As Melissa MacKinnon expressed, a shift in perspective is, indeed, needed if we are to co-create a healthy, vibrant, and delicious future that can nourish all of us and generations to come. So what might such a shift look like?  John Skenandore, this month’s spotlighted Member-Owner, shares some wisdom about a shift he is leading through his work with his wife, Kawenniiosta Jock (MO#1038), at Skywoman’s Forever Farm and Iroquois Market Holistic Health; the shift from security to sovereignty in our food systems. As we head into the holiday weekend, it is valuable to reflect on the gifts of the season and the power of thanksgiving to support resilient, regenerative, and abundant food systems.

Through my leadership with Skywoman’s Forever Farm and Iroquois Market Holistic Health, I am committed to the development of a liberated food system as part of my larger work to reestablish the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy and the institution of the Great Law of Peace. At the heart of this work is leading a shift in consciousness from a food system based on the paradigm of “Food Security” (the U.S. Model) to “Food Sovereignty” (The Global Model).

Food Security is the dominant U.S. framework, defined as people having access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. This is a passive, top-down, and market-driven approach. It measures success in calories and proximity to a grocery store, reinforcing the corporate dominance of agriculture and accepting the industrial system as a given. At its core, this view sees food as a commodity; something to be sold, traded, and consumed. 

Food Sovereignty – a global concept born from Indigenous practices and knowledge systems – goes beyond mere access. It emphasizes the right of peoples and communities to control their own food systems. It prioritizes local control, sustainability, cultural diversity, and community empowerment over the demands of global markets and corporations. At its core, this view seeds food as a sacred gift from the Creator; human beings have the right and responsibility to enjoy and steward this gift for current and future generations. A successful food system is one that nourishes a person physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, and where human beings are able to exercise our relational responsibilities to the land, water, plants, and animals—-our "more than human relatives."  Food is tied to identity (e.g., some Anishinaabe call themselves "People of the Wild Rice") and grounds a person in place, community, and responsibility. Thriving food systems are community-led and culturally rooted; the work must be participatory and support traditional and cultural foods.



For my people – and truly all people – making this shift is essential.  What does it mean to have our lives—our health, our children's nutrition—in the hands of the government?  For generations, this has been our reality. We've lived under an architecture of food control. It started with policies of forced removal, separating us from the lands that fed us for millennia. It continued with the Dawes Act, which broke up communal lands and made traditional agriculture impossible.  That system evolved into the commodity food programs, which created a multi-generational dependency on high-carb, processed foods that were never part of our diet, leading to epidemics of diabetes and disease.

Today, this control is a political weapon. Our communities are disproportionately reliant on federal programs like SNAP and FDPIR. When the U.S. government shut down, those benefits were cut off, and our communities were held hostage.

This is not "food security." This is engineered dependency.

Thankfully, we do not have to accept this. If the old system was designed for control, we can design a new one for liberation. We have a strategic, actionable plan to break free. It’s not about "food security" (just access to food). It's about Indigenous Food Sovereignty—our inherent right to govern and rematriate our own food systems, gather and protect our seeds, and create regionally rooted food systems that regenerate the health of soil, souls, and society.  Participating in the Electric City Community Grocery and the larger movement of cooperative economic development is an important part of this shift to reclaim regional food sovereignty. As I mentioned the other week, it’s a modern movement that beautifully aligns with the traditional Indigenous value that food is life. 

At the end of the day - and the beginning of each new one, we are all human beings. As Onkwehonwe (original beings), we don’t see skin colors, we see the spirit of the human being in front of us. We all have a responsibility to everybody. The trees have the responsibility to each other, as we co-exist and co-evolve. It’s all about onkwe – everything – everything in relation. And so, we begin and close our gatherings with the Words Before All Else – words of thanksgiving that remind us that our life is only possible thanks to the freely given gifts of all our relations in this beautiful web of life.  Our Creator endowed us with the capacities of good mind, heart, and spirit so that we can govern together and keep the gifts of life in motion. And this gift is our great responsibility as we move forward into a future of food sovereignty.