Panel discussion at Carleton marks the official launch of CFICE
To officially launch Community First: Impacts of Community Engagement (CFICE), an initiative that aims to strengthen Canadian communities through action and research on the best practices of community-campus partnerships, an expert panel gathered at Carleton University today to examine the roots of Canadian food challenges.
“We think this is exactly the kind of thing our project should be doing,” said Ted Jackson, CFICE principal investigator and a professor of public policy at Carleton. “We are getting issues out there, debating them and creating a research agenda for our project along with community partners. This has worked tremendously well.“
The panelists discussed policy and budget measures to effectively and boldly address help for Canadians who are going hungry. They included Stephen Huddart (panel chair), president and CEO of J. W. McConnell Family Foundation; Cathleen Kneen, editor with the The Ram’s Horn and the chair of Just Food, Ottawa; Peter Andrée, associate professor of political science at Carleton; Terry Audla, Inuit leader and president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK); and Diana Bronson, executive director at Food Secure Canada.
“Suffice it to say, CFICE has already delivered for us as a community partner,” said Bronson. “They have facilitated this discussion today and have become a technological sponsor for our interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. We appreciate the ongoing collaboration we have with Peter Andrée and Ted Jackson and the network of researchers who were involved. There are a number of academics I now know personally and I use their research. It is a valuable project for us.”
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will soon table the 2013-2014 federal budget, but it is unlikely to seriously address the problem of food insecurity, which affects nearly four million Canadians. A growing number of citizens — especially the homeless, the unemployed, single-parent families, Aboriginal peoples and students — are turning to food banks, shelters and other social services to meet immediate needs.
“Food security matters to all Canadians,” said Jackson. “This panel is a very fitting launch event for a project that will do everything it can to put community first.
“Terry Audla’s presentation on the Inuit food situation was meaningful. He noted that 70 per cent of Inuit in the North are food insecure. It is a powerful statement and obviously an important issue.”
Said Kneen: “The key message I would take away from this panel is that food security is a huge, but not insurmountable problem.”
Based at Carleton, CFICE mobilizes non-profit and civic leaders, scholars and students through pan-Canadian research hubs on poverty reduction, community food security, community environmental sustainability, violence against women and knowledge mobilization.
“I think that at a time when the Canadian food system is under pressure, it was valuable to hear from the community sector,” said Huddart. “It is an important issue and one that deserves to be taken into account by federal and other governments.
“Another conversation that needs to be had is one that engages the corporate sector around food. CFICE has an ongoing role in convening important conversations around these issues. This was really about taking a first step and identifying the food concerns in Canada.”
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