Blog post by: Aimee Gasparetto, Executive Director at Nourish Nova Scotia

Recently I had the pleasure of attending Food Secure Canada’s 2024 Convening: Toward Just and Sustainable Food Systems, in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal, QC). This gathering brought together food leaders and advocates from across the country to share and discuss the critical food issues that are alive in Canada and the world. The conversations were too rich to capture here, but below are a few of my key highlights that I hope will be food for thought.

Indigenous Food Ways on the Land

Our time together began at the beautiful longhouse in Kahnawà:ke, situated on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka nation. It was a magical day that invited guests to engage with local traditional knowledge keepers, explore traditional food practices, and experience the significance of Food Sovereignty for Indigenous cultures. It was a special day that I felt honored to witness and be a part of. Later in our gathering, I captured a comment that places this experience at the centre of what we must learn and lean into:

“Indigenous food practices serve as inspirational models of resistance and decolonization that we must look to. When we work to build equitable food systems, traditional knowledge, peoples, and strength must lead the way.” As treaty people living across Turtle Island, it is our shared responsibility to uphold and uplift principles of Indigenous Food Sovereignty.

After our day at Kahnawà:ke, the convening continued at the beautiful Rialto Theatre in Montreal. Across two days of learning, important truths were surfaced with dialogue that was both real and alive with energy.

Black Food Sovereignty

Our conversations kicked off with Visions, Lessons, and Challenges of Black Food Sovereignty. Speakers called on us to acknowledge the many forms of systemic racism that are deeply entrenched in our food system and the implications of this for black communities across Canada. There are countless signals that point to these inequities, many of which were reiterated through alarming statistics.

Across Canada, 43.6% of black children live in food insecure households, and over a third of Black Canadian children are food insecure, compared to 12% of white children.

Nova Scotia is home to 52 historical African Nova Scotian communities, with the largest Black population in the Atlantic provinces and the fifth largest Black population in the country. Panelist Wendie Wilson posed the question: “Children represent the largest population in the black community and now generations of black children are facing a crisis of health and social living. So I ask, what are we doing about this crisis?”

But the numbers around food insecurity just scratch the surface. Presenters pointed to systemic racism that is reflected in the deliberate dispossession from the land (historical and on-going), abusive labour practices targeted at racialized communities, and how all of it plays out across all aspects of wealth acquisition and generational wealth for black families and communities. Speakers urged us to consider how anti-black racism, anti-oppression, and decolonization are actively represented in our work and that in fact, when planning for food systems transformation, we must understand that THIS IS THE WORK.

Amidst these realities, we were also reminded of the tremendous capacity, joy, and vision that black communities are bringing to realize the vision of black food sovereignty in Canada. Anan Xola Lololi spoke about his thirty years with Afri-Can Food Basket, a Black-Led, Black-Serving, and Black-Mandated that is reducing hunger, enhancing cultural food access, and promoting health and within African, Caribbean, and Black communities across Toronto. Wendi Wilson spoke about a vision for black community food hub in Halifax, and on-going work with the African Nova Scotian community to build food initiatives like Blend it Forward, where community members of all ages are building skills and capacity while coming together around food.

Moving Toward (W)holistic Food Systems

In this conversation, panelists spoke about the fragility of our food system and the holistic solutions that are needed to re-claim, re-vitalize, and re-localize our food system. We explored the importance of alternative food networks to build transparency and resiliency into the food system, bring producers and consumers closer together, and diversify food markets for the benefit of all. In this way, our food system would mimic a “food-web”, where ownership is shared across the food chain, strengthened by relationships between people and places from which our food comes.

Panelist Debbie Field noted: “It’s going to take all parts, and all our relations, to build a more resilient food system. We believe that food systems transformation has the power to mitigate climate change, create equitable employment, and build food sovereignty – but it will take us all working together to get there.”

One speaker went on to describe that if food were to be understood as a public good, with dignified access for all, then we need to build a public food system. They described that a public food system would:

Realize the right to food for all.
Prioritize the provision of healthy and culturally relevant foods in our public institutions.
Invest in alternative food networks that build transparency into the food system and foster connections between producers and consumers.
Invest in networks of public markets where food producers can thrive, and locally produced foods are made available to local populations.
Dismantle corporate control over the food system.
Invest in local food infrastructure and community food solutions.
Decolonize the food system and transition land and resources back to the people it was stolen from.

If we were together in person, this would be the Mic Drop.

Reigning in Corporate Control and Profiteering in Food Systems

As we moved further into conversations, panelists shared an in-depth picture of corporate control and the financialization across the food system. According to a report by the Competition Bureau of Canada, Canadians are buying groceries in stores owned by a handful of grocery giants and despite what grocery retailers say, food industry profits are rising and so are food retail margins.

In Canada 76% of our grocery store chains are owned by 5 companies and in the first nine months of 2023, food retailers earned $4.6 billion. At this rate, total profits for 2023 will exceed $6 billion. In 2022, Canada’s three largest grocers—Loblaws, Sobeys, and Metro—collectively reported more than $100 billion in sales and earned more than $3.6 billion in profits.

At the same time, food prices have increased by 20% since 2020 and food insecurity in Canada is the worst it’s ever been. As of 2024, Canada has the 10th largest economy in the world and yet, data shows that in 2023, 22.9% of people in the ten provinces lived in a food-insecure household. That amounts to 8.7 million people, including 2.1 million children living in households that struggled to afford the food they need.

What’s critical to understand, is that access to food is not equal for everyone – meaning that if you are Black or Indigenous, live in a household with children, rent versus own a home, or live in a Northern community or any one of the Atlantic Provinces, your chances of being food insecure are significantly higher. Furthermore, working households make up 2/3 of households who are food insecure, and 18% of food bank users are employed.

What these numbers tell us is that food has become a commodity to be bought, traded, and sold on a global market with large corporations being the primary benefactor. The business of food has superseded the right to food.

So, what does all of this mean?

While the solutions may not be quick or easy, it seems that much of where we need to go may be found when we remember the roots of it all - our interconnectedness with the land and each other, and our need for cooperative structures and communities that are equipped with the space and resources to lead from within. Most importantly, a public food system that provides for everyone, where consumers are understood to be co-producers who play a vital role in advancing local economies and shaping the values that underpin it all.

Across Nova Scotia, Canada, and the world, we see “signposts” that can offer us direction for a different kind of food future.

In the work that I do at Nourish Nova Scotia, I see these examples every day across the national networks and initiatives like Food Secure Canada, Farm to Cafeteria Canada, Community Food Centres Canada, the Pan-Canadian Black Food Sovereignty Caucus, and the Indigenous Food Systems Network, that are helping to shift the conversation and make real change in our food system. And now across Canada, provinces and territories are rolling out school lunch programs and building the foundation for positive and engaging food cultures at school. These efforts are happening alongside a Federal announcement for a National School Food Program - a commitment that has been many years in the making. In part, it is due to the extensive organizing by groups like the National Coalition for Healthy School Food and their 330+ member organizations demanding more – including Nourish Nova Scotia. Our final day in Montreal was an acknowledgment and celebration of these achievements, where people from across the country gathered in-person and online to recognize the power and potential of what’s been achieved.

And right here in Nova Scotia, we see initiatives like the North Grove Community Food Centre, Hope Blooms, Mobile Food Market, Community Garden & Farm at AKOMA, Regional Food Hubs, Farmer’s Markets of Nova Scotia, and Halifax’s JustFOOD Action Plan including Indigenous and African Nova Scotian Working Groups; Just to name a few. The point is, these are incredible examples to learn from and build on.

At the end of the day, what’s most important is that we continue to learn about and understand the issues at play so that we can work together, support one another, and demand better. As I write this blog, it’s election time in Nova Scotia - an opportunity for us all to put food in the conversation. And soon, we will have a Federal Election where all Canadians will have a chance to ask federal candidates how they plan to address food systems transformation in Canada. When the time comes, keep an eye out for Eat Think Vote, to get connected to the conversations and potentially hold an event in your local community.

The Future of Our Food Depends on It.

Reflections on Convening Toward Just and Sustainable Food Systems