Industrial Livestock Production Affects Indigenous Communities Too
A food researcher once told me that the reason her food-security group never talks about the problems of meat is that "Indigenous people eat food from animals... so we can't say anything bad about meat."
I think we can do better. First, there are plenty of Indigenous groups whose traditional diets were mostly plant-based. Second, not a single Indigenous group on the planet has a tradition of eating factory-farmed meat, dairy, or eggs three times a day. Factory-farming of meat, and diets centred on factory-farmed meat, are largely white-settler impositions. Third, making meat the high-volume way uses huge amounts of land and is responsible for much of the theft of native territories for making steak and pork chops.
Indigenous voices are increasingly making themselves heard on this crucial issue. In the image above you see Dr. Margaret Robinson, a professor at Dalhousie University, who stopped eating meat because animal agriculture today is in such conflict with her traditional values.
Then in June 2023, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs unanimously passed Resolution 2023-19 saying the “poor treatment of animals in factory farming practices contravenes the customs, laws, traditions and values of First Nations in BC who maintain deep spiritual connections to all living things”. It identified factory farming with exacerbation of climate change, habitat disturbance, biodiversity loss, predation, and “other human activities that have resulted in the displacement of Indigenous peoples and our animal kin.”
So as the food movement comes to realize the desperate need to reform animal agriculture, let's realize that kinder and more ecological food systems will help even peoples whose traditions include meat.
In June 2023 the Union of BC Indian Chiefs passed a resolution on industrial factory farming and how it undermines Indigenous traditions, health, environments, and values.
Reference:
- Union of BC Indian Chiefs' resolution declaring that industrial factory farming undermines Indigenous traditions, health, environments, and values: https://assets.nationbuilder.com/ubcic/pages/4700/attachments/original/1689891868/2023June_CC_Resolution2023-19_FactoryFarmingLegislationReform.pdf?1689891868