Canada Case Study

The Canadian case-study for the Solving-FCB project is being led by Tla’amin Nation, who are directing questions around the process of envisioning a ‘desirable’ future in a way that reflects climate-adaptive fisheries.

Tla’amin Nation has articulated the broad strokes ‘desirable’ futures vision in their modern-day treaty Final Agreement, and are implementing this vision in part through the Tla’amin Nation’s 2023-2028 Comprehensive Nation Plan, Goal 19 (Lands and Resources) is to “improve Tla’amin Food Security”. In this work on self-determination are commitments to:

Increase access to traditional and nutritious foods for Tla’amin people and families
Increase food security skills among Tla’amin people and families

Measures of success for this include:

Food security increase for Tla’amin people
Tla’amin people report increased gathering of traditional foods
Tla’amin people report increased consumption of traditional foods
Knowledge transfer to younger generations.

To do this Tla’amin leadership has committed to:

Establish a cross-departmental food security promotion and access plan involving hunting, fishing, and harvesting activities, and community gardening
Run education programs that train Tla’amin people in food security, and harvesting skills
Develop policies on food security
Hire Tla’amin people to hunt, fish, and gather and farm for community distribution
Develop a consistent approach to sourcing and distributing traditional foods to Tla’amin people on and off Tla’amin lands

Find out more about the ɬaʔamɩn (Tla’amin) Nation on their website.

The Solving-FCB project is intended to directly help provide good information in relation to these goals. We will be doing qualitative research related to the implementation of the modern-day treaty, with an eye to evaluating how the spirit and intent of what was negotiated is being honored. We have heard many times from Tla’amin community members that in terms of fisheries, that the Crown is not living up to the Treaty commitment. This has a major impact on food security. The qualitative research around treaty governance and food security is closely connected to a series of other long-term projects, including FNFNES, CCFS4N, and others that provide key longitudinal background from dietary research, socio-ecological determinants, and traditional knowledge to understand food security in the community.

Project Updates

Q3/Q4 2024

Nicole welcomed a new master’s student to her team who will assist with data collection.

Q2 2024

Andrea is developing a draft workshop plan for the Canadian case study.
She aims to integrate ecological principles into the existing NFF tools, and is compiling a database of emerging tools, including “stone stories”, to share with interested parties in other case studies.

Q1 2024

The Canada Case Study continues to progress initial work, and it is currently recruiting students.
There are potential plans to extend the research findings to other Indigenous groups in British Columbia and globally.

Q4 2023

There’s been a series of meetings at Climate Action
UVic – attempting to involve students from Tla’amin
Brian Thom – mentions they have visited Tla’amin fisheries and can see first hand how climate change is impacting supply
Nicole Meier
- talks about 25 Goals – Goal 19 = Food security
- Food security goals for Nation include:
  - training
  - better access to traditional foods