A North Battleford pastor is organizing a meeting for the end of this month that will address the issue of food shortages, and at which he will float the idea that Canada's First Nations could save the country from starvation.
While the United Nations warns world grain reserves are so dangerously low that severe weather in food-exporting countries could trigger a major hunger crisis next year, Pastor Peter Litchfield of Hosanna Life Center believes he has been shown an answer.
If the First Nations built greenhouses on their land, it would provide healthy food, work and wealth in a time of change, says Litchfield.
He has organized a meeting to take place in North Battleford Aug. 31 at the Don Ross Centre. It will run from 9:30 to 5:30 p.m. He has sent invitations to First Nations bands across Canada, as well as representatives of local government.
Litchfield says he has been praying for the last six years for an answer to a looming famine. And it is an answer he says will bring unity between First Nations and the rest of Canada.
In an online interview with Joshua Lemmens, known as the Rainbow Warrior, Litchfield says building greenhouses on First Nations lands would bring justice to the First Nations people in addition to providing food during famine.
First Nations people need work, says Litchfield, yet when they go into the workforce, many employers won't hire them.
They need food, he said, and in the midst of a famine they will be in jeopardy, because prejudice is pervasive.
And they need wealth, he says. Their population has doubled in the last two decades, health care has doubled as the population ages.
"We need to become self sufficient in things we are doing. If we are buying food from First Nations people there is a kinship there," says Litchfield.
A crop failure in Canada would cause devastation that affects everyone across Canada, and would be an opportunity for First Nations to rise up. If all Canadians get involved in building greenhouses on First Nations land, it will cause a brotherhood among them.
"God wants unification in Canada," says Litchfield.
