Northern River Basins Food Consumption Survey

Members of the Treaty 8 Health Authority (Sturgeon Lake, Fox Lake, Driftpile, Sucker Creek, Swan River First Nation, Bigstone, Whitefish Lake, and Fort Chipewan First Nations) identified food security as a serious concern. Although many families relied on traditional food, this did not offset the cost of retail food due to the significant time and financial investment required for activities such as hunting or fishing. Community members were concerned about the adverse effects of increased industrial activity, such as pulp and paper production, on their traditional foods. The purpose of this project was to demonstrate the value of a holistic framework for developing guidelines that promote a healthy, contaminant free, traditional, and non-traditional diet.

The project team conducted a dietary survey, which involved food frequency questionnaires, a 24-hour dietary recall, a food security questionnaire, and a food consumption pattern survey. The purpose of the dietary survey was to collect information on household food security, beliefs regarding country foods, and traditional food consumption patterns. The survey also asked participants to provide suggestions for improving the health of their community. The project team collected samples of walleye, northern pike, and lake whitefish from six different bodies of water, which they analyzed for metals, PCBs, dioxins, and furans.

The study confirmed that most fish samples had mercury levels below the 0.5µg/g federal guidelines, with the exception of a few samples of walleye and northern pike. In general, walleye and northern pike had higher concentrations of mercury and PCBs than bottom feeders such as lake whitefish.