Photo Credit USDA & Lattin Farms
When the ‘Community First’ project launched four years ago at Carleton University with a debate on ‘Food in the North,’ the idea of creating a national food policy in Canada was a murmur, a distant vision. What started as a SSHRC-funded partnership project blossomed into a national debate on “country food” and food sovereignty, led by such proponents as the national Inuit organization Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
With elections around the corner, diverse NGOs and collaborative networks, including: Food Secure Canada, FoodArc in Nova Scotia, and British Columbia Food Systems Network have added themselves to the chorus of voices calling for a ‘national food policy.’ We can now be confident that the need for a better food policy is real, and the silence has been broken on food and hunger issues in Canada.
Canadians are not alone in their desire to build enhanced food production systems and the rural economy. Many G8/G20 countries have well-established national policies on community food security. In the UK, for example, it is through dedication on the part of farm organizations and collective action that the country has witnessed growth in organic farm sales by 72 percent since 2008, with 50 percent of organic food items bought within 100 miles of the farms where they were produced. The UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs also recently announced a £138 million fund to support local communities grow the rural farm economy. Such funding is the envy of Canadian rural residents, for domestically-oriented regional food initiatives could go a long way toward supporting new farmers and food sovereignty at the same time.
On the issue of healthy school food, there are lessons to be learned from our neighbour directly to the south. The National School Lunch Program in the United States is a federally assisted meal program operating in public, nonprofit and private schools. This program includes a strong component of “farm to school” projects worth $15.1 million dollars. In the absence of such initiatives, educators face serious challenges addressing both child hunger in the classroom and providing healthy and sufficient school food.
The CFICE project has helped on both of these fronts: supporting ‘new farmers’ and healthy school food. Although it is only one initiative when it comes to public engagement around food issues, it has been part of a pan-Canadian conversation and growing movement focusing on community engagement in food security and sovereignty. A major subcomponent of the project has been to establish a Community Food Security Hub, which has provided a point of contact for organizations working to improve food policy. The project also built the capacity of young researchers at various levels (undergraduate, Masters and PhD) to take up the reigns and work towards improved food security on campus. At Carleton University specifically, this has meant a partnership with MealExchange and the Campus Food Systems Project working with Dining Services to develop better local and organic food sourcing. A tangible outcome of this partnership is the Thanksgiving lunch prepared for residence students, made with local organic cranberries, among other ingredients on the Dining Services “Go Local Wednesday” menu. Such small practical changes, as well as a host of policy changes, would not have been possible without the efforts of many students and faculty working together.
Just as every year at this time we invite visitors into our homes to share in a celebration that is called Thanksgiving or “Jour de l’action de grâce” according to the francophone title, it is through “actions of grace” that Canadians have an opportunity to share food with their neighbours every day. A national food policy is within the reach of all Canadians. I hope that all conscious consumers will join the debate on creating a better national food policy.
To this end, Food Secure Canada and its partners have initiated #EatThinkVote food events across the country to engage citizens and electoral candidates to make national food policy a reality in Canada. They are calling for the creation of a national food policy where no one goes hungry and all Canadians have access to healthy, just, and sustainable food by telling politicians that Canada requires a national food policy which delivers: Healthy school food; Affordable food in the North; Support for new farmers; and, Zero hunger in Canada.