Backgrounder on Resiliency of Forest Food Systems and ...
Backgrounder on Forest and Fresh Water Foods
July 17, 2012
Introduction
This backgrounder reviews some of the essential issues relating to forest and fresh water foods and their importance to local food systems, particularly in northern Ontario. It also provides recommendations that the Ontario Government should consider in developing the proposed Local Food Act.
Why are forest and fresh water foods vital to the well-being of northern Ontario communities?
Forest and fresh water foods are sources of nutrition including plants, animals, fish and fungi that are integral parts of forest, aquatic and other ecosystems. They are harvested typically without domestication and include moose, deer, geese, fish, blueberries, wild rice, tea, fiddleheads and mushrooms.
Forest and fresh water foods are vital to the well-being of many individuals and communities, especially in northern Ontario. Unlike southern Ontario, where agri-business, aquaculture and hydroponics contribute greatly to local food sources, many northern Ontarians depend on forest and fresh water foods as their greatest source of local, fresh, organic food. Forest and fresh water foods provide economic opportunities, contribute to human health, and are an integral part of ecosystems.
By recognizing, valuing and supporting the human and natural systems that produce and rely on forest and fresh water foods, the Local Food Act can help ensure that the many benefits provided are sustained for present and future generations.
➢ Economic Benefits
Forest and fresh water foods underpin the traditional economies that permit economic self-reliance where market economies fail to meet basic needs. This is often the case in small, resource-dependent communities and remote First Nation communities. Forest and fresh water foods provide economic support through economic downturns, which are often experienced more profoundly in resource-based communities. The substitution value of domestically-harvested forest and fresh water foods can be worth thousands of dollars per year to a family’s income.[i] In addition to the long-standing traditional values associated with forest and fresh water foods, the local economic benefit of reducing transportation of food is an emerging consideration in northern Ontario as fuel prices continue to rise globally. Forest and fresh water foods are also fundamental to the fishing and hunting tourism industry[ii], support various additional seasonal jobs and supplement the incomes of many northern Ontarians[iii]. There is great potential for further growth in the forest and fresh water food industry[iv].
➢ Health Benefits
Forest and fresh water foods foster good health by contributing to a fresh, clean and nutritious diet, and encouraging active lifestyles. They can help to address an urgent and widespread problem faced by many northerners who have limited access to healthy food options. Health issues associated with poor diet in remote and northern communities are long standing issues in Ontario. Canadian Aboriginal communities have diabetes rates disproportionately higher than the national average, some three times as great[v]. Northern Ontario’s remote communities are no exception, with one community estimated to be the 3rd highest diabetes rate in the world, according to the World Health Organization[vi]. With 28 percent of Ontario’s children overweight and obese, a rate that has tripled over the past 25 years, children, especially northern children, are at risk of developing long-term health effects such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes and these problems have been linked to food insecurity (making the availability of healthy forest and fresh water foods very relevant)[vii]. In northern Ontario, factors such as geographic remoteness, low population densities, and lower availability of health care providers result in a high need for preventative health care. Healthy diet is a foundation of good health.
➢ Cultural Benefits
Harvesting forest and fresh water foods can bolster personal and community well-being by helping to maintain cultural traditions and heritages, and fostering a greater connection to the land and fostering intergenerational relationships.[viii]
➢ Ecosystem Benefits
The health of forest and fresh water food systems can serve as a good indicator of the ecological integrity of ecosystems as a whole. This is due to the fact that forest and fresh water foods are not only consumed by people, but are part of ecosystem-wide food webs. Instability in game populations, loss of water-filtering wild rice beds, and other changes to forest and fresh water food systems can thus predict greater instability in natural food webs and ecosystem functioning. By protecting forest and fresh water food systems, a greater degree of ecosystem health can be maintained[ix].
➢ Other Environmental Benefits
Consumption of forest and fresh water foods reduces the reliance on foods grown with intensive inputs elsewhere and transported large distances to reach northern communities. In so doing, they offer potential reductions in GHG emissions caused by industrial agriculture and emissions associated with food transportation.
The benefits outlined above accrue to:
• Remote communities who rely on forest and fresh water foods for economic and cultural reasons
• Forest and fresh water food harvesters who derive health benefits from consuming and the activities associated with harvesting forest foods
• Forest and fresh water food consumers
• Small scale commercial forest food enterprises
• All species that are part of forest and fresh water food systems
Threats to forest and fresh water food systems
Pollution
Industrial and non-industrial pollution are known to affect the quality and safety of food sources. Of particular concern in northern Ontario are high levels of methyl-mercury in aquatic food sources, including fish, due to upstream industrial mining and forestry activities.[x] Additional pollution concerns include pesticides sprayed on crown land forests and eutrophication due to human activity.
