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Canada Education Guides Indigenous Food Sovereignty

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: Truth Telling in Agriculture

Posted on September 30, 2025

Content Warning: Today is a day of grieving and ceremony for many Indigenous people. Please take care of yourself today: spend time in your favorite patch of nature, meet with a friend to feel grounded in community and, most of all, give yourself the grace to process the colonial violence and harm that has been inflicted upon Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island. 

Content below speaks of: Residential Schools, malnourishment of children

Today, on Truth and Reconciliation Day, we hold space to honour the survivors of residential schools, the children who never returned home and the generations who carry the deep wounding of this colonial trauma. As an agricultural organization, in an effort of truth-saying, we also acknowledge the harmful impacts of western agriculture on Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island. Young Agrarians recognizes the intergenerational pain that agriculture brings up for many Indigenous peoples. Today we also call attention to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Calls to Action and how Canada’s lack of progress on these calls has been the same year after year. In an effort to interrupt ongoing harm, we are committed to learning, sharing the truth and amplifying Indigenous voices: not just today, but every day. 

Read on to learn more about the past, present and ongoing harms of western agriculture on Indigenous people. We urge you to explore the resources we have linked below; to dive deeper into the connections between residential schools and agriculture and the path forward towards Indigenous food sovereignty.

A significant action you might take today is to donate to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society. IRSSS provides essential services to residential school survivors and families experiencing intergenerational trauma. If you are an Indigenous person in need of support today, the LAMATHUT CRISIS LINE offers 24/7 SUPPORT at 1- (800)-721-0066 

Residential Schools and Ongoing Agricultural Trauma

Indigenous children who attended residential schools were often forced to work long hours on farms that were located on the residential school properties. The children were, in most cases, not allowed to eat the vegetables they had grown. The produce was either sold outside of the school or consumed by the school’s staff members. Children were severely underfed and offered little to no fruit or vegetables, which often led to extreme malnutrition. Because of these abusive practices, participating in farming or agriculture can bring up deep memories of trauma for many Indigenous folks. Today, we shed light on these experiences and honour the ways in which Indigenous people continue to be committed to harvesting, hunting and growing food for their communities, while holding space for these traumas.

Digging Deeper into the Truths of Agricultural Harms Towards Indigenous People

In the treaty negotiations of the 1800s many Indigenous leaders saw the need to take up agriculture because of diminishing bison populations and colonial pressures on traditional hunting and harvesting practices. Caring for future generations is central to Indigenous worldviews, and ensuring that generations to come had food security was top of mind. Many of the First Nations who signed treaties – in the treatied territories that are now Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan – requested farming implements, cattle and pigs from the Canadian government in exchange for vast tracts of Indigenous lands. The land was taken by the federal government but in most cases the promised tools and animals needed to start farming were not delivered. If they were, the tools were outdated and marked with “ID” (Indian Department) stamps to assert government ownership and the animals were given in far fewer numbers than originally agreed upon.

To further thwart Indigenous efforts at farming as a way of enacting food security and self determination, the Canadian government implemented the Peasant Farming Policy in the late 1800s. Many exclusionary rules were outlined in this policy, including that Indigenous people participating in agriculture were not allowed to sell produce off their reservation. This was enacted to keep Indigenous peoples from competing with non-Indigenous settler farmers. Despite a demonstrated desire to build sustainable, community-based farming practices, Indigenous peoples were actively inhibited from doing so. Colonial policies deliberately undermined Indigenous led agriculture. These actions were not accidental; they were calculated efforts to suppress Indigenous self-determination. This injustice is not only historical but ongoing as can be seen very recently in how Indigenous food systems and reclamation plans at the Quw’utsun/Xwulqw’selu Estuary on Vancouver Island have recently been rejected by the Agricultural Land Commission. Read Dr. Jennifer Grenz’s open letter to Premier Eby and Minister Popham to see how Indigenous communities continue to advocate for the right to Indigenous food systems.

Intergenerational Indigenous Food Systems Advocacy

Just as Indigenous leaders involved in treaty negotiations in the 1800s advocated for sustainable food systems for their people, today’s generations of Indigenous people continue to advocate for Indigenous food sovereignty. From the Indigenous Youth Global Declaration on Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems to Indigenous Climate Action’s Land Back is Climate Policy, there is a clear and persistent demand for community-led food systems rooted in traditional knowledge and practices. These movements remind us that Indigenous food sovereignty is and has been ongoing since time immemorial. Importantly, Indigenous food sovereignty is deeply interwoven with climate resilience. The future of our food systems must include Indigenous leadership at every level, from local farms to federal agricultural policy.

Commitment to Agriculture and Indigenous Food Systems Reconciliation

Young Agrarians (YA) recognizes that reconciliation requires an ongoing commitment to tangible, actionable steps in order to be meaningful.

YA is committed to:

  • Uplifting Indigenous voices in agriculture, food systems and land stewardship.
  • Supporting Indigenous-led initiatives and amplifying Indigenous food sovereignty efforts.
  • Continuing to learn and share the true history of agriculture on Turtle Island both pre- and post-contact.
  • Advocating for policy change that dismantles systemic exclusion of Indigenous people and traditional practices by agricultural ministries and institutions in Canada.

YA continues to demonstrate these commitments by:

YA is actively reflecting, in ongoing ways, on the impacts of colonization. Especially at the intersection of agriculture and Indigenous food sovereignty, YA is seeking to be in good relationship with the land and with Indigenous peoples, practicing accountability and following protocols. The Indigenous Food Sovereignty program at YA is an emergent program, grounded in moving at the pace of relationship, with attention to 1) supporting Indigenous people in their Indigenous food sovereignty work, and 2) supporting settler farmers in developing understandings of cultural safety and reciprocal relationships with Indigenous farmers and communities. YA welcomes connections on this topic – please reach out to maria@youngagrarians.org as we continue the work, beyond acts of recognition, to acts of solidarity.

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