Traditional Food Security in the Arctic
Week of November 25, 2002

It was a privilege and pleasure to attend an international Arctic Native conference in Quebec City, Canada earlier this month. The subject of this special meeting of indigenous arctic people from around the world was the security of our traditional food supply, particularly fish and wildlife.

The conference, which was held at Laval University, attracted about 150 people from Russia, Scandinavia, Greenland, Canada and Alaska. The range of concerns was broad due to the very different forms of government and legal issues in the countries that were represented. However, a commitment to preserving our ability to harvest healthy, traditional food was the common bond between all those in attendance.

While there are a variety of factors that influence the availability and quality of traditional foods, such as pollution, competition for the resource among different users, and climatic changes, the laws of the different countries have the most impact. In Greenland, for example, where the population is predominately Native people, the law allows hunters and fishermen to sell their products directly to the consumers. (Can you even imagine being able to sell moose or caribou meat in our country?) It was also interesting to learn that in the Russian arctic, where coal is used extensively for heat and production of electricity, the resulting ash has had an adverse effect on the vegetation and game animals.

There was also a presentation on the changing meaning of the word "subsistence". Obviously, the word no longer describes the entire social setting of Inuit society, as it once did. The entrance of capitalism into the lives of most Native people, which has largely resulted in mixed gathering and cash systems, has served to redefine subsistence.

Unfortunately, there is no widespread agreement on exactly what subsistence means in today's world, especially among those who look upon our culture from the outside. That is one of the reasons that the subject is so hard to deal with politically. It was suggested that we work toward developing a specific definition of subsistence that will reflect the new realities of the world.

The conference reconfirmed the health value of our traditional foods, especially when compared to the processed foods that are found in stores. Those who gather food by fishing, hunting or berry picking also have the added health benefit of all that exercise.

We have new friends in Greenland, Finland, Chukotka and Canada as a result of this conference and I learned much from them. While our languages and governments may be very different, we have a special bond as northern Native people. Among ourselves, there is no need to ponder the meaning of subsistence. It flows within us.