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Constraints to wildlife harvesting among aboriginal communities in Alaska and Canada

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Abstract

A large body of research confirms that access to wildlife resources can reduce conditions of food insecurity and health related illness among Aboriginal peoples in Canada and Alaska. Yet the procurement of wildfoods depends on the ability of Aboriginal households to overcome a range of obstacles that impede such access. Utilizing a data set collected between 2007 and 2013, this paper identifies a range of barriers that Aboriginal households in Alaska (Gwich’in), Alberta (Cree), Nunavik (Inuit), and Nunatsiavut (Inuit) encounter in accessing wildfoods. The results demonstrate that the constraints experienced by Aboriginal peoples in Canada and Alaska in accessing wildfoods are experienced differently depending on region, community, age, gender, and the political environment in which wildlife harvesting occurs. These findings underscore the diversity of factors that can influence one’s access to wildlife resources, and one’s chance of being food insecure. It is hoped that the results of this research will lead to a more informed understanding of Aboriginal food security in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Regions of North America, and can contribute to more flexible policies that can account for the social, economic and political diversity in which Aboriginal food insecurity is experienced.

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Notes

  1. As defined in Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution (1982), the term Aboriginal includes Inuit, Metis and First Nation peoples. In Alaska the term Alaska Native is more commonly used. In this paper the term Aboriginal is used in the general text but the more culturally specific terms of Gwich’in, Cree, and Inuit are used when referencing specific communities in the four study regions.

  2. In Nunavik, gender was not identified in the household surveys.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was provided by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and administered by the Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic (ReSDA) research group.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agriculture & Resource Economics and the Global Institute for Food Security, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

    David Natcher

  2. School of Environment & Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

    Shea Shirley

  3. Department of Political Science, Laval University, QC, Canada

    Thierry Rodon

  4. Department of Sociology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada

    Chris Southcott

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  1. David Natcher
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Correspondence to David Natcher.

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Natcher, D., Shirley, S., Rodon, T. et al. Constraints to wildlife harvesting among aboriginal communities in Alaska and Canada. Food Sec. 8, 1153–1167 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-016-0619-1

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