Abundant blueberry season allows for reflection on tradition, importance of staple foods in northern Ontario

People across northern Ontario were thrilled to find blueberry patches bursting with colour and rich, round berries this year, especially after a particularly bleak season in 2021.

Last year, much of the region was ravaged by forest fires, and the dry summer season led to many barren patches, in turn leaving some wildlife without a food source and some communities void of carrying out tradition.

"Even through the winter … there was just so much snow and it was so crazy, and the spring was so powerful with its water," said Shelby Gagnon, an artist and community organizer from Aroland First Nation.

"I just had a feeling that it was just gonna be pretty abundant. I was really hopeful that there would be an abundance of, you know, food on the land and berries," she added.

Gagnon is one of many people celebrating the strong, and particularly long, blueberry harvesting season in the region this year. The tradition, rooted in Anishinaabe heritage, allows some people to feel closer to their culture.

"When I think about the blueberry, I initially think of the bear … but I also think about family and kin. Growing up I would always go blueberry picking with my family. It's definitely one of my most cherished memories of growing up," said Gagnon.

"I think about my community, Aroland — they're known to be called the blueberry people just because of the abundance of blueberries in the area." 

Gagnon said she's working on learning more about traditional practices when it comes to harvesting food on the land, through her role with the Indigenous Food Circle in Thunder Bay Ont., and also through her own journey of cultural reclamation.

"I've had the privilege to learn more in depth about the 13 moons, and with the 13 moons, it's around July that that's the Berry Moon … that's when all the berries are around the land and ready to pick. So just learning that recently of honouring that moon that comes every year and honouring all the different types of berries … it's a very meditative way to be with the land," she explained.

Across the region, in Wikwemikong Unceded Territory, Dominic Beaudry has also been using ideas and traditions surrounding food items, like the blueberry, as a tool for cultural revitalization.

He uses Twitter to share words of the day, specifically focusing on the Ojibwe language, creating engagement while also transcending communities and cultural backgrounds.

"I really enjoy doing that, because it allows me to engage with folks from all over Ontario, or all over Canada or all over the world for those that want to learn more about the language," Beaudry said.

Earlier in the summer, Beaudry posted the Ojibwe word "miinibaashkiminisaginibitoosjiganibaakwezhigan," which means blueberry pie.

"I like to use that word. It allows me to engage with more folks that want to learn the language because they think it's an extremely long word, and they become very intrigued and want to learn more about the rest of the language," Beaudry said.