This is a story of the health challenges faced by many First Nations communities in Northern Canada.
Imagine a place where delicious, healthy food is readily available and people are active and healthy. Now imagine another place where it is not. The difference in health between these two places can be huge, and the second place has little opportunity to do much about it.
This is a story of the health challenges faced by many First Nations communities in Northern Canada.
A CHANGING WAY OF LIFE
Since time immemorial, First Nations people in Northern Canada have lived connected to the land. Before contact, their diet consisted of what they hunted, fished, and gathered: animals like moose and caribou, fish, berries, and other wild plants. This traditional diet that sustained them was rich in nutrients and provided the energy needed for their active and demanding lifestyle.
With contact, that all changed. Fur traders, churches, miners, and government policies took their land, resources, and children to residential schools. This broke family and community structures and access to traditional foods. It has all had an enormous impact on the social, economic, and health of families and communities, and it continues today.
WHAT DO THE FIRST NATION FAMILIES DO?
What do you do when, every day, facing food and heating insecurity? When outside temperatures are as low as -50 degrees Celsius, and a minimum of $79,000 yearly is required to raise your family above the poverty line?
You turn to bundling in blankets and wearing winter clothing in the house, missing meals, and trying to fill up on highly salted processed food, which is the only thing a family can afford. Just think of looking at a 6-kg Christmas turkey and seeing the price of $200. Your eyes close, and you can dream, but then you snap back to reality and buy a little hamburger and a few wilted vegetables, hoping beyond hope that someone may give you a frozen fish or a piece of Caribou.
What a way to live. But thousands of First Nations people are forced to face this every day, having to try to survive on high-cost store-bought foods that are high in sugar and fat.
The health impacts. This shift in diet has contributed to alarming rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE PROBLEM
It is a complex problem with several parts:
o Genes and Environment
Please do not laugh or think balderdash. We all understand the basis for evolution in animals, and even with humans, this is an essential part of determining how we live and what we can eat. Animals have evolved to suit their environment and so have humans. They have adapted to their environments over millions of years, including what they can eat and salty food certainly is not it.
However, with only a short time since contact, the shift to a non-traditional diet has challenged First Nations people to adjust. We accept that evolution takes millions of years, but with First Nations and their food, many wonder why they do not just adjust.
It is all about their genes and the environment.
o Food Choices
Before contact, First Nations diets were rich in healthy fats and proteins derived from what they harvested and caught. Over millennia, they had evolved to thrive on the resources provided by their physical environment.
Following contact, the choices for food have dramatically affected what First Nations have available to eat, which has had significant health impacts, including but not limited to obesity and diabetes.
o Cost and Access
Food insecurity is a massive problem across Canada, not just in First Nation communities. It is estimated that 8.7 million Canadians, or 23 percent of the population, face food insecurity, including 2.1 million children.
However, in about 80 percent of Canada, although not a long-term solution, residents have access to food banks that more than two million people actively use. Although this is a social, economic, and political problem, these people could access healthier food that their genes can accept.
In First Nation communities, there are few options highlighting a critical gap in Canada's food security network and a troubling gap in substantive equality. Some organizations, like Food Banks Canada, are valiantly trying to help. Still, their support is limited by the scope of the problems First Nation communities face and their lack of access to adequate financial resources.
Food insecurity in First Nations communities requires a multifaceted, culturally sensitive approach. The problem began with contact, and our collective responsibility is to help First Nations find workable solutions.
WHAT ARE THE INTERRELATED IMPACTS?
A solution is not as simple as returning to traditional hunting and gathering. Several obstacles stand in the way:
o Destruction of Traditional Territory
The First Nation land was taken and used and abused to satisfy others’ wants and desires. This has impacted access to hunting and gathering and the amount of hunting and gathering stock. What the First Nation people had evolved to sustain their lives has, in many places, been significantly reduced or is now gone.
o Knowledge
Much of the knowledge of hunting, gathering, and processing traditional foods has been lost. If you were ripped from your community and family for years, not knowing your traditional practices, your language, or your traditional life, then thrust back, how would you survive?
Add to the cost of traditional hunting, contamination, and an economy that may allow you to buy a bag of potato chips for your family's breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
All these issues and more have created complex challenges beyond their own making for First Nation communities to provide for themselves.
WHAT ARE SOLUTIONS?
A research article by Dr. F. Haman and colleagues, "Obesity and type 2 diabetes in Northern Canada's remote First Nations communities: the dietary dilemma,"[1] describes several solutions. Their research provided valuable insight into the complex factors contributing to the health challenges faced by First Nations communities. The author thanks them for sharing their findings and encouraging further exploration of these crucial issues such as:
o Education
It is essential to provide nutrition education to help people make informed food choices. This should include information about the benefits of traditional and healthy modern foods.
o Community Support
Programs that help preserve traditional food practices and increase access to healthy foods are crucial. Establishing sustainable community gardens and supporting traditional hunting and fishing are also necessary.
o Economic Development
Efforts need to be made to make traditional foods more accessible and affordable through support, and many communities require help to foster economic development.
o Land Protection
Protecting traditional hunting and fishing territories is vital to ensure future generations can access their vital food resources.
The research underscores how interconnected health, culture, environment, and economics are in improving access to traditional foods for First Nations communities and families. Simply providing medical care is not enough; a holistic approach focusing on the food available for them to eat is required to address the root causes of obesity and diabetes in First Nations communities.
Best wishes ...
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[1] “Obesity and type 2 diabetes in Northern Canada's remote First Nations communities: the dietary dilemma” (National Library of Medicine). October 10, 2010. Accessed January 2, 2025. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21151143/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21151143/)
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