Food insecurity is a significant global problem. Moreover, it is an issue that affects millions of individuals in Canada, including many Indigenous people. This paper begins with a conceptualization of food insecurity. Next, the paper contextualizes the problem of food insecurity by highlighting the prevalence of food insecurity in Canada, specifically among its Indigenous people. The paper then identifies some of the causes of food insecurity in Indigenous communities and the effects of food insecurity on Aboriginal people. Subsequently, the paper provides examples of existing policies designed to make Indigenous households more food secure. Finally, the paper offers potential policy recommendations for tackling the problem of food insecurity and reducing the vulnerability of Indigenous populations to food insecurity.
Food insecurity is inadequate or insecure access to food.1 It is the “inability to acquire or consume an adequate diet quality or sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways, or the uncertainty that one will be able to do so due to income constraints”.1(p295) Food security relies on sustainable food systems, physical and economic access to food, and appropriate food use.1 Typically, it is expected that food insecurity is a problem in poorer societies and countries. However, the problem of food insecurity is a common one even in more affluent societies. In wealthier countries, food insecurity arises from social conditions and policies that negatively impact access to financial resources required to effectively demand adequate and nutritious food.1
‘The scale of globalization in food systems demonstrated by structures such as the international trade of food commodities, the agri-food industry, agricultural policies of protectionism and openness, grocery distribution systems, processed food marketing and distribution systems, and agricultural labor protections has made food insecurity an issue requiring a global lens to analyze’.1(p295) Hence, food security for Indigenous people exists within the broader context of an increasingly global food system, and the dynamics of this complex system have implications for food access in Indigenous communities.
Food insecurity as a social issue is connected to health and well-being. The presence of food insecurity can exacerbate the effects of other social ills on the well-being of Aboriginal people. The effects of food insecurity are often more pronounced in vulnerable individuals such as the young, sick, and elderly. In young children, lack of access to adequate nutrition has implications for cognitive and physical development.2 Food insecurity adversely affects learning in young children and impacts their academic performance. Poor academic performance may contribute to lower educational attainment in Indigenous young people. The consequences of low educational attainment extend toward lower opportunities for employment, increased risk of precarious employment, and poverty. These factors negatively combine to reduce socioeconomic status, which increases the odds of food insecurity. Nutritional deficiencies arising from food insecurity affect the physical growth of Indigenous children, causing them to be relatively shorter with higher rates of rickets relative to the rest of Canada.2 A higher prevalence of psychological distress in Indigenous adolescents has been linked with living with food insecurity during childhood. Food insecurity in Indigenous households is associated with higher odds of poor health outcomes such as chronic health conditions, mental health disorders, poor mental health, and overall poor health and well-being.3 Clearly, the consequences of food insecurity on Aboriginal populations are dire, which highlights the need for urgency in addressing what is a significant social issue.
Canadian Aboriginal history involves systemic racism, colonialism, displacement, and discrimination. These elements of the Indigenous relationship with the Canadian state intersect with food insecurity. These macro-level injustices negatively impact Indigenous people at the individual level by limiting their access to skills and resources, which in turn reduces their capacity for resilience against food insecurity. For instance, financial issues represent one of the causes of food insecurity. The oppressive systems created by systemic racism and the history of colonialism have put Indigenous people at a disadvantage in terms of income and education. Hence, Indigenous persons are less equipped against rising food prices and are more vulnerable to food insecurity.
Food insecurity has implications for human health and well-being. While existing research highlights the prevalence of food insecurity, this study makes an important contribution by drawing a connection between the ongoing impacts of colonialism and systemic racism, which are visible in Indigenous educational attainment and income levels, and how these intersect with the effectiveness of current policies in ways that leave Indigenous persons vulnerable to food insecurity. Thus, it is important to examine the factors that increase vulnerability to food insecurity as well as measures for addressing the issue. Consequently, this paper seeks to answer the following research questions: (1) What are the drivers of food insecurity among Indigenous people in Canada? (2) What are possible solutions to addressing food insecurity among Indigenous people in Canada?
