Wild food policy discourses - Indigenous self government and food sovereignty in Deline, Northwest Territories

Indigenous Self-governance to some is seen as the new way forward for Indigenous communities to govern their people. The Délįne Got’ine Government (DGG) is the first community in the Northwest Territories (NWT) to self-govern. Despite the power bestowed upon this Indigenous government, there are still challenges to effectively govern their people, as the community is still bound under the policies of the Land Claim agreement. While the Land Claim agreement set the foundation for self-governance, it is a policy that was co-created with the communities in the settlement area, the territorial government, and the federal government. In the summer of 2019, a country food processing training was operated out of a food processing facility to expose the community to new food processing techniques, increase food safety, and introduce muskox as a viable country food alternative. The people of Délįne are caribou people, but with declining herd populations, the harvesting rate has drastically declined, and traditional food consumption has thus reduced. As part of this study, an evaluation was conducted on both the country food training and the food processing facility to understand the community’s perceptions on these new foods and methods. The evaluation utilized a mixed method approach, with a pre and post survey, participant observation, and semi structured interviews. This need for this evaluation is the result of prior community based participatory research conducted with the community.

This project encompasses the first evaluation to be conducted on a food processing trailer used to process wild game. The purpose of this evaluation is to inform the community of what the potential of the trailer is for processing wild game.

Délı̨nę, Northwest Territories Northwest Territories / Sahtu / Deline