Introducing the Labrador Anchor Collaborative! We’re a passionate team working together to improve country food access, with a focus on healthcare systems in Labrador.
Our Team includes members from Food First NL, NL Health Services, Nunatsiavut, NunatuKavut, The Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation, and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. We work with the national nonprofit, Nourish Leadership, as part of their "Anchor Cohort". The Labrador Anchor Collaborative joined Nourish Leadership’s Cohort in 2021 and we’re now in our second phase which continues through 2025.
Providing Country Food Meals in Long-Term Care
Sometimes, big ideas have to start on a small scale. That’s why we’ve partnered with the Happy Valley-Goose Bay Long-Term Care Home as an ‘Anchor’ for the project. We’ve brought country food meals into the LTC Home for residents on two occasions so far. Both country food meals were humbling and had lasting effects on our Team.
The Labrador Anchor Collaborative served up toutons, bakeapple and red berry tarts, pie. and more at the LTC Home.
Standing back and watching the joy spread across faces as residents enjoyed their meals of partridge and caribou soup was an experience we’ll never forget. These experiences inspire us to keep pushing for more.
One of the residents told us that eating their country food meal “feels like home.” This lets us know that our work is invaluable and needed.
In our ideal future, every healthcare facility’s daily menu includes country foods. We’re not there yet but, together with healthcare staff, we’re building the necessary foundations. We hope everyone in healthcare settings will have access to foods that satisfy their cultural hunger.
Learning From Communities
The Labrador Anchor Collaborative has joined conversations about country food in communities throughout Labrador. During these meetings, we discuss the challenges and barriers to accessing country foods and the importance of country food in our healthcare facilities. We also talk about our favourite local country food meals and share resources and stories.
From the beginning, our Team has focused on the experiences of stepping out onto the land, being present within communities, and engaging in conversations. It’s here, deep within communities, that you learn about people's experiences. How physical health challenges have limited the ability to hunt and/or harvest. The impacts of diabetes, resulting from the switch from a diet of country food to purchased processed food. How the rising cost of living is forcing families to work two and three jobs for basic necessities, which means no additional money for gas/ammunition to get out on the land.
The stunning landscape during the Natuashish Easter Gathering.
Sharing food has been practised in Labrador for many years — whether it be a hunter sharing freshly harvested seal or sitting at a communal potluck. Sharing meals within communities brings along a sense of community and togetherness. Our team has been fortunate to sit amongst communities and share food that brings comfort and joy.
Dana was thrilled to spend time out on the land during the Community Easter Gathering, sharing delicious food and lots of laughs.
Each community and part of Labrador is unique but many experience similar barriers to accessing country foods. These differences and similarities are why community sessions are so important for brainstorming ideas about how to break down those barriers. Each conversation and idea is unique but everyone is working towards the same goal of making it easier to access country foods.
The Collaborative team has been very fortunate and welcomed into all communities we travelled to with open arms.
We attended the Gull Island Gathering to learn about Innu foodways
We hosted a community conversation at the Pye Centre
We hosted community conversations and activities on the land in Cartwright and Port Hope Simpson in partnership with NunatuKavut
We travelled to Natuashish to attend the Community Easter Gathering
Looking Ahead
We haven’t had the opportunity to visit every community within Labrador to have discussions or share community meals yet but we hope to do more going forward.
Stay tuned for part two, where we dive deeper into our experiences throughout the cohort. We’ll share what we’ve heard during conversations about traditional Labrador foods in communities and more about the power of traditional foods in long-term care.