METHODS
This study utilizes a literature review approach to explore the causes, effects, and policy responses related to food insecurity among Indigenous populations in Canada. The analysis is based on a comprehensive review of peer-reviewed articles, government reports, and policy evaluations from programs like Nutrition North Canada and the Canada Child Benefit. Studies were selected based on their relevance to Indigenous food insecurity and socioeconomic challenges, with a focus on literature published within the last 15 years. Particular attention was given to data from government agencies like Statistics Canada, which provided information on food insecurity rates across different provinces and territories. The data were analyzed by identifying key themes, such as remoteness, mental health, and colonialism, which contribute to food insecurity. Selected policies were then assessed for their effectiveness in reducing vulnerability to food insecurity, particularly in northern Indigenous communities.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Food insecurity in Canada
In Canada, a combination of global recession-induced changes in spending at the federal level and deficit reduction strategies at the provincial level have pulled away funding from social expenditures in health, education, and community services. These changes have led to an increase in food insecurity due to rising poverty and inequality.1 The scale of the food insecurity problem in Canada can be seen in the growing number of programs aimed at managing the issue. Some of the initiatives that have been introduced in the past three decades to tackle food insecurity in Canada include school feeding programs, food banks, targeted meal programs, community kitchens, food supplement and coupon programs, and farmers’ markets. Emerging from only 905 emergency food programs in Canada in 1997, food banks and other similar services have become ubiquitous across Canada, highlighting the prevalence of vulnerability to food insecurity in recent times.1(p299) Statistics Canada reported that in 2022, 16.9 % of Canadians experienced some form of food insecurity. This is an increase of 4% from 2021 when 12.9% of Canadians were reported to be food insecure. Between 2018 and 2022, food insecurity has increased by 5%.4 Children under 18 are particularly vulnerable, with 1 in 6 children living in households experiencing food insecurity.5(p3) According to Statistics Canada, the rate of food insecurity was at its lowest in Quebec. Households in Canadian territories in the north experienced higher levels of food insecurity, with Nunavut reporting a prevalence rate of 57%. Nunavut is largely populated by Indigenous populations, with significantly higher rates of food insecurity in the area, highlighting the scale of the food insecurity problem among Aboriginal people. Hence, in areas largely populated by Indigenous people, there are higher rates of prevalence of food insecurity.
Food Insecurity Among Indigenous People
Data provided by Statistics Canada highlights the scale of food insecurity among Indigenous people. For instance, Nunavut had the highest prevalence of food insecurity in a 12-month period between 2017 and 2018.5 The rate of food insecurity in Nunavut was 57%, which implies that more than half of Nunavut households suffered from food insecurity.5 The prevalence rates of food insecurity were also high in the Northwest Territories and Yukon. Together, these three areas had the highest prevalence of food insecurity in Canada. This is particularly noteworthy since these three areas have some of the highest proportions of Indigenous people. According to Statistics Canada, the proportions of Indigenous populations in Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Yukon were 85.7%, 49.6%, and 22.3%, respectively in 2021.6 Furthermore, Indigenous people reported the second highest rates of food insecurity at 28.2%.5(p13) Indigenous households in Canada are 2 to 6 times more likely to have experienced food insecurity relative to other Canadian households. Among First Nations households, nearly half of the households living on reserve suffered from food insecurity7
Causes of Food Insecurity
Structural Factors: Colonialism and Systemic Racism
Structural factors and colonial systems negatively influence the rates of employment, wages, and benefits in Indigenous communities.8 Indigenous persons experience higher levels of precarity in employment, lower median incomes, and lower levels of educational attainment relative to mainstream Canadian populations. Figure 1 shows that Indigenous people are overrepresented at lower levels of educational attainment while being underrepresented at higher levels of education. For instance, the proportion of the Indigenous population with no educational qualification is three times that of the White population and about two and a half times that of the overall Canadian population. In Figure 2, the median income for Indigenous people is below the median income for all Canadians as well as the majority White population. More specifically, Indigenous people earn a median income that is $12,400 less than the median income for Whites and $8000 less than the overall median income of the Canadian population.9 The connection between educational attainment and income is obvious and represents structural disadvantages experienced by Indigenous people, which leaves them at a higher risk of food insecurity. Colonial policies of assimilation and industrialization dispossessed Indigenous communities of traditional lands and ruptured metabolic relationships Indigenous people had with the environment.10 Colonialism significantly hurt Indigenous food systems and has contributed to the higher levels of food insecurity in Aboriginal communities. The injustices bourne of Indigenous people’s relationship with the Crown have also created deep-seated distrust in government and Canadian institutions. These centuries-long effects of a fundamentally subservient Indigenous relationship with the Canadian state negatively affect Indigenous people and, by extension, their well-being. These negative consequences are products of structural racism and colonial structures that have adversely impacted the socioeconomic outcomes of Indigenous people.
