Community Members Invited to Co-Create an Abbotsford Food Charter

The Archway Food Justice Program is hosting a series of engagement sessions to help create a Food Charter for Abbotsford. The upcoming sessions on April 18th and June 19th are open to anyone interested in helping envision what a food secure, sustainable and interconnected local food system would look like in Abbotsford.

“We’re interested in hearing from a variety of perspectives as food is connected to everyone’s health, culture, and environment as well as our city’s economic development, especially in Abbotsford which has the largest agricultural sector In Canada,” said Vicki Lin, the Food Justice program supervisor.

A Food Charter is a broad community statement and set of goals that describe how the members of a community want their food system to be maintained and establishes a shared vision for a sustainable and food secure community.

Food Charters raise community awareness about food system concerns and gaps and create an opportunity for public discussion and advocacy. While Food Charters are not binding policy statements, they act as inspiration for how to develop local food policy and or initiatives for the community.

“Our goal for the Abbotsford food charter is to outline our community’s commitment to cultivating a sustainable, and interconnected local food system where everyone has equitable access to the food they need. We can then use the charter to advocate for resources, collaboration, education and accountability within local food systems,” said Lin.

35 people from various backgrounds participated in the first session on February 14th at Archway Community Services. Participants had the chance to weigh in on six different areas related to food: culture, health, education, economic development, social equity, and environment/agriculture.

“We gained a lot of information and perspectives from the first group and are looking forward to gathering more insights in the following sessions,” said Lin.

The next sessions will be held April 18th and June 19th from 1:00 – 3:00pm at the Legacy Sports Center (3270 Trethewey St). Those interested in joining a session can visit FoodJustice.ca/Charter to sign up.