FSC Newsletter - 2012-01

GENERAL NEWSLETTER                                                                      30 January 2012

Happy 2012 (and year of the Dragon)! At FSC, we are gearing up toward a busy new year!  With our new Steering Committee selected, and hiring processes for an Executive Director and Coordinator moving along well, we are in great position to continue our work on important national food issues.  In May, Canada will welcome the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food for his first visit to an OECD country. At the end of the year, we are hosting the next biennal FSC conference - stay tuned for more!

The World We Want

A Special Live Webcast Across Canada - hosted by USC Canada

Frances Moore Lappé, the visionary author of Diet for a Small Planet is now challenging us to change the way we think with her latest book EcoMind.

If you’re not in Toronto or Ottawa, you can still catch Frances Moore Lappé live tomorrow night!

USC Canada invites you to tune in tomorrow, Tuesday, January 31 at 7:30 pm, for a special live webcast of her Toronto public forum.

Click here to connect or visit www.usc-canada.org/lappe for more information.

Crossroads for Food Studies: A Fork in the Road?

The Canadian Association for Food Studies is holding its conference and seventh annual general meeting May 26-28 at Wilfrid LaurierUniversity in Waterloo, Ontario.  

Upcoming Canada-EU Trade Deal Threatens Local Food

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the free trade agreement the federal government has been negotiating with the EU, threatens to put a stop to local food.  The agreement would effectively end local procurement for institutions, threaten the organic and supply management sectors and allow corporations to seize the farms and freeze the bank accounts of farmers who infringe on their intellectual property rights.

To learn more about this, check out the National Farmers Union website, download the report Why We Don't Want CETA and sign their petition.

The Council of Canadians has also been hard at work on this issue; read more here, and take action here.

The Stop's New Learning Network

The Learning Network was created to provide a venue for sharing resources, learning and best practices relating to Community Food Centres. All of the content available on this site is free.  Check it out!

The Latest on the Canadian Wheat Board 

The fight is not yet over!  Just this month, the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board announced they are ready to broaden their legal challenge in the face of the government's attempt to dismantle the CWB.  Says Gilbert Ferre, Chair of the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance, "One of our legal avenues is to launch a class action lawsuit on behalf of prairie farmers to recover the value which will be lost should Minister Ritz succeed in ending the single desk."

If you haven't already seen it, have a look at Rick Mercer's take on the issue.

CONNECT TO THE NATIONAL FOOD MOVEMENT Why become a member of Food Secure Canada? Promote and share your events, campaigns and ideas with a broad audience. Connect with others across Canada who are building a healthy, ecological and fair food system. Contribute to working for a healthy, ecological and fair National Food Policy for Canada.