A new play offers a comedic interpretation of the melodrama and conflict surrounding the story of Black Duck Wild Rice. The full case study of Black Duck Wild Rice will be posted on this website soon, part of the Subversions from the Informal and Social Economy series.
Day 6 interviewed Drew Hayden Taylor about Cottagers and Indians, calling it “a timely play about Indigenous and non-Indigenous relationships”. You can listen to the full interview here. Cottagers and Indians debuts February 21 and plays at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto until March 25.
Tag Archives: informal economy
Studies from the Social Economy in Northwestern Ontario
“The social economy, which places ‘people before profits’ arose from a failure of contemporary political and economic policies to provide minimum acceptable levels of economic and social wellbeing to people.”
These words, from the preamble to the Blueberry Foraging case study (Stolz, Levkoe and Nelson, 2017) help to build a platform from which these new case studies from the social and informal economy of Northwestern Ontario challenge the preeminence of profit and market competition as a motive for social organization. A community collectively selling their surplus to raise funds for youth programs; producers and consumers from across the region cooperating to build more resilient communities; a creative centre using art and gardening to build programs for therapy and rehabilitation—each of these cases identifies threads that, together, comprise the tapestry of Northwestern Ontario’s social economy.
Recorded webinar presentations now available online
Subversions from the Informal and Social Economy:
Relocating social and ecological values in food systems
The Nourishing Communities research group is conducting community-based research investigating food initiatives that operate within the social or informal economy, intended to address food security and community development; benefit marginalized communities, including low-income groups, Aboriginal people, youth and women; and provide important environmental stewardship services. We presented initial reflections and case studies from regions across Canada in three 90-minute webinars, available as recorded webinar presentations now through these links:
March 1, 2017 – Eastern Ontario [recorded webinar]
March 14, 2017 – Northwestern Ontario [recorded webinar]
March 15, 2017 – Atlantic Canada and the Northwest Territories [recorded webinar]
The Social Economy of Food and the Ontario Food and Nutrition Strategy
Subversions from the Informal and Social Economy of Food – Atlantic Canada and Northwest Territories Webinar
Wednesday March 15 at 12:00 EST
Join us for reports from four unique community-based research cases in Atlantic Canada and the Northwest Territories, where the most prized goals challenge the accepted wisdom of economic primacy.
Seed Saving in Atlantic Canada (Seeds of Diversity and partner organizations)
- Conserving seed resources and related skills/knowledge
- Preserving endangered local varieties of seed
- Strong collaboration among seed savers, seed banks and libraries, and local seed companies
- Contributions to biodiversity, knowledge conservation, social capital and food security
- Investing in local food economy
- Provincial policies both make community investments possible and pose barriers to local food business
- Strengthening economic and social sustainability
- Mentorship and preserving/sharing food and business skills/knowledge
JustUs! Centre for Small Farms
- Farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing
- Preserving and sharing food skills and knowledge
- Engagement of marginalized groups
- Urban-rural and global north-south connections
- Building a community garden
- Sharing traditional knowledge
- Fostering Food sharing networks
ACCESSING THE WEBINARS
The webinars are facilitated through Carleton U, using the ‘Big Blue Button’ platform:
(Platform opens at 11:30 am on March 15, webinar starts at 12:00)
Accessing the webinar:
- Go to: http://edc.bigbluebutton.org
- Enter your full name
- Select the room: Big Data and Agriculture
- As a Viewer please use the password: participant
- To join the voice bridge for this meeting: click the headset icon in the upper-left (please use a headset to prevent noise).
To join this meeting by phone, dial:
(613) 317-3321 (1-855-215-5935 toll free)
Then enter 29302 as the conference pin number.
Facilitator: Irena Knezevic, Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University
For questions of additional info, please contact pmount@wlu.ca
Subversions from the Informal and Social Economy of Food – Northwestern Ontario Webinar
Relocating social and ecological values in food systems
Tuesday March 14 at 11:00 a.m.
Join us for reports from four unique community-based research cases in Northern Ontario, where strengthening local food initiatives builds community purpose, identity and connectedness. Thus, challenging the accepted wisdom of externally-driven, profit-oriented economic primacy. All case studies have emerged as place-based and contextual.
Willow Springs Creative Centre (WSCC) https://www.willowsprings.ca/
Judi Vinni, Founder and Director of WSCC and Rachel Kagegamic, MSW student at Lakehead University
Willow Springs Creative Centre is a progressive social purpose enterprise that provides inclusive art, therapeutic gardening and food programs, services and training. They partner with professional artists, people trained in horticultural therapy and gardening, skilled cooks and bakers, and other talented facilitators. Their home base is nestled in the rural village of Lappe northwest of Thunder Bay, in the historical international Co-op built by local Finnish homesteaders in 1934.
Four key innovative local food related initiatives:
- Soup and Artisan Bread initiative operates on a Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) model where customers pre-pay for their weekly subscription prepared by local students facing barriers to employment who participate in a training program to connect to and work with locally sourced food.
