Indigenous foodways initiative

Project description

The Indigenous foodways project is an initiative that began in 2018. The project’s broad goals are to:

Recognize Indigenous traditions and innovations in foodways
Respect Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing
Reflect Indigenous knowledge, traditions, and innovations in exhibitions and programming

This initiative began with a collaborative research project with an Indigenous researcher to develop a respectful research methodology for working with Indigenous communities. We have now engaged with several First Nations communities, collaborating to tell their stories in their voices. These stories have been shared with our audiences, allowing them to recognize, respect, and reflect on Indigenous ways of knowing. These projects have all been research and community-based with direct benefits to communities.

The ongoing outcomes of this initiative can be found below.

Project outcomes

Exhibitions

Nidòndàdizimin nidjìbikànàng: Thriving from Our Roots

This Algonquin language installation emerged out of a research project begun in 2018 with Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg. Launched in July 2021, it celebrates the Anishisnàbe Algonquin language, and the presence and resilience of the Anishisnàbe Algonquin peoples on their traditional territories.

A photograph taken from an aerial view shows a small fishing boat along the coast of a rocky shoreline. A man in a black raincoat leans over the edge of the boat to pull in a line from the water; you can faintly see large pieces of kelp attached to the line, under the surface of the water.

Bákvḷá

This collaborative project with Frank Brown, Hereditary Chief ëáëíya̓ sila of the Heiltsuk Nation in BC, documents the seasonal cycle of food gathering known as Bákvḷá. Bákvḷá means to harvest and prepare food for the winter, and to do so in a good way, honouring ancestral Heiltsuk laws. This project shares this knowledge and Heiltsuk traditions of sustainability, focusing on the annual roe-on-kelp fishery. This fishery harvests eggs, or roe, that have been deposited on kelp and hemlock branches.

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