Recommendations for Advancing Food Security in Yukon
list Derived from Yukon Food Security Events held in Whitehorse, Yukon May 18 - 19th, 2016
The following recommendations were developed from the outcomes from the Yukon Food Security Roundtable and Open House and the Association of Yukon Communities questionnaire (reported elsewhere). The list is organized according to top 5 priorities and values emerging from Roundtable, 1) Access for All, Self-Sufficiency, Support for Local Food Producers, Addressing Planning and Policy Development, and Encouraging Community Gardens and Greenhouses. The recommendations are categorized into three main categories, Local Actions, Territorial Actions and Practices and Processes. Partnership across various sectors was identified as a key component of these recommendations.
Local Actions
(in partnership with communities, local food producers, Indigenous, territorial and federal governments, Non-Governmental Organizations, academics, the private sector, foundations, and others)
Access for All
1. Access to community kitchens – more outdoor spaces to cook food
2. Support culture and harvest camps
3. Reconnecting to ‘old ways’ and culture/traditions
a. Revive Yukon First Nations trade networks and encourage sharing within communities and between communities
b. Continue finding ways to pass on traditional Indigenous knowledge, practices and values to future generations
c. Support seasonal gathering/hunting
4. Expand initiatives like Sally and Sisters model of providing safe access to nutritious meal shared with women and children only – use up-to-date statistics to assess & respond to need
5. Implement “Good Food Bucks” program
6. Prioritize distribution system for low-income individuals and families to access local food (grown/harvested/hunted)
Self-Sufficiency
7. Convene a Yukon First Nations Food Security Network
8. Continue education and skills building around preservation, processing and cooking of healthy, local and fresh foods
9. Increase access to storage facilities (especially cold storage and root cellars) in communities (outside of Whitehorse especially)
10. Develop food co-ops in communities
11. Encourage youth on-the-land activities – have kids involved in every level of food production/harvest, preparation and composting
12. Develop community strategies – adapting to climate change and food security strategies (must be community-driven)
13. Educate on safety – bear safety while hunting, etc.
14. Increase access to local foods in restaurants/stores
Support for local food producers
15. Support community champions as an avenue for sustainability in community development initiatives involving food security
Addressing Planning and Policy Development
16. Work on how to get expiring foods to groups in need rather than throwing food out – involves education around expiry dates
17. Decrease waste and use resources wisely - Conserve water, save/reuse lumber, develop composting program in each community, reduce waste (includes education on the importance of conservation) * incorporate these lessons into public education system and involve children and youth
18. Increase access to urban spaces to grow food
19. Provide more access to non-stigmatizing spaces and relationships around food sharing, community kitchens and collective cooking
20. Make food security strategizing and planning a priority and develop a Food Charter
ENCOURAGING COMMUNITY GARDENS AND GREENHOUSES
21. Develop community jobs around gardening and agriculture (i.e. create microenterprise for community-gardening to thrive as economic initiative and reduce overreliance on volunteers)
22. Continue education on growing techniques, gardening – particularly, basics in soil health and when to plant different crops
23. Continue community growing courses through Fireweed, Lorne Mountain Community Association – expand these models to rural communities
Territorial Actions
(in partnership with communities, local food producers, Indigenous, territorial and federal governments, Non-Governmental Organizations, academics, private sector, foundations, and others)
Access for All
24. Develop an emergency food plan for the Territory that is informed by community values and priorities
25. Support low-income individuals and families, including programs that enhance job skills
26. Support organizations working to improve food security and reduce poverty
27. Work with, learn from and build on already established success stories/projects (i.e. TH Teaching and Working Farm - share resources, training and curriculum development)
28. Work with wholesalers on absorbing some of freight and transport costs in order to decrease cost of food – community example of this happening already where it has been a win-win (food costs less and people are able to buy more)
29. Make food security an election topic for upcoming 2016 Territorial elections (model off of Food Secure Canada’s Eat, Think, Vote Campaign from Federal election)
Self-Sufficiency
30. Expand thinking beyond just ‘band-aid solutions’ (i.e. move towards food hubs/food centres and promote accessible housing and education)
31. Perform public engagement/communications program to increase public’s knowledge on food security and services/programs/activities offered in communities
32. Support activities that celebrate food (eating food, making food, growing/preserving food) – make sure these public festivals and workshops are accessible for lowincome/rural individuals
Support for Local Food Producers
33. For the Yukon Government to expand College curriculum for agriculture (use TH Teaching and Working Farm as a role model)
34. Expand Kids on the Farm & From the Ground Up programs
35. Continue education on growing techniques and gardening (i.e. basics in soil health and when to plant)
addressing planning and policy development
36. Focus on income-based solutions to food security and housing legislation to counteract homelessness
a. Calculate living wage for Yukon
37. Work with Department of Environmental Health on policies around food safety and shared spaces & mobile food emergency sources
38. Continue working with multiple groups across sectors on implementing the Local Food Strategy and track progress of its implementation
39. Continue school food programming (ensure kids have access to “good food”) and increase education on where food comes from – provide children with the opportunity to grow their own food
40. Monitor food insecurity in the territory - participate in the Canadian Community Health Survey and other surveys monitoring health and household food insecurity
41. Focus on succession planning in all aspects of government and food production to deal with high job turnover and aging farming population – job shadowing, job skills, etc.
42. Support local producers – through subsidies for land, tools, skills building and in accessing local markets
43. Encourage sustainable resource development and conservation of water
encouraging community gardens and greenhouses
44. Build community gardens/greenhouses in every community – ensure systems are in place to counteract food volunteer/employee ‘burn-out’ and ensure food grown is accessible to everyone in community
45. Hands on mentorship for local growing/gardening/farming – Continue Growing Forward program
Practices and Processes
46. Invest in more collaborative spaces for sharing, educating, processing harvest (i.e. community smokehouse), and cooking
47. Invest in innovation – innovation that is accessible and beneficial to all
48. Share information, skills, etc. – strengthen networks and initiatives that support this
49. Clarify what “local means” for marketing purposes – is food locally grown? What percentage of ingredients locally grown? Or is food just locally prepared?
50. Work with our neighbours on issues concerning food (local level with neighbours, territorial level within/between Indigenous and non-Indigenous citizens/governments/organizations, federal level with other territories/provinces, and Internationally with Alaska)