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On Good Food Jobs: The Beer Industry

Kaitlin Vandenbosch is the head distiller at Mill St. Brewery in the Distillery District, Toronto and former TYFPC member. We caught up with Kaitlin to hear her thoughts on food, beer, and employment in 500 words or less.

Kaitlin's passion for food science was forged early on and took her around the world and through a variety of professional, academic, and personal experiences.

In summation, Kaitlin says "Food is an essential part of life. There will always be employment in the food sector. My advice is to find what aspect of the food sector interests you. Talk to people already working in the industry. Find out what they do and how they got there. Volunteering is another great way to learn more about the food industry and also to see if a certain job interests you".

Read the full interview on our blog.

 

Calendar 

February 2, 2015 TYFPC Community Meeting: Planting Seeds of Change  |  6-8 pm

Join us to discuss the privatization of food, and how to forge your own alternatives. We’ll be speaking with Torontonians who have done just that, including Vanessa Ling-Yu, the founder of CaterTO, Jacob Kearey-Moreland, the founder of the Toronto Seed Library, and Arlene Throness from Rye’s Home Grown. Then learn about the power of seeds in Jacob’s planting workshop.


February 9, 2015 - Civic Engagement Training with Social Planning Toronto: Organizing Your Community  |  5:30-7:30 pm

In this training session, attendees will learn how to connect with local community resources available to facilitate coalition building and creating a collective voice.


February 26, 2015 - FoodShare's Recipe for Change  |  6-9pm

Recipe for Change supports FoodShare’s innovative school food programs that excite the next generation of healthy eaters, growers, and sharers. It’s a party you don’t want to miss.
Our networking committee co-lead, Christine, helping the Toronto Seed Library sort through seeds to be distributed across Toronto.

Deadlines 

February 5: Fifth International Food Conference on Food Studies Conference Submission Deadline


February 28: TYFPC Creative Journal Submission Deadline


May 31: TYFPC Gathering Journal (peer-reviewed) Submission Deadline

 
Our education committee co-leads, Juneeja and Kyla, diving into dinner at the Toronto Food Policy Council 2015 Strategic Planning Retreat. See below for a review of some of the discussed agenda items.

Must-Reads

Our favorite articles from January.


On food waste and urban agriculture

Sustainable food for all

Health and wealth in Toronto
 

Policy in Brief

Bill C-18, the so-called "Agricultural Growth Act", is an omnibus bill in the process of being passed through the Canadian senate. It is thus well on its way to becoming law; a troubling fact given the extent to which, in one swoop, it would undermine the livelihoods of Canadian farmers and give multinational agri-business much greater power and profits.

There are three key aspects of the bill to understand how this will be achieved:

1) The amendment of Canada's
Plant Breeders Rights Act in a way that gives breeders exclusive rights to authorize reproduction and storage. The 'breeder' here is any entity - person or corporation - who originates the plant variety. Farmers are given 'privileges' within the context of the bill, however, these privileges are loosely defined and as such liable to being compromised given the rights of the breeder (see below). These rights and privileges would be legally enforced through the legal framework of Intellectual Property Rights provisions.

2) The poor definition of the farmers' privileges are particularly worrisome given the introduction of the 'incorporation by reference clause' in Bill C-18. The incorporation by reference clause authorizes the incorporation of new documents into the act from any source at any time. This clause opens the door to private, non-democratically accountable entities to influence regulation.

3)  The bill changes the structure of loans in Canada by amending the Advance Payments Program. It loosens who is able to be a part of land purchases, and in this way, threatens to exacerbate already existing issues of farmland access.

Read more about the bill, and what you can do, here. Also read more about our own participation in protesting the passing of Bill C-18.  

From the Toronto Food Policy Council 

The TFPC, through a number of working groups as well as community-based organizations, is working on many exciting projects this year.
 
