KENORA — The investment corporation of Grand Council Treaty #3 is planning to establish four hubs throughout the territory where community members can access food, with a focus on traditional ingredients.
The Treaty 3 Investment Group recently received $250,000 from the province’s Indigenous economic development fund towards what a government announcement called “a large-scale food distribution centre.” Maria Montoya, the Indigenous-led investment group’s strategy and innovation analyst, said the project aims to set the hubs up with one each in the territory’s general north, south, east and west areas.
“Something that we have heard so much in (community) meetings that we had with different communities was that this work cannot wait any longer,” Montoya said.
“We have seen all the changes that climate change has created, the food insecurities that all the communities have and the cultural destruction that was already done.”
The project will “enhance food security and create job opportunities within the community, ultimately ensuring food sovereignty and entrepreneurship across Treaty 3,” a government media release said.
Montoya said the work will be grounded in Anishinaabe knowledge, values and leadership.
A feasibility study has been in the works since April 2024, Montoya said, which has involved the collection of information and comments from a number of First Nations throughout the territory. She said they’re awaiting a study report — which is expected soon — which will help identify where the four hubs would be located.
“We are waiting to get the report back and start working from there, basing the decision of where these food hubs are going to be on all the information that we collected from the communities,” she said.
“Which will have better connections to other communities, better routes, safe roads.”
Wherever they end up, Montoya said the plan is to pilot one initially and get it running smoothly before starting work on the other three. While details on how they’ll work specifically are still being established, the goal is to prioritize the trade and/or sale of more traditional ingredients like wild rice, moose, deer and berries.
It will be about “making sure that people are getting healthy food, not just food, but healthy food, and that's something that we heard so much in the meetings,” she said.
“People are worried because most of the food that they get is unhealthy food, fast food, food that is not healthy for their communities, for their kids.”
Having four roughly equidistant hubs should also help with access across such a large territory, Montoya said. Treaty 3 covers more than 142,000 square kilometres and has 28 First Nations.
“It will help to bring food to all the communities that are far from supermarkets in cities like Kenora or Thunder Bay,” Montoya said. “Some communities, they are very isolated, they are very far from big cities where you can find Walmart or No Frills.”
“Some of the people in these communities don't even really have a way to transport, like to go back and forth to get groceries.”
