In a recent criminal case over hunting, it was argued that sufficient food existed elsewhere (in the US) & thus aboriginal hunting rights were voluntarily extinguished in Canada. It was also argued that there is an insufficient amount of game to be hunted in Canadian traditional territory and thus aboriginal hunting rights could not be exercised.
I am looking for research that deals with food being used to limit aboriginal rights. Any help or suggestions, even beyond anthropology, are appreciated.
There maybe sufficient food in Canada, however, a change in the diet brings diabetes and many other diseases to aboriginal people who are not used to the "European" diet of starch-rich foods.
The study done on Vancouver Island and shown on CBC (My big fat diet, available on youtube) shows the devastating effect starch-rich diet has had on one reservation.
Similar effects are found across the country. In Manitoba fly-in reserves get food from Winnipeg, but mostly junk food and pop drinks. It is not the reserves who decided on this diet, unfortunately it is the food producers who send their garbage to native reserves. I know that because when I was teaching there and wanted the food store to bring some proper food, they looked at me and said we can't change the menu!!! Winnipeg has decided on what these poor people need to eat (so they can get sick and die, I say).
The result is devastation and disease. Many of my students became sick just after graduating with a degree.
Traditional hunting is still practiced, especially in remote reserves and should be allowed everywhere. Nobody should dictate others what to eat.
There is a sad history in the Canadian Arctic of Inuit sled dogs being shot to ensure that Inuit would not leave settlements and return to the land to live a traditional existence. This was not done necessarily with the intent of dictating foodways, but moreso to ensure children would attend schools and services (health, etc.) could be provided in one location. Of course eliminating the potential for self-sufficiency through hunting and traditional foodways made Inuit dependent upon imported low-quality processed foods and initiated the decline of nutritional health that continues today.
As for an argument of the maintenance and management of herd stocks, most Indigenous peoples are far better at respecting ecological balance and ensuring the continuing health of animal populations than European Qallunaat have ever been. In Nunavut today, traditional hunting is still practiced quite regularly and traditional foods are a routine and meaningful part of the Inuit diet.
Considero que es importante cambiar las formas de nombrar, ver y actuar frente a la población que se esta estudiando, en este caso es importante generar un campo emergente de lenguajes que transiten las reflexividad y la indixecalidad. No perder de vista los procesos de asimilación que devienen de la relación con una cultura de centro en relación con la periferia.
Atentamente Wilmer Villa
James Daschuk Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life, University of Regina Press, 2013 provides a historical account of the use of infectious disease and control of food was used to control Indians in the Plains.
“[A] tour de force that… shows how infectious disease and statesupported
starvation combined to create a creeping, relentless
catastrophe that persists to the present day. The prose is gripping,
the analysis is incisive, and the narrative is so chilling that it leaves
its reader stunned and disturbed.” Elizabeth A. Fenn, Professor of
History, George Washington University