FSC Newsletter - 2012-09
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GENERAL NEWSLETTER 6 September 2012
Powering Up! Food for the Future
Food Secure Canada's next biennial Assembly, Powering Up! Food for the Future, is taking place November 1-4, 2012 at NAIT in Edmonton, Alberta. The Assembly is being organized in conjunction with Growing Food Security in Alberta. Registration opens next week! Stay tuned and register early because space is limited. Priority will be given to FSC members so join FSC now! The programme committee and Food Secure Canada staff have being combing through more than 120 proposals for workshops and activities that came in over the summer. Thank you for such enthusiastic participation and for your patience as we try to accommodate as many people as possible. Proposed sessions cover a range of issues: school gardens, sustainable agriculture, movement building, advocacy techniques, Northern food insecurity, urban hunger, the politics of international food aid, climate change, local food, charity chill, measuring success, fundraising and many many more. A number of meetings of FSC networks will also take place during or immediately after the Assembly. Our plenaries will tackle the tricky issues of energy and resilience, movement building and food justice. It is the key place where food activists, progressive businesses, farmers, community groups, non-governmental actors and policy experts meet to talk about everything related to food. We still need more resources for out Assembly -- Become a Sun Supporter for Powering UP! Contact Diana Bronson or Susan Roberts if you are interested in contributing. FSC Responds to Finance Committee Consultation The House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance called for public input into the 2013 budget over the summer. Food Secure Canada made a submission that highlighted some of the priorities that came out of the People's Food Policy, in the hope that we will have an opportunity for a more detailed submission and appearance before the Committee later in the year. Submissions have not yet been posted on the Finance Committee's website, but will be in the coming weeks. Read Food Secure Canada's response to the questionnaire. If you are interested in working on FSC Recommendations to the 2013 budget, please get in touch with Diana Bronson. New FSC Treasurer: Tatiana Fraser FSC Treasurer Dave Kranenburg recently stepped down from his position on the Steering Committee and Executive in order to concentrate on his new responsibilities at the Centre for Social Innovation, after many years leading the Toronto-based organization Meal Exchange. Thanks for many hours of work and dedication to building our organization, Dave! Our new Treasurer is Tatiana Fraser, who is the Co-founder and the past Executive Director of Girls Action Foundation. Under her leadership, Girls Action Foundation has created an unprecedented network of organizations dedicated to advancing girls’ and young women's empowerment and leadership. In 2010, Ms. Fraser was awarded an Ashoka fellowship, and was recognized as one of the 100 most influential women in Canada. Tatiana brings 15 years of experience in popular education, building networks and collaborations at the national level, bridging across sectors and working across difference as well as feminist and anti-oppression organizing. She shares a deep commitment to social justice and is passionate about the ability of networks to influence systems change, scaling deep while scaling up, and women's leadership role in change. Tell us what you think of our communications Tell us what you think about Food Secure Canada’s online presence and help us get ready to develop our new interactive web platform! This survey takes less than 5 minutes and it will help us make some critical decisions about our next steps online. Take the survey now! Please feel free to send any additional thoughts about our communciations to communications@foodsecurecanada.org. Read the latest Food News here. Read the latest Members' News here. Feeding My Family Organizes Nunavut Protests The high price of food in the North is one of the most serious food issues in the country, most recently underlined by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. Frustrated with food costs and high levels of food insecurity in Northern communities, the group Feeding My Family organized a protest across Nunavut on August 25. See media coverage here:
Last Month's Urban Agriculture Summit Manipesto and GrowTO Launch
At last month's Urban Agriculture Summit, which took place in Toronto from August 26-28, FSC Steering Committee member Wayne Roberts presented an Urban Agriculture Manipesto, to be posted on our website when it is released in mid-September. During the Summit, at Toronto City Hall, the Toronto Food Policy Council launched the GrowTO Urban Agriculture Plan. The Plan's goals are to bring together vital stakeholders, propose policy solutions to the City and highlight opportunities for urban agriculture in Toronto. Read more and download GrowTO here. The National Student Food Summit Wraps Up August 17-19th marked Meal Exchange’s 9th annual National Student Food Summit where 45 student leaders from across Canada gathered at Hart House to discuss the 'Future of Food on Campus'. In addition to the mix of panels, breakout sessions, and site visits, the National Student