MCK announces plan to consult on Food Security project

06/25/2020

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) wishes to announce that it has begun exploring a potential Aquaponic food project as part of the movement towards food security/sovereignty.

In the next few weeks, the MCK is planning to gather feedback with specific groups/stakeholders, to be followed by a survey of community members.

“It is important for people to have the proper information about Aquaponics (which utilizes its own ecosystem, as opposed to adding nutrients to water) and to ensure that the goal is clear,” said Ratsénhaienhs Cody Diabo, the lead on the Environment Portfolio. “I am very excited about the potential for this project, as it has become obvious that many people in the community are becoming aware and supportive of food sovereignty, including Collective Impact. The concept we’re looking at is environmentally friendly and doesn’t require huge tracts of land – which are important factors.”

“Traditional consultation methods, such as public meetings and presentations, are a real challenge right now, so we will be creative in this regard,” he said. “We have been working with a company that specializes in Aquaponics and whose name (EAU) is a French-language acronym for Urban Food Ecosystems (www.eau-agriculture.com/en/about). We have signed a project contract with EAU to create a business plan. The contract will end in October, at which point a report containing the results of the community feedback and the business plan will be formally presented to the Council of Chiefs to determine whether to proceed or not.”      

“Finally, we have had preliminary contact with several potential funding sources to gauge their interest on assisting in building of this type of facility,” Ratsénhaienhs Diabo added. “We have a long history of planting our own foods, so we are very encouraged by the prospect of bringing the Aquaponics project to fruition.”

This project is intended to complement other grass-roots food initiatives already underway within the community.  

“We all should be working together on the future of the community and this is just another project that is here to help us realize that goal,” Ratsénhaienhs Diabo concluded.