Project Details:

Canadian Feed The Children has recently established an innovative funding stream - The Indigenous Food Forest Initiative. With the support of our donors over the ten years (2020-2030), we will create ten self-sustaining food forests in the Indigenous communities across Canada to help activate the supportive systems to provide conditions that foster health, education, food security and economic self-sufficiency.

Moreover, this Initiative will create spaces that provide critical ecological services for stronger, more resilient Indigenous communities by fostering valuable relationships with the land on which they live and to improve the local food supply.

What is a Food Forest?

It’s a multifunctional agricultural system that produces nutrient-dense fruits and other edibles, as well as medicines and cultural resources provided by nature. Its design is inspired by nature and so supports ecology and requires little maintenance or inputs once established.

Expanding our Successful Partnership with Muskeg Lake Food Forest:

In 2018, Canadian Feed The Children (CFTC) worked with Muskeg Lake Cree Nation (Saskatchewan) on a pilot project to create a food forest in the community on land owned by the Band. This partnership with CFTC was crucial in advancing food security within Indigenous communities in Canada and fostering valuable relationships with the land on which they live.

The purpose of the food forest in Muskeg Lake was to:

• Improve the supply of locally-grown produce,
• Increase fruit-producing trees in the community to provide affordable fresh produce,
• Re-connection to the land,
• Increased naturalization of these types of trees in the community and
• Create a safe space for outdoor education for children, youth and other community members.

The Community of Muskeg Lake will serve as an anchor and knowledge hub to replicate and scale up food forest initiatives in other communities. The partners will design, lead, implement and manage their food forest initiatives. This innovative Indigenous community-led food security movement we anticipate will be replicated in additional CFTC supported communities as well as in other communities across Canada and beyond in the years to come.

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE:

Key Area for the Communities to Benefit from this Food Forest Initiative:

VIBRANT PLANET - Land-use for Sustainability and Economic Development:

• Contributing to help-plant trees
• Adding or restoring new acres
• Having additional benefits from the green space project, help-reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Providing opportunities for people to connect to nature, which can help foster a sense of appreciation and care for the environment

Issues the Indigenous Food Forest Initiative Will Address:

1. Increasing food security: Access to fresh fruit & produce: Many First Nations communities struggle with the availability of fresh fruit, vegetables, and reasonably priced, nutritious foods. Food Forests are sustainable and rebuild connections to the land and to traditional practices around growing and preserving food.
2. Community leadership & capacity-building: Not only are Food Forests functional and beautiful spaces for the community they also create community building through harvesting, educational workshops for children and community members, and can function as rest areas for elders.
3. Impacts of poor agricultural practices & climate change: Food Forests address concerns about the impacts of intensive agricultural development and land-use practices, in combination with the impacts of climate change, that have resulted in the die-off of crops like berries and fruit trees. These naturally occurring food crops are particularly susceptible to the use of pesticides and other chemicals.

Thank you for your consideration!

ABOUT US:

Canadian Feed The Children (CFTC) is an award-winning independent international development agency founded in Canada in 1986. We partner with 31 Indigenous communities in Canada as well as communities in Bolivia, Ethiopia, Ghana and Uganda. Working with local partners, we take a community-led approach to build capacity in communities so that they can achieve their long-term sustainable change.

Our programs, delivered in partnership with the communities where we work, help unlock children’s potential through community-led action in Canada and worldwide. CFTC has been taking action on childhood hunger in Canada since 1992. We act as catalysts of community-based change through the development and empowerment of our partners and beneficiaries.