Food Security Action Plan Update: Phase 1 - Food Justice

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Consultation has concluded

Project Update April 26, 2023: Thank you to all who participated and shared their experiences and perspectives on food justice and food insecurity in New West. City staff and community partners have reviewed the input collected and are pleased to share the complete engagement findings.

Please click here to read the What We Heard Report.

Staff have also prepared the following visual summary to highlight a few of the experiences you shared related to food insecurity. Our gratitude to the many folks with direct experience of food insecurity, whether themselves or someone close to them, who shared their stories in our survey. These personal experiences and stories help to demonstrate the wide-ranging impacts of food insecurity in the New Westminster community, and beyond.

Please click here to view a larger version of the graphic.



The City of New Westminster is preparing to update the 2018 Food Security Action Plan. The 2018 plan seeks to address barriers, gaps, and needs within the community, and raise community awareness about food security. As a first step before the plan is updated, we sought the community’s perspectives on our food system through a food justice lens. There will be more opportunities to participate as the project continues through 2023.

As part of Phase 1 of the project to update the plan, the City received funding from Fraser Health to form a working group made up of diverse community voices, including individuals from equity-denied groups and those with lived experience of food insecurity, to develop a survey for the wider community and to inform the report, "Everybody Needs to Eat: Food Justice Project." The goal of the early engagement was to confirm barriers and potential strategies to address them, applying a food justice framework.

What's food security? Food security means that: everyone has equitable access to food that is affordable, culturally preferable, nutritious, and safe; everyone has the agency to participate in and influence food systems; and food systems are resilient, ecologically sustainable, socially just, and honour Indigenous food sovereignty.

What do we mean by food justice? Food justice recognizes that our current food system is unfair when we look at where, what, and how food is grown, transported, distributed, accessed, and consumed. Some people benefit more, while others face greater barriers or burdens - for example, Indigenous people, racialized individuals, people with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression (LGBTQ2S+), people with disabilities, those with low incomes, etc. Click here to access more information and resources such as articles, videos, etc.



The Community Food Security Continuum demonstrates that achieving community-wide food security requires moving beyond food charity for individuals towards system-level changes to address the underlying reasons for food insecurity, such as poverty.


How can I engage? 

Community members were invited to provide their perspectives through an initial set of questions that were open through February 2023. The goal of the engagement was to help confirm and identify current barriers to food justice, and potential strategies to address the barriers. Results from this initial engagement will inform additional engagement opportunities later this year. Check back for more opportunities to get involved.

Your stories and perspectives will help inform an updated Food Security Action Plan with the goal of creating a just and sustainable food system in New Westminster. We want to ensure that diverse voices are reflected in the updated plan, and your input will help us identify actions to support a more equitable and holistic local food system.

Project Update April 26, 2023: Thank you to all who participated and shared their experiences and perspectives on food justice and food insecurity in New West. City staff and community partners have reviewed the input collected and are pleased to share the complete engagement findings.

Please click here to read the What We Heard Report.

Staff have also prepared the following visual summary to highlight a few of the experiences you shared related to food insecurity. Our gratitude to the many folks with direct experience of food insecurity, whether themselves or someone close to them, who shared their stories in our survey. These personal experiences and stories help to demonstrate the wide-ranging impacts of food insecurity in the New Westminster community, and beyond.

Please click here to view a larger version of the graphic.



The City of New Westminster is preparing to update the 2018 Food Security Action Plan. The 2018 plan seeks to address barriers, gaps, and needs within the community, and raise community awareness about food security. As a first step before the plan is updated, we sought the community’s perspectives on our food system through a food justice lens. There will be more opportunities to participate as the project continues through 2023.

As part of Phase 1 of the project to update the plan, the City received funding from Fraser Health to form a working group made up of diverse community voices, including individuals from equity-denied groups and those with lived experience of food insecurity, to develop a survey for the wider community and to inform the report, "Everybody Needs to Eat: Food Justice Project." The goal of the early engagement was to confirm barriers and potential strategies to address them, applying a food justice framework.

What's food security? Food security means that: everyone has equitable access to food that is affordable, culturally preferable, nutritious, and safe; everyone has the agency to participate in and influence food systems; and food systems are resilient, ecologically sustainable, socially just, and honour Indigenous food sovereignty.

What do we mean by food justice? Food justice recognizes that our current food system is unfair when we look at where, what, and how food is grown, transported, distributed, accessed, and consumed. Some people benefit more, while others face greater barriers or burdens - for example, Indigenous people, racialized individuals, people with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression (LGBTQ2S+), people with disabilities, those with low incomes, etc. Click here to access more information and resources such as articles, videos, etc.



The Community Food Security Continuum demonstrates that achieving community-wide food security requires moving beyond food charity for individuals towards system-level changes to address the underlying reasons for food insecurity, such as poverty.


How can I engage? 

Community members were invited to provide their perspectives through an initial set of questions that were open through February 2023. The goal of the engagement was to help confirm and identify current barriers to food justice, and potential strategies to address the barriers. Results from this initial engagement will inform additional engagement opportunities later this year. Check back for more opportunities to get involved.

Your stories and perspectives will help inform an updated Food Security Action Plan with the goal of creating a just and sustainable food system in New Westminster. We want to ensure that diverse voices are reflected in the updated plan, and your input will help us identify actions to support a more equitable and holistic local food system.

Consultation has concluded

Please check out our FAQs before submitting your question. We may have already addressed your topic. 

Do you have a question about the Food Security Action Plan Update project? Add it here and we will aim to reply within five business days. If we think your question would be of interest to others, we’ll post your question and our response here. Thank you for taking the time to ask a question!

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    As a homeowner, I have a large yard which could be made available for growing vegetables. I am not a gardener myself but would like to help grow fresh produce for those who don't have access to a garden. Having community members prepare and maintain a garden in our yard is one option, however small. Could this be a part of a plan?

    Beanbag asked about 1 year ago

    Hello, and thank you for the idea and question. 

    This is a great suggestion and an example of the types of actions that can be considered as part of the future update of the City’s Food Security Action Plan. The City’s current plan includes several actions related to gardens under the section Actions to Support Production and Supply, including “that efforts be made to support the existing ‘Plant a Row, Grow a Row’ program, which encourages homeowners to grow food for donation”.

    The suggestion of making private property available to community members or organizations has been raised by others as a potential strategy for increasing the amount of food that is grown and accessible locally, and could be a potential action in the new plan.  

    As long as the produce is not being sold, property owners are free to allow a community member or organization to grow food on their property or to give away food grown on their property. Recognizing that the inability to sell food grown on private property is a barrier, ideas and actions that could address this could be considered for the new Food Security Action Plan.

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    Define culturally appropriate foods?

    BikeRyder asked about 1 year ago

    Hello and thanks for your question. 

    Culturally-appropriate food is the recognition that specific foods and traditions are important in every culture. The definition of food security includes not only having access to enough food but also types of food and food traditions that are important to one’s culture. 

    For example, while we live in a multicultural community with access to perogies or empanadas, how easily can we find knafeh or manakeesh? While there are food celebrations for Oktoberfest, is there a space or ability to partake in food practices or traditions such as potlatch or eating joumou soup on January 1? 

    Food contributes to an individual's physical and mental well-being and expresses one's cultural identity through preparation, sharing, and consumption.