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À l’extrémité Est des Caraïbes, la Barbade importe quelques 90% de ses aliments. Les menaces croissantes liées aux changements climatiques, aux maladies non-transmissibles, à la réduction des mobilités due à la pandémie de COVID-19 et aux prix éternellement en hausse ont remis en évidence la vulnérabilité de ce territoire insulaire exigu et l’importance de la souveraineté alimentaire. L’autosuffisance alimentaire est toutefois un projet ambitieux à la Barbade vu la petite taille de l'île, ses sols et sa biodiversité appauvris par trois siècles de monoculture de canne à sucre, et une pression déjà lourde sur ses ressources limitées en eau douce. En plus des contraintes environnementales de l'île, des enjeux sociaux et économiques freinent également la transition vers un système alimentaire autonome. Par exemple, le travail agricole, stigmatisé par l'histoire coloniale, l’esclavage et la mondialisation, est souvent peu attractif pour de nombreux habitants. Puis, l’économie barbadienne, toujours basée sur le tourisme, les imports et une agriculture destinée aux exports, présente des barrières structurelles importantes empêchant son indépendance vis-à-vis du marché global. Cette étude cherche à comprendre les défis socio-environnementaux qui freinent les changements positifs dans le système alimentaire de la Barbade et à stimuler la discussion dans la communauté pour identifier des pistes de solutions assurant à la fois la réalisation de la sécurité alimentaire, soit l’accès aux aliments, et de la souveraineté alimentaire, soit le droit du peuple à définir ses propres politiques agricoles et alimentaires. Cette recherche a deux buts principaux : d’abord, d’offrir une réflexion critique sur l’héritage colonial de la Barbade et ses implications en agriculture; puis, d’identifier des avenues agraires qui respectent les limites socio-environnementales de l’île, à travers l’évaluation de modèles utilisés localement et dans des environnements semblables dans le monde. L’étude de 26 entretiens semi-dirigés et de l’observation participante effectués dans les champs, marchés et cuisines de la Barbade d’août 2021 à avril 2022 met en lumière les habitudes, perceptions et ambitions des Barbadiens et Barbadiennes en termes d’alimentation, d’agriculture et de système alimentaire. En plus d’observations plus larges sur les phénomènes sociaux et politiques barbadiens, permises par une longue immersion sur l’île débutant en 2020, ces méthodes identifient les causes sous-jacentes et les processus persistants qui maintiennent le système alimentaire barbadien dans la vulnérabilité. À travers un partenariat avec des organismes agro-alimentaires locaux et la réalisation d’un film documentaire et de contenu vidéo pour les médias sociaux, ce projet célèbre les solutions au niveau local et régional et offre l’opportunités d’amener plus loin la discussion entre les différents acteurs à la Barbade, mais aussi avec d’autres communautés confrontées à des défis similaires. / It is estimated that Barbados imports nearly 90% of its food. Growing threats of climate change, non-communicable diseases, reduced mobilities due to COVID-19 and the ever-rising prices highlighted the vulnerability of the island and the importance of food sovereignty. However, aiming towards food self-sufficiency is an ambitious project in Barbados, considering the island’s small size, an already heavily used limited freshwater resource, and impoverished soils and biodiversity due to three centuries of sugar cane monoculture. In addition to those environmental constraints, social and economic issues also hinder change. For example, agricultural work, stigmatized by colonial history, slavery and globalization, is often unattractive to the locals. Furthermore, the Barbadian tourism-based economy and export-oriented agriculture present significant structural barriers to building independence from the global market. This research project seeks to build an understanding of and stimulate the discussion on the socio-environmental challenges that prevent positive changes in Barbados’ food system to overcome them, to ensure that both food security, or access to food, and food sovereignty, or the right of the people to define their own agricultural and food policies, are fulfilled. The project has two main goals. First, to bring a critical perspective on the colonial heritage of Barbados and its implications in agriculture. Second, to identify agrarian avenues that respect the socio-environmental limits by evaluating the models used locally and in similar environments around the world. A study of 26 semi-directed interviews and participant observation in the fields, markets and kitchens of Barbados from August 2021 to April 2022 provides insights into the habits, perceptions and aspirations of Barbadians in terms of food, agriculture and the food system. Together with wider observations of the Barbadian society and politics, allowed by a long-term immersion on the island starting in 2020, these methods identify some of the underlying causes and perpetuating processes at play in the unsustainable food system. Through a partnership with local agri-food organizations and the production of a documentary film and video content for social media, this research project celebrates the solutions found at the local and regional level and offers opportunities for further discussion with stakeholders in Barbados, but also in other communities facing similar challenges.

