From acknowledgement to presence.
Ottawa acknowledges every day that it sits on the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation. We want to turn some of that acknowledgement into something people can actually see.
Visible Algonquin food. Visible Algonquin businesses. Visible Algonquin entrepreneurs.
Acknowledgement and presence are not the same thing.
Walk through the ByWard Market, Sparks Street, Lansdowne or Ottawa's major tourism spaces and there are remarkably few permanent places where Algonquin people are visibly working, selling, creating and participating in the economy of our own traditional territory.
Restoring Algonquin Presence is about changing that in a practical way. Chelsea's Kitchen is working toward mobile commercial carts that can create visible, lower-barrier places for Algonquin entrepreneurs to begin.
Build the opportunity first.
Build the carts.
Professionally built mobile vending infrastructure designed to operate in high-visibility public spaces.
Prove the model.
Chelsea's Kitchen can help establish the locations, generate traffic and show that the model works.
Open the opportunity.
Create a pathway for other Kitigan Zibi entrepreneurs to test ideas without first needing a storefront of their own.
Do something useful now while we build something bigger.
During Truth & Reconciliation Week, Chelsea's Kitchen will also use this campaign to put food directly into people's hands in downtown Ottawa.
For every $5 contributed through this campaign, Chelsea's Kitchen commits to distributing one portion of baked bannock and chili downtown in early October.
That is the immediate commitment. The larger purpose is to keep developing the infrastructure, relationships and operating model behind Restoring Algonquin Presence.
If you believe Ottawa needs more visible Algonquin presence, help us build it.
There are no contribution levels here. Give what makes sense to you. Every contribution helps move the work forward.
Contributions are made to Chelsea's Kitchen. They are not charitable donations and do not qualify for charitable tax receipts.
What your contribution supports.
Campaign funds support the work involved in Restoring Algonquin Presence, including food distribution, supplies, equipment, cart development, construction planning, outreach and related project costs.
This is an evolving small-business-led project. Proposed cart locations, partnerships and timelines may change as permissions, funding and agreements develop.
Chelsea's Kitchen
Algonquin-owned • Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg
Kris Odjick
kris@chelseaskitchen.ca
819-334-1623
Instagram: @bannock.bites