COLVILLE LAKE, NWT-What do you do when you need to use gardens to grow food, but little soil is available? That can be a huge problem when you live on the Canadian Shield-the largest mass of exposed rock on the Earth.
One Indigenous community 80 km above the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territories, knows the problem too well. Their traditional lifestyle of fishing, hunting and trapping is flourishing, but every healthy lifestyle needs greens and other nutritions that come from soil-based foods.
So, as part of their Nutrition North Canada Nutrition Education Initiatives project, Bedhzi Ahda First Nation in Colville Lake decided to make their own compost and soil . . . from fish.
The project focused on a Zero Waste Food Policy where all unused fish parts were ground and processed into organic fertilizers for the local greenhouse. And the greenhouse is expected to provide provide produce for the community.
Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 have joined local fishers to identify and harvest edible fish. Local elders taught the students how to fillet fish and prepare it in traditional ways using local and market ingredients.
Indigenous Services Canada notes, "This is a great example of a small community using their resources and linking with partners to build knowledge, skills and helping to make nutritious food more affordable and accessible in the community."
