3rd Annual Ontario Emergency Food Forum

Where we come together to discuss and collaborate on a better food system

In March of 2020, over 100 people and 73 organizations gathered online to discuss the breakdown of our food supply and the growing food and economic insecurity the COVID-19 pandemic was causing. Below are the main results from that three-day summit. This year, on April 14, 21 & 28, join us as we continue the conversation, review the lessons of 2020 and build on our successes for a better, more resilient and just food system.

Reference Materials

Here is a list of reference materials to help you gain some background knowledge and understanding of the many intersectional issues with our food system.

• Human Rights & Food: a pdf presentation
• The UN Economic & Social Rights Covenant in plain language
• Tackling the Farm Crisis & the Climate Crisis: NFU Report
• Food, Agriculture and Land Use: a Drawdown sector summary
• Advancing Black Food Sovereignty – Update – TO City Board ofHealth Consideration

Resource for Systems Change:

• Levels of Listening: a slide presentation on systems change & the mindset needed to achieve it

2021 Session Agendas

Below are the agendas for the three evenings of the 2021 Emergency Food Forum. Because the Food Forum is action-oriented and driven by discussion, the agendas for the 2nd and 3rd sessions will depend on what has emerged from the previous evenings. We will be posting those agendas as they develop!

• Session 1 – April 14 Agenda
• Session 2 – April 21 Agenda
• Session 3 – April 28 Agenda

Enter the 2021 Emergency Food Forum Community Portal

The Food Forum Community Portal is a doorway into collective action.

It is a space where forum participants can continue the conversation and actively collaborate on new or existing initiatives.

We will be publishing forum notes and other information gathered throughout the forum in the community portal. It is accessible only by forum participants.

There is still time to register for the 2021 Emergency Food Forum!

2020 Emergency Food Forum Deliverables

Coming out of the 2020 2nd Annual Emergency Food Forum, people were excited, motivated and fuelled with a renewed determination to right the wrongs of our industrial corporate food system. The discussions had highlighted two main points: the need to push for policy changes and the need to create facts on the ground without waiting for politicians to play catch-up.  When the days of the EFF ended, the conversation continued online. Two distinct but intertwined streams of action emerged: the crafting of the Open Letter and the beginnings of the Eco-Just Food Network.

Demands of the Open Letter:

1. Immediate action and investment in re-purposing and improvement of local land, infrastructure, resources, and skilled labour to dramatically increase our local supply of healthy food; using emergency measures as required.
2. Support for local organizations, co-ops, and farms in mobilizing a pandemic-prepared workforce to assist farmers and communities with the harvesting, processing and distribution of as much healthy food as possible.
3. Ensuring that adequate incomes, safe working and healthy living conditions are guaranteed for all farmers and food system workers.
4. That government civil services collaborate with civil society to allocate the resources and infrastructure required to enable the resilience, sustainability and inclusivity of local secure healthy food systems.

Add Your Name to the Open Letter

For rural/urban healthy food system resilience across the GTA
The EJFN is creating the basis of a better food system by connecting local neighbourhoods to local food providers and linking rural and urban communities together.

2020 Emergency Food Forum Outcomes

It is amazing the depth of knowledge and wisdom that is generated when people come together with a common purpose or problem. Below are the outcomes of the many fruitful discussions that took place during the three-day 2020 Emergency Food Forum. We hope you will take as much inspiration and hope from this as we did.

The slides are grouped into three main categories: what a resilient food system would look like, what is wrong with our current food system and what are the immediate and short-term solutions needed to address the shortcomings of our food system.

Who was at the table in last year’s Emergency Food Forum?