Editor:
I am an agrologist and have worked in the field of food security for over 15 years.
I understand the Tsawwassen First Nation is entering a new era of selfdetermination and has so many opportunities to plan for the future of its people. It is a testament to the work of the TFN that it is at this stage.
I would like, however, to point out that it also has an opportunity to become entirely food sovereign on the land it owns and to use that land as an economic driver by farming it.
The climate and land in Tsawwassen is unique in the world. Food can grow on that land 12 months of the year and would easily feed the whole TFN community as well as provide sales in the Lower Mainland.
If that land is paved over, it will be lost to food production forever.
I recently came across a video on YouTube from the Muskoday Organic Growers Co-op Ltd. in Saskatchewan. The community there is farming over 160 acres and production has provided employment for both young people and elders.
I ask that the Tsawwassen First Nation consider the possibility of farming the land it owns, instead of handing its future over to developers.
The future is in food production, not the importation of plastic and disposable items from China.
Arzeena Hamir
