July 18th Meeting Agenda

Wednesday, July 18th, 6:00 – 8:30 pm
Location: Town Hall Room, Vancouver City Hall

1 Homelands acknowledgement and introductions 10 min 6:00-10
“We acknowledge that we are on the unceded homelands of the ʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations and we give thanks for their generosity and hospitality on these lands”
2 Honouring of Will Jung 10 min 6:10-20
3 Approve minutes from June meeting 5 min 6:20-25
4 Liaison Updates 15 min 6:25-40
  • City Councillors – Adriane Carr & Heather Deal
  • Parks Board Commissioner – Michael Wiebe
  • Parks Board Staff – Megan Herod
  • VSB Trustee – Joy Alexander
  • City Staff – Sarah Carten
  • Vancouver Coastal Health – Claire Gram
  • Ministry of Agriculture – Lindsay Bisschop
5 Park Board Update – Local Food Action Plan 20 min 6:40-7:00
6 Sustenance Festival Report 10 min 7:00-10
7 Escobar Restaurant Update 10 min 7:10-20
8 Break 10 min 7:20-30
9 VFPC 2018 Key Priorities Council Engagement 55 min 7:30-8:25
 
  • Reconciliation & Decolonizing the Vancouver Food System
  • Food on the Election Table
  • Membership Structure
  • (Each group will have 10 minutes to caucus and 15 minutes to engage the entire VFPC in dialogue on their priority)
10 Bread Basket 5 min 8:25-30
11 Motion to adjourn   8:30

June 20th VFPC Meeting Closed to the Public for Member Training Session on Indigenous Food Systems

Hello VFPC friends,

As part of our Council’s cultural competency training, the Vancouver Food Policy Council meeting on June 20th will be closed to the public as our members participate in a workshop on Indigenous food systems with Dawn Morrison. Dawn Morrison is of Secwepemc ancestry and she is the Director of the Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty.

Following the workshop, we will have some resources, books and more information to share on this topic, so please stay tuned!

We look forward to seeing you at the next Vancouver Food Policy Council meeting on July 18th.

All Our Father’s Relations Film Screening

The Vancouver Food Policy Council is pleased to invite you to join us for a special documentary film screening of All Our Father’s Relations, followed by a panel discussion.

When: Thursday, May 31st – 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Doors open at 6:30pm. Film starts at 7pm. Panel starts at 8pm.

Where: Science World at TELUS World of Science, 1455 Quebec St, Vancouver, BC. View Map.

The venue and washrooms are wheelchair accessible. Gender neutral washrooms are available on-site.

Tickets are $15 – available through Eventbrite. Share the event with friends and family on Facebook.

We acknowledge that we are on the unceded, occupied, ancestral and traditional lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations.

As we strive to understand our own relationships to each other and the land through food, it is important for us to also recognize the historical and ongoing colonization and settlement of Indigenous peoples and lands that make it possible for us to be here as settlers.

About the Film

All Our Father’s Relations (祖根父脈) is a documentary film telling the story of the Grant siblings’ journey to rediscover their father’s roots and to better understand his fractured relationship with their xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) mother. Raised primarily in the traditions of the Musqueam people, the Grant family and their story reveals the shared struggles of migrants and Aboriginal peoples today and in the past.

Panel Discussion + Special Guests

Join us afterwards for a panel discussion with Alexandra Henao-Castrillon, Hayne Wai and Howard E. Grant to explore how the erasure of Indigenous and minority communities’ food contributions impacts current society and actions.

Alexandra Henao-Castrillon is originally from Colombia. She has worked supporting and advocating for migrant farm workers in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley for the last 6 years. She is a founding member of the Migrant Workers’ Dignity Association

Hayne Wai is a longtime advocate, researcher, and author on Vancouver’s Chinatown and Strathcona. He is a founding member and past president of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC and a former board trustee of the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Classical Chinese Garden and continues his involvement with both organizations. Hayne worked for the federal and provincial governments and was more recently a sessional instructor at UBC’s Faculty of Education. He has served on government, post-secondary and community committees on anti-racism, diversity, human rights and multiculturalism including the recent city advisory committee on Historical Discrimination Against Chinese in Vancouver. Panelists and participants will explore topics ranging from Reconciliation efforts, migrant farm labour organizing, and other challenges we are facing in just and sustainable food systems.

