Food Secure Canada/Sécurité Alimentaire Canada

BACKGROUND

Overview

Food Secure Canada aims to unite people and organizations working for food security nationally and globally. FSC is a registered non-profit society with a wide membership which includes local and national organizations and unaffiliated individuals. It works for its members, facilitating collaborative activities by members to advance food security. FSC only has a distinct voice when its members so decide through formal approval mechanisms. Projects emerge from the members and, once agreement in principle has been reached, are advanced by FSC with the involvement of those members participating in the initiative. FSC aims:

1. To identify at the annual conference of FSC a set of projects of national importance (involving research and data collection, campaigns, education, programming and policy making) that FSC helps members carry out.
2. To provide support to members (strategic planning, training, tools, programme design advice, services, information, fundraising support) that increases the capacity of civil society to be a strong and coherent voice for food security in Canada
   
3. To create a space for debate, exchange, help, coordination of efforts, and pooling of resources.
   

Goals

FSC works to ensure that the following interconnected goals are achieved:

• Zero Hunger: All people at all times must be able to acquire, in a dignified manner, adequate quantity and quality of culturally and personally acceptable food.
• A sustainable food system (including the fishery and other wild foods): Food in Canada must be harvested, produced, processed, distributed and consumed in a manner which maintains and enhances the quality of land, air and water for future generations, and in which people are able to earn a living wage in a safe and healthy working environment by harvesting, growing, producing, processing, handling, retailing and serving food.
• Healthy and safe food: Nourishing foods must be readily at hand (and less nourishing ones restricted); food (including wild foods) must not be contaminated with pathogens or industrial chemicals; and no novel food can be allowed to enter the environment or food chain without rigorous independent testing and the existence of an on-going tracking and surveillance system, to ensure its safety for human consumption.
  

Context

The importance of food to human health and the economy is well understood and profound. As one of the vital elements of human existence, from production to consumption, food involves many of the most important cultural, social, and economic activities of human societies.

The Rome Declaration on World Food Security and the World Food Summit Plan of Action in 1996 called for each nation to develop and implement a national plan of action to achieve food security domestically and internationally. The Action Plan for Food Security is Canada 's response to the World Food Summit (WFS). The Plan recognized the important role played by civil society "in social, political and economic reform, through public education, advocacy and participation in public policy formulation." The Action Plan also recognized that food security implied access to adequate food and sufficient food supplies and that poverty reduction, social justice and sustainable food (and wild food) systems are essential conditions for a food secure Canada .

Food insecurity affects many and presents itself in many different forms in Canada . The problems are evident in the number of people using food banks, the financial problems of farmers and fishers and their communities, diabetes rates among aboriginal people, widespread obesity in children and adults, and pollution and habitat destruction associated with the food system. FSC helps create opportunities for its members to address these problems, in local, national and international arenas.

Food Secure Canada recognizes that food security requires that adequate amounts of safe, healthy, nutritious, culturally acceptable food be accessible to all in a dignified manner; that food producers earn a fair return on their labour, and that food production, harvesting and distribution methods sustain the environment. In a society in which most people purchase their food, they must have adequate funds to do so, and full information about what they buy.

We recognize that food security includes many evolving concepts that require on-going discussion and development. This is particularly so regarding rights and entitlements, social justice and respect for the sovereignty of Canadians in relation to the food system (e.g., aboriginal relations to traditional lands, farmers' maintenance of biodiversity through breeding and seed saving, workers' authority in relation to their working conditions and remuneration). These basic elements of food security require a fundamentally new direction for Canadian and world food and health promotion systems.

We endeavor to work in solidarity with communities throughout the world who are striving for justice, equity and environmental sustainability in the production, processing and consumption of food. We believe that there is an increasing need for informed citizen participation in important decisions dealing with food policy, food safety, health and poverty reduction.

STEERING COMMITTEE

The FSC Steering Committe helps members to guide the actions of the organization, coordinating and overseeing projects and meetings. Steering Committee members serve for two years, and half of the positions are up for election at each Annual General Meeting. FSC needs members from many sectors to be effective, including housing, health, social policy, transportation, agriculture, education, and community, cultural, and charitable groups, and businesses. FSC also aims to have steering committee members from all regions of Canada, including: Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Prairies, BC, and Territories. If you are interested in becoming a steering committee member, please consider joining FSC (only members can join the steering committee) and see a more detailed description of the role of the steering committee in the FSC Constitution.

CONSTITUTION

The Food Secure Canada Constitution describes the FSC's structure, leadership and representation procedures, and future plans in more detail.