European Year of Equal Opportunities for All

• Launched in 2019 as part of Canada’s Food Policy, this program funds infrastructure and equipment for local food charity programs and is the only federal program naming food insecurity reduction as part of its goal.
• At a time when food insecurity affects almost one in five Canadians, the latest funding presumes that food-insecure households are accessing food charity and that doing so resolves their food insecurity.

Food charity is no solution

• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the program as part of fulfilling the government’s top priority of “making life more affordable for Canadians.” Bibeau described it as “designed to strengthen our local food systems and support the creation of more food banks, community gardens and collective kitchens.” The latest funding announcement is even more explicit in asserting that food charity is the solution to food insecurity.
• In the news release, Bibeau said: “Now more than ever, we must support the work of organizations and food banks that help those who need it most.” In a recent House of Commons Question Period, Bibeau’s parliamentary secretary, Francis Drouin, described the funding as an investment for food banks, “to help families put food on the table.”

Millions of Canadians are food insecure

• These remarks suggest that the federal government sees volunteer-driven, community-based food charity programs as the solution for Canadians who are unable to afford food for themselves and their families.
• Food charity operations are burgeoning, but more Canadians are affected by food insecurity than ever before.
• Seeking food charity is a strategy of desperation for food-insecure Canadians, mostly by those who are severely food insecure.

Enshrining a two-tiered food system

• The latest call for applications to the Local Food Infrastructure Fund is even more disturbing when we consider its place as a centrepiece of Canada’s Food Policy.
• But the vision being implemented through the Local Food Infrastructure Fund now is a two-tiered food system — affluent Canadians purchase premium products at supermarkets, farmers’ markets and designer food outlets, while millions of others line up to receive rations from volunteers working feverishly to distribute the food rejected from that retail system.

Income-based policy interventions needed

• Federal income supports are critical policy levers to reduce food insecurity in Canada, but this objective needs to be incorporated into how those income supports are designed.
• Redesigning the Canada Child Benefit to provide more money than it currently does to the lowest-income households would help reduce food insecurity among families with children.
• By comparison, the latest call for funding applications for the Local Food Infrastructure Fund is a big step backward.

Missed opportunities

• The Food Policy is slated for renewal later this year, which could be a chance for a course correction.
• The starting point must be a shift towards working in partnership with Employment and Social Development Canada to design, implement and evaluate income supports that reduce food insecurity.

• Arlington, Va., Feb. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jennifer ODay , an Institute Fellow at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), has been elected to the National Academy of Education , an honorific society of researchers and educators who have made outstanding contributions to improving education.
• The mission of the National Academy of Education is to advance the development of high-quality education research and its use in policy and practice.
• As a member of the Academy, ODay will have the opportunity to serve on expert study panels that address pressing issues in education and engage in the Academys professional development fellowship programs.
• The Academy and the field, at large, will benefit from ODays experience, expertise and commitment to improving education.