On June 1st and 2nd, 2018, Indigenous Foods Vancouver Island hosted ÁLI SDÁLṈEW̱ "All the Good Medicine," an Indigenous Foods Gathering in Tsawout (Saanichton). The conference, titled Our Foods, Our Waters, Our Power, brought visitors from across the Island region to connect, learn, and share information about traditional foods and medicines.
Click here for reports from previous conferences.In 2017, participants gathered for the Food Connections Conference at the Songhees Wellness Centre in Esquimalt to discuss "Nourishing Island Communities." This year's event welcomed participants from across Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, and marked the first year that the conference has been held over a two-day period.
Download the PDFIn 2016 Food Connections took a break. Hub Leaders attended the Island Wide “Healthy Communities Forum” in Parksville and a small allocation of funding was directed to local community learning events through the Food Security Hubs.
Healthy Communities ForumIn 2015, participants converged on the Parksville Conference Center in the traditional territory of the Qualicum First Nation for Food Connections 2015 hosted by Nanaimo FoodShare. This gathering was themed entirely around building our “social skills” from Social Media and Social Enterprise through to Social Change – an agenda full of engaging and inspiring facilitators left everyone wanting more.
Download the PDFIn 2014 Food Connections honed in on Rural and Remote Food Security and on Building Cultural Safety Skills. This year featured two days of local learning in the remote community of Ucluelet hosted by the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust in the traditional Territory of the Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ First Nation. This was followed up by a full day of interactive online learning where Islanders gathered at host sites across our region for Virtual Food Connections.
Cultural Safety Workshop Virtual Food Connections Webinar Resource Virtual Food Connections RecapSet at the beautiful Deep Bay Marine Field Station on the traditional territory of Qualicum First Nation, Participants couldn’t help but ponder the coastal nature of our Food System at Food Connections 2013. Facilitated by LUSH Valley Food Action Society, the day was broken out in to a variety of concurrent workshops spanning a wide range of food security topics and community development skill builders.
Download the PDFHosted by Cowichan Green Communities and Vancouver Island University, Food Connections 2012 took place in Duncan BC in the traditional territory of the Cowichan First Nation. The focus was on setting priorities for our Island Food System. Health and Access was the core focus while a full systems lens was employed in strategic planning exercises looking at Waters, Forests, Fields and Cities through the perspectives of Distribution, Harvesting, Cultivation, and Waste management.
Download the PDFPartnering with Cowichan Green Communities, Food Connections 2011 took place in Nanaimo, traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation. The gathering was focused on networking, skill building and story sharing. This was the first Food Connections event to take place in several years.
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