This perspective piece teases out some of the tensions between the development of a national food policy, which has gained significant traction in Canada over the past few years, and Indigenous food sovereignty, which long predates the Canadian government and its policies and has a rich history and current practice of organizing. Drawing from our observations and discussions at conferences, workshops, and events, and pointing to key aspects of discourse commonly embedded in such discussions, we critically reflect on how settler engagements with Indigenous peoples in developing a national food policy may reify, rather than dismantle, colonial relationships. Additionally, we emphasize the importance of process and the ability for settlers to accept discomfort and incommensurability if we are to move towards spaces that embody solidarity, respect, and resistance.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Kepkiewicz, L., Rotz, S., (2025), "Toward anti-colonial food policy in Canada? (Im)possibilities within the settler state", HSSCommons: (DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v5i2.202)

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1. Indigenous food sovereignty
2. Indigenous food systems
3. national food policy
4. policy development discourse
5. settler colonialism

Original publication: Kepkiewicz, Lauren; Rotz, Sarah. "Toward anti-colonial food policy in Canada? (Im)possibilities within the settler state." Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, vol. 5, no. 2, 2018, pp. 13-24. DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v5i2.202. 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/.