The Canadian Agri-food Policy Institute report on the role of municipalities in food policy
Posted: June 5, 2013
Categories: Food in the News / GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Ontario / Research
The Canadian Agri-food Policy Institute (CAPI), in conjunction with the Toronto Food Policy Council, the Vancouver Food Policy Council and York University, has released a report on the role of municipalities in food policy: Municipal food policy entrepreneurs: a preliminary analysis of how Canadian cities and regional districts are involved in food system change. Not only are we thrilled about this report’s release, we are also proud to have two of the reports lead authors sit on Sustain Ontario’s Steering Committee: Rod MacRae at York University, and Lauren Baker at the Toronto Food Policy Council. We would also like to congratulate Kendal Donahue, Metcalf Intern with Sustain, for her dedicated work on the report, providing research and drafts.
The report is the first of its kind to look at municipal and regional food policy development in Canada. It reveals that a growing number of communities across the country have launched food charters, food strategies, action plans, and created food policy councils. In fact, over 64 municipal and regional governments across Canada are using a food systems approach to improve health, generate economic development, address environmental sustainability, and engage their communities. A useful diagram (p. 7) shows some of the different levers that various municipal departments have available to include food policy.
Kendal is wrapping up her time with Sustain Ontario and moving to Thunder Bay to work on the Thunder Bay Food Strategy as their new coordinator. We’d like to thank and congratulate Kendal on all her dedicated and hard work with Sustain Ontario. We wish her the best of luck with all her future endeavours, and look forward to staying connected with her through the provincial Alliance of healthy food and farming.
UPDATE: The report was also covered in the Wall Street Journal – click here to read the article!