[Media release] Resetting the Table, Food Secure Canada's 10th Assembly in Montreal, November 1st to 4th 2018

MONTREAL - October 29th, 2018 - As the countdown to the next federal election begins, the Canadian food movement is mobilising to increase momentum towards a healthy, just and sustainable food system. Resetting the Table, Food Secure Canada’s 10th Assembly, is co-hosted by Concordia University and the Concordia Food Coalition at the downtown campus.

At the event, hundreds of Canada’s brightest food thinkers and most innovative organisations will discuss together how to get to better food policies. Practical solutions to pressing food system failures - like skyrocketing levels of diet-related disease, climate breakdown, and food poverty especially among Indigenous peoples and in the North - will be shared and developed.

Part of the magic of the Assembly is bringing together farmers and foodies, chefs and Indigenous leaders, activists and businesses, seeding a wealth of new ideas and connections. More than 100 expert and activist speakers will be engaging with attendees.

MPs from the federal parties will debate directly with the food movement at a Question Period. Quebec already has its Politique bioalimentaire but we are still anticipating Canada’s first national food policy to bring about some critical changes. Jean-Claude Poissant, the federal Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, will speak at the opening plenary.

Montreal is a fantastic city to host the Assembly, brimming with great restaurants and inspiring food-related social activism, which Tours on Thursday November 1st will showcase. At the welcome cocktail on Friday evening, La Tablée des Chefs and their chefs-in-training will prepare the food. The just-launched Montreal Food Policy Council will join Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria at a session on building better municipal food systems, amongst other network meetings on food security, school food and indigenous food sovereignty.

You can search the full program online by key-word or filter by theme. Highlights include:

Reconnecting Food and Health: The CEO of Wholesome Wave joins panelists from the David Suzuki Foundation and Montreal and Ryerson Universities for a deep dive into the food-health nexus, and how food can become more central to understanding and promoting health.

Whose Food Sovereignty? Indigenous Food Systems, Land, and Governance: Ryan McMahon (comedian) and Treena Delormier (McGill) join other Indigenous thinkers and food activists to connect fundamental food-system issues with health, nationhood, the land and colonialism.

Seeding Change: Rethinking the Transition to a More Sustainable Food System: Elisabetta Recine (CONSEA-Brazil), Anita Abraham (Meal Exchange) and Patrice Fortier (La Société des Plantes) join FSC’s Diana Bronson to explore resilience and diversity, in all dimensions.

The Future of Food in Québec: An all-star Quebec panel moderated by Laure Waridel (writer and co-founder of Équiterre) with Marc Séguin (film-maker), Marcel Groleau (UPA), Louise Vandelac (UQÀM) and Claire Bisson from Fondaction, the panel’s sponsor.

Why the Right to Food Matters: Food Justice, Policy and Practice: Practitioner Paul Taylor (FoodShare Toronto) joins lawyers, a social worker and a food security researcher to explore how the right to food can guarantee entitlements, respect dignity, and ensure a more just Canada.

Chefs, farmers, consumers: Putting local on the menu: Moderated by Caribou magazine’s Chief Editor, local farmers join Étienne Huot (chef La Récolte) and Julie Aubé (nutritionist, founder of Prenez le champs) to explore how farm to consumer connections can change the way we eat.

Scaling Out Agroecology: Lessons from La Via Campesina: Farmers / peasants are building agroecology from the ground up, with practical skills-building and political training. Hear La Via Campesina’s international secretariat, NFU and Union Paysanne on lessons for Canada.

The Changing Global Trade Landscape: How are Agricultural Producers, Consumers, and Workers Impacted In Canada? As technological, regulatory, political, and economic tensions affect agriculture and food trade, experts from ETC group, UFCW, CCPA and UBC unpack impacts on different groups.

The Québec government is supporting the 10th Resetting the Table assembly through the Fonds d’initiative et de rayonnement de la métropole, a program of the Secrétariat à la région métropolitaine in the Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation and the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation. Other important sponsorships come from the federal government, foundations, the private sector and trade unions.

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About Food Secure Canada

Food Secure Canada is a pan-Canadian alliance of organizations and individuals working together to advance food security and food sovereignty through three inter-locking goals: zero hunger, healthy and safe food, and sustainable food systems.

About Concordia Food Coalition

The Concordia Food Coalition (CFC) is concerned about the social, ecological, and economic implications of the food system at Concordia University. The CFC brings together students, faculty and staff to promote and facilitate a transition to a more sustainable food system in collaboration with organizations at Concordia and beyond.

About Concordia University

Concordia is a university that wants to grow smartly, and over the last few years, the university has changed its food services to reflect this goal by increasing the amount of local and sustainable food served on campus. Concordia takes pride in partnering with community members who are addressing social issues that aim to shape our changing world.

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