Edmonton Social Planning Council

Category: Blog: Food Security

  • Blog: The Need for Culturally-Informed Approaches to Food Security

    Blog: The Need for Culturally-Informed Approaches to Food Security

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    Written by: Tom Ndekezi, Summer Student Research Assistant

    Traditional approaches to food security often emphasize food availability, access to nutritious foods, the ability for individuals and households to utilize and prepare healthy foods, and the overall stability of those factors. While that approach may help vulnerable populations gain access to healthy foods, the absence of cultural perspectives and an explicit commitment to the need for culturally appropriate foods may ultimately rob individuals of their right to dietary self-determination.

    A complete understanding of food security must take cultural factors into account, particularly in a country like Canada whose Indigenous, immigrant, and racialized populations are disproportionately affected by food insecurity. In their 2017 literature review “Immigration and Food Insecurity: The Canadian Experience,” University of Ottawa researchers Diana Tarraf and Isabelle Giroux, as well as the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Dia Sanou, detail some common themes that highlight the need to incorporate cultural perspectives into traditional understandings of food security, especially with regard to new and recent immigrants to Canada.

    Upon first arriving in Canada, many immigrants go through a dramatic accommodation phase during which they abandon their traditional diets and completely adopt a typical Canadian diet. This phase can last anywhere from a few days to several months as newcomers gradually become acquainted with their surroundings, identify grocery stores, get in contact with compatriots, and slowly begin to integrate traditional foods back into their diet.

    This adaptation phase is often followed by what Tarraf et al. (2017) call a transition phase, in which newcomers can now structure a dietary framework for themselves and their households. For many this means creating a hybrid diet that includes traditional foods and elements of a typical Canadian diet side-by-side — think BLTs for lunch and fufu and peanut soup for dinner. For others the choice is instead an enculturated diet made up almost entirely of traditional foods. Conversely, there are those who adopt an acculturated Canadian-style diet, at the expense of traditional foods.

    A traditional understanding of food security may look at the phenomenon described above and not see much of a problem with it. As long as individuals have healthy food on their plate, what is the issue with them choosing one diet over another?

    Firstly, many newcomers’ traditional diets are generally healthier than the highly-processed, high-fat, and high-sugar typical Canadian diet. Recent immigrants also tend to be in better overall health than their Canadian counterparts — what is known as the Healthy Immigrant Effect — although over time their health generally declines toward the national average, and in some cases even drops below it. That downwards sloping trajectory can be partially explained by an assimilation to a typical Canadian diet, a process that is perpetuated by insufficient newcomer supports and facilitated by culturally-deficient understandings of food security.

    There is also the temptation to treat the choice to adopt a specific diet as strictly that, a choice. A culturally-deficient approach to food security does not consider the wider, global understanding of what healthy foods are, and whether or not individuals have access to those foods. Although the first step towards food security may be having the choice to not eat unhealthy or low-quality foods, the realization of food security is in the agency that accompanies food sovereignty, i.e. “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems” (Food Secure Canada).

    A review of the current literature regarding food security will find, as Tarraf et al. (2017) found, that much of the discourse surrounding food security is stuck at a primary level of engagement. Much of the conversation is still satisfied with communities having access to affordable grocery stores that supply healthy and nutritious foods, but there is little to no interrogation as to what exactly those foods are and how they serve the demographics of the surrounding community. The coexistence of the Healthy Immigrant Effect and lower health outcomes among immigrant communities is a glaring incongruence, and one that can begin to be remedied by education on traditional foods and the incorporation of cultural perspectives into our understandings of food security.

    Much like a good meal, an effective approach to achieving food security must be created with an intense awareness of exactly who is being served. And like a great meal, a formidable approach to achieving food security and food sovereignty must be created hand-in-hand with the communities it serves, leaning on their input, expertise, and cultural perspectives each step of the way.

     

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  • Blog: Food Security in the time of COVID-19: Thinking Long-Term

    Blog: Food Security in the time of COVID-19: Thinking Long-Term

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    You may have heard a recent ad on the local radio: struggling Edmontonians need food assistance after layoffs and fewer work opportunities. As a result, Edmonton’s Food Bank is trying to meet those needs and is looking for donations of all kinds.

    Any time you have a shock to income, food is one of the first things to be given up. COVID-19 is such a shock, and it is an enormous one.