Here are just some of the goals the TFPC is working towards achieving in 2015:
 

  1. Urban Agriculture: Scale up urban agriculture in the City of Toronto and support the implementation of the GrowTO Action Plan by:

  1. Food Waste: Ensure that food waste reduction is identified as apriority in the City’s solid waste management strategy and increase awareness of the importance of food waste reduction across the food system by:

  • Publishing a food waste reduction report

  • Post web resources on food waste

  • Put on 3 public food waste events in partnership with Solid Waste Management Division

  1. Good Food, Good Jobs: Understand food sector employment dynamics in Toronto; Articulate the relationship between good food and good jobs; Identify initiatives/actions that can support the good food, good jobs agenda by:

  • Publishing a report on Good Food, Good Jobs

  • Working with Toronto Public Health, Toronto Food Strategy and others on a public event on good food/good jobs

  • Developing a case study that illustrates good food, good jobs

  1. Food by Ward: Demonstrate how food is a tool for city building and provide food resources to new Council members by:

  • Publishing and launching the Food by Ward resource

  • Hosting a meeting at City Hall to launch the resources and showcase food initiatives across the city

 
In addition, the TFPC is supporting number of other projects throughout the city. Stay up to date with their work and progress through their website!

Committee Updates

Networking Committee

 
 

Whizzzzz! Chatter! Chop! Believe it or not, this is the sound of networking. On November 19, the TYFPC joined a myriad of food advocates and organizations in a flurry of activities ranging from cricket falafel tasting to TYFPC Jeopardy.  The TYFPC was in a great company and we were energized to meet new and old friends.
 
Next up, catch the TYFPC on February 4, 2015 at the 2nd Annual Foodies Fair hosted by the Good Food Centre, in collaboration with the Ryerson Students’ Union. We’ll be connecting with other members of the local food justice movement and look forward to sharing our experiences with the Ryerson community!
 
And as an ongoing project for this year, the Networking Committee is now compiling a database of farms and food growers in the GTA that are interested to take on secondary school students as volunteers or interns for their operations. Our hope is to connect high school youth to agricultural experiences through the 40-hour community service that must be completed to graduate, and to make this process as smooth as possible for benefit to all parties. If you know of an organization interested to participate in this database, please contact us at info@tyfpc.ca.

Education Committee

 

We are currently accepting submissions for the next edition of our peer- reviewed research journal, Gathering. Please check our website for more
information. Previous issues of Gathering can be found here. The Education Committee is also very excited about our 2015 special edition journal. We are looking to include a collection of poetry, short stories, art and photography as well as any other printable forms of expression to showcase the diversity of connections and understandings around food. Please connect with the Education Leads, if you have any questions. Submission and inquiries can be made to journal@tyfpc.ca. We look forward to seeing your work!

 

Advocacy Committee

 
The Advocacy Committee has been working on the issue of food bank accessibility, specifically for students and non-status residents in Toronto. These issues were the focus on the December Community meeting where we heard from the Ryerson Good Food Centre, North York Harvest, and No One Is Illegal about the complex issue of who has access and who does not have access to food bank services in Toronto. This meeting ended with an invitation to join the advocacy committee at a discussion group on December 10th to chat further about this issue and what role individuals and the TYFPC could have promoting food bank accessibility. This was a lively talk and a few ideas from the meeting are currently being explored for feasibility and interest. If you would like to get involved in the TYFPC efforts around food bank accessibility, please contact us at the information below!
 
The Advocacy Committee will continue hosting discussion groups following Community meetings. These smaller and less structured conversations are a great way to meet peers, ask questions, participate in thoughtful discussions, and brainstorm about our role in creating a more equitable and just food system. Stay tuned for the announcement of our February Discussion Group!
 
The Advocacy Committee also promoted the Furniture Drive to Mishkeegogamang Ojibway Nation to our membership in December. This drive was organized by the CUPE 3903 First Nations Solidarity Working Group to support the Mishkeegogamang Ojibway Nation through the winter. The community is facing a housing crisis and poverty despite resources being extracted from their land. The goal of filling an 18 wheeler tractor trailer with furniture, warm clothing, and housing goods was a success! Fundraising to cover the cost of the driver and fuel is ongoing. More information is available on facebook, see our page or website for the link. 

For more information and to get involved in the Advocacy Committee, email Andrew at amcallister@tyfpc.ca and Rivka at rkushner@tyfpc.ca.

Junior Committee

 

Cameron and Jordan, the junior counsellors of the TYFPC, have been working hard along with the education committee to prepare the food policy workshop to host at schools across the Toronto District School Board. They have planned a number of activities such as a role play, a word jumble, and more. The committee hopes to host the first workshops starting in early February, and are looking forward to engaging and speaking to high school students on the importance