By Bryan Eneas

FSIN donates meat to food bank, honours Treaty tradition

Dec 19, 2017 | 1:00 PM

Indigenous leaders and organizations are getting into the Christmas spirit.

Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) Chief Bobby Cameron and Prince Albert Grand Council Vice Chief Joseph Tsannie dropped off roughly 400 pounds of elk and wild boar meat to the Prince Albert Food Bank.

For Cameron, the donation is an act of giving back but also an honouring of the numbered treaties.

“It’s also a message to all levels of government that we continue to exercise our inherent and Treaty right to hunt,” Cameron said. “A majority of our people, First Nations people, walk through these doors.”

Cameron said he felt good about the donation which will ultimately feed community members in need.

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Tsannie, the Athabasca region Vice Chief for the Grand Council, said food security in the North has been a big focus over the last year. With the costs of food rising not just in the province but across the country, keeping people from going hungry is always a focus.

He said many people are travelling from the northern regions in the province to live in the South and giving back through meat donations keeps them and their families fed. Many transplants are also accustomed to eating traditional foods.

“If you don’t eat the traditional food, your body kind of craves it,” Tsannie said. “The donation here to the food bank, it’s going to feed a lot of people.”

Tsannie said the grand council has programs for people from the northern regions to get caribou as well – something which wasn’t provided in the donation.

“We do have other programs, we do have cultural activities within the city to feed people with the caribou within the tribal council,” Tsannie said.

He said for the last three years, the annual caribou migrations into northern Saskatchewan haven’t been plentiful. Sometimes it takes up to 16 hours on snowmobile just to find the herds. Wildfires in the northern portions of Saskatchewan have also taken their toll on the lichen which is one of the main sources of nutrients for caribou.

Wes Clark, the executive director of the Prince Albert food bank said he appreciated the donation of traditional meat. Meat is one of the most expensive items the food bank has to supply; getting any kind of meat is a huge boost.

“It’s great to see FSIN helping the people; this is what food security is all about,” Clark said.

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations is also making wild meat donations in North Battleford on Dec. 19, followed by stops at the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology and the Saskatoon Lighthouse shelter in Saskatoon on Dec. 20. 

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas