Food Charter Promoted To Municipal Leaders


Grey Bruce Public Health and Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force are working together to encourage munipalities across Grey and Bruce to endorse and take action on the Bruce Grey Food Charter. 

Public Health Dietician Laura Needham has been on a roadtrip across Grey and Bruce Counties to speak about a just and sustainable local food system.  This is the collective vision of many members in the food security community and those who sit around the table of the Food Security Action Group of the Poverty Task Force (PTF).

Laura Needham, who is also the co-chair of the Food Security Action Group of the PTF says the Food Charter is a guiding document to assist in the development of policies and programs to promote a healthy and just food system in Grey and Bruce Counties.

In a recent article by Robyn Garvey of Bayshore Broadcasting News Centre Laura gives examples of how to use the Food Charter by municipalities:

“For municipalities this could be a simple as creating a community garden and planting fruit bearing trees in parks to promoting the region as a food, agricultural and culinary destination. ” She says “this also includes promoting sustainable development of agriculture, water, land use policies and practices that support the production of healthy food.”

Needham says “this includes protecting and enhancing watersheds, wildlife, soil and bio-diversity. She adds the Food Charter is also about promoting a healthy lifestyle, saying municipalities can do this by creating walk-able and bike-able access to healthy food. Other ways municipalities can help is by promoting food literacy and encouraging skills building initiatives among youth.”

In 2017 and 2018 we have seen an increase in the number of municipalities in Grey and Bruce Counties endorsing the Food Charter.  Check out to see if your municipality or organization has endorsed the Food Charter!

Click on this link or go to: https://povertytaskforce.com/food-security/bruce-grey-food-charter to read the Food Charter and download the endorsement form.

 

2014 Nutritious Food Basket Survey released in Grey Bruce

The 2014 annual Nutritious Food Basket survey identifies it costs $782.82 a month to feed a family of four in Grey Bruce; up from $775.37 a month in 2013. The survey measures the cost of basic healthy eating based on the prices for representative food products. Provincially, the cost has risen 4.5 percent from last year.
The Nutritious Food Basket reflects more than the cost of food. It assists our understanding of the health of our community. In reviewing the Nutritious Food Basket, the Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force has compiled a Holiday Wish List addressing poverty in the region in 2015. The major pillars of the Wish List deal with income security, adequate housing, food security, transportation and dignity. Each is an important component for an individual to achieve their full health potential.

Often the food budget is considered the most flexible; which means individuals will cut back on the quality and amount of food they buy to put that money to rent or utilities.Cutting back on the food budget to pay for other living expenses puts those individuals at increased risk of chronic disease such as diabetes and heart disease. This is of particular concern in Grey Bruce where rates of many chronic diseases are higher than Ontario as a whole. The local rate of hospitalizations due to heart attacks is 28 percent higher than the provincial average.

poverty-task-pdfb

Poverty Task Force_A Community Conversation_8 August 2014

Front Porch

The Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force came together on 8 August 2014 to discuss how we want to shape the place where we live! Chocolate and fruit was served to keep things positive! Photos were taken of ourselves as Changemakers.  We focused on the spark, the passion and the energy that fuels us to be part of a “community of change”.   This meeting was part of the larger Grey Bruce Community Conversations being organized in partnership with the Tamarack Institute and led by Grey Bruce Public Health.   Attached are the agenda and notes of our Community Conversation:  Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force_Conversation 8 Aug 2014