Local Food Policy in Canada and the Next 20 Years of the Toronto Food Policy Council: An Interview with Lauren Baker

Food policy councils (FPCs) are known worldwide as an innovative way to engage citizens in policymaking related to the food system, including issues of agricultural production, public health, economic development, community wellbeing, social justice, and environmental sustainability. FPCs typically operate at the local, regional, or provincial level and provide a platform for coordinated action between diverse stakeholders. Some are formally embedded within government structures while others function independently as non-profit organizations. Over the last three decades, the emergence and presence of FPCs on the policy scene has garnered rising attention and interest from academics, advocates, and policy analysts. Critics have begun to document, analyze, and evaluate the work of FPCs, drawing attention to the successes as well as the tensions and challenges presented by the FPC model of collaboration and policy deliberation. At present, over 100 FPCs exist across North America, each established to identify opportunities for improving the food system. It is widely acknowledged that one of the major strengths of FPCs is their ability to be locally relevant, and to cater their activities to meet the needs of their own communities. Experience in the development of healthy public policies in Canada has demonstrated that the municipal level of government is often viewed as the political sphere in which citizens and grassroots groups possess the greatest capacity to bring issues forward and exert a direct influence. Local governments frequently serve as the testing ground for the formulation and implementation of innovative policy ideas that eventually become more comprehensive in scope as they are adopted by surrounding jurisdictions. As such, local FPCs often seek to establish a long-term role in advising local decision-makers on specific food issues while simultaneously advocating for broader policy reform. In 2011, the Toronto Food Policy Council (TFPC) celebrated 20 years of citizen leadership in municipal food policy in Toronto. A subcommittee of the Toronto Board of Health, the TFPC is comprised of up to 30 members at any given time; these include city councillors and citizen volunteers embodying a broad array of thinking about food and health, from a range of organizational and community backgrounds. The TFPC plays a key role in food issue identification, community animation, and advocacy. It is an important resource for Toronto City Council when food issues are brought to city committees and council meetings. The TFPC enabled the formation of the provincial food advocacy network Sustain Ontario, supported the establishment of the world’s first Youth Food Policy Council, and serves as the community reference group for the new Toronto Food Strategy led by Toronto Public Health. Lauren Baker, a University of Toronto lecturer and founding director of Sustain Ontario: The Alliance for Healthy Food and Farming, is the current coordinator of the TFPC. In late 2011, TFPC member Catherine Mah sat down with Baker to discuss the past, present, and future of food policy in Toronto. One factor is that people are just more aware now of food issues; there’s a broader public awareness of these issues. We see food issues represented in the media frequently. Beyond the local food policy initiatives, we’re seeing a process of linking and scaling-up. Groups are beginning to work across municipal or regional jurisdictions to support each other and network, but also to address broader policy issues. Another factor is that this awareness of the challenges in agriculture, health, and food is resulting in people taking action in their own personal lives and communities. It speaks to the broader context we’re in. The crisis in the environment around climate change, the economic crisis, health crisis—when you bring all these issues together, I think there’s …