Honourable senators, for millennia Indigenous peoples have been guardians of this land we call Canada. The First Peoples graciously shared their traditional harvest and ways of being. Caring for the land, they welcomed and sustained newcomers.

Today I would like to express my thanks to those who harvest and sustain Canadians, specifically members of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers of Agriculture who held their annual meeting in Whitehorse in July this year. I was especially grateful to welcome our colleagues Senator Robert Black and Senator Mary Robinson and their spouses on their first visit to the Yukon. The presence of our colleagues at these annual meetings of key individuals, farmers and politicians afforded an ideal opportunity to highlight the excellent Senate report entitled Critical Ground: Why Soil is Essential to Canada’s Economic, Environmental, Human, and Social Health.

It was also an opportunity for our visitors to learn and come to know the history and current state of agriculture in the Yukon. Yukon’s agriculture minister, John Streicker, ably shared the reality of the increase in agricultural food production in the Yukon. While a market share increase from 2% in 2015 to up to 7% in 2021 might not seem like a large amount to my colleagues with your populations of millions, you must recognize the very real difference that exists in the Yukon today. Growing up in the Yukon, almost everything came up the Alaska Highway by truck from Edmonton. Now I go into the local grocery store and, in the summer, to the market to buy locally produced eggs, locally milled flour, a large number of vegetables and local meat products.

For those of us with less time for meal preparation, Yukon’s airline Air North began offering their bison shepherd’s pie — served on their flights at no charge to passengers — in the frozen food section of my grocery store, and local bakeries and chefs have added cakes, cookies and other meals using locally sourced ingredients in other ready-to-reheat offerings.

While awareness and understanding of agriculture, farming and feeding the North grew throughout the visit, the information sharing that took place was not only about the North. Our colleagues and visitors from elsewhere in Canada were so helpful to Yukoners by openly sharing their experiences and knowledge and offering their assistance — the best in Canada sharing with one another the best we have to offer one another.

It was not the first time the Yukon has hosted an agricultural conference of note. In 1992, Whitehorse hosted the first ever Circumpolar Agricultural Conference. As our world turns ever more toward the circumpolar north with an eye on security, including food security, I look forward to the revival of interest in the proceedings of these conferences with my Senate colleagues and with the Yukon Agricultural Association and the Yukon government.

Thank you, mahsi’cho, shä̀w níthän to my fellow Yukoners who successfully ensured the warm welcome and learning experience offered our visitors, and to our visitors who travelled to the Yukon and got to know us and grow with us. Thank you.