Context on Healthy Food in Remote Communities

Manitoba is a geographically large province, approximately the size of France and 50 per cent larger than California. The province, like others in Canada, has many Northern and remote communities, some accessible by road, others only by plane. These communities are largely Indigenous.

Access to healthy, affordable food is an integral component of food security and community well-being.  It keeps people healthy, brings families and communities together, offers ties to community culture and links generations in building a healthy, vibrant community.  

Manitoba is a geographically large province, approximately the size of France and 50 per cent larger than California. The province, like others in Canada, has many Northern and remote communities, some accessible by road, others only by plane. These communities are largely Indigenous.

Prior to colonization, Manitoba’s northern Indigenous communities were food self-sufficient. Today, these same communities struggle to meet their nutritional needs. Traditional methods of food provision included hunting, fishing and trapping. Today, this has been supplemented with some small-scale localized food systems as well as commercially available foods.  Some of the methods being used are gardens, greenhouses and small animal husbandry (e.g. poultry, bees, and goats). 

Residual impacts of colonization have led to generational loss of skills and knowledge.  There has been some resurgence of traditional Indigenous food systems. However economic and geographic barriers contribute to poor access to quality foods and contribute to social inequities and poor health. Addressing these complex issues requires multi-sectoral and multi-level partnerships to strengthen communities and create supportive partnerships.

Since 2003, Manitoba has coordinated the Northern Healthy Foods Initiative that promotes food security in collaboration with communities. In 2017, the initiative funded 20 projects covering a wide variety of food production areas, including greenhouse, gardens, poultry, beekeeping and traditional food projects. Though there have been many successes, the pace of improvements has slowed and we are looking to create momentum and facilitate innovation on this complex challenge. Through the Challenge Prize Competition we are not looking to solve all the challenges, but we do need to be aware of them.