Macro Conditions: COVID-19
Macro-level factors, such as broader economic and environmental factors, increase the prevalence of food insecurity among Indigenous people. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic increased food insecurity among Aboriginal households. Indigenous households reporting food insecurity increased in the early months of the pandemic.11 Macro conditions such as pandemics and other broader political and economic issues increase risks across all demographics.12(p51) However, Indigenous people face even more elevated levels of risk during these disruptive periods because disruptions at the macro level increase the incidence of unemployment, income loss, and other issues. Existing inequalities arising from centuries of colonialism and domination by the Crown were more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic significantly increased the vulnerability of Aboriginal populations to food insecurity and, by extension, the health and well-being effects of food insecurity.
Remoteness
Aboriginal communities are often located in remote areas. Some communities are cut off from the outside world by road during winter months and only accessible by air. This level of remoteness negatively affects Aboriginal communities and increases their vulnerability to food insecurity.13,14 Specifically, isolation leads to significantly higher food prices due to elevated costs of transportation and storage. In Nunavut, average food prices are more than two times higher than in other parts of Canada.14 Recognizing the impact of isolation on food prices and food security, policies such as the Nutrition North Canada Program (NNC) (discussed later in this paper) have been designed to reduce food prices in isolated Indigenous communities.14
Socioeconomic factors
Proxies for measuring socioeconomic standing, such as housing quality, income support, social support, and employment status, are associated with the risk of food insecurity in Indigenous communities.8,15 Poor housing quality, reliance on income support, and lack of employment or underemployment increase the odds of food insecurity. The prevalence of food insecurity is higher in households dependent on social assistance and welfare programs.8 Reliance on welfare programs expectedly correlates with other symptoms of low economic status, such as poverty, unemployment, lower levels of skill and education, and poorer living arrangements. These reduce individual and household capacity for resilience against food insecurity. In summary, these factors reflect poor or low socioeconomic status and agency, which increases vulnerability to food insecurity. As a result, policies that target individuals of lower socioeconomic status potentially yield greater benefits in reducing the prevalence of food insecurity.
Homeownership is associated with a lower prevalence of food insecurity. Ownership represents relative security and greater wealth that insulates against the risk of food insecurity. For Indigenous individuals in Canadian urban centers, rising costs of housing across major cities in Canada increase their vulnerability to food insecurity.15 Rising housing costs and an overall increase in other necessities reduce resilience, making Indigenous people in urban centers more food insecure.15
Demographic factors
In a study on households in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Guo et al15 found that age had a relation to the odds of being food insecure. The study noted that individuals older than 41 years had lower odds of food insecurity than those between ages 0 to 40 years. The experience that comes with age may allow older adults to navigate the challenges of food sourcing, food preparation, and consumption more effectively. Social safety nets such as public pensions increase income adequacy and security in Canadian seniors.8 Hence, the prevalence of food insecurity is lower among this demographic relative to other age groups.
