Ottawa gets its own Food Action Plan. Have your say

Toronto's Health-Focused Food Strategy

Two years ago ‘Cultivating Food Connections: Toward a Healthy and Sustainable Food System for Toronto’ was published. The report was the next stage of the Toronto Food Strategy, developed in large part by the Toronto Food Policy Council, and proposed a new vision for the food system; a health-focused one that would become part of the city’s policies and programs.

This health-focused food system is one that:

•Fosters food-friendly neighbourhoods
•Promotes social justice
•Supports nutrition and disease prevention
•Builds strong communities
•Creates local, diverse and green economic development
•Protects and sustains the environment
•Empowers people with food skills and information
•Nourishes links between city and countryside


Here are the differences between the existing food system and the one proposed in the report:

Rather than compete with city priorities and resources, the new proposed food system uses
food activities to help meet Toronto’s ongoing goals.

The report proposed six priority areas for action:
1. Support Food Friendly Neighbourhoods
2. Make Food a Centerpiece of Toronto’s New Green Economy
3. Eliminate Hunger in Toronto
4. Connect City and Countryside through Food
5. Empower Residents with Food Skills and Information
6. Urge Federal and Provincial Governments to Establish
Health-Focused Food Policies

Ottawa’s Food Action Plan: Get involved!





Toronto is just one of the forward-thinking cities addressing food issues, joining New York, San Francisco, the United Kingdom, and now Ottawa.

Food for All is a 2-year project led by Just Food that aims to develop a community-driven food action plan that involves:

-Food insecurity and health
-Physical access to food (incl.: food retail environments, food deserts, transportation, etc.)
-Food access in schools
-Food production in urban areas
-Food production in rural areas

The Action Plan has 14 components, listed below, that you can read and comment on... but hurry! We only have until Sunday April 22nd to provide online feedback:

Toward a Breastfeeding Friendly Ottawa
Healthy School Food Environments in Ottawa
Income and the Cost of Eating
Community Programming for Food Security, Food Education & Awareness
Access to Food: Planning and Zoning
OC Transpo and Food Access
Edible Landscapes
Community Gardening and Urban Agriculture on NCC Lands
Healthy Corner Stores
Community Gardening on Private Land and City of Ottawa Land
Prevention, Identification and Remediation of Soil Contamination
Hens in Urban Areas
Bees in Urban Areas
A Food Policy Council for Ottawa