- April 25, 2017
Octopus Books would like to welcome you to the Ottawa launch of A Land Not Forgotten with François Haman, Shinjini Pilon, Michael Robidoux and Desiree Streit
When: Tuesday, April 25, 7:00 pm.
Where: Life of Pie (1134 Bank St., Ottawa)
Cost: FREE
About the Book
Food insecurity takes a disproportionate toll on the health of Canada’s Indigenous people. A Land Not Forgotten examines the disruptions in local food practices as a result of colonization and the cultural, educational, and health consequences of those disruptions. This multidisciplinary work demonstrates how some Indigenous communities in northern Ontario are addressing challenges to food security through the restoration of land-based cultural practices.
Improving Indigenous health, food security, and sovereignty means reinforcing practices that build resiliency in ecosystems and communities. As this book contends, this includes facilitating productive collaborations and establishing networks of Indigenous communities and allies to work together in promotion and protection of Indigenous food systems. This will influence diverse groups and encourage them to recognize the complexity of colonial histories and the destructive health impacts in Indigenous communities.
In addition to its multidisciplinary lens, the authors employ a community-based participatory approach that privileges Indigenous interests and perspectives. A Land Not Forgotten provides a comprehensive picture of the food security and health issues Indigenous peoples are encountering in Canada’s rural north.
*About the Authors *
François Haman is a biologist who focuses on the relations between food intake, energy metabolism, and the development as well as the treatment of chronic disease. He is a member of the Indigenous Health Research Group at the University of Ottawa and a Full Professor in the School of Human Kinetics. Over the last ten years, he has mostly worked in Northwestern Ontario communities to assess nutritional behavior, the prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes. His research also helps develop local strategies to improve access to food in northern Indigenous communities.
Michael A. Robidoux is an award winning author and Full Professor in the School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa. He researches Indigenous cultural practices as they relate to physical activity and local dietary practices. He is part of the Indigenous Health Research Group, a multidisciplinary research team representing the fields of Ethnology, Physiology, Biology, Toxicology, Immunology, and Nutrition Sciences. As a member of this group, he has lead research programs for over ten years investigating the risk and benefits of land-based food strategies in Northwestern Ontario, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and British Columbia. Embracing a participatory research model, he works with rural Indigenous communities in Northern Canada to help build local food capacity in an effort to provide regular access to nutritious foods.
Shinjini Pilon is an environmental toxicologist working as a Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessor at Golder Associates. Her past research expertise focused on the connection between pollutants and human health impacts including obesity and type 2 diabetes. With the Indigenous Health Research Group, she focused on the cost of nutritious foods in rural/remote Indigenous communities in Northern Ontario and potential exposure to organic pollutants through the consumption of traditional foods. Shinjini is also experienced in evaluating trends in toxic algal blooms in rural and Northern Canada.
Desirée Streit is an Anishinaabe & Métis researcher and educator from The Pas, a small town in Northern Manitoba. Desirée recently completed her Master of Arts in Education (M.A.Ed.) at the University of Ottawa. Her research focuses on the phenomenon of learning to teach-in-relation and is informed by a relational, embodied framework centered on the teachings found within the medicine wheel. The work Desirée has done in the past with Indigenous communities and youth, along with her M.A.Ed., inform and inspire her current work as a researcher/policy analyst with the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Health Canada. Desirée is committed to connecting with community and to her Anishinaabe culture and continues to do so by taking Anishinaabemowin classes, something she is passing along to her two young sons.