    How a system reacts to shocks tells us a lot about how resilient it is. In 2008, when the recession hit, food bank use spiked by 28%, and it took years to for food bank use to decrease to pre-recession levels. To give an idea of the extent of the looming crisis, currently 4.4 million Canadians experience food insecurity. The World Food Programme predicts that unless action is taken, the number of people globally who experience short-term food insecurity will double. A poll conducted in April this year suggested that 65% of Canadians believe that hunger will be a serious problem as a result of COVID-19.

    Rather than simply try to return to the way things were before, Food Secure Canada recognizes that these shocks can be an opportunity to create long-term, systemic changes. They explore how to build an equitable and sustainable food system for the country in a recent report.

    Some of their recommendations are foundational for improving food security and are not new. They include:

    • A universal basic income to ensure vulnerable populations have access to the food they want, not just the food they need.
    • Indigenous food sovereignty, whereby First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples across Canada and in various settings are given the right to self-determination and governance within their food systems
    • A national school food program, so that schools are equipped with the resources to provide adequate nutrition to all students.

    This report also provides us with an opportunity to look deeper into agricultural practice and food systems in Canada. How these systems are set up influence our access to food, what kinds of foods we have, and the types of jobs available.

     

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  • Blog: Civil society in the age of the UCP government

    Blog: Civil society in the age of the UCP government

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    The University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy recently published a report on the impacts of COVID-19 and the financial relationship between civil society and the provincial government (Alberta’s Civil Society Pre- and Post-COVID-19: What’s Government Got to Do With It?). As a member of Alberta’s civil society, the Edmonton Social Planning Council (ESPC) is dedicated to ensuring that supportive funding for the most vulnerable in our province is sustainable and equitable.

    Civil society, generally defined as “individuals, community groups, labour unions, social movements, organizations (registered or unregistered) that, outside of the state or market, pursue a common good” (p.4), has a complex and interconnected relationship with the government. This is becoming more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the provincial government reaches out to this ‘third sector’ as a means of meeting community needs during unprecedented times.

    The majority of civil society organizations in Alberta are partially funded by government support, and generate 11% of the total provincial GDP ($35 billion as of 2017) through their activities (p.6). Now may be the time to make meaningful change in the way that civil society is utilized to effectively increase value and impact for all Albertans, starting with establishing sustainable revenue sources beyond government funding—especially in the wake of COVID-19’s economic impact to our province.

    Civil society can either function as a counter-voice to government action, keeping it accountable and advocating for change, or work in tandem with government initiatives, implementing programs and services on the ground (e.g. public charities focused on education or health). There is, however, a substantial lack of data available, making it difficult to understand the complexities of civil society or to measure its impact. Considering the various organizations and sectors that are included under this umbrella term, it is a challenge to compile comprehensive data to determine evidence of its impact and value. There is also little clarity around the distinction between ‘charity’ and ‘non-profit’ (which have different CRA requirements)—Alberta claims there are over 25,000 charities and non-profits across the province, but does not distinguish in the same way as the CRA, which again limits access to reliable data. But even so, information on civil society actors that fall outside of these two categories (such as local volunteers or unregistered grassroots associations) would nonetheless remain unaccounted for.  

    As of 2017, 11% of all Canadian charities call Alberta home. Of these, 10% are public (schools, hospitals, etc) and 90% are non-public. Public charities received 85% of their funding from the government, whereas non-public charities only receive only 34% of funding from the government (p.6).

    Whether civil society can pick up the slack from budgetary changes in the past year, compounded by increased economic hardships due to the current pandemic, depends on what key areas the government continues to invest in. As a member of Keep Alberta Strong, ESPC has taken action to call on the current government to maintain support in six priority areas, such as child care and affordable housing. During this period of economic and social uncertainty, it might benefit civil society actors (and government players) to take a look at the interdependent financial relationships between public and non-public charities and the government, and strategize for future sustainability.

    The report makes little mention of austerity measures made by the UCP government in its most recent provincial budgets, where a large portion of cuts were issued within the public and charitable sectors. Rather, the report focuses on economic circumstances in light of COVID-19. It is difficult to consider the current financial stress that many civil society organizations are facing as having two separate and unrelated causes (budget cuts vs. the pandemic), as they have been truly compounded in recent months. ESPC will continue to share details and reports on these issues as they become available. 

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