Howard E. Grant was born and raised in the Musqueam community. He was one of the fortunate children who did not attend residential school, giving him the benefit of learning his culture, values and teachings from his elders in his every day life. Mr. Grant is his family’s cultural speaker and is a historian and cultural leader of his extended family. As a result of this, Howard was given the honour by the elders of his extended family to carry the name qiyəplenəxʷ, a name known and respected throughout Coast Salish territories. Mr. Grant is currently the Executive Director of the First Nations Summit. The First Nations Summit is comprised of a majority of First Nations and Tribal Councils in British Columbia, providing a forum to address issues related to Aboriginal Title, Rights and Treaty negotiations as well as other issues of common concern. He is also a long serving member of Council from his home community of Musqueam.

Sarah Ling was born and raised as a 4th generation Chinese Canadian in Prince Rupert, B.C. on Tsimshian territory. She is a Project Manager with an Indigenous focus at the University of British Columbia at St. John’s College as well as Student Housing and Hospitality Services, where she produces and manages both Indigenous and Chinese Canadian storytelling initiatives. She is the lead Producer of All Our Father’s Relations, and was recently elected President of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of B.C

May 23, 2018 Agenda

1 Homelands acknowledgement and introductions 10 min 6:00-6:10
“We acknowledge that we are on the unceded homelands of the ʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations and we give thanks for their generosity and hospitality on these lands”
2 Approve minutes from April meeting 5 min 6:10-6:15
3 Liaison Updates 15 min 6:15-6:30
  • City Councillors – Adriane Carr & Heather Deal
  • Parks Board Commissioner – Michael Wiebe
  • Parks Board Staff – Megan Herod
  • VSB Trustee – Joy Alexander
  • City Staff – Sarah Carten
  • Vancouver Coastal Health – Claire Gram
  • Ministry of Agriculture – Lindsay Bisschop
4 Working Group Updates 10 min 6:30-6:40
  • Election Priority
5 Letter of Support (motion) 5 min 6:40-6:45
 
  • Request to co-sponsor event with Graham Riches & Andy Fisher ‘Domestic Hunger in the USA and Canada. Towards Food and Social Justice’ as a part of the Vancouver Food Summit on October 2nd
6 All Our Father’s Relations Film Screening Update 10 min 6:45-6:55
 
  • Screening & Panel discussion May 31st at Science World
7 Escobar Discussion 10 min 6:55-7:05
8 Break 10 min 7:05-7:15
9 Establishing Working Groups for 2018 Priorities 5 min 7:15-7:20
 
  • Reconciliation Priority
  • Membership / Future of VFPC Priority
  • Election Priority
10 City of Vancouver Redefining Food Assets Workshop 45 min 7:20-8:05
11 Toronto Food Policy Insights 20 min 8:05-8:25
12 Bread Basket 5 min 8:25-8:30
13 Motion to adjourn   8:30

July 19th Agenda

Join us for our July 19th Meeting! | Where: Town Hall Room Vancouver City Hall

You can find a detailed Agenda here.

  • Homelands acknowledgement and round of introductions
  • Approve minutes from June 2017 meeting
  • Liaison Updates
    • City Councillors
    • Parks Board Commissioner
    • Parks Board Staff – Rebecca Till
    • Other liaisons – time permitting
  • Wild Salmon Caravan: Update and Discussion of VFPC Role
  • National Food Policy Report Back & Next Steps
  •  Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience in our Food System: Exploring how the VFPC can Support Climate Action
    • Dr. Tara Moreau (VFPC) – Introduction
    • Sara Muir Owen (Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions) – BC Mitigation and Adaptation
  • Priorities and Projects
    • Dr. Sean Smukler (UBC) – Regional farming adaptation strategies
    • Kate Menzes and Dr. Art Bomke (SPEC) – Urban Farming Adaptation and Extension
    • Katie McPherson (City of Vancouver) – Resiliency Strategy
  • Bread Basket
  • Motion to adjourn

June 24 Meeting: The Vancouver Food Strategy & The Right to Food Special Event

Join us for our June meeting at a special location and time! We will be having a 1-hour condensed meeting so that we can participate in the ‘Right to Food in Canada’ event hosted by the BC Civil Liberties Association.

