Vancouver is proud to be home to Canada’s 2nd YOUTH Food Policy Council! Applications are now open and being accepted here. Deadline to apply is February 21, 2015.
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November 26 Meeting: A Very Special Final Meeting – VFPC End of Term
The current term of the Vancouver Food Policy Council is coming to an end as we will be dissolving on December 7. It is up to the new Mayor and City Council to decide whether the VFPC and all the City’s other advisory committees will be reformed or not. If we are, stay tuned for details of how to apply to join us on the VFPC as we will have several vacancies in the new year!
It will be a very special meeting as we take the time to reflect, celebrate, envision the future, say thank you, and enjoy each others’ company over the extra food we will be splurging on. We will have our “formal” meeting from 6-7:40 PM followed by a social in the Town Hall Room until 8:30. As usual, this is a public meeting members of the community at large are very welcome to.
A Very Special Final Meeting – VFPC End of Term
November 26, 6-8:30 PM, Town Hall Room, Vancouver City Hall
See the proposed meeting agenda here>>
We would be delighted to see you there.
Candidates Responses to our Food Policy Questionnaire
A few weeks ago we circulated a questionnaire to all candidates including those for Mayor, City Council, Parks Board, and the School Board with questions developed by the Vancouver Food Policy Council and community members. We started this work in June and are now delighted to share the responses we received from candidates. Have a read and consider what candidates have committed to doing for a more just and sustainable food system if they are elected on November 15.
Are you a candidate in the upcoming election and would like to fill out our questionnaire? You can access it here. We will continue posting responses as we receive them.
All Candidates Questionnaire
As part of our efforts leading up to the November 15 election, the VFPC has been working on developing a questionnaire for municipal candidates for Mayor, City Council, Parks Board, and School Board to address how they will incorporate food system issues into their work if elected.
The questionnaire is live and ready for candidates to complete. You can access it here.
Responses will be posted right back here on our blog as we receive them as well as at our October 15 Town Hall meeting.
October 15 Meeting: VFPC’s Municipal Town Hall
Join the Vancouver Food Policy Council for a fun, participatory evening of dialogue with candidates running in the 2014 City of Vancouver election as we get food issues on the agenda.
Moderated by Trish Kelly, the VFPC’s longest standing member, and featuring candidates from all levels of muncipal politics. Bring your questions!
Part of the Sustenance Festival, a city-wide festival with local food-inspired workshops, exhibitions, talks, walks, dances and more – all taking place in community centres and public spaces throughout Vancouver.
Finger food and beverages available.
October 15, 6-8:30 PM | Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre
September 17 Meeting: Confronting First World Hunger
The theme of September’s VFPC meeting will be on Confronting First World Hunger. We will be joined by Janet Poppendieck and Graham Riches, two of the leading thinkers around hunger in Canada, the US and worldwide. Janet Poppendieck, who is visiting from New York, is a scholar and activist with concerns about poverty, hunger, and food assistance in the US. She is the author of Breadlines Knee Deep in Wheat: Food Assistance in the Great Depression (1986), Sweet Charity? Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement (1999) and Free For All: Fixing School Food in America (2010). Graham Riches is one of the founding members of the VFPC, the former dean of Social Work at UBC and editor of the soon to be released First World Hunger Revisited (in which Janet also contributed a chapter). It looks to be a very interesting conversation. We hope that you can join us.
*Janet’s visit to Vancouver has been supported by the UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Think&EatGreen@School Project, and The School of Social Work.
Join us September 17 6-8:30 PM in the Town Hall Room of City Hall.
July 23 Meeting: Engaging with First Nations
Our meeting is next Wednesday July 23rd 6-8:30pm. Similar to last year, this will be a potluck, presentation and and discussion that will explore the recent COV Motion Protocol to Acknowledge First Nations Unceded Traditional Territory and we will discuss appropriate and authentic ways of engaging with First Nations people and perspectives. See the proposed agenda>>
**The meeting is at the UBC Botanical Garden** (6804 SW Marine Drive http://www.
June 25 Meeting: VFPC Pre-Election Planning “Getting Food on the Agenda”
Vancouver is having a municipal election on November 15 and we want to see food issues on the agenda. We have a full agenda in store with updates and discussion on everything from the motion for a GE Free Vancouver, follow up from our last meeting on Migrant Farm Labour in BC with discussion of Vancouver as a Sanctuary City (run a Google search on “Vancouver Sanctuary City”), food hub and urban farming status updates from staff, and more. In the latter half of the meeting we will have a working session on how the VFPC would like to move ahead on getting food on the agenda for the upcoming local election.
Join us on June 25 6-8:30 PM, **Strathcona Room** (change in location from Town Hall Room for this month, you will find it in the basement), Vancouver City Hall.
May 28 Meeting: Migrant Farm Labour in BC
Join us for our next meeting full of updates and next directions for the VFPC as well as a conversation on migrant farm labour in BC with Joana from SFU and Felix of the Agriculture Workers Alliance May 28 6-8:30 PM, Town Hall Room, Vancouver City Hall.
Felix Martinez has worked with temporary migrant agricultural workers since 2008. He worked at the Mexican Consulate as an officer for the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program until 2011, where he, along with 2 other co-workers blew the whistle on the Mexican consulate for the blacklisting of workers who attempted to unionize. In 2012 he started working with the Agriculture Workers Alliance, applying his knowledge of the program to help the temporary agricultural workers organize as well as to push for the change of policies within the program.
Joana Bettocchi-Barrow is a graduate student in the Latin American Studies Program at Simon Fraser University. Currently completing an ethnographic study, she is researching Central American migrant farm worker’s access to health services in BC and Ontario. She has a Bachelor of Arts in History and Latin American Studies from Simon Fraser University, where she completed an undergraduate thesis focused on the impact neoliberal agricultural practices have on migrant farm workers in Canada.
Talk Healthy City for All: Public Consultation
The City of Vancouver has launched its public consultation process for the Healthy City Strategy. Learn more and find out how to have your say here.
