Members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry will meet with stakeholders across the food supply chain, including agri-food innovators, researchers and food access organizations on March 5 and 6.

Why it matters: The Senate committee’s 2025 food security study assesses current food security in accordance with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Food Policy and explores ways to improve it.

The fact-finding mission will include facility tours to provide firsthand insight into challenges and opportunities related to food security, innovation and resilience.

The study will identify factors within agricultural production systems, climate change, corporate concentration in the agri-food sector, and related issues that influence food security.

A key focus will be on improving food security, especially for Indigenous, Black, Northern Ontario, rural and urban communities that face food access challenges.

It will also assess federal measures currently in place to address issues related to farmers, local food production, and food sovereignty, and identify potential areas for improvement.

The committee will examine the report on March 12 at 8 a.m. in the Senate and must submit its final report by Dec. 31, 2026.

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The three-day conference tackled a range of topics, with a strong Indigenous focus on day one, during which attendees learned about ongoing projects to steward and restore manomin (wild rice), community funding for Indigenous farming, and the integration of Indigenous knowledge into land restoration efforts.

Why it matters

Understanding Indigenous agriculture can contribute to the country’s reconciliation efforts.

The conference kicked off with a panel discussion entitled “Seed Rematriation Journey: Returning seeds to their homeland,” drawn from the May 2025 experiences of lead-off presenter, Denise Miller of the Cayuga Nation in Six Nations territory.

On 27 acres of land, where her grandfather once farmed, Miller now grows food and medicinal plants and is working to enhance ecological habitats and develop an “environmental hub” for learning and ceremonial purposes. Last year, she joined Braiding the Sacred, a North America-wide organization of Indigenous corn cultures, to return dozens of ears of heritage-variety corn — held for decades at the Illinois State Museum — to the Lakota Nation in South Dakota.

Records posted online by the State Museum’s board of directors report a “rematriation” ceremony held in the Springfield-based institution in December 2024, attended by members of Braiding the Sacred along with “a group of Indigenous seed growers and a contingent of Haudenosaunee (Six Nations) people.” The document added, “the collection had been left at the Research and Collections Center by a researcher over 50 years ago but never accessioned by the Museum, so a deaccession request was not necessary.”

Taken and tagged

Miller first saw the corn, referred to by the museum as “a collection of over 350 ears of corn and seeds,” during a rendezvous between the westward-bound travellers and members of Braiding the Sacred at an Indigenous-run casino complex in Wisconsin. She showed photos of the seed pick-up and drop-off in Lakota territory, where more celebrations were held.

She likened the identification tags put on the seeds by the museum to the placement of Indigenous children in non-Indigenous residential schools, stressing that “the ceremonies that took place (when the corn was returned) haven’t really happened for over 200 years.” It occurred to her that the seeds in those boxes might have been handled by Sitting Bull’s daughter or granddaughter before they had been taken by the researcher.

Miller lamented that participation in the Lakota ceremonies was muted, highlighting how privileged she and her friends are as Haudenosaunee people, given the extensive work her community has done to build awareness of the value of ceremony and traditional foods.

The main point of the journey, organizers said, was “we are in service” to the seeds and plants and “we have to protect what we have left,” she concluded.

Three Sisters

Those sentiments were echoed by fellow panellist Nathan Martin of the Mohawk Nation, who recalled learning from his grandparents that “seeds, they have stories and they can talk to us … These foods, they see and they feel everything that’s around them. And they have a life.”

Martin told the story of the “three sisters” — corn, beans and squash — clinging to a man who had been called to heaven, saying they wanted to go with him because the plants weren’t being treated well by humans. But the man said no, they hadn’t yet been called. The plants said OK, but there must be a change in how the plants are being treated.

“One day, (the plants) are going to go back, and we’ll never have those foods again. But as long as we take care of it and we’re thankful for these seeds, they’ll be here,” he said.

Life’s work

Longtime Indigenous food activist James Whetung from Pigeon Lake-based Black Duck Wild Rice has spent decades fighting for better care of what’s known as “manomin.” For him it began in 1981 when he joined a blockade at the Algonquin Nation’s Ardoch reserve, seeking to stop a commercial rice-harvesting venture on the nearby Mississippi River. Police raided the reserve and arrested blockade participants, but the venture never proceeded.

The experience propelled Whetung into a life of protecting manomin and spreading word of the wetland plant’s importance both culturally and environmentally.

He told attendees at the “Manomin Matters” session that a Trent University analysis indicated the Anishinaabe (a group of nations including Ojibwe and Algonquin) have been using wild rice as a food for about 28,000 years. In Indigenous lore, meanwhile, there was a prophecy that, during a migration, “our people would find a plant growing in the water and it would provide food.”

Whetung said a 1923 treaty forbade the Anishinaabe from hunting or gathering their traditional foods. In defiance of this, he began canoeing to spots at the back of bays or behind rocks where the motorboats couldn’t go, often where his uncle said the wild rice grew, to tend and to harvest.

But due to the progressive incursions of the Trent Severn waterway beginning in 1835, opening the area to logging of all the hardwoods, followed by the introduction of hunting and fishing camps starting in the 1920s, and eventually the widespread development of cottages and permanent homes along all waterways, those patches of manomin have dwindled over the decades.

Given Whetung’s charismatic nature and the fact that he was inspired by the Ardoch blockade, this inevitably led to conflicts between Indigenous rights advocates and waterfront landowners.

Whetung’s cousin, award-winning playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, recounted those outcomes in “Cottagers and Indians” – a work that was soon transformed into a documentary film that aired on CBC.

There were strong feelings on either side, Whetung commented, and that continues to this day.

