[All] Input needed on Region of Waterloo Food Charter

[Louisette Lanteigne]

Region of Waterloo Food Charter! We need your input!
Jan 07, 2013 01:00 PM
Posted by Paula Bryk
We’re in the process of creating a food charter for the Region of Waterloo and need your input! 
We would like to invite your opinion to ensure this charter is endorsed by all members of our community. Please go to the links below to A) review the food charter backgrounder B) view the draft food charter and C) participate in a survey where you can add your comments to the draft.
A) Food Charter Background:  http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/files/www/Waterloo_Region_Food_Charter_Backgrounder.pdf
B) DRAFT Waterloo Regional Food Charter: http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/files/www/Waterloo_Region_Food_Charter.pdf
C) Food Charter Consultation Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SN2S89W
Once finalized, we’re planning to bring the Food Charter to community groups and to regional council for endorsement. This would make it a public document to help guide decision-making.    
Food charters define a common vision for a just and sustainable food system.  A food charter is a statement of values and principles intended to guide a community’s food policy as well as community organizations and individual community members toward a unified vision for a healthy food system – linking community action and policy.
When a food charter is adopted by the local municipal council, it becomes a public document to help guide decision-making.  Food charters anchor municipal commitments to sustainable food system policies and provide guidelines for decisions about food.  They provide a reference for managing food system issues on a system-wide basis.   Food charters are tools that link policy and community action.  They bring people together to talk about and work on local food system and food security challenges. 
Our current Waterloo Region food system has some challenges socially, economically and environmentally.  Local governments and community organizations are working hard to address many of the challenges in our current food system, but they are often disconnected from one another’s efforts.  A food charter can be a useful tool to strengthen all interests by integrating efforts toward a unified vision for a healthy, viable, environmentally sustainable food system.  As this visioning document would belong to the community and could be accessed by all community members, it could serve to connect existing efforts, guide emerging efforts and create a starting point for dialogue between groups. 
Several Canadian municipalities/cities, including 15 communities in Ontario, have food charters endorsed or in development.
Food Charters in Ontario (existing or in development):
Guelph-Wellington Region, Toronto (city), London (city), Hamilton, Halton Region, Durham Region, Sarnia-Lambton, York Region, Kawartha Lakes, Simcoe / Orillia, Sudbury (city), Thunder Bay, Huntsville/Muskoka, Oxford County, Elgin County/St. Thomas
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