Indigenous Food Security

My name is John and I am part of a group of three people. We are attempting to raise funds to register our group, Seeds of Sovereignty, as National Not-for-Profit agency. The cost is $1,800 for this. Two of us are from the Mi'kmaw Nation and one is from the Odawa Nation; we are registered, Status Indians and Band Members.

Our idea is to reintroduce our pre-contact and heritage seeds to our people once again. I have been involved in this attempt for over the past eight years. In my first year in which I planted our pre-contact seeds in an attempt to save them and distribute them (at no charge) to other Indigenous People, as the garden was ready to be harvested, somebody purposely plowed everything up and left no trace of anything. I know who did this. There was never an explanation given or apology sought.

After several false leads, Seeds of Sovereignty has now two secure fields in which to plant. Our idea is to grow these rare pre-contact and heritage seeds, and to distribute them at no charge. We will not be limited to simply distributing the seeds, but also will demonstrate the correct methods for seed preparation, planting, harvesting, curing and storage. We also will hold workshops on traditional food preparation. We have registered with the provincial tourism agency to encourage both the public and tourists to come and visit our gardens. As a part of our workshops we will discuss how our traditional diets combat diabetes (at least 50% of Indigenous Peoples in North America have diabetes) and a host of other diseases.

By registering as a Not-for-Profit we hope to be able to access grants to keep us going. We have most of the Maize, squash, beans and some other traditional seeds. There is an agency that will sell us some of our very rare traditional seeds that we intend to raise and distribute (this is the other $400 of the $2,200 which we are asking).

Food security is very important for everyone. It is crucial in First Nations communities. Our seeds were truly a labour of love, developed over millennia. They are also quite rare. Seeds of Sovereignty would like to see them growing once more and accessible to all.

We will also hold workshops on teaching our traditional pottery, basket-making, wampum and beading at no charge, and how to price and market these.