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HAY RIVER
After leading a full workshop on practising sustainable food production in everyday life, Jackie Milne said her small group is no longer hungry for changes, because members have already begun to make them.

Milne said participants in the workshop - Hungry for Change - are more encouraged than ever to make changes toward sustainable food production. The free six-week workshop offered through Ecology North began on Feb. 12 and zeroed in on food, ethics, and the sustainability of food production and distribution in Canada.

At first, said Milne, the group discussed small changes they could make in their own individual habits to reduce the impact of food production and transportation on the environment.

The group looked at what they could do to eat more locally-produced food, such as switching bananas for berries and meat for locally-caught fish.

As they progressed, they realized the need to go even further.

"The conclusion we came to is that the problems in our food production and consumption are huge," said Milne, president of the Territorial Farmers Association. "We have to tackle it from every angle possible. When we start learning how bad some of the food system is, we decided we need something equally powerful to counteract that."

Julie Smillie, a bank manager and workshop participant, became particularly gung-ho.

Smillie began gardening more than three years ago in an effort to get back to basics. From there spawned an enthusiasm for growing and producing her own food and, in turn, reducing her family's environmental footprint.

"It's amazing when you find out there are four major companies providing our food," she said. "Not that there is anything wrong with buying food from the supermarket, but when you think about it, if one of those companies were to opt out, how would we survive?"

Smillie has yielded successful returns from her plot in the Hay River Community Garden for the past few years, but this year she's taken a few extra steps. She recently purchased a worm composter, is getting ready to build her own greenhouse, and has ordered organic seeds and plants she can grow at home.

"There are opportunities for people to be able to provide for themselves through learning their own basic skills," she said.

Milne said, on the whole, the group agreed to try and make changes at the community level. More than that, they also agreed to lobby for initiatives like access to low-cost farmable land. This way, food could be produced and distributed locally.

"In the NWT, we have a lot of land and very few people," said Milne. "We were thinking that, if the town of Hay River were to provide people guaranteed access to a few acres of land with a low-cost lease, people could use this land for sustenance."

The idea is modelled after a system in Dacha, Russia, where 50 per cent of all food eaten is supplied by local people.

"We can do this," said Milne. "We are at the same latitude and climate as Dacha and we have way more land. This is a collective solution. We can go forward and accomplish more by working together."

The free six-week workshop has already touched down in Fort Smith, Fort Resolution, the Sahtu and Trout Lake. A similar workshop on permaculture was held on the Hay River Reserve.

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