Food Secure Canada, a coalition of farmers, food banks, health advocates and community food organizations think food should be an election issue. Earlier this summer, the coalition launched the Eat Think Vote campaign to make food an issue in the upcoming federal election.
The campaign is organizing a series of events (over 50 so far) across Canada for federal candidates and the public to discuss Canada’s most pressing food issues. Eat Think Vote events will take place on farms and farmers markets, community food centres, universities and even harvest festivals. Many of the events are serving up local sustainably produced delights so the issue at hand – food – can be shared and enjoyed.
As a non-partisan campaign, all candidates and Canadians from all walks of life are invited to take part in these vital discussions on our food system. Eat Think Vote is also a call for a national food policy in Canada where no one goes hungry and all Canadians have access to healthy and sustainable food.
Eat Think Vote is calling for a national food policy in Canada delivering:
On October 5th from 6:30-8:30p.m. TYFPC and Black Creek Community Far, will be hosting an Eat, Think, Vote at Black Creek Community Farm. The event will bring together the community, activists working on food justice and poverty and the Liberal and NDP candidates to discuss the links between hunger, race, student debt, employement and health in Canada. We will also talk about the following demands articulated at the Jane and Finch September Day of Action for Food Justice:
- Make City Parks and Hydro Corridors accessible for community residents to garden and grow food
- Subsidize small farmers and promote ecologically informed farming policies that support young, new, and racialized farmers
- Provide core government funding for organizations doing food justice and urban agriculture work so that these groups can be sustainable
- Create, fund and maintain a garden in every schoo
- Remove security guards and undercover police from grocery stores in predominantly racialized and working-class communities (high-income and/or largely white neighbourhoods do not have visible security presence); and other urgent issues.
There are many other ways you can ‘eat think vote’ before Election Day on October 19. Here are just a few:
- Find an Eat Think Vote event in your community and play a role in the discussion on nutritious and affordable food.
- Sign and share online the petition calling for a national food policy in Canada. Eat Think Vote needs to reach 10,000 petition signatures by Election Day. After the election, Food Secure Canada will personally handover the petition to the new federal government.
- Call your candidates and tell them why the food issues Eat Think Vote has highlighted should be federal priorities. Here’s a list of question you can ask your candidates to find out where they stand on the issues.
- Spread the word about Eat Think Vote on social media by liking Food Secure Canada’s facebook page and tweeting @FoodSecureCAN #EatThinkVote to help build momentum around the campaign.