The presence of young children appears to exacerbate the risk of food insecurity. Egeland et al’s16 findings showed a high prevalence of food insecurity in households with preschoolers in the Nunavut region. The study found that about two-thirds of children in Nunavut resided in homes suffering from food insecurity. This higher prevalence of food insecurity among households with young children is related to adults adjusting their dietary intake to accommodate the nutritional needs of young children. The adults in the household would limit their access to food to protect the children from food insecurity. However, these compromises increase the overall prevalence of food insecurity among such households.
Demographic factors relating to single parenthood can be important predictors of food insecurity risk among Indigenous households.17 Most single-parent households are headed by women. As noted earlier, single mothers heading households facing food insecurity often forgo their own dietary needs to alleviate food insecurity and hunger for their children. While such noble actions protect their children, they do not eliminate the overall levels of food insecurity. Hence, policies geared towards assisting such single-parent households are necessary to eliminate the need for extreme compromises on the part of mothers.
Mental Illness and Chronic Health Issues
Suffering from mental illness increases an individual’s risk of food insecurity.18,19 Mental health issues negatively affect a person’s capacity to effectively provide for themself and can impair their judgment in the selection of healthy food options. Additionally, mental health problems can impact an individual’s ability to determine what level of food intake is sufficient.19 Mental illness may also be associated with substance abuse, which exacerbates the risk of food insecurity.19 More specifically, mental health challenges and chronic health issues may limit employment opportunities and income.19 This increases the incidence of poverty, impacting a person’s ability to afford adequate nutrition, leading to food insecurity.
Traditional food consumption
Deaton et al14 used data on First Nations communities and found that frequent consumption of traditional food appears to be associated with a higher prevalence of food insecurity. The reasons for this association remain unclear and may be related to the framing of survey questions administered to Indigenous communities. However, traditional food consumption may increase the prevalence of seasonal food insecurity. Traditional food consumption involves direct interaction with nature and its elements through activities such as hunting, planting, and harvesting. Due to the often harsh climates in Aboriginal communities, the supply of traditional foods is more susceptible to the unpredictability of nature. Growing human impact on the environment has led to shifts in complex natural systems and climate change issues that have negatively impacted the natural environment Indigenous populations rely on for sourcing traditional foods such as meat and fish. The metabolic rifts from human industrial activity on Aboriginal land have reduced the productivity and reliability of lands that are crucial to the livelihood of Aboriginal populations. Aboriginal communities that rely heavily on what is relatively unpredictable and, consequently, unreliable sources may be at greater risk of experiencing food insecurity.
Addressing Food Insecurity Among Indigenous People: Policy Landscape
In recognizing the severity of the food insecurity problem, the Canadian government currently has policies designed to tackle the issue. This is done by increasing resiliency attributes and capacities in Indigenous families through subsidies and cash transfer programs. I briefly highlight some of these policies below.
Canada Child Benefit: Introduced in 2016, the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is a federal income transfer policy for families with children under 18.8 The policy prioritizes families with children under six by providing higher benefits relative to families with children between the ages of 6 and 17. However, the policy does not account for differences in costs of living across Canadian provinces. Within the context of food insecurity, Indigenous communities often face higher food costs due to the isolation of their communities and the consequences of more expensive distribution and supply. This lack of correction for varying living costs in benefits transfers is a weakness due to these differences in living conditions among the provinces and territories as well as within provinces and territories. Regarding impact, the Canadian government claims that the program has reduced child poverty by about 5%, from 9.4% in 2019 to 4.7% in 2020.20 Additionally, the program is credited with lifting over 430,000 children from poverty over eight years beginning in 2015.20 To receive payments from the CCB program, the primary childcare giver must file taxes with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The administrative complexities of the tax filing process may represent a challenge for Indigenous families seeking assistance through the CCB.21 In this, it is possible to see how the effects of colonialism and systemic racism seen in lower income and educational attainment levels among Indigenous peoples could leave them ill-equipped with the requisite skills for optimally taking advantage of the CCB and similar government support policies. Offering further tax filing support and benefits collection assistance to these individuals may improve access to the program. Additionally, the context of Indigenous peoples’ experience with colonial Canada has likely left these communities lacking sufficient trust in the government and its institutions. Hence, addressing these systemic issues could improve the impact of policies such as the CCB.
