ISFS was first approached by Andrew Moore, the First Nation Special Projects Manager in April 2017. T’Sou-ke Nation has greenhouses that were in commercial wasabi production, which is no longer economically viable. They were interested in incorporating formal agriculture training for their community, so they came to ISFS for consultation. They were interested in growing more food crops as opposed to wasabi, so they asked ISFS to write up a simple proposal outlining the potential of having such a program. Kent Mullinix and Caroline wrote a study proposal for their greenhouses (food production and education) for Andrew Moore to submit to Chief and Council. Unfortunately, at that time the proposal was not deemed as a priority for their Nation.

More than a year later in October 2018, Andrew Moore informed us that their wasabi production has been completed and that Chief and Council is looking for new opportunities and will most likely be more receptive to a farm school idea. Kent Mullinix revised the study proposal with some updated information and resubmitted it to Andrew.  At this juncture, we are awaiting further communication with Nation administration staff (April 2017 – on-going).

Kent Mullinix kent.mullinix@kpu.ca - Institute for Sustainable Food Systems (ISFS)

Payal Batra payal.batra@kpu.ca - Community Nutrition

Caroline Chiu Caroline.Chiu@kpu.ca - Farm School Development