It's important to know that indigenous communities are reframing their food system. Within communities, there are discussions happening and emerging around the creation of solutions, including the need to change local policies and practices.
Food sovereignty conversations are taking place from east to west, from the Mi'kmaq in the east to salmon production and salmon protection in the west, and north to south, as far as the Arctic and as far south as, for example, Six Nations, where local food movements are occurring, which Dr. Hannah Tait Neufeld will also speak of.
In these communities, we're seeing a revising of local practices to rewind some of the degradation that has occurred to traditional food sources. The success of these actions really calls for new collaborative approaches to the development of food and food-related policies that directly engage and consult with the indigenous peoples.
We also need to remember that prior to contact, or prior to colonization, indigenous peoples sustained their communities in North America and forged a healthy, prosperous life. Adapting their nations' knowledge allowed them to synchronize their socio-economic practices to the food sources available. This intimate knowledge remains in every first nation across Canada, and that knowledge transfer can contribute to this new dialogue on food production and distribution.
However, the current reality is that indigenous-produced foods account for a very small amount of the foods consumed. Only about 3% of the firms operating in the agricultural sector are aboriginal firms, despite the high number of aboriginal people living in areas largely associated with agriculture.
We do see a positive change. We do see that indigenous communities have, within the last decade, awoken some of the most innovative food sovereignty solutions. These include some of the activities that Stephen mentioned, which we've shared at the end of the brief. In terms of the Cree doing some activities in northern Manitoba, we have a food-from-the-land movement connecting people to the land by re-establishing sustainable healthy food systems. Also, in Nunavut now, the fridges sometimes contain up to 50% local country foods. We see these trends happening across the country.