Nutrition North Canada: Nutrition North Canada (NNC) is a federal government policy to increase access of Canadians in isolated Northern communities – many of whom are Indigenous people – to healthy food options.22 The NNC program provides access to healthy foods through subsidies that are based on a market-driven model. Essential food items such as fruits, milk, and eggs are covered by the program. The program is reported to have reduced prices of eligible food in remote northern communities and increased the amount of perishable nutritious food available.23 Since remoteness increases the costs of transportation and storage of food supplies, the NNC program subsidies address food price inflation associated with the remoteness of Northern communities. This allows individuals in these remote communities to afford food and, in turn, reduces their risk of food insecurity. One of the concerns with the NNC program is the lack of clarity on eligible businesses, which could potentially lead to the exclusion of certain recipients and, as a result, diminish the impact of the policy.24 Another issue that plagues the NNC is its lack of support for traditional and Indigenous food systems. It barely makes provision for traditional food production through hunting, harvesting, and other Indigenous community-based initiatives.25 Redesigning the program to incorporate key elements of Indigenous life and community is one way to improve the outcomes of the NNC program.
Northern Healthy Foods Initiative: The Northern Healthy Foods Initiative (NHFI) is a Manitoba provincial government policy designed to implement recommendations from the Northern Food Prices Report.22 The NHFI was created in 2005 and focuses on remote and semi-remote Northern communities. The NHFI supports capacity building in northern communities through food production for local consumption, selection of nutritional foods, implementation of cost reduction strategies for healthy foods, and the creation of economic development opportunities. The program has increased healthy food harvests that include poultry, honey, vegetables, fruit, and traditional food such as fish and goose meat.26 The NHFI program has hosted knowledge-building events on gardening and food preservation, greenhouse operations, and on-the-land training.26 These events have increased Indigenous capacity as it relates to food production. Finally, the NHFI program has connected Indigenous persons to much-needed funds for increasing food production capacity.26
Policy Recommendations
Having highlighted some of the causes of food insecurity in Aboriginal communities and existing policies to reduce the prevalence of food insecurity, I present some policy recommendations to make Indigenous communities more food secure.
Indigenous communities across Canada often have food harvesting and sharing systems. However, these systems often lack the infrastructure to support more sophisticated distribution. Providing support through funding and knowledge transfer can improve the organizational and distribution capacity of Indigenous communities. Such strategies effectively combine Indigenous culture with more modern techniques to address an important issue in Aboriginal communities. On surveys, the design of survey questions may be inadequate in capturing the role of traditional food and traditional food-sharing systems. Future surveys should be designed to adequately capture the dynamics of traditional food and traditional food-sharing systems in measuring food insecurity among Indigenous populations. While traditional food-sharing networks may lack the sophistication required to effectively address food insecurity, they can nonetheless offer some assistance. Within the context of households with adults modifying their food intakes to accommodate the dietary needs of young children, which increases the household’s food insecurity, traditional Indigenous values that encourage greater contact and interaction with extended family and the wider Aboriginal community may help to alleviate food insecurity.16 Those living in households with young children where the adults suffer to protect them would greatly benefit from these systems. These extended networks of family and community form a support system that can increase resilience against food insecurity in Indigenous communities.
Combining modern and packaged food consumption with traditional foods may help to minimize the risk of seasonal food insecurity. Since some traditional foods are sourced by direct interaction with nature, they are potentially unreliable as a result. Increasing packaged food consumption would decrease dependence on traditional food sources and may help to make Aboriginal communities more food secure. Another way to incorporate contemporary food science into traditional food production and consumption is through storage techniques that allow for longer periods of food preservation and all-year-round availability. This combination strategy ensures that Indigenous food cultures are preserved while simultaneously reducing the risks associated with the unpredictability of the traditional food supply. Evidently, this strategy should be associated with strategies such as subsidy systems to make packaged and shipped food items more affordable in Aboriginal communities.
