[WRFoodNews] December 9, 2009 Waterloo Region Food System update

Please find below the latest update on Waterloo Region's food system as described on the website of the Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable at www.wrfoodsystem.ca.

1. More on the Waterloo Region Food Summit
Lots more coverage of the Food Summit has been added to the website of the Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable, including:

a 17-minute video of the Summit produced by Azam Fouk Aladeh of the Multicultural Cinema Club, containing edited footage of Tuesday's proceedings. You can view the entire video on the website. DVDs including this and footage of Elbert Vandonkersgoed and Kathryn Scharf's presentations will be available before Christmas.
We've also added links to some of the media coverage of the Summit, including CTV's 2-minute story, The Record's front-page story, and Rogers 20's 28-minute episode of Newsmakers devoted entirely to the Summit.
A full evaluation report based on the responses of the fifty Summit participants who filled out evaluation forms is now on the website. 91% of people who filled out the forms said the Summit met their overall expectations.

2. Commentary on Food Summits, Local and Global
The occasion of the World Food Summit in Rome gave many people the opportunity to write about hunger and food security issues. Three stories of note by local people appeared in the week following the Summit:

University of Waterloo Political Science Professor Jennifer Clapp wrote about her experience attending the the official World Food Summit in Rome and the alternative "people's Summit which took place in Rome at the same time. She says the Summit Declaration "articulated vague aspirations void of meaningful hunger reduction targets or financial commitments," while the people's summit offered hope for change. article
Waterloo Lutheran Seminary student Kara Carter published an editorial titled "Food Security is Possible for Everyone" in The Record on November 30th. While she mentions neither Summit, her message is consistent with many of the voices we heard at the Waterloo Region Food Summit calling for action to address local poverty, and she endorses the 25-in-5 call to immediately add $100 to social assistance rates. article
Guelph MP Frank Valeriote attended the World Food Summit as an official member of Canada's delegation. His article "New tactics are needed to remedy world hunger", published in The Record on December 1, 2009, speaks of a "demoralizing disconnect between the words and deeds ... on world hunger and food security." article

3. New Video: The Story of Food
USC Canada has produced an excellent five-minute video on what's wrong with the food system and how supporting international development organizations like USC can address the issues. video

4. Globe & Mail tries to "debunk the fetish of the fresh"
In an article published on November 24th, the Globe & Mail contributed more mainstream media confusion about the reasons for choosing local food. Jessica Leeder's article ran on the front page with a colour picture, and made the case that eating local food has negative environmental consequences, making fun of environmentalists who think otherwise. The article drew a storm of comments on the Globe's website, many containing excellent analysis of the exaggerations in the original article. See links to the article, comments, and published letters to the editor on the Roundtable website's Discussion Forum.

5. Roundtable presentation and report to Regional Council
On Tuesday, December 1st, Regional Council's Community Services Committee received a report about the Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable and our recent Food Summit. Ellen Desjardins and Laura Callum made a presentation to Council to highlight the report and remind Council who the Roundtable is and what we do. They did an excellent job! You can see their names on theCouncil agenda as well as the link to the report on the Region's website.

6. Regional report on Health of the Physical Environment
Regional staff presented a report to Council on December 1st which assesses the health of the physical environment in Waterloo Region. The full report is 250 pages, but there is a six-page highlight document which summarizes it and gives ideas for things people can do. The full report contains a five-page section on the environmental impacts of the food system section on page 186.

7. Upcoming Food Events
Full details on upcoming food-related events in Waterloo Region can be viewed under Upcoming Events on the Roundtable's website. To share news of your event, email details to the Roundtable's Site Administrator, who will post it to the website. Some upcoming highlights include:

'O' Canada - the new Canadian Organic Standards - Tuesday, December 15, 7pm, Kitchener Public Library
Supporting a New Generation of Farmers - Thursday, January 7, 2pm, K-W Multicultural Centre, Kitchener

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