Food for thought: Food insecurity in the context of Covid-19

COVID-19 has highlighted and exacerbated a number of systemic inequities that challenge Canada’s potential to build back better. One of those brought to the forefront has been food insecurity. Before the pandemic, 1 in 8 households in Canada was food insecure, with low-income communities and communities of colour being disproportionately impacted. Today, we’ll hear from four experts in the field to help us understand this interconnected and pressing issue.

Dr. Valerie Tarasuk is a Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto, and the Principal Investigator for PROOF, an interdisciplinary research team investigating household food insecurity in Canada. Her recent work includes studies that endeavour to explicate the relationship between food insecurity and food banks, determine the nutrition implications of food insecurity, and assess the effects of federal and provincial child benefit programs on families’ food security.

Jessica McLaughlin is a member of the Long Lake 58 First Nation and grew up in Nakina, Ontario. She is an executive member with the Thunder Bay Area Food Strategy, where she collaboratively assisted in the establishment of the Indigenous Food Circle. In her roles as Project Director and Project Coordinator for Understanding Our Food Systems, a collaborative participatory, action-based project led by fourteen First Nations communities, she supports the overall visioning, planning, coordination, engagement with communities, facilitation and implementation of programs to support Indigenous food sovereignty.

Dr. Charles Levkoe is the Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Food Systems, Director of the Sustainable Food Systems Lab and an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Lakehead University. His community engaged research uses a food systems lens to better understand the importance of, and connections between social justice, ecological regeneration, regional economies and active democratic engagement. Through community-based, action-oriented inquiry and teaching and the development of placed-based action projects, Dr. Levkoe’s research contributes to critical discussions that inform theory, civil society action and public policy.

Melana Roberts is a municipal and federal food policy expert and Chair of Food Secure Canada, a national policy organization championing food sovereignty through advocating for more just, healthy and sustainable food systems. For the past 10 years, she has been working to make Canada's food system more equitable. Melana has been a member of the Toronto Food Policy Council, and is former Chair of the Toronto Youth Food Policy Council. She is currently supporting the creation of North America’s first Black Food Sovereignty Plan developed by the City of Toronto's Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit and leadership from Toronto's Black community and food leaders. Melana was named Canada’s 2020 UN Civil Society representative, working on global food security responses to COVID-19 to ensure responses prioritized the most food insecure groups. In 2020, she was also named one of Canada’s future food leaders by CBC Metro Morning; and was selected as a 2020-2021 Action Canada Fellow, conducting national policy research on the barriers BIPOC farmers face in the agricultural sector.

Produced by:

Jessica Pan - Junior Producer

Natasha Laponce - Junior Producer

Diana Lu - Senior Producer

Music:

“Back to Life” by Chiiild