Abstract
In recent years, several reports have highlighted the need for a national food policy that takes a comprehensive approach to addressing food systems (CAC, 2014; Levkoe & Sheedy, 2017; Martorell, 2017; UNGA, 2012). These findings suggest that, at the core, resilient food systems must be built on interconnected knowledge and experience that emerge from place-based interrelationships between human and ecological systems. Drawing on these important learnings, this commentary voices our hopes and concerns around the recent efforts of the Canadian Government to develop a food policy for Canada. While we commend the Government’s desire to “set a long-term vision for the health, environmental, social, and economic goals related to food, while identifying actions we can take in the short-term”, we caution any tendency to develop “best practices” that assume a universal, or “one-size fits all” approach to food policy development. We argue that Canada requires a set of contextual, place-based food policies that emerge from the grassroots, address local needs and desires, and build on the strengths and assets of communities.
Highlights
We suggest that sensitivity to place can be achieved through a shift toward understanding distinct experiences and patterns within food systems, rather than the standard approach of determining what is “best” through isolated perspectives and decontextualized data
A national food policy needs to consider place-based relationships that are open to the fluidity of social and environmental dynamics
The boreal forest is noted for its spatial heterogeneity, which can aptly be described as a complex mosaic of landforms, soils, vegetation relationships, and animal population dynamics (Winterhalder, 1983)
Summary
We suggest that sensitivity to place can be achieved through a shift toward understanding distinct experiences and patterns within food systems, rather than the standard approach of determining what is “best” through isolated perspectives and decontextualized data. This research has explored access to, and utilization of, place-based food practices to enhance the quality, self-sufficiency, and sustainability of available food sources within both settler and Indigenous communities. To encourage the diversity essential for addressing the heterogeneity of food sourcing pathways (cultivated and wild) available in Canada, a national food policy must be rooted in joined-up approaches that connect departments, sectors, and jurisdictions and establish opportunities for the selfdetermination of communities in relation to their food sources.
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