Labrador Anchor Team Impact Report

Reconciliation in Action: Country Foods on Plates in Labrador

Access to traditional foods plays an integral role in the health of Indigenous peoples in Labrador, including the Innu Nation of Nitassinan, the Inuit of Nunatsiavut, and the Southern Inuit of NunatuKavut. However, ongoing processes of colonization and the impacts of climate change create significant barriers to accessing these foods as part of maintaining good health and healing in health care settings. The loss of coastal sea ice and volatile weather has impeded travel between communities, loss of habitat for plants and wildlife, and has made it harder to hunt and fish.

The Labrador-Grenfell Health and Food First NL collaborative aimed to build a network that “creates more equitable health outcomes for Indigenous peoples and communities by improving access to traditional foods… across Labrador-Grenfell Health facilities and services, and both Innu and Inuit communities.” Pathways towards this include centring Indigenous leadership and ways of working, addressing discrimination against Indigenous peoples in health care, and using the transformative power of food to promote community food security alongside better health outcomes.

Heather Brown (BN RN M. ED), President and CEO of Labrador-Grenfell Health during the team’s time in the Cohort, believes this project can “help catalyze significant and lasting shifts in the food systems” of their region. Moreover, the current political moment with a new provincial Health Accord and work toward a Social and Economic Wellbeing Plan has set the table for systemic change.

Reach:
Labrador Grenfell Health was one of four regional health authorities, covering Labrador and all communities north of Bartlett’s Harbour on the Northern Peninsula. The province has since combined regions to create one provincial health authority. The population served by this team was 37,000 people, which included three Indigenous groups, including the Innu, Inuit, and Southern Inuit. With a food budget of over $4.8 million, the work done by this team led to meaningful change in the health outcomes and trust between communities and health care.

The Labrador Team Worked on:

1) Prioritizing a participatory approach with local communities, including a survey on which country foods to integrate into health care menus

2) Exploring local procurement from the farm at the Pye Centre for Northern Boreal Food Systems, to be sent to sites at Labrador-Grenfell Health

3) Approval to deliver wild meat/game to health care institutions, in partnership with Indigenous governments and hunters

Read the final Labrador Anchor Team Impact Report here.