Wednesday, June 24

5:45-6:45 – 1-hour council meeting at Woodward’s Building (Hastings @ Abbott) 5th Floor (take main elevators up to 5th floor)

*note that we are starting 15 minutes early*

AGENDA

5:45-6:00 – Introductions & Updates

6:00-6:45 – Vancouver Food Strategy Updates and the role of the VFPC in moving it forward

6:45-7:00 – Travel to Carnegie Centre

7:00-9:00 – ‘A Right to Food in Canada’

On June 24th, join us as we explore what it means to have a “right to food” in Canada.  Come and learn about the BC Civil Liberties Association’s right to food project and our research on how Canadian law can be used to enforce the right to food.  You’ll also hear from a panel of Vancouver experts about what communities are doing in the absence of a rights-based national food strategy and the ways they are working towards food justice and an end to poverty.

Laura Track, BCCLA lawyer and Right to Food project lead will join in conversation with:
Laura

Paul Taylor, Executive Director, Gordon Neighbourhood House
Doris Chow, Downtown Eastside Kitchen Tables Project
Gil Aguilar, BC Poverty Reduction Coalition and Migrant Workers Dignity Association
Graham Riches, UBC Professor Emeritus

Light refreshments will be provided.

This event will take place June 24th, 7-9pm at Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main St. Vancouver.  Click here to visit our Facebook event page.  Click here to download an event poster in PDF format: Vancouver-Right-to-Food-poster.pdf

Event website: https://bccla.org/events/2015/06/a-right-to-food-in-canada/

 

April 15 Meeting: A New Term of the VFPC

The Vancouver Food Policy Council is back in action. Join us for our first meeting of the term on April 15 from 6-8:30 PM in the Town Hall Room, City Hall. Social to follow at Original Joe’s (upstairs on the north west corner of Cambie and Broadway).

See the proposed agenda>>

The list of new (and returning) members including liaisons is below. How does the VFPC get selected? As one of many of the City of Vancouver’s citizen advisory committees VFPC voting members are appointed by a committee of Vancouver’s City Council. With over 80 applicants this time for the VFPC alone, City Council had lots of talent to choose from. Read more about the VFPC on the City of Vancouver website here.

2015-2017 Vancouver Food Policy Council

Veronik Campbell

Anna Cavouras

Andrew Christie

Larry Copeland

Rebecca Cuttler

Caitlin Dorward

Zsuzsi Fodor (Chair)

Antonietta Gesualdi

Dirk Gibbs

Chashma Heinze

Kimberly Hodgson

Will Jung

Gabrielle Kissinger

Ilana Labow

Emme Lee

Pat McCarthy

Tara Moreau (Chair)

Nicholas Scapillati

David Speight

Colin Stansfield

Liaisons

City Council: Councillor Adriane Carr

City Council: Councillor Heather Deal

Park Board: Commissioner Michael Wiebe

School Board: Trustee Janet Fraser

City staff: Mary Clare Zak, Social Policy

City staff: James O’Neill, Social Policy

Ministry of Agriculture: Orlando Schmidt

Metro Vancouver: Theresa Duynstee

Vancouver Coastal Health: Corinne Eisler

Give Your Feedback on the Park Board Urban Agriculture Policy

The Vancouver Park Board is proposing a new policy for urban agriculture to better reflect agricultural activities now taking place in urban parks.

The proposed Urban Agricultural Policy will replace the current Community Gardens Policy and guide existing and new food-focused projects in Vancouver parks.

Please visit our website to review the new policy:  http://vancouver.ca/people-programs/urban-agriculture-policy.aspx.  Make sure to click on the “Share Your Views” blue button on the right panel to submit your feedback (the direct link to the survey is here:http://vancouver.fluidsurveys.com/s/Urban-agriculture-policy/) – the deadline for submissions is January 18, 2015.