Habitat Fragmentation
Land conversion associated with the forestry and mining industries in northern Ontario can fragment and degrade habitats of forest and fresh water food species, potentially affecting the health of wildlife populations – Woodland Caribou is one example of this.[xi] Walleye (a popular meat fish) stocks in northern Ontario have also suffered due to land conversions from forestry activity- in particular, from increased road access to remote lakes.[xii]Fragmentation can also increase the presence of predators, which may affect availability and location of forest and fresh water foods for communities and other wildlife.
Inadequate Land Use Planning Policy and Legislation
Land-use planning in Ontario to date has not highlighted the economic, cultural and health benefits of forest and fresh water foods, or the importance of maintaining the habitats required for the plant, fish, and wildlife species that support resilient forest and fresh water food systems. Land use planning is governed by many different laws and policies in Ontario including the Planning Act,[xiii] the Far North Act,[xiv] the Crown Forest Sustainability Act and the Mining Act.[xv] Some of this legislation makes reference to compulsory deference to existing Aboriginal and treaty rights in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. However, none of this legislation specifically identifies forest foods as a natural resource, or as a value in any other terms. Current land use practices reflect this oversight.
Recommendations
1. Recognize and incorporate of the ecological, cultural, health and economic values/benefits of forest and fresh water foods in the Local Food Act and ensure that the legislation adequately addresses the conservation and sustainable use of forest and fresh water foods.
2. Support research to identify and better understand the value of forest and fresh water food systems and the ecosystem requirements of these systems.
3. Support the development of education programs, curriculum and tools to raise awareness of the values and benefits of forest and fresh water foods, especially for northern Ontarians.
4. Ensure that the Local Food Act addresses land use planning through integration with other laws and policies that could affect the conservation and sustainable use of forest and fresh water foods. For example, support land use planning initiatives at the community level to ensure that forest and fresh water food values are protected through community-based management plans.
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[i] Berkes, F. et al., 1994. Wildlife harvesting and sustainable regional native economy in the Hudson and James Bay lowland, Ontario. Arc-tic 47:350-360
[ii] FedNor, 2007. An Overview of Tourism in Northern Ontario, 2007. Accessed at: (July 2012).d
[iii] Berkes, F. et al., 1994. Wildlife harvesting and sustainable regional native economy in the Hudson and James Bay lowland, Ontario. Arc-tic 47:350-360
[iv] Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, 1999. Non Timber Forest Products in Ontario: An Overview. Accessed at: (July 2012).
[v] Milburn, M. 2004. Indigenous Nutrition: Using Traditional Food Knowledge to Solve Contemporary Health Problems. American Indian Quarterly, Vol28(3/4), p. 414.
[vi] Sandy Lake Health and Diabetes Project. Prevalence and Risk Factors page. Accessed at: (July 2012)
[vii] The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, 2010. Food Security Essential to the Heart Health of Ontarians. Accessed at the “Ontario Advocacy Statements” page, at: (July 2012).
[viii] Devon Mihesuah, “Decolonizing Our Diets By Recovering Our Ancestors’ Gardens,” The American Indian Quarterly, 27/3&4 (summer/fall 2003).
Kayo Ohmagari and Fikret Berkes (1997) Transmission of Indigenous Knowledge and Bush Skills among the Western James Bay Cree Women of Subarctic Canada.
Human Ecology , Vol. 25(2), pp. 197-222
[ix] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2006. Forests and Human Health. Accessed at: (July 2012)
Lambden J, O Receveur and HV Kuhnlein (2007) Traditional food attributes must be included in studies of food security in the Canadian Arctic. International Journal of Circumpolar Health 66(4):308-19.
Vernon H., H. (n.d). Review: Ethnopharmacology, food production, nutrition and biodiversity conservation: Towards a sustainable future for indigenous peoples. Journal Of Ethnopharmacology, 1371-1
[x] WHEATLEY, M. 1997. Social and Cultural Impacts of Mercury Pollution on Aboriginal Peoples in Canada. Water, Air & Soil Pollution, vol. 97(1-2), p. 85-90.
HLIMI, T., SKINNER, K., HANNING, R., MARTIN, I., TSUJI, L.. Traditional food consumption behaviour and concern with environmental contaminants among Cree schoolchildren of the Mushkegowuk territory. International Journal of Circumpolar Health, North America, 71, mar. 2012. Available at: (July 2012).
Mushkegowuk Environmental Research Center, Fish Research, Mushkegowuk First Nations 2008-2009 Program. Accessed at: (July 2012).
[xi] Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Threats to Woodland Caribou, accessed at : . (July 2012)
[xii] Len M. Hunt, Nigel Lester, 2009. The Effect of Forestry Roads on Access to Remote Fishing Lakes in Northern Ontario, Canada. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. Vol. 29 (3): 586-597.
[xiii] The Citizens’ Guide to the Planning Act, 2010. Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Land Use Planning page, accessed at: (July 2012)
[xiv] The Far North Act, 2010. Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Far North Act (bill 191) page, accessed at: (July 2012)
[xv] The Mining Act, 2010. Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, Mining Act Page, accessed at: (July 2012).
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