Food Charter was unveiled. Delegates are keen on not only what the charter represents, but also bringing charter values and principles back to their campus. If you’re interested in learning more about the National Student Food Charter’s development process, as well as its impacts on campuses and how you can support these students, please visit www.studentfood.ca or contact Praan Misir. The Nishnawbe Aski Nation Food Symposium Finishes Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) welcomed over 80 food actionists from across NAN territory to the 3rd Annual Nishnawbe Aski Nation Food Symposium August 28-30, 2012 in Thunder Bay. The NAN Food Symposium connected individuals from across NAN in order to collectively address food system challenges and build a food sovereign community. The symposium included presentations of community-based initiatives, tours of local farms and social enterprises, and workshops. Nyéléni Newsletter The international Nyéléni newsletter aims to be the voice of the international movement for food sovereignty . Its main goal is to strengthen the grassroots of the movement, by providing simple materials on food sovereignty and creating a space - for individuals and organisations involved in the struggle - to exchange their experiences and share information. Subscribe here. 2012 Manitoba CD/CED Gathering The Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet) is a national member-led organization committed to strengthening Canadian communities by creating better economic opportunities and enhancing environmental and social conditions. Its Gathering, to be held October 19 in Winnipeg, will be an inspiring annual opportunity for those involved in community development and community economic development to connect, learn, and celebrate together. Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved, is the confirmed keynote speaker, and the rest of the program is in development. Harvest and Hunger
The Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation is pleased to invite you to be a part of Harvest and Hunger: A Provincial Forum on Local and Global Food Issues on November 9 & 10, 2012 in Saskatoon. This event will feature a keynote address by Frances Moore Lappé as well as panel discussions, skill-building sessions, and workshops facilitated by experts from across the country. Register here. Farmers Appreciation Week From September 8-15, the BC Association of Farmers’ Markets (BCAFM) will proudly celebrate the 3rd annual Farmers Appreciation Week. The goal is to raise public awareness of the important contribution that local food and farmers make to our lives. It is also a week to draw attention to agricultural and food system issues and to ways that the public can support local food and farms, such as shopping at farmers’ markets,or at the farm gate or using CSA (community supported agriculture). Food + Justice = Democracy Food + Justice = Democracy, to be held September 24-26 in Minneapolis, is a US-wide meeting like no other. Led by a national steering committee of food justice activists, the agenda elevates the food stories of communities of color and tribal nations. With this grounding, participants will create a national food justice platform to push the government and political leaders to prioritize a fair, just and healthy food system. Tips, Tools and Telling the Story: Evaluating Community Food Initiatives On September 13th from 12-1pm EDT, Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC) is hosting a free webinar on evaluating community food initiatives. The webinar is geared at program managers, funders and other practitioners who are already engaged in evaluation or have a basic understanding of evaluation and are looking to explore evaluation topics in greater depth. Meredith Davis, CFCC’s Research and Evaluation Manager, will describe the process that CFCC went through to create its own national evaluation strategy, including successes, challenges and lessons learned along the way. Topics to be explored include: creating a theory of change, building an evaluative culture, developing indicators, developmental evaluation (DE), social return on investment analysis (SROI), evaluating in a respectful and dignified manner, designing effective evaluation tools and common pitfalls of evaluation. The last 15 minutes of the webinar will be set aside for group exploration. Click here to register. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact CFCC at ross@cfccanada.ca. Local Food, Global Labour: Food Justice needs Migrant Justice Moderated by Prof. Mustafa Koc, Centre for Food Security Studies, Ryerson University Panel Speakers:
This event will be held in the Thomas Lounge of the Ryerson Students Centre at 63 Gould Street in Toronto from 12pm-2pm. Santropol Roulant Hiring a Director of Urban Agriculture Santropol Roulant, a Montreal-based organization that uses food as a vehicle to break social and economic isolation between generations and cultures, is hiring a Director of Urban Agriculture to manage and grow its Urban Agriculture Program. The goal is for the program to become increasingly sustainable, equitable and economically vibrant. New Coordinates for FSC Please note that Food Secure Canada has moved. You can reach us at: 3720 avenue du Parc, Suite 201, Montréal, QC H2X 2J1. Our phone number is unchanged: 514 271 7352.
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