- Harvest Share is an urban gleaning project where youth, staff and volunteers turn would-be-wasted fruit into preserves and other products such as cider and sauce for sale at the WSCC weekly market. Profits are used to support the soup and bread training program
- Willow Springs’ Farmers Market provides access to a local market for Lappe-area producers. The market is a joyful meeting place that incorporates food, art activities and music.
- Horticulture Therapy and Gardening works with a variety of partners such as schools, organizations service disabled community members, retirement and long-term care facilities to deliver therapeutic gardening programming.
Foraging as a Social Economy in Northern Ontario: A Case Study of Aroland First Nation, Arthur Schupp Wild Foods, Nipigon annual blueberry festival, and the Algoma Highlands blueberry farm.
Researcher: William Stolz, master’s student in Enivronmental Sciences, Lakehead University Interviews with Sheldon Atlookan, Aroland Band Councillor and organizer of blueberry social economy initiatives, Norma Fawcett, Founder of the Nipigon Blueberry Blast, Arthur Schupe, forager of local edible mushrooms and blueberries and Trevor & Tracy Laing, founders and owners of Algoma Highlands Wild Blueberries
Four contexts for foraging are presented to demonstrate distinct foraging practices that all contribute to building social capital, community resilience and innovative diversification of the economy.
- The Aroland Youth Blueberry Initiative (AYBI) began in 2008, when community members decided to try and sell some of their surplus berries as a fundraising activity to help the youth. In Aroland berry picking is a way of life that can be traced back many generations.
- Norma Fawcett, an elder of the Lake Helen Reserve, a part of the Red Rock Indian Band, had a vision of establishing a blueberry festival to celebrate and honour the blueberry. The idea was supported by the Nipigon Chamber of Commerce and plays a significant role in introducing people to how and where to pick blueberries, encourages awareness of a free, highly nutritious food source, boosted community connectedness and builds community pride in a locally available food source.
- Arthuer Schupe is a second generation forager for local blueberries and mushrooms. His intergenerational knowledge of foraging has now branched into marketing fresh and dried morels, chanterelles and blueberries.
- Algoma Highlands Wild Blueberry Farm, is a first in Northern Ontario. This farm is a natural, sustainable, low-bush wild blueberry farm located near Wawa, Ontario that produces quality fresh and processed blueberry products including jams, blueberry horseradish sauce and blueberry barbecue sauce.
Bearskin Lake First Nation
Rosemary McKay, Chief of Bearskin First Nation and Esther McKay, master’s student in the northern environment and cultural program, Lakehead University and a member of Bearskin Lake First Nation.
This case study explores both local food acquisition as a traditional practice for thousands of years and the challenges of food acquisition from a northern store and a local food co-op. Findings have demonstrated that social economy began as a way of life, not as an off-shoot of the mainstream industrial economy. Concepts of social economy and food sovereignty merge within this context. Identity is deeply embedded in the land which is the traditional giver of food.
- Scaling out is sharing with the community; and scaling up is with other First Nations accessible by winter roads and air. Stewardship values are the driver, not market economy
- Adaptation to traditional sharing is innovatively augmented with sharing within community through Facebook and penny auctions
- Hunting and harvesting festivals enhance social capital and resilience by rebuilding knowledge and skills of traditional diets
- ‘Law of the land’ with in-depth feedback of local ecological system including humans is a distinctly separate paradigm from government policy and regulations of mainstream economy
Cloverbelt Local Food Co-op (CLFC) http://cloverbeltlocalfoodcoop.com/
Jen Springett, President of Cloverbelt Local Food Coop; Allison Streutker, Psychology student at Lakehead University
CLFC is a non-profit, multi-stakeholder co-op that creates food accessibility through an online farmers’ market with five pick-up locations. CLFC connects communities with local goods via distribution sites spanning 350 km across Northwestern Ontario. There are 130 producers serving 1000 plus members including two First Nations and local organizations that support local food.
Objectives
- Increase visibility & accessibility of local foods available for purchase
- To educate our community & surrounding areas about the benefits of eating locally
- To increase local food sales
Projects
- NWO Local Food Map (2015-2017 nwofoodmap.com
- The Education Co-ordinator facilitates local food classroom and community education and workshops to enhance local food skills including food preservation to extend the availability of local food
- Crowdfunded Community Greenhouse for use by local school classes, community organizations and for producers to extend their growing season.
- Agriculture Co-ordinator facilitates salad bar program, funding for on-farm intern, NWHU apple and carrot projects for school nutrition program
Facilitators: Charles Levkoe, Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Food Systems, Connie Nelson, Professor, Director of Food Security Research Network, Mirella Stroink, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, Lakehead University
For questions of additional info, please contact pmount@wlu.ca
Subversions from the Informal and Social Economy of Food – Eastern Ontario Webinar
Relocating social and ecological values in food systems
Wednesday March 1 at 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Join us for reports from four unique community-based research cases in eastern Ontario, where the most prized goals challenge the accepted wisdom of economic primacy.
