Indigenous Food Sovereignty Association & NENQAYNI in Bhutan

The year has been exciting for our indigenous food sovereignty movement. Community gardens have been taking off since 2020, led by knowledge keepers, coordinators, and elders. Youth capacity-building has been occurring in places like Tea Creek, the Tl'etinqox Community Garden, Xeni Xanelhyax, and the Cwelcwelt kuc 'We are Well' Garden, of many. My wife Valeria and I have had the honour to visit, learn, and help at these projects within their different stages.

Which brings me to share two bits of very exciting news. First, Valeria and I are now working as Network Coordinators for the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Association (IFSA). This position means a lot to us as we have been working, on our own time and budget, for the past four years, on building sincere relationships with indigenous food sovereignty leaders throughout North, Central, and South America. Now, we are honoured to dedicate our full-time in doing so and broadening our network to ensure more of our people are exposed to such projects not only throughout Turtle Island, but all over the world.

The second announcement is we will be traveling to represent IFSA, our respective nations (Zapotec and Tsilhqot’in), and our organization NENQAYNI Foundation at the inaugural Global Conscious Food Systems Summit. In fact, I write this on the second day of the summit, having had our opening ceremony at the immense and magnificent Dzonkar Dzong, in Paro Valley, Bhutan. We have already began filming interviews, documenting traditional ecological knowledge and food systems, and building our shared network with food sovereignty leaders from around the world.

The summit takes place in the last remaining Himalayan Kingdom: Bhutan. This is a country that has never been colonized, so their way of thinking isn't necessarily hindered by a collective story of oppression and trauma that has to continually be overcome. Our people have, indeed, overcome such horrific historical events, but it is worth researching into the minds of a collective nation that is routinely considered the quietest, most peaceful, and most happiest places on the planet.

Howver, we won’t only be sharing what occurs at the summit. Valeria and I—along with our baby River—are in Bhutan until November 4th. During this time we are travelling throughout Bhutan learning about their traditional food systems, governance structures, and visions for the future.

During these weeks, we will be posting our journeys accompanied by photos. Later this winter, we will be posting full podcast and video interviews from the nenqayni we meet along the way.

Our friends, allies, and colleagues are all traveling with us, digitally, to this historic summit. Please follow our journey in our dedicated WhatsApp group, the IFSA Facebook page and the NENQAYNI: People of the Land Facebook page—or, on this website.

Sechenalyagh to the mentors, elders, and devoted youth in our lives! T&V