To tackle the problem of remoteness and isolation, it is imperative to improve the efficiency of supply chains. The role of government is crucial in addressing this. Through infrastructural development in the form of roads, rail, and air transport infrastructure, the costs of transporting goods to remote and isolated Indigenous communities can be significantly reduced. Increased supply capacity allows for the distribution and supply of food to isolated Aboriginal communities at affordable prices.
Another way to improve food security in Indigenous communities is to closely monitor subsidy-based programs such as Nutrition North Canada to ensure that retailer subsidies are passed on to consumers. Close monitoring of such programs ensures that retailers do not profit from the subsidy system at the expense of consumers, who represent the target of the policy. Reevaluation of eligibility criteria to ensure all eligible entities are included in the NNC program is another key strategy for improving the reach of the policy. Northern territory-specific policies such as NNC could also benefit from improved funding models that incorporate support for traditional and Indigenous community-led agricultural and food projects.
Policies involving income transfers, such as the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), should be based on differences in costs of living to ensure that recipient families receive the same value across Canada. In Indigenous communities, remoteness increases food prices and the failure of policies like the CCB to account for differences in the cost of living is a shortcoming. This can potentially limit its capacity to address food insecurity among Aboriginal households. Reevaluating these policies to reflect the differences in the cost of living can significantly improve their impact on Indigenous people and increase their resilience against food insecurity.
The Canadian government must implement policies to break down racist structures and negative colonial stereotypes that limit opportunities for Indigenous people. Policies of reconciliation geared towards repairing broken systems should be actively implemented to support Indigenous populations. This would increase their capacity for resilience against social issues such as food insecurity. A proactive and determined approach to executing Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2024-2028 represents an important step in dismantling systemic racism and the structures that have allowed its continued existence. This involves acknowledging the unique relationship Indigenous people have with the Crown and the injustice, genocide, language loss, displacement, and colonialism that have characterized this relationship. Additionally, granting greater autonomy to Indigenous communities allows them to employ strategies that are compatible with Indigenous culture and values. These policies can increase access for Indigenous individuals and reduce poverty levels in the community. As noted in this study and previous research, poverty is significantly associated with vulnerability to food insecurity. Thus, reducing poverty levels among Indigenous people through the dismantling of racist and colonial structures can be an effective strategy for addressing food insecurity in Aboriginal communities.
CONCLUSIONS
Aboriginal individuals, households, and communities are significantly more vulnerable to the problem of food insecurity. Remoteness and isolation of Indigenous communities, mental illness and chronic health problems, overreliance on traditional foods and their predictability issues, demographic factors such as age and single parenthood, socioeconomic factors like income, housing quality, educational attainment, employment status, and poverty, macro-level disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and finally structural problems arising from racism and colonialism increase the vulnerability of Aboriginal people to food insecurity.
Although the study attempts to provide a richer overview of the dynamics of food insecurity among Indigenous people in Canada, it is limited by the reliance on secondary data and the availability of recent studies, especially in light of emerging challenges like climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. These limitations suggest the need for future research that includes primary data collection to better capture the lived experiences of Indigenous people facing food insecurity.
Addressing the problem of food insecurity among Indigenous people calls for policies designed to make food commodities more affordable, subsidies and income transfer programs to reduce poverty, and breaking down racist and colonial structures. This multipronged approach has the potential to reduce vulnerability and build resilience in Aboriginal communities against food insecurity and other social ills.
Funding
This research received no funding.
Data availability
Publicly available Statistics Canada data at: ttps://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810043201
Authorship contributions
KI is the sole author and was responsible for all sections of this paper.
Disclosure of interest
The author completed the ICMJE Disclosure of Interest Form (available upon request from the corresponding author) and discloses no revelant interests.
Correspondence to:
Kugbeme Isumonah
University of Calgary
kugbeme.isumonah@ucalgary.ca