farming system. Hydroponic farming systems grow plants without using soil- just water. Tarek spoke to us about the ins and outs of Crop-Box farming. The boxes come from North Carolina and are shipped up to Whitehorse, then to subsequent communities. The boxes aim to improve food sovereignty by returning food production power back to the community. Although innovative, Suzanne Crocker (director of First We Eat and local food forager) notes that people in the North need more than leafy greens (which is the capacity of the Crop-Boxes) to survive the harsh 40 below winters. What sustains life in the winter in Dawson City are root vegetables, which are beyond the ability of the Crop-Boxes. Within Suzanne's story, she stored her root vegetables in her neighbours permafrost root cellar. The cool nature of the root cellar worked to maintain the nutritional content of the vegetables. Yet many people in the Yukon have limited options for storing their fresh foods in the winter. So this poses a question for the north- what are the available options to either store or produce root vegetables for consumption in the winter?

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Bart Bounds

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So yummy! Today, with Miche Genesh and Chef Cat, we made yummy rhubarb syrup! So cool to make something that was harvested so close to us! Super easy and accessible!

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Surviving in a Northern Food System: Policy Restrictions 

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Surviving in a Northern Food System: Policy Restrictions 

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There are many policy-centric restrictions placed on people who live in the North. Multiple times throughout the field course, restrictive policy was referenced. Mark, from the Independent Grocers, noted federal restrictions with regards to stocking the shelves with wild game or local meats- which is a huge part of the Northern diet. Local meat cannot be sold without being processed through a Federal Inspection Unit, with the exception of farm gate sales.
Further, one of the hotel staff in Dawson City came to speak to us about the restrictions put on potential recipients of the Northern Food Allowance. The requirements for the allowance were ridiculous and made the allowance inaccessible for the people who need it the most. For example, in order to receive the subsidy, the applicant must have a separate kitchen, a certain number of bathrooms, and a certain amount of doors within their homes. This excludes people living in motels, squatter settlements, or on the street. Coincidently, those are the people in most need of assistance.
Additionally, many restrictions have been placed on the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Teaching and Learning Farm. Derek highlighted the large barriers that are put in place that alienate farm workers who have trouble understanding legal jargon. In order to sell the eggs that they produce, multiple forms must be filled throughout the cleaning and sorting process. These forms deter people from continuing in farm work as they are difficult to understand. Moreover, there is intergenerational trauma associated with Western legal documents for First Nations communities.
These are just some of the policy restrictions I noticed held severe impacts on living in the North. Moving forward, the governments in Yukon should work together to make food security more accessible for the players dedicated to increasing the resiliency of the Northern food system in a culturally adequate way.