Food Security Research Grant
Indigenous-led research supporting food security in isolated northern communities.
On this page
About the grant
The Government of Canada's Food Security Research Grant is funding Indigenous-led projects that focus on food security and food access inequality in isolated northern communities.
This research addresses key questions and challenges with respect to food access inequality, the dynamics of existing federal food access programs and food insecurity among Indigenous Peoples living in isolated communities.
All research funded under the grant must either be directed by Indigenous stakeholders or conducted with clear partnerships between academics and Indigenous communities.
The grant will run from 2022 to 2024 and will invest $1.5 million to generate additional insight and knowledge on the effects of the Nutrition North Canada (NNC) retail subsidy and inform ongoing improvements to support equitable access to store-bought food.
Eligibility
Successful applicants have been contacted directly and funding was delivered on April 1, 2023. Funded projects have met one or more of the following criteria:
- Indigenous governing body which represents one or more NNC-eligible communities and which can demonstrate an established partnership with an accredited, Canadian post-secondary institution
- Indigenous organization residing in NNC-eligible communities and which can demonstrate an established partnership with an accredited, Canadian post-secondary institution
- Independent researcher or knowledge user who self-identifies as Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) and can clearly demonstrate a partnership with one or more Indigenous organizations or NNC-eligible communities
- Researcher affiliated with an accredited Canadian post-secondary institution that can clearly demonstrate past research experience and a meaningful and culturally safe partnership with one or more Indigenous organizations and NNC-eligible communities
Find out more about NNC eligible communities.
Funded research projects
The 5 recipients of NNC's Food Security Research Grant have provided the following descriptions of their funded research projects.
- Kikenomaga Kikenjigewen Employment and Training Services (KKETS) project Nothing About Us, Without Us: Exploring the Current and Potential Impact of the Nutrition North Subsidy through Community-Based Criteria "will provide evidence-based information to identify the current program's strengths and weaknesses and contribute to a framework that will make NNC more responsive to Gender Based Analysis Plus specifically, and community food security more broadly."
- Sambaa K'e First Nation's Food for Everyone in Sambaa K'e, NWT "seeks to better understand and improve food security for our members using data from our community-owned store, and the Traditional and Indigenous Knowledge from our community."
- Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN)'s project NAN Homeland Foods and Food Systems Study: 2023-2024 "will build on the NAN Needs Assessment and Feasibility Study (2021-2022) preliminary recommendations [and] take a holistic short and long-range look at food sovereignty in order to develop plans and strategies to increase food security" in NNC eligible communities.
- Laval University in collaboration with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation's project Understanding Food Affordability and Security in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region; An Assessment of the Retail Food Environment and Consumer Agency "will leverage the strengths of … past and ongoing research to gain new insights into food affordability and food security in communities of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region."
- Governing Council of the University of Toronto in collaboration with Taloyoak, Nunavut, and Whati, Northwest Territories project Learning about Indigenous Concepts Relevant to Food Security Intervention in Northern Communities "will use land-based conversational interviewing and concept mapping to reveal the core ideas through which Inuit living in Taloyoak experience food sufficiency, security and affordability."
For more detailed descriptions, please contact NNC at nutritionnordcanada-nutritionnorthcanada@rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca.
Contact us
If you are interested in receiving more information on Nutrition North Canada's Food Security Research Grant, please contact the program at nutritionnordcanada-nutritionnorthcanada@rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca.