Food Security and Food Sovereignty Initiatives in Inuit Nunangat : Preliminary Results of a Scoping Study

The present report consists of a preliminary survey of food programs and funding sources in Inuit Nunangat, conducted during Summer 2023 by three master’s students, Lucie Cordier, Hubert Demers-Campeau, and Laurie Hétu, under the supervision of Professors Nathan McClintock and Magalie Quintal-Marineau of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS). This survey forms the basis of a scoping analysis of food programs, the first phase of a larger SSHRCfunded research project led by professors McClintock and Quintal-Marineau entitled “Scoping and Storying Food Governance in Inuit Nunangat”, which examines food sovereignty in Inuit Nunangat, with particular attention to Nunavik. The goal of the scoping analysis is to identify and characterize the various actors and institutions involved in improving food security in Inuit Nunangat, the types of practices these programs promote and support, as well as the language (discourse) used by the different programs and funders. Specifically, our first goal with this preliminary report is to characterize the diversity of food security programs. What are their primary areas of focus? Where do they receive their funding? Who manages them? A second goal is to begin to understand the extent to which food programs in Inuit Nunangat support or promote Inuit food sovereignty and self-determination. To this end, in the report we also present our preliminary efforts to trace the evolution of food sovereignty discourse in Inuit Nunangat and assess the extent to which food initiatives in the North are led or managed by Inuit and support the harvesting of country food. We begin with an overview of the evolution and adoption of the food sovereignty framework in Inuit Nunangat. We then present the preliminary results of our scoping analysis of 80 food programs and 56 funding sources focused on some aspect of improving food security in Inuit Nunangat. In our analysis, we examine the central focus of these programs (e.g., community development, education, emergency food) and their funding source (e.g., federal or regional government). As a proxy measure of the contribution of these initiatives to Inuit food sovereignty, we also assess whether they are Indigenous-led or managed and whether they explicitly address country food. It is important to note that these results are preliminary, as the collection and analysis of initiatives is ongoing. After presenting the results of our scoping analysis, we present three examples of food sovereignty initiatives in Inuit Nunangat. We conclude with a discussion of next steps.

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