Athabascans Connected For Food
On Saturday, January 18th, Athabascans from around the “food wheel” gathered at the Athabasca Seniors Centre for “Connect for Food”. It was a cold and frosty Northern Alberta Saturday, but the room was full of warm folks eager to talk about the local food system.
While the crowd was mostly consumers, there were Town Councillors, farmers, restaurant owners, beekeepers, representatives from the Athabasca Farmers’ Market and others in attendance. The mix of people allowed for the sharing of different perspectives and ideas.
The afternoon started with introductions by Cara Shan, co-lead of the Athabasca Grown Project. There were then presentations from Keleigh Cormier, co-founder of Connect for Food and Eileen Kotowich, Farmers’ Market Specialist for the Alberta government. Community Futures Tawatinaw co-hosted the event.
After the presentations, the group broke for a delicious lunch served by local favourites, Minhgo’s Way! It was a great time for participants to meet and mingle before the workshop got started.
The workshop consisted of breaking into small groups with as much of a mix of participants from around the food wheel as possible. Each table was facilitated by someone from the Athabasca Grown project, who prompted the discussion and recorded the results. Participants had lively exchanges of ideas and information among their small groups. The facilitators presented their table’s thoughts and ideas to the group.
Once all the tables had been reported, it was clear that the participants had concerns about the food system, they would like to see change and had local knowledge and resources to share.
“Most folks felt heard, we collected lots of good insights, diversity at the table helped triangulate aspects of problems/solutions…and some great “words” or stories and slogans – I liked the “shopping money goes where the mind goes””
Dr. Mike Gismondi sharing his insights on the day.
The afternoon wrapped up with folks mingling and making connections or catching up with friends from the community. Some quotes from participants:
“There is appetite for changing/innovating our relationship with all of the food wheel here in Athabasca.”
“There is a community of like-minded people!”
“[I appreciated] the chance to connect with others with similar and also different interests and strengths but directed to a common goal.”
Cara Shan introducing Athabasca Grown to the participants.
“Thank you for your engagement during Saturday’s discussions. We hope the topics sparked some reflection and even some productive frustration about the current food system. More importantly, we hope you feel inspired by the potential for collaboration to shape the food system Athabascans want for themselves.”
The team is synthesizing the collected data, comments and feedback, and will report back before the next event, Farm Futures: Young Agrarians & Agri-Tourism.
The upcoming Farm Futures event features presentations from Young Agrarians and the Clearthink Group. They will discuss opportunities and challenges for young farmers, the importance of mentorship and land access, and how agri-tourism can be part of their success!
To learn more about Athabasca Grown upcoming events, visit our Eventbrite Page.
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