Agriculture Minister visits Minnesota

Minister MacAulay toured the Indigenous Food Lab and met with representitives of NATIFS and their Indigenous Food Lab. Photo: Agri-Food and Agriculture Canada
Minister MacAulay toured the Indigenous Food Lab and met with representitives of NATIFS and their Indigenous Food Lab. Photo: Agri-Food and Agriculture Canada

The Hon. Lawrence MacAuley, Minister of Agri-Food and Agriculture Canada visited Minneapolis this week. Among the many organizations he met with was the North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS) program and their Indigenous Food Lab.

The Indigenous Food Lab offer high-quality Indigenous foods and products to our community. We work to broaden access to Native-made goods and allow people to experience contemporary Indigenous offerings while empowering entrepreneurs to expand their markets.

Our program, supported by the Creative Entrepreneurship and Master of Arts in Creative Leadership programs at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design have been exploring how different programs work across our regions. NATIFS and their highly-successful Indigenous Food Lab are one of the model programs we have been looking at for our community-based, participatory food sector entrepreneurship and organizational capacity building projects. Northern Canadian youth have been collaborating with MCAD since 2019 and there’s great interest, particularly from the youth, in enhancing these cross-border Canada-United States activities.

Last week, students and researchers from Canada and the US presented during the 2024 Arctic Congress in Bodø, Norway. We hope to connect with NATIFS next semester and learn more about the incredible work they are doing.

Collaboration with local communities and exchanging traditional knowledge will be vital components of our framework moving forward. Working even more closely with community members and regional champions like the Minneapolis College of Art and Design will allow us to create more relevant and impactful solutions.
Collaboration with local communities and exchanging traditional knowledge will be vital components of our framework moving forward. Working even more closely with community members and regional champions like the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, the University of Victoria and the UArctic Thematic Network on Local-Scale Planning, Climate Change and Resilience will allow us to create more relevant and impactful solutions.

About our summer programming

Youth, Arts and Media Team summer activities are supported with funding and support from a number of partners and collaborators, including: Global Dignity Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, the University of Minnesota Duluth, Manitoba Agriculture and the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership. We also thank the OpenAI Researcher Access Program, Agri-Food and Agriculture Canada and the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Skills Program. Thank you for supporting the Youth, Arts and Media Team.

Picture of Art Borups Corners

Art Borups Corners

Nestled in the heart of Melgund Township, Northwestern Ontario, Art Borups Corners is a dynamic participatory arts collective and living lab, where innovation and creativity thrive. The program was founded in 2014, with an arts incubator established in 2021 and 2022 with funding and support from the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Greenhouse. Today, working with students and faculty from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, we fuse traditional and participatory media arts with artificial intelligence, music, storytelling and community-driven, land-based artist residencies to cultivate new voices and bold ideas. Whether through collaborative projects or immersive experiences, our small but vibrant community supports creators to explore, experiment, and connect. Join us at the intersection of artistry, technology, culture and community—where every moment is a new opportunity to create.

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