Food insecurity among Indigenous Peoples of northern Canada is a significant public health issue that is exacerbated by changing social and environmental conditions. While a patchwork of programs, strategies and polices exist, the extent to which they address all “pillars” of food security (food availability, access, quality, and utilization) remains under-assessed. We respond to this gap by providing a framework for synthesizing and assessing information about food security initiatives, using a case study of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR), the westernmost Inuit region of Canada. Our objectives are: (1) to identify existing initiatives in the ISR; (2) to assess the breadth and diversity of these initiatives in addressing the four key food security “pillars”; and (3) to present an analytical framework that will facilitate ongoing data updating and sharing in the ISR and elsewhere. Through a scoping review and direct consultation with 12 key informants, we identified 30 initiatives that support food security in the ISR. These are funded and implemented at a range of national, territorial, regional, and local levels, and include both governmental and non-governmental programs, strategic frameworks, and research and monitoring initiatives. Seven key themes emerged from the cross-scale analysis of these initiatives, including: orientation with respect to food security pillars, scope and scale, demographic targeting, funding, monitoring and evaluation, and implications for food security strategies. While our framework provides a useful tool for data synthesis and analysis, its outputs can help in identifying gaps and opportunities for both resource allocation and program and policy development for under-served communities. Significantly, this study highlights the importance of engaging local perspectives in the development of coordinated approaches to address Inuit food insecurity.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Kenny, T., Wesche, S. D., Fillion, M., MacLean, J., Chan, H. M., (2025), "Supporting Inuit food security: A synthesis of initiatives in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Northwest Territories", HSSCommons: (DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v5i2.213)

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1. canada
2. food insecurity
3. food programs
4. food security initiatives
5. indigenous
6. Inuit
7. program assessment

Original publication: Kenny, Tiff-Annie; Wesche, Sonia D; Fillion, Myriam; MacLean, Jullian; Chan, Hing Man. "Supporting Inuit food security: A synthesis of initiatives in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Northwest Territories." Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, vol. 5, no. 2, 2018, pp. 73-110. DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v5i2.213. This material has been re-published in an unmodified form on the Canadian HSS Commons with the permission of Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation. Copyright © the author(s). Work published in CFS/RCÉA prior to and including Vol. 8, No. 3 (2021) is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY license. Work published in Vol. 8, No. 4 (2021) and after is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA license. For details, see creativecommons.org/licenses/.