Indigenous youth involvement in land-based food systems in Fort Providence, Northwest Territories

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Northern Indigenous communities in Canada face complex barriers rooted in ongoing colonial impositions to access the land and land-based food systems. They also continue to implement a variety of strategies to address these challenges and build more sustainable food systems. Youth are imperative to these processes because of their unique roles in the transmission of knowledge and culture. Our research examines the challenges to and opportunities for youth engagement in land-based food programming in the Dene and Métis community of Fort Providence, Northwest Territories, Canada. We also explore how participants viewed youth as important in land-based food systems and how their experiences support cultural continuities, self-determination, and adaptive capacity to socio-economic and environmental changes. Our work is informed by Indigenous methodologies and based on semi-structured interviews with Dene and Métis youth, community members, leaders, and non-Indigenous residents involved in local food initiatives. Our results demonstrate how youth participation in land-based food programming can respond to pressing colonial-imposed changes and foster food systems strategies in their communities and broader society.