| Summary: | Due to a combination of factors, the Vuntut Gwitchin (Old Crow, Yukon) are facing significant challenges in accessing and securing traditional foods for household consumption. While commercial foods have become more readily available, the nutritional quality is far inferior to traditional wild foods. Maintaining access to reliable and nutritious food sources is a part of a larger social and political system in which food procurement occurs. Enforcement of the Canada and the United States border has affected the Vuntut Gwitchin’s ability to access traditional food sources – including the harvesting, sharing and receiving of these traditional foods. Household interviews and surveys in Old Crow were conducted and describe the extent to which food sharing occurs between Old Crow and Gwich’in Communities in Alaska and the Northwest Territories; identifies the social and political barriers that are impeding food sharing from occurring and argues that the issue of food security relate directly to indigenous sovereignty and the rights of the Gwitchin to define their own policies and strategies for the production, distribution, and consumption of sustainable and healthy food sources.
|
|---|