Where is the social justice in our food movement? Dinner & discussion on food justice

We acknowledge the Unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.

Food is an important issue in Vancouver, and everyone agrees that we need to take action to create a food system that is good for people and the environment. But where is the social justice in our food movement? While food may be in the spotlight, food justice is not always on the table.

The multiple, complex, and intersecting injustices of our food system require radical and transformative approaches to building genuine and dignified food security. Our movements to transform our food system must grapple with capitalism, colonialism, and systemic inequalities to seek ways to provide adequate, healthy, sustainable, and culturally appropriate food for all, regardless of race, class, gender, age, or citizenship status.

Join us on Thursday, August 21st at Trout Lake Community Centre (Grandview Room) for a shared meal and panel discussion on how to think about and enact radical food justice as politics and practice in our food movements, gardens, communities, and kitchens.

Doors open at 6:00pm, with a shared meal at 6:30pm and panel and discussion 7:00-8:30pm. Dinner will be by donation, but no one turned away for lack of funds. Child minding can be made available with advance notice.

Please see panelist bios below:

STEPHANIE LIM

Stephanie Lim has been active in community food initiatives for many years, with a particular interest in food as a means of cultural transmission. Stephanie coordinates the Renfrew Collingwood Food Security Institute and advocates just food policies through the Neighbourhood Food Network Working Group. Through food skills workshops, urban agriculture, and community events, Stephanie gathers neighbours of many ages and backgrounds to address food insecurity as a collective concern. Stephanie is also examining food, colonialism, and migration through the lens of community-based learning in her research as a graduate student at UBC. Understanding food as a human right and food insecurity as being at the intersection of multiple oppressions, Stephanie grounds her work in honouring the many social, economic, and historic dimensions of food.

CEASE WYSS

T’Uy’Tanat - Cease Wyss is a Skwxw’u7mesh ethnobotanist, media artist, educator, and food security activist. Knowledgeable about Indigenous plants and their uses for food and medicine, Cease is a mentor in the areas of Indigenous food systems and agriculture, both urban and rural. She reminds us that the medicines are all around us in our urbanized environments and shares her traditional knowledge of plants that can be found throughout the streets and everyday spaces of the city. Cease has been vocal in the Idle No More movement and has stood up with other Indigenous Peoples to fight for native peoples' rights to hunt, gather, and fish in their traditional territories. Cease listens to the unspoken language of plants, which has the power to help us (re)connect to the land and nature, if we listen.

MEENA WONG

Meena Wong is a mental health recovery facilitator, cross-cultural communicator, and founder of EcoMinds: Gardening for Mental Health. Meena sees gardening as Ecotherapy and she aims to nurture the mental wellness benefits of collective gardening and growing food together. She believes that by working communally, we can help each other learn gardening skills for local food production, as well as ways to maintain and in grow mental wellness. Meena gardens and cultivates mental health in Vancouver’s River District by the Fraser River in the Riverfront Park Community Garden.

ALEXANDRA HENAO

Alexandra Henao works with the Migrant Workers' Dignity Association (MWDA) to organize agricultural workers on farms across the Metro Vancouver area and beyond. Alexandra also organizes with the Social Housing Alliance.