FAQs
- identifying barriers, gaps and needs within the community,
- raising community awareness about food security,
- identifying a sustainability framework to move the actions forward, including aligning actions with existing policies, plans, and regulations,
- identifying donor and sponsorship opportunities, and
- advocating to senior levels of government.
- Policy 1.1: Facilitate a more equitable and livable city in which all residents can meet their basic needs.
- Policy 1.6: Facilitate opportunities for growing food and participating in food culture.
- lack of awareness of food programs in the community;
- limited access to bulk buying and meal preparation programs; and
- limited coordination of food security efforts, including meal programs.
- Who produces the food?
- Who has access to land, and the means of production?
- Who has access to healthy, nutritious, culturally appropriate food - and who doesn’t?
- Who suffers the environmental impacts of food production?
- Who makes food decisions?
- How has colonialism affected our food system and traditional livelihoods?
- What type of food is produced?
- What knowledge is valued and which isn’t?
Our current food systems are international, involve large corporations, and are largely regulated by the Federal and Provincial governments. What is the City’s role?
Municipalities play an important role in food security, such as:
The City of New Westminster does not run food programs, but does provide support to local food security programs operated by faith-based and non-profit organizations.
Food security is also highlighted in various existing plans and strategies at the municipal and regional levels. The Regional Food System Strategy and Regional Food System Action Plan, adopted by Metro Vancouver in 2016, includes a list of 160 planned actions by local governments, including 45 actions planned by the City of New Westminster. This regional plan highlights emerging issues that require local government attention, including food emergency planning, linking poverty, food insecurity and health issues, and building local government capacity to work with civil society groups.
Furthermore, the City of New Westminster’s Official Community Plan (OCP) includes community and individual well-being goals, policies and actions related to food. Relevant policies include:
In addition, the City’s Community Poverty Reduction Strategy, endorsed by Council in 2016, provides a vision for moving forward and specific actions to enhance the quality of life of families, while providing a supportive environment and opportunities to help families move out of poverty. The strategy identifies the following barriers and challenges related to food security:
What is a Food Security Action Plan?
The Food Security Action Plan was endorsed by City Council in 2018 as a response to increasing levels of food insecurity and a number of barriers related to food security efforts in New Westminster, including lack of awareness, limited access and poor coordination. The plan involved over 30 community, faith, settlement and social service organizations in its development and includes 38 actions in six key areas.
A new plan is needed as there has been significant change over the past five years. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the weaknesses in our current food systems and demonstrated how some groups are more negatively impacted than others. There is also a greater understanding of the links between food, decolonizing, and truth and reconciliation, as well as a new expanded definition of food security.
What is food security, what is food insecurity, and why are there new definitions?
The BC Centre for Disease Control recently updated its definitions of food security and food insecurity in British Columbia.
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 that food systems are resilient, ecologically sustainable, socially just, and honour Indigenous food sovereignty.
Food insecurity exists when factors outside an individual’s control negatively impact their access to enough foods that promote wellbeing. Economic, social, environmental, and geographical factors influence this access. Food insecurity is most acutely felt by those who experience the negative impacts of structural inequities, such as discrimination and ongoing colonial practices.
The new definition of food security is expanded as previous definitions often focused primarily on access. As well, food security and food insecurity are often framed as the opposite of one another. However, this is too simplistic as food insecurity can exist in the presence of food security.
What is the Community Food Security Continuum?
The Community Food Security Continuum shows the connections and areas of focus to move from individuals not having enough to eat (household food insecurity) to a sustainable, resilient food system (community food security).
Actions must be taken in all areas of the continuum to ensure food security for everyone. For example, household food insecurity cannot be achieved unless they have adequate income to buy what they need. Conversely, even if one has enough money, food security cannot be achieved without an adequate, safe food supply.
Actions to address food security can be divided into: Stage 1: short-term initiatives; Stage 2: capacity-building projects, and; Stage 3: system redesign initiatives. Most actions to address food security tend to focus on Stage 1 emergency actions. However, the new Food Security Action Plan will address action items in all three stages.
What is "food justice" and why are we including it?
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.
Creating a healthy, just, and sustainable food system means eliminating disparities and inequities in our current food system. Many of these inequities are due to systemic racism and colonialism.
In order to address food justice, one can ask the following questions and consider what are the gaps or barriers in our food system:
The following food system graphic gives some examples of power imbalances within the current food system.
The new Food Security Action Plan will include a stronger food-justice lens.
Why is Phase 1 of the Food Security Action Plan update focused on equity-denied groups?
The new BC Centre for Disease Control definition of food insecurity recognizes that there are multiple factors that contribute to food insecurity. Low income is one of the main barriers to access, and the City of New Westminster is actively addressing this through its poverty reduction work.
However, it is also recognized that food insecurity is most acutely felt by those who experience the negative impacts of structural inequities, such as discrimination and ongoing colonial practices. Data shows that there is a direct correlation between race and food insecurity, independent of all other factors.
The Phase 1 engagement seeks to centre the voices of the Indigenous, Black, and racialized communities to better understand the barriers that members from these specific communities are facing in terms of accessing food that is nutritious and culturally appropriate. As the City of New Westminster is actively working on truth and reconciliation and equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism, we are looking at our policies, plans, and projects through a de-colonial and intersectional lens.
What definition is being used for “racialized individuals”?
City staff and external consultants working on this project are using the word “racialized” based on the following general definition from the Canadian Encyclopedia:
“The term ‘racialized’ is a sociological concept closely related to racism. People seen as belonging to racialized minorities are people who could be perceived as being socially different from, for example, the racial or ethnic majority. In Canada, the term ‘racialized minority’ usually refers to non-white people. The word ‘racialized’ stresses the fact that race is neither biological nor objective but is a concept which is societal in origin. Categorizations other than ‘racialized’ include “people of colour” or BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour).”
Who will be developing the new Food Security Action Plan and what is the timeframe for completion?
The development of a new Food Security Action Plan will happen as part of the Homelessness Action Strategy, which was adopted by Council in 2022. The New Westminster Homelessness Coalition Society will be playing a lead role in the plan development and implementation. Work is currently underway to lay the foundation for the new Food Security Action Plan, with community engagement planned for the spring and fall of 2023, and a new plan launched in 2024.
What role will the community have in developing the new Food Security Action Plan?
The plan welcomes input from all members of New Westminster. In particular, taking a food justice approach means recognizing that some voices are typically not heard and actively seeking such input at all stages of development. For example, the questions for the initial community survey were developed in partnership with a working group of New Westminster community members with key diverse voices, including from equity-denied groups.
There will be multiple opportunities to provide input, including surveys and events, throughout the process. Check the Be Heard page regularly for updates.