Bits and Bytes May 2014

Sign Food Secure Canada’s letter on the Agricultural Growth Act (C-18)

Food Secure Canada has sent a letter to the federal Agriculture Minister, Gerry Ritz, expressing strong concern about the orientation of Bill C-18, the Agricultural Growth Act. If passed, this Bill would result in changes across many other Acts, some of which would further undermine Canada's food sovereignty, the resiliency of our farming sector, and our crop biodiversity. Of particular concern are the proposed changes to the Plant Breeders Act, which will impact the age-old practice of farm-saved seed and provide yet more control to the corporate seed sector.

Our news release can be read here.

We welcome other organizations to join us by endorsing this letter here. Or please draw on our letter to write your own! 

Northern and Remote Food Network - Funding Received!  

We are excited to announce that FSC, in collaboration with numerous academic and community partners, has received $99,000 from Industry Canada over the next two years to support a research project of the Northern and Remote Food Network.  We will compare the cost of food (relative to the cost of living) in Northern communities and a ‘Southern’ communities through participatory food costing.  Dr. Patty Williams and her team at Food ARC, Mt. St. Vincent University, developed this method and will be the lead researcher on the project.

To receive updates and invitations to upcoming Northern and Remote Food Network meetings and webinars, please click on ‘participate by joining the network’ 

Staff Stuff

After 18 months of juggling the many responsibilities she holds at Food Secure Canada, Nydia Dauphin is moving to Toronto to take a new position on as Senior Food Justice Coordinator at FoodShare Toronto.  Nydia brought great talent and commitment to her work at Food Secure Canada and, in addition to everything else she did, initiated our work on food justice and structural racism in the food system which we shall continue to build upon.  All of us at FSC -- Board, staff, members -- are grateful for her contribution and delighted that she will now be free to work full-time on food justice in a founding member organization.

Julie Croizille is joining our team at the FSC as the new communications and membership coordinator. Come meet her here.

Waves of Change

Over 15 volunteers are currently busy reviewing more than 130 proposals to present at our upcoming assembly in Halifax November 13-16. Over the next few weeks, we will craft all these proposals, along with some amazing keynote speakers into a draft program for a three day assembly you won’t want to miss!  Registration along with the draft program will be available mid-June.  We are actively fundraising for subsidies for people who would otherwise not be able to attend.  We encourage you to start fundraising in your local community now - this is an opportunity you won’t want to miss!

Want to get involved?  Become a community ambassador

Funding Opportunities

Epicure Foundation

The Epicure Foundation has announced $5000 grants for grassroots food security initiatives.  Deadline is June 13th.  Download the form here

Innoweave

The Innoweave Process offers five layers of support for organizations looking to understand, test and implement new approaches to help enhance their impact. The next round of Innoweave Implementation Grant applications are due by July 2nd, 2014.  To learn more visit innoweave.ca or email info@innoweave.ca.

Thank you to our Interns!

Food Secure Canada couldn’t do the important work it is doing without its outstanding interns. We have had the pleasure of welcoming several interns in the past years who were rapidly integrated in the FSC family. We have been blown away by their hard work and dedication to making a healthy, just and sustainable food system for all in Canada a reality - one photocopy, translation or mail run at a time. We want to express a heartfelt thank you to our past interns like Marie-Josée Lemay who just completed her internship, and to our current interns Shoshana Freedman, Jade Owen and Amélie Lévesque-Martel. Come meet them here.

Congratulations !

Congratulations to our Board member Tatiana Fraser who was recently honoured as a Champion of Lifelong Learning by the Quebec Association of Lifelong Learning for her leadership in girls’ programming.  

Warm congratulations also to Leilani Farha of Canada Without Poverty who has just been named UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing.

Canadian Food Studies

The Canadian Association for Food Studies is pleased to announce that the first issue of its journal, Canadian Food Studies, has now been published (open access, online). Here is the link to the journal.

Help Promote our Assembly!

Help us promote two great food events in Halifax this November. We would be happy to send you postcards for your community group, meeting, market or other event.  Let us know how many you need.

Upcoming Events

Partnerships Towards Food Self-Sufficiency: Growing Change in Northern Manitoba. Hosted by Food Secure Canada. May 29, 2014. Sign up now.

Creating Resilient Local Economies. Hosted by CCEDnet. May 29, 2014. Sign up now.

See full events calendar and post your own! 

JOIN FOOD SECURE CANADA We offer a sliding scale of membership depending on your organization's budget, but if you are unable to meet any of these rates, call us (514-271-7352) or send us an email. We'll be happy to discuss possibilities of other forms of collaboration.