Skip to main content

Canadian First Nations and Food

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics

Introduction

The First Nations are the largest of the three Indigenous groups (First Nations, Metis, and Inuit) of the Indigenous population living in Canada. First Nations people come from various nations such as Ojibwe, Cree, OjiCree, Salish, Mohawk, Dene, etc., depending on the region in which they are from and are then further divided according to community/band across Canada. While many First Nations people live on-reserve, an increasing number live off-reserve; according to the 2011 Census, the off-reserve Indigenous population growth is surpassing any other demographic in Canada (Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada 2013). Recent estimates indicate the majority of First Nations are living off-reserve in urban areas. This encyclopedia entry will focus on First Nations people living both on- and off-reserve.

First Nations people procure food through two overlapping food systems: traditional foods and market foods (Fig. 1). Nutrition transitions among First Nations...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kerry A. Spence , Natalie D. Riediger or Kayla L. Farquhar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this entry

Cite this entry

Spence, K.A., Riediger, N.D., Farquhar, K.L. (2016). Canadian First Nations and Food. In: Thompson, P., Kaplan, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_573-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_573-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6167-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

Publish with us

Policies and ethics