The purpose of this thesis is to describe the harvesting and dietary practices of two rural and remote Indigenous communities. The ethnographic methods of participant observations and semi-structured interviews availed an abundance of rich and detailed data that allowed for a clear understanding of the barriers these two communities face when accessing food. This is an articled-based thesis containing three parts. Part one is composed of a literature review that describes the barriers that have contributed to food insecurity problems in Indigenous communities. It finishes with a chapter dedicated to defining the postcolonial theoretical perspective and describing how and why it was employed during this research process. The postcolonial perspective was chosen to best understand the historical forces that caused food insecurity in Indigenous communities and justify my position as a non-indigenous researcher in the field of Indigenous health. The second part of the thesis is made up of two articles. Article one will describe the current situation of food access challenges and responses in Canada, more specifically in two rural and remote First Nations communities. The article illustrates how both First Nations are experiencing challenges obtaining healthy food from the market and from the land. The article describes what is involved in acquiring food in both communities, and the responses each community is taking to increase food access. The article concludes by pointing out how these initiatives are building more than just food capacity and why they deserve greater external support. The second article is focused solely in the community of Wapekeka, and is entitled The Cost of Local Food Procurement in One Northern Rural and Remote Indigenous Community. The purpose of the article is to provide a specific example of building local food capacity as strategy to address food insecurity. It documents the costs associated with traditional food procurement and compares these costs against the price of food available in the store. The final component of the thesis is the overall conclusion, highlighting the belief that the findings presented in this thesis will promote and emphasize the importance of land-based food initiatives as a way to foster positive health outcomes for all Indigenous peoples.

This Inuvialuit ‘story’ revolves around the Inuvialuit uprising and resurgence against government and industrial encroachment, and the self determination efforts to regain sovereignty of traditional territories. This ‘story’ also discusses how meaningful consultation made the Inuvialuit Final Agreement a reality, through which Inuvialuit land rights and freedoms were formally acknowledged and entrenched in the Canadian Constitution. Through meaningful consultation, Inuvialuit have become ‘meaningful participants’ in sustainable and future-making decisions of Inuvialuit nunangat (Inuvialuit lands) and waters, with respect to the Inuvialuit People and natural beings that Inuvialuit depend upon and maintain relationship with. As ‘meaningful participants’, Inuvialuit have the sovereign rights to “make meaning” and carve out a future as a sovereign nation within the country of Canada. This Inuvialuit ‘story’ is told with an informal framework through which it decolonizes academia, while also highlighting Indigenous voice through an Indigenous lens and worldview. The government and industry are called upon to meaningfully consult with Indigenous Peoples who have not only inhabited Turtle Island for millennia, but who have inherent Indigenous rights and freedoms, as Indigenous embodiment and well-being, and temporality and future-making are entangled with homelands. / Graduate

This study explores the question of how soil-less agriculture through hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaponics can empower smallholder farmers to achieve food sovereignty as portrayed in documentaries. It addresses the power imbalance between large corporations and smallholder farmers in the traditional agriculture industry. Documentary research approach is used to understand the various applications and research aspects of soil-less agriculture from around the world. Real-life examples from different countries where these methods have been successfully implemented in the agriculture industry, ranging from large industrial settings to smallholder farmers in disadvantaged communities, are analyzed. Further, content analysis is done on these documents by constructing a matrix that combines the process of empowerment and the six pillars of food sovereignty to analyze the different forms of empowerment. The study also investigates how the use of soil-less agriculture can build capabilities through enhanced “well-being freedom” and “agency freedom” and empower smallholder farmers to achieve food sovereignty.

The relationship between international regimes regulating intellectual property, traditional knowledge and biodiversity has received much attention in recent times. Of the many complex and controversial issues in contemporary international legal discourse on this matter, the protection of traditional knowledge (TK) stands out as a significant challenge. Choices abound in the search for modalities to regulate rights to use and control TK systems and their underlying biodiversity. In recent times, the protection of geographical indications (GIs) has emerged as an option for protecting TK. Despite the considerable enthusiasm over it, there is appreciable research dearth on how far and in what context GIs can be used as a protection model. Indeed, not only is the concept of GIs itself widely misunderstood. As well, analyses as to their applicability for protecting TK often reflect underlying cultural differences in the nature, scope and the jurisprudence regarding GIs across jurisdictions. This thesis examines the relationship between GIs and TK, focusing on the responsiveness of GIs to the needs and desires of indigenous peoples and local communities (ILCs). The thesis posits that the search for a model to protect TK should involve identifying different modalities, including those based on intellectual property, to fit to the nature and uses of TK in particular contexts. The analysis conceptualizes GIs as a form of IP that are structurally and functionally suitable to protect aspects of TK in traditional knowledge-based agricultural products (TKBAPs). Substantively, the thesis draws attention to the conceptual underpinnings of GIs as encompassing cultural and economic objectives in the protection of TK. As such, it is argued that stronger protection of GIs should be achieved by integrating the negotiations and discussion concerning GIs and TK at the international level. Further, the case is made for the determination of immediate challenges and long-term opportunities in choosing a legal means for protecting GIs at the national level. In this connection, the thesis suggests that the potential of GIs to meet national and local imperatives to protect TK be assessed, inter alia, based on their instrumentality for economic, biodiversity, cultural and food security objectives in protecting TKBAPs.