“But I’m not going to quit,” he told the EFAO audience. “I’ve had a lot of help from settlers and allies in the area.”

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Topics included growth of wealth and how that can contribute to food sovereignty.

Many of the speakers said community involvement and interest is a main way to address the wealth and agriculture gaps.

A prime example of this was shared by Derrick Meetoos, one of the community members and farmers who are part of Thunder Farms Ltd. of Thunderchild First Nation in Saskatchewan.

Meetoos said Thunder Farms is continuously growing and is currently close to 9,000 acres. The band’s goal is to get to 14,000 acres.

The farm is also completely Indigenous run.

“They started purchasing land around the reserve itself, so we have land base around it that we’ve slowly started taking back from the patrons that used to lease it from the reserve,” he said.

Meetoos said the First Nation’s success was a combined effort of the community and band council, particularly in getting local youth involved and trained.

Former British Columbia premier Christy Clark said that for many Indigenous communities, especially those in remote and rural areas, resource sectors such as agriculture, mining, forestry and oil and gas are some of the most valuable ways to create wealth.

She said that while this may sound counterintuitive at first, given Indigenous values and traditions when it comes to resource extraction, it’s actually a productive and positive way for Indigenous communities to grow their wealth and do what’s best for the land.

“About it being done in a way that is acceptable to Indigenous people,” she said.

“I mean, my experience of that was a lot of long, intense, emotional discussion and negotiation with elected leaders and traditional leaders in communities to find a way to do this that was acceptable.”

Clark offered the example of Haida Gwaii, which operates a forestry business, harvesting only enough trees to ensure good profit while not abusing the land.

This was also touched on by Michael Twigg, program director of land use, nature and agriculture at the Smart Prosperity Institute, who said land rights and sovereignty are intertwined with economic growth — not just for Indigenous communities but for the entire country.

“They’re firmly integrated and they’re firmly intertwined into a future vision of what the local community is desiring for prosperity,” Twigg said.

He said promoting and supporting Indigenous communities can achieve a balance of growth while working within the systems of nature and Indigenous practices. This approach will also help with sustainability and address production losses caused by land degradation and loss of biodiversity.

Twigg said failing to care for the land will result in significant loss of production and increased input costs to make up for the loss. Mitigating land damage now is one-fifteenth the cost of post-disaster remediation, he added, which would save everyone billions of dollars.

There are still lessons to be learned from Indigenous people regarding sustainability and biodiversity and how they can help industries such as agriculture, just as it was when Europeans arrived hundreds of years ago.

“It was Indigenous people that we learned that (farming) from, and we shouldn’t forget that that’s where it began,” said Clark.

“There is a real opportunity for partnership here, but it has to recognize we will be partners — not adversaries, not takers — sharers and partners in the resources that we create.”

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Once fully settled, these claims—unmet promises in treaties 5, 6 and 10 territories throughout the Prairie provinces—will represent almost $1.4 billion in combined compensation to these First Nations.

Through these treaties, Canada promised First Nations ploughs, seeds for important crops, livestock such as cows and bulls and other farming necessities.

“These agricultural benefits were meant to facilitate the economic transition, and as a result of Canada’s failure to fulfil treaty promises, these First Nations did not have the equipment needed to support their members,” read an Oct. 18 news release from Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.

Wrote Tony Alexis of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation: “This settlement recognizes the original promises made under Treaty No. 6 in 1877 and acknowledges the inadequate agricultural benefits that were provided to our people. It is a victory for our nation and a testament to the determination of those who first established these rights.

“Through close work with our people and effective negotiations with the ministry, this settlement marks a significant step forward, ensuring that these long-standing commitments are finally addressed for the benefit of future generations.”

Treaty 5, also known as the Winnipeg Treaty, was signed in 1875–76 by the federal government, Ojibwe peoples and the Swampy Cree of Lake Winnipeg. It covers much of present-day central and northern Manitoba as well as portions of Saskatchewan and Ontario.

Treaty 6 is an agreement between the crown and the Plains and Woods Cree, Assiniboine and other band governments at Fort Carlton and Fort Pitt. It encompasses most of the central area of present-day Saskatchewan and Alberta. Treaty 6 signings began on Aug. 18, 1876, and ran until September 9, 1876.

Treaty 10 was established Aug. 19, 1906, between King Edward VII and various First Nation governments in current northern Saskatchewan and a portion of current eastern Alberta, an area covering 220,000 sq. kilometres.

“The socio-economic gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada are the result of decades of colonial policies, which often led to the denial and dispossession of land and resources,” explained the release.

“Honouring Canada’s legal obligations and properly compensating Indigenous Peoples for what was unlawfully taken or withheld from them is fundamental to advancing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in order to rebuild trust with Indigenous communities.”

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The funding will allow AWEDI to grant up to $100,000 to support business ventures by primary agricultural producers and food processors from under-represented groups.

This includes Indigenous peoples, visible minorities, people with disabilities, youth, women and members of French linguistic minority communities.

Rob Flack, Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness, said in a release the funding dovetails into the Grow Ontario Strategy to “unlock the full potential of the entrepreneurial talent of our diverse communities to strengthen our $51 billion agri-food sector.”

He added that cultivating new talent in the growing agri-food sector drives long-term prosperity and innovation while creating jobs.

AWEDI will accept applications from organizations, research bodies, municipalities or Indigenous communities from Oct. 8 until Dec. 3. Projects must support under-represented groups with better access to financing, business spaces and equipment to grow or process food products.

“Making sure we have greater diversity in the agriculture and agri-food sector helps to create a more competitive, inclusive and resilient food system,” said Lawrence MacAulay, federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food, in the release.

Funding is provided by the Sustainable Canadian Partnership.

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