The Council of Canadians Thunder Bay chapter held a public forum on “Who owns your food?” earlier this week.
The chapter’s outreach for the event says, “Just 10 multinational corporations own most of the food products we buy–these giant companies have taken over many aspects of our food chain, from the farms where our food is grown to fast food restaurants and supermarkets. How are these corporations lobbying governments, influencing research, and impacting our health, our local economies and our environment? What can we do about it?”
Their public forum featured Dr. Charles Levkoe (Canadian Research Chair in Sustainable Food Systems, Lakehead University).
Chapter activist Ruth Cook tells us, “We had a great meeting, lots of good discussion and I think people learned a lot about food production and distribution, and corporate control of the whole system.” She adds, “There was lots of commitment to local and wild foods, to ensuring poorer people were ensured access to good food (gleaning programs, ‘grow a row for the food bank’, etc).”
The chapter hopes to be able to follow-up on the ideas raised at this public forum.
In July, the chapter also organized an edible-plant walking tour this summer.
The Chronicle-Journal reported, “Will Stolz, an environmental science master’s student at Lakehead University, hosted two-hour walking tours around Boulevard Lake on Saturday [July 23] to identify the many edible plants that grow readily in the area. The tours served as a fundraiser for the Council of Canadians, Thunder Bay branch. Tom Cook, who took part in the afternoon tour, was thrilled to discover wild hazelnuts growing in the green space behind the Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital.”
The chapter’s “Who owns your food?” event was the third public forum in its Community Think Tank series.