1) DIG (Durham Integrated Growers for a Sustainable Community)
Mary Drummond, President of DIG and Chair, Durham Food Policy Council and Mary Anne Martin, PhD student in the Joint Trent-Carleton program in Canadian Studies
Key DIG case study themes:
- the recognition of community expertise
- the role of supportive and restrictive municipal policies
- the benefits and pitfalls of relying on unpaid labour,
- a focus on fostering community
- the development of alternatives to dominant economic logics and practices
2) Black Duck Wild Rice (BDWR)
James Whetung, Curve Lake First Nation, Founder of BDWR, and Paula Anderson, PhD student in Indigenous Studies, Trent University
Black Duck Wild Rice (BDWR) is a family run community-based social enterprise for wild rice processing, including a maple wood roasting machine, a barrel wild rice huller and a drop winnower. James and family have been long-time advocates for wild rice and its place in developing a more local/regional diet; one that is based off of what this “place” has to offer. BDWR provides “green” seed for other First Nation communities wishing to re-establish/ restore their traditional manoomin beds within their traditional territorial waterways and has recently acquired a set of canoes that local people can borrow to encourage them to go out and re-establish their relationship with this food.
3) Hidden Harvest
Jay Garlough (Co-founder, Hidden Harvest), Trish Ballamingie (Associate Professor, Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University), and Chloé Poitevin DesRivières (Doctoral Candidate, Geography/Political Economy, Carleton University)
In this webinar, Jay will introduce Hidden Harvest Ottawa – a for-profit social enterprise that aims to legitimize and support the practice of harvesting fruits and nuts in urban areas. Groups of volunteers participate in insured harvest events, organized by trained neighbourhood leaders. The bounty is split between the nearest food agency, the homeowner, the volunteer harvesters, and Hidden Harvest Ottawa—who leverage their share to raise funds for the initiative from local restaurants and processors. Chloe will then touch briefly on key Insight themes (Building Adaptive Capacity; Increasing Prosperity; Increasing Social Capital; and Fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurship). Trish will conclude by reflecting on the broader conceptual significance of this case study.
4) Ontario East Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS)
Phil Mount, Research Associate, Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
In recent years, higher input costs, lower margins, and an increase in cash cropping have all encouraged the conversion of idle agricultural land, pasture, and native grassland, into corn production—with important repercussions for wildlife habitat in Ontario. Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) is a non-profit program offering an innovative model for environmental conservation, by providing farmers with financial incentives for the ecological goods and services produced on their land.
Key ON East ALUS case study points:
- ALUS pays farmers to retire land from agricultural production, and retain or convert it to a natural state
- widespread benefits include carbon sequestration, improvements in water quality, and increased habitat for fish, wildlife, and pollinators
- the program is voluntary, farmer-delivered, and community developed
Facilitator: Peter Andree, Associate Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Political Science, Carleton University
For registration and webinar access info, please contact pmount@wlu.ca
Subversions from the Informal and Social Economy: Relocating social and ecological values in food systems
Webinars March 1, 14 and 15
The Nourishing Communities research group is conducting community-based research investigating food initiatives that operate within the social or informal economy, intended to address food security and community development; benefit marginalized communities, including low-income groups, Aboriginal people, youth and women; and provide important environmental stewardship services. We are presenting initial reflections and case studies from regions across Canada in three upcoming webinars:
- Eastern Ontario – Wed March 1 at 10:00 a.m. EST
- Northwestern Ontario – Tuesday, March 14 at 11:00 a.m. EST
- Atlantic Canada and Northwest Territories – Wed March 15 at 12:00 EST
By ‘social and informal economy’, we mean a range of activities that are on the margins, loosely organized, and sometimes not even recognized as economic activities. Within the food sector, such informal, undervalued activities include self-provisioning, barter, food sharing, unpaid labour, environmental remediation and rehabilitation.
Capturing Outcomes
Specifically, the research asks whether and how a social economy of food:
- increases prosperity for marginalized groups;
- builds adaptive capacity to increase community resilience;
- bridges divides between elite consumers of alternative food products and more marginalized groups;
- increases social capital; and,
- fosters social innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic diversification.
The webinars will present examples of initiatives that share foodways and/or re-introducing traditional practices; offer an alternative practice that challenges accepted values (e.g. therapeutic horticulture, seed saving, responsible community investment); share knowledge and networking to maximize impacts; and enable collective provision of basic needs.
For registration and webinar details, please contact pmount@wlu.ca
The social economy of food: New Case Studies from Ontario and Atlantic Canada
The social economy of food: Informal, under-recognized contributions to community prosperity and resilience
Critics of neo-liberalism argue that people are better conceived of not as self-interested, profit-seeking, utility-maximizing creatures, but rather as members of complex social and ecological systems, whose choices are deeply embedded in social relationships and ecological context … We have used case studies to identify and document a spectrum of multifunctional social economy food activities where people trade/share material resources and skills at times in informal ways. Read more…