Food and the practices and ideologies that surround it may not be as cut and dry as once believed.
To further that dialogue, the Vernon Public Art Gallery is hosting a community conversation on the topic of food sovereignty Friday, March 1 at 6 p.m.
“Food is a large part of our everyday lives—headlines about rising food prices, climate change, and a newly released Canada Food Guide bring conflicting ideas about food from the media to our tables,” said Alanna Haggard, marketing and events coordinator in a press release.
“Living in the agricultural heart of B.C., food affects us all from local businesses to our kitchen table. The VPAG would like to welcome you to our community conversation on Friday, March 1 at 6 p.m. at the gallery. In conjunction with our current exhibition Decolonizing our Table: Indigenous Food Sovereignty, we invite all members of our community to take part in a discussion on food security and indigenous food sovereignty. We have professionals representing different areas of the food sovereignty conversation to present a well-rounded discussion on what food sovereignty means and how it impacts our local communities.”
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Current panelists for the talk include Dr. Mary Stockdale, Tessa Wetherill and Tracey Kim Bonneau.
Stockdale – a community, culture and global studies professor at UBCO – researches the geography of food systems, natural resource management, sustainability and planning, ethnobotany, ethnoecology, and community resilience. She recently presented at the Okanagan Research Forum “Eating the Okanagan” that explored changes in our local food systems.
Wetherill is a member of Young Agrarians and has been involved in the local farming community for more than 10 years. She specializes in urban farming projects and is actively involved in the B.C. Land Matching Program that connects young farmers with local landowners.
Bonneau is an award-winning documentary director, writer, and producer. From the Syilx Nation, she was born and raised on the Penticton Indian Reserve where she currently manages her production company, Of the Land Productions Inc. In her documentary series Quest OutWest Wild Food, Bonneau shares the stories of traditional Indigenous foods and those she meets along the way. She is an active mentor in B.C. Indigenous communities and recently participated on the Indigenous Advisory Council for STORYHIVE to select film-based projects for additional funding and creative support.
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