Natural Resource Management and Indigenous Food Systems in Northern Ontario
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Lakehead University Knowledge Commons,http://knowledgecommons.lakeheadu.ca Electronic Theses and Dissertations Electronic Theses and Dissertations from 2009 2014-12-16 Natural resource management and Indigenous food systems in Northern Ontario LeBlanc, Joseph William http://knowledgecommons.lakeheadu.ca/handle/2453/589 Downloaded from Lakehead University, KnowledgeCommons Natural Resource Management and Indigenous Food Systems in Northern Ontario By Joseph William LeBlanc A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Forest Sciences Faculty of Natural Resources Management Lakehead University Thunder Bay, Ontario September 2014 Economic development, more than any single issue, is the battle line between two competing worldviews. Tribal people’s fundamental value was sustainability, and they conducted their livelihoods in ways that sustained resources and limited inequalities in their society. What made traditional economies so radically different and so very fundamentally dangerous to Western economies were the traditional principles of prosperity of Creation versus scarcity of resources, of sharing and distribution versus accumulation and greed, of kinship usage rights versus individual exclusive ownership rights, and of sustainability versus growth. Rebecca Adamson ii Abstract LeBlanc, J.W. 2014. Natural Resource Management and Indigenous Food Systems in Northern Ontario. 195 pp. The forests and freshwaters of Northern Ontario are complex socio-ecological systems that have provided opportunities to sustain local lives, economies, and cultures since time immemorial. Through nation-to-nation agreements, Indigenous nations ceded land title to the Crown through treaties in which the Crown promised them enhanced livelihood. The treaties articulated the rights of each party to share access to these lands, and the Canadian courts continue to describe the nature and extent of the rights of each party as well as their duties and responsibilities. Despite great developments in Canadian society, descendants of the Indigenous treaty signatories have experienced disproportionately high rates of unemployment, negative health outcomes, low education rates, and increased food insecurity. The legislative framework guiding Crown land management in Ontario is strongly rooted in Canada’s colonial past; thus the Indigenous land user’s access to foods is largely disassociated from the perspective of the Crown land manager. This research explores assumptions associated with Crown forest management in Ontario based on the purposes of the Crown Forest Sustainability Act, with specific objectives linking participant action research with independent thesis-action research. Community-based research priorities are reflected in in each chapter within the context of Indigenous food systems and natural resource management in Northern Ontario. The major findings of this research confirm that if meeting social, economic, and environmental needs of present and future generations is the purpose of Crown forest management, then based on experiences of Indigenous land users, the paradigm in which natural resource management occurs should be re-evaluated. The researcher provides recommendations for forest managers, including shifting the current knowledge paradigm from the primarily quantitative approach to a more holistic paradigm that includes qualitative information. To achieve this recommendation, the need to reform required training for forest management authorities, to include Indigenous worldviews as well as iii Aboriginal and Treaty Rights. Furthermore, in order to meet the needs of Indigenous land users, the natural resource management paradigm should be expanded to include food system management. Finally, lessons learned from the research project are presented as the 4Rs for rebuilding food sovereignty: reclaim, reorganize, re-skill, and restore. Keywords: Indigenous food systems, Natural resource management, Food Sovereingty, Forest Management, Aboriginal and Treaty Rights, Socieal Enterprise, Ontario, First Nations iv CONTENTS Abstract .................................................. ii List of Tables ........................................... viii List of Figures.............................................ix Acknowledgements and Dedications.............................x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Objectives of the Study ..................................... 3 Research Area - Northern Ontario ............................ 4 The Case Study Community - Aroland First Nation ............. 6 Literature Review .......................................... 7 Title and Rights of Nations and People ................... 7 Responsibility for Indians and Lands Reserved for Indians..11 Responsibility for Natural Resource Management............ 11 The Duty to Consult and the Right to be Consulted......... 14 Indigenous Food Systems ................................. 16 Traditional Economy..................................... 19 Western Theories of Aboriginal Economic Development - Economic development as a Tool of Civilization.......... 23 Aboriginal Participation in the Market Economy/Society – Aboriginal Theories.................................. 24 Strengthening Aboriginal Worlds......................... 27 Development and Life Project............................. 29 How Indigenous Land Uses on Crown Lands are Managed....... 30 v Methods Across All Studies.................................. 38 My Perspective.......................................... 38 Building Relationships and Co-developing Research Themes .............................................. 43 Thesis Organization........................................ 47 CHAPTER 2: WHAT HAPPENED TO INDIGENOUS FOOD SOVEREIGNTY IN NORTHERN ONTARIO: UNDERSTANDING IMPOSED POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIO-CULTURAL, AND SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL CHANGES Introduction.............................................. 52 Where Are We Now............................................ 53 Historical Context......................................... 60 Oligopolization of the Imported Food, Fuels, and Supply Markets and the Introduction of Processed and Fast Foods............. 74 Conclusion................................................ 77 CHAPTER 3: FOREST AND FRESHWATER FOODS IN TWO NORTHERN ONTARIO FIRST NATIONS: PERCEPTIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION AND FOOD SECURITY Introduction.............................................. 79 Methods................................................... 80 Results................................................... 84 Traditional Food, Connection to Land, Health, and Well Being.................................................. 84 vi Levels of Local Food Gathering and Consumption............ 86 Perceived Contamination and Local Food Behaviour.......... 87 Conclusion and Discussion.................................. 89 CHAPTER 4: FIRST NATIONS MOOSE HUNT IN ONTARIO: A COMMUNITY’S PERSPECTIVES AND REFLECTIONS Introduction.............................................. 95 Our Area................................................... 98 Our Approach.............................................. 100 Our Story................................................. 103 Pre-Contact, before 1800, the present....................103 Post-Contact through Railway Development, 1800-1874...... 106 Cession of Lands and Articulation of Rights, 1905 to present ........................................ 107 Logging, Mining, and Protected Areas versus Traditional Activities in a Regulatory Era........................... 108 Current Forest and Moose Management Guidelines and Our Hunting Rights.................................................114 Moving Toward Reconciliation.......................... 116 Acknowledgments.......................................... 120 CHAPTER 5: CASE STUDY OF THE AROLAND YOUTH’S BLUEBERRY INITIATIVE Background to the Case Study................................ 124 Case Study Community...................................... 125 Aroland Youth’s Blueberry Initiative....................... 133 Identification of Opportunities........................... 134 vii Life Projects, Social Enterprise, and the Indigenous Worldview................................... 137 Our Social Enterprise Model................................ 138 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Implications for Forest Management in Ontario............... 145 Rights- and Worldview-based Training for Authorities........ 150 Manage for Forest and Freshwater Food Systems................ 152 Ways Forward for Indigenous Peoples......................... 153 Literature Cited.......................................... 156 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Significant correlations among the health and well-being indicators and connection to nature, connection to land, and the belief that food connects the person with the land for Aroland ...................................................86 Table 2. Mean and standard deviation of self-estimated frequency with which meals in a given week and season include a local food for each community.........................................87 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The key legislative relationships among peoples in Canada and the delegation of political and jurisdictional responsibilities in Ontario related to natural resource management, people, and places..............................13 Figure 2. Location of herbicide application in Aroland First Nation’s territory between 2000 and 2007......................92 Figure 3. Blueberries from an unsprayed site in