GREEN MAP
Agriculture
- How the food charter evolved
Prepared by: Cara Nichols, April 2007
How the Food Charter evolved:
A Food Charter is a publicly owned one page statement based on what communities believe their food system should look like. It is a document which amalgamates a diversity of voices and identifies priorities and guidelines for action in regards to local food security. Thus far, nongovernmental organizations have developed and delivered food charters to their municipal government. Manitoba is the first to have a province wide food charter.
The Manitoba Food Charter came to be in April of 2006. “It is a vision of how things should be a goal to work towards” (Manitoba Food Security, 2007). Although a newer initiative, its creation was sparked by previous interest in food security in Manitoba. In 1992 a document from The Nutrition and Food Security Network of Manitoba, entitled “An Action Plan for Food Security for Manitobans” was created.
In 2002 a broad coalition, FoodSecure Manitoba, brought Rod MacRae, food policy analyst and former coordinator of the Toronto Food Policy Council, to Winnipeg for a strategic visioning session. Areas for concrete action were developed and the group prioritized a food security conference as a first step. This resulted in a two day conference in the spring of the 2003, Our Food - Our Health - Our Future: Making Manitoba Food-Secure. The interest continued in 2004 with the National Food Security assembly, and event which sparked the beginning of the Manitoba Food Charter.
Kreesta Doucette with Friends; Source: Jennifer Heinrichs
Between March and February of 2006, a Steering Committee of dedicated volunteers crossed the province listening to more than 70 groups of people and food security stakeholders involved in various aspects of the Manitoba food system. They interview people from the four sectors of the food industry: consumers- people who buy food; producers – people who grow food; retailers – the people who sell food; and government – people who regulate food. The interviewees came from all across the province: 22% in rural communities, 17% in Manitoba’s north, 33% from urban and 28% from consultations involving mixed regions.
After a year of consultations, a volunteer drafting committee took the many statements obtained from the visited communities and refined them into a first draft of the Charter. Although there were many different opinions, three main commonalities arose. There was a strong concern regarding the access to food; the amount of information about food; and the connection to food. These ideas were presented in the Manitoba Food Charter draft, and presented to participants for feedback. The drafting committee then developed a final draft which was ratified by the Steering Committee (Manitoba Food Charter, 2006a).
Currently, Regional Liaisons are working in Urban, Northern and Rural Manitoba. The Liaisons are working with stakeholder groups to identify concrete actions they can take towards achieving the vision in the Charter (Manitoba Food Security, 2007). “Overall, it has become a valuable tool to focus community efforts towards achieving good food for all” (Manitoba Food Charter, 2006c). Copies of the charter have been drafted in English, French and Cree in order to encompass a broader cultural group.