Food Justice Town Hall
What does a just, resilient food system in Vancouver look like?
Ahead of the Vancouver municipal election on October 15th, a group of food justice organizations, including Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks hosted a Food Justice Town Hall on September 27, to explore local food policy issues, opportunities, and the vision for a just and resilient food system in Vancouver, highlighting the importance of local food policy to the municipal candidates. Our candidate for City Council, Sean Orr, was in attendance..
The evening brought together the diverse perspectives of community leaders, food policy researchers, and people with lived experience of food insecurity who shared about local food justice issues, current food security and programming challenges, and demonstrated how investing in local food systems can support a thriving and resilient city for everyone. The conversation focused around the three main principles of the newly adopted Vancouver Plan: reconciliation, equity, resilience.
T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss of the Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty opened the evening with a Coast Salish welcome.
Ian Marcuse of Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks provided an overview of the food policy landscape in Vancouver.
Kanatiio Gabriel of DUDES Club from the Mohawk Nation wove together an Indigenous based re-matriated food system connection and giving back to mother earth of clean water, clean earth, and clean air.
Joey Liu of South Vancouver Neighbourhood House then provided an interesting perspective from the South Vancouver neighbourhood where 80% of the community are racialized and where huge inequities exist including few public amenities and food assets which are difficult to connect to, few spaces for people to come together and make meaningful social connection, few childcare centres, and many in low wage service industry jobs.
Christina Lee of hua foundation believes that food is a key aspect to equity. “Our ability to live with dignity and agency is viscerally tied with food. Food is the first step into culture, even connecting us to language” says Christina.
LouAnn Schmidt of Kits Cares Café provided an important Vancouver westside perspective acknowledging that food insecurity is a reality everywhere in Vancouver.
Dr. Tammara Soma Food Systems Lab presented her 4 seeds of a food system resiliency that “future political leaders should plant” with the first seed being investing in a circular food economy that means reducing resource extraction and focusing on waste prevention, investing in food hubs, soil health, facilitating closed loop urban agriculture for example.
Dawn Morrison Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty reminds us that we will not achieve reconciliation, nor a just food system within a colonial legal framework.
Speaker presentations were followed by party representatives and independent candidates sharing their food policy commitments after which they were invited to respond to questions.
Read full recap here.
Watch full recording here.