The PEI Food Security Network Champions the PFP

*This blog post is part of a series profiling various communities, individuals and organizations who have been using the People’s Food Policy in their amazing work*

The PEI Food Security Network has championed the People’s Food Policy in its work.  Last year, before the provincial election, the PEI FSN sent a copy of the People's Food Policy priorities to all the parties and requested a response.  As a result, all parties signed on to the priorities. The PEI Food Security Network has included the basic messages of Resetting the Table in a brochure, two school presentations, and five community potluck meals; the Network also held a workshop to discuss the PFP in the PEI context.

The objectives of the workshop were to look at the process and some of the content of the People’s Food Policy, to identify how elements of the People’s Food Policy are important to food security in PEI, and to identify actions and next steps for a People’s Food Policy for Prince Edward Island 

Marie Burge, the Coordinator of the PEI FSN, stresses the importance of a grassroots food policy for Canada and for PEI, noting that we are a long way away from local control in Canada and PEI. She believes that it is vital to ensure the fisheries perspective is fully represented and that the burden of this relies on Eastern Canadian knowledge.

Some of the PEI-specific challenges around food outlined by the PEI FSN include:

• 90% of food that is consumed is from off Island
• Lack of local processing facilities
• 70% of main crop, potatoes, being processed as french fries
• Decline in fish stocks
• Low wages in PEI
• No strategy for poverty elimination

The PEI Food Security Network is an education and action organization committed to achieving food security in Prince Edward Island.  It is dedicated to changing community attitudes and public policy to promote: environmentally appropriate practices for the production and distribution of food; the availability of affordable, healthy, culturally appropriate and personally acceptable food; livable income for producers; the right to food; and PEI self-reliance in food.

Learn more about the Cooper Institute, which houses the PEI Food Security Network.

Click here to let us know how you have used the PFP in your work!