{"id":357,"date":"2024-08-28T19:38:27","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T23:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/abrdietetics\/?post_type=chapter&p=357"},"modified":"2026-08-20T11:24:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T15:24:25","slug":"case-study-3-2","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/abrdietetics\/chapter\/case-study-3-2\/","title":{"raw":"3.4: Gatekeepers Part 2","rendered":"3.4: Gatekeepers Part 2"},"content":{"raw":"

Case Study #4: Gatekeepers<\/h2>\r\nAuthor:<\/strong> Kishon Warmington from Manitoba\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_138\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"119\"]\"\" Logo for Back to Roots Farm Ltd.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\nTrigger warning:<\/strong> This case shares an example of interpersonal racism through gatekeeping, white entitlement, microaggression, and patrolling and policing Black people. It also demonstrates the impact on who is a part of the food system, which foods get produced, and if Black communities get to access them.\r\n\r\nKeywords:<\/strong>\r\nGatekeeping, Interpersonal Racism, Surveillance, Spatial Discrimination<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\nThere was an incident with a neighbour down the street in which I went to introduce myself. She welcomed me and immediately proceeded to inform me that they had a neighbourhood watch in the area and that she kept track of every vehicle that came up and down the road. She started to ask me how many people lived at my farm, who visited, and what kind of vehicles frequently visited my farm. She tried to make it seem as if she was asking for the benefit of the neighbourhood.\r\n\r\nI was immediately offended and once again felt as if I didn\u2019t belong and was targeted or put on some watch list by my fellow neighbours. I realized these incidents triggered and traumatized me. I have talked to a few other Black farmers in Canada who can relate and have gone through the same experiences.\r\n\r\nFrom my experiences, I now know why there are not many Black farmers in the prairies. We are left to feel like we do not belong. It is hard to imagine having more Black farmers on the land to build a more sustainable food system that is more culturally appropriate for our community when there is still systemic racism for Black people owning land.\r\n

Case Overview & Historical Context<\/h2>\r\nKishon\u2019s contemporary experience as a Black farmer in the Prairies has striking historical parallels to what the first Black settlers experienced in the region during the early 1900s. When the Canadian government invited Americans to the Prairies to build the population and the agricultural economy, they offered to sell unceded, unfairly traded Indigenous land at a rate of $10 for 160 acres to encourage massive migration (Canadian Museum of History, n.d.).\r\n\r\nWhat immigration authorities did not anticipate was a significant influx of Black immigrants from the United States seeking freedom and escaping oppressive Jim Crow laws. In response to this unexpected movement, discriminatory policies were put in place to cease the immigration of Black people to Canada. Those who remained faced severe institutional hostility, community gatekeeping, and spatial discrimination\u2014barriers that mirror the modern gatekeeping Kishon continues to navigate on the land today.\r\n

To learn more about these foundational systemic dynamics, review the videos covering Black Canadians, including those living in the Prairies in Chapter 1.1<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>or visit the Canadian Museum of History website to read a short article about The Oklahoma Migration (Prairie Provinces)<\/a><\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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By the Numbers: Ethnocultural Diversity among Canadian Farm Operators<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nThe food system plays a major role in the health and nutrition of the Canadian Black community. However, structural boundaries dictate who participates in farming practices, who owns land, and who holds positions to draft or enforce agricultural legislation.\r\n\r\nAccording to data from Statistics Canada (2021), Agriculture-Population Linkage, severe ethnocultural disparities persist across Canada's farming landscape:\r\n