Federal Election News: VOTE on Food!

The busy beehive at Food Secure Canada is working hard to pull together our campaign to make a national food policy an election issue. Building on the amazing energy at our Assembly, and the work of thousands of people who contributed to the People’s Food Policy, our networks are getting ready to plan local election events on food. Our plan is to share meals and have conversations about food with candidates from all political parties in as many ridings as possible to make sure our issues get heard.

We’ll be telling politicians that we expect them to make a commitment to address the food insecurity affecting over 4 million Canadians and particularly the urgent crisis in the North caused by high food prices. We’ll also be saying that all kids in Canada should have access to healthy food at school, and that new farmers should get the support they need to grow the good local food that Canadians want to eat! We need the federal government to step up to the plate and help us build a more fair, healthy and sustainable food system. And we need you to be involved!

Conference calls are being planned over the month of March for Food Secure Canada members (both organizational and individual) so that we can share our campaign plans with you, gather your ideas and provide you with the support you need to effectively work with your local political candidates.

To participate in building and implementing our election strategy

Stay tuned for more announcements in the months ahead.

Image Credit: Oliver Tacke under Creative Commons license

FSC Testifies at Senate Committee on Agricultural Growth Act

Earlier this month, Food Secure Canada appeared before the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry to argue to that, if passed, Bill C-18 or the Agricultural Growth Act would undermine Canada’s food sovereignty and exacerbate food insecurity. FSC views the proposed legislation as a missed opportunity to adopt a forward-looking agricultural policy that would respect biodiversity, protect farmers’ rights and support the sustainable farming practices Canadians want to see.

Speaking with Diana Bronson on behalf of FSC, Pat Mooney, internationally renowned seed expert and Executive Director of ETC Group, explained, "Back in 1977, we had 7,000 seed companies around the world involved in commercial plant breeding and seed sales, and not one company had even 1 per cent of the market in seeds globally. Today we see that there are three companies (Monsanto, Syngenta and DuPont Pioneer) that have 54 per cent of the global commercial seed market. The top 10 companies together make up 75 per cent of the global commercial seed market."

Devlin Kuyek, author of Good Crop, Bad Crop, added the following: "it is very difficult to understand why there would be a move to give seed companies more power, why there would be an effort to curtail what is a traditional practice of farmers when it is already so much under threat." Kuyek also spoke about the decline of public seed breeding in Canada and the threats that farmers are facing to prevent them from saving their seed.

Terry Boehm spoke on behalf of the National Farmers Union, that has been leading the campaign against the Bill. He argued that Bill C-18 is "not about fostering innovation, but it's all about granting powerful new tools to extract wealth from farmers by increasingly consolidating a group of companies engaged in plant breeding and seed sales".

Given the Conservative majority in the Senate, the Bill is expected to be passed, just as it did in the House.

Read Food Secure Canada’s brief to the committee here

Read our letter to Minister Gerry Ritz here

View the full transcript of the senate hearing here

Image courtesy of CBAN

20 Years of unanswered questions on genetic modification in Canada: CBAN Launches “GMO Inquiry 2015”

The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) has launched a major public investigation to dig behind 20 years of uncertainty around genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food and farming in Canada. The project will be called GMO Inquiry 2015.

"We’re stepping up with our own inquiry because our government doesn’t track the impacts of GM crops and foods in Canada," said CBAN Coordinator Lucy Sharratt. "Our government doesn’t even tell us where GMOs are on our grocery store shelves. After 20 years of secrecy and confusion, Canadians deserve some real information about the impacts and risks."

CBAN invites Canadians to send in

their questions to help shape the inquiry at www.GMOinquiry.ca

Call for Proposals: Host FSC's 2016 National Assembly!

With our 2014 Assembly only 3 months behind us, we are busily planning our next big event. In November 2016, we will be presenting our 9th National Assembly and we are looking for a host organization and community to help make it happen. We hold the assembly in a new community or region of Canada each time to make this exciting event accessible to different communities and to highlight regional food issues. Hosts will benefit through increased national profile for your organization and local food issues as well as strengthened connections to others across Canada.

Deadline for proposals: April 17, 2015.

More information about the Call for Proposals.

Read more about our last assembly in Halifax - Waves of Change, Sustainable Food for All.

Image Credit: Axel Drainville
under Creative Commons license

The Crisis Continues: High Cost of Food in Northern Canada

As most residents living in Northern Canada will tell you, Nutrition North (Canada’s only program to address the high costs of food in the North) is falling short. This was confirmed in November 2014 by the Office of the Auditor General in its report. The findings were dismal yet predictable: Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada had failed to identify eligible communities on the basis of real need; there were blatant inconsistencies in the eligibility statuses of subsidized communities; the Department had never verified whether northern retailers had even passed on the subsidy to consumers; and the compliance and profit margins of subsidized retailers were not once put in check. The list goes on…

On all accounts Nutrition North has failed to alleviate food insecurity in northern Canada.

Criticism and action are growing across the North. Feeding My Family is more committed than ever to raising national awareness about the staggering food prices in the north, and mobilized a one-day boycott of the North West Company on January 31, 2015. The federal government is still failing to meet its responsibility to ensure that all people in Canada enjoy the right to food, and when the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food pointed this out, his report was dismissed by our Government. Most recently, Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq placed responsibility on northern stores for passing on the subsidy.

Reducing the alarming rates of food insecurity in the north will require real policy change. FSC suggested some directions in the 2013 Alternative Federal Budget (in our chapter on food sovereignty). Former FSC Board Member Norma Kassi also put the question to politicians at our Assembly in Halifax, which you can watch here.

Read more press coverage below, and sign up to our Northern and Remote Food Network.

Aglukkaq's Nutrition North Comment Criticized As 'Dangerous Political Thinking' – Huffington Post, Feb. 11, 2015

Aglukkaq says Northern retailers responsible for passing on food subsidy – APTN News, Feb. 3, 2015

North West Company boycott challenges high prices in North – CBC January 31, 2015

Wasting Away – A Documentary produced by APTN that broke on November 21, 2014 showing people in Nunavut picking through the dump to find food.

Image Credit: CGIAR Climate
under Creative Commons license

New farmer survey

Who are Canada's new farmers and what do they need to be successful? A New Farmer Survey is out to gather that information from across the country.

The National New Farmer Coalition and the University of Manitoba have developed a survey to assess the needs of new farmers in Canada concerning policy and educational opportunities. If you are intending to farm, are currently farming, or have recently exited farming, we want to hear from you!

The results from this survey will be used to develop a National New Farmer Policy Platform that we aim to share with all levels of government. It will also document the sources of new farmer learning and make suggestions on how to improve this training in Canada. In order to give weight to our recommendations, we need as many farmer voices as possible.

All respondents will be entered into a draw for cash and other prizes. The goal is for at least 1000 farmers to share their experience with us. Help make that happen by completing the New Farmer Survey and circulating it within your farmer networks. Thanks for your support!

Survey for Ontario Farmers

Ontario Farmers, please consider taking 5-10 minutes of your time to strengthen the understanding of non-waged labour (e.g. interns, apprentices and volunteers) on farms in Ontario by answering this survey.

Please note that if you filled out the previous survey in November 2013, this is a shorter, revised version that you are more than welcome to complete again for your most recent farming season.

For more information please go to www.foodandlabour.ca

New Report on Local Food in Southern Ontario

A new study identifies the impact of local food in Southern Ontario and explores scenarios to increase the supply of local food, create jobs, protect the environment and support healthier lifestyles.

The report, Dollars and Sense: Opportunities to Strengthen Southern Ontario’s Food System, was produced in a partnership between the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, the Metcalf Foundation, and the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation.

Toward Supply Management 2.0 in Canada

Union Paysanne has recently released a discussion paper focusing on the slow cartelization of supply management, a tendency that has spread widely across Canada.

Read the full paper here.

Upcoming Events

WEBINAR: Say Yes! To A Garden In Every School

February 18th, 2015

This free webinar hosted by The Ontario Edible Education Network is all about School Food Gardens. We’ll be profiling some great school garden designs, and speaking with school garden leaders in the field about connections to curriculum, summer gap strategies, and community partner relationships.

WEBINAR: Local Food Procurement in the Broader Public Sector

February 25th, 2015

Sustain Ontario is hosting this webinar to highlight opportunities for Local Food Procurement in the Ontario Broader Public Sector. Three themes will be adressed: the process of food purchasing for the public sector, establishing local food purchasing policy, and managing international trade regulations and existing purchasing policies.

EVENT: Recipe for Change

February 26th, 2015

Recipe for Change is an event in support of FoodShare’s innovative school food programs that excite the next generation of healthy eaters, growers, and sharers. With 30 chefs reflecting Toronto’s diverse food scene, 2 craft brewers, and 4 wineries, this will be the most deliciously fun night of the year!

WEBINAR: Recipes for Change | School Grown Solutions for School Food

March 12th, 2015

This webinar will feature exciting guest speakers, including two Francophone community based cafeteria providers from New Brunswick, Rachel Allain Executive Director - Le réseau des cafétérias communautaires inc and Rachel Schofield Martin, Coordinator, DSFS Good nutrition and social entrepreneurship.

See full events calendar