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Churchill on Hudson's Bay: Strategic Canadian Restorative Justice of Indigenous Food Systems

2023; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês

10.2139/ssrn.4491891

1556-5068

P. Watts, Konstantia Koutouki,

Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights

The North American era of European dominance became Canadian law through the creation of treaties. At that time, people of European descent entitled small pieces of what was not theirs to own, nor theirs to give away. Prior to those times, the Cree, Metis, Dene and Inuit Peoples were part of the Churchill food systems, it is their Indigeneity. Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay is a destination for global travellers, as well as for Indigenous Peoples, extending back before European contact. In modern times, Churchill’s population has shifted between thousands to hundreds, as this northern Canadian town has gone through many phases and pioneering approaches to livelihoods. The rich history of Indigenous food practices remains a significant part of the resident’s food security. In addition, Churchill is isolated and because there is no road that connects to southern urban centers, importing food is expensive. The unique Indigenous milieu, combination of local food practices (country food) and lack of access to larger city centers, makes Churchill a primary location to initiate restorative justice of Indigenous food systems. The authors propose a restoration ecology project on the former Goose Creek anabranching wet meadow within a culturally-collaborative food security training program on community-based applications, for a Canada-wide capacitation by the Dene (Algonkian) Cree (Athapaskan) Inuit and Metis cultures for local and (national) cultural food security through enhanced resilience, using an Ecohealth lens. Further, it is suggested that the restoration and Indigenous food security program be supported by the federal government as a symbolic and practical repeal of the Doctrine of Discovery. That doctrine rejected Indigenous rights and was used as a justification for colonizing based upon two papal bulls of Nicholas V, Dum diversas (1452) and Romanus Pontifex (1455); culminating in Pope Alexander VI’s bull Inter caetera (1493), known as the Doctrine of Discovery. The Ecohealth lens can be applied as a fundamental concept to underpin restorative justice of Indigenous food systems. In general, Ecohealth is an approach to understanding and restoration of the complex interactions to optimize human health and the health of the environment. Sustainability approaches in Ecohealth can best recognize that connectivity and identify an optimal balance between human and environmental focus (Watts et al., 2015). Successfully addressing Ecohealth issues requires an openness to transdisciplinary problem solving and construction of multidisciplinary systems-based interventions (Lofts & Koutouki, 2021). Ecohealth emerged in the late 1990s as an approach to balancing ecocentric and anthropocentric systems, specifically highlighting the importance of community participation and the engagement of local knowledge in identifying and confronting health issues (Crosse et al., 2021 Anabieza et al., 2010). The restorative justice approach aims to obtain justice that emphasizes the importance of repairing harm and restoring relationships between the people involved. It is based on principles of inclusion, participation, and respect. In contrast to dominant justice systems that focus on punishment and retribution, restorative justice seeks to promote accountability and recovery for everyone affected (Braithewaite, 2016). Restorative justice can take many different forms, herein applied as a foundation for the renewal of Indigenous food systems that are critical for cultural survival and renewal. Loss of land, and food gathering traditions combined with simplified access to highly-processed foods and outright restrictions on country foods, have created a Canadian Indigenous health disaster. Focus on repairing the harm through restorative justice can renew the use of Indigenous knowledge and practices that often perceive food as a sacred and healing medicine which can promote physical and spiritual health (Kuhnlein et al., 2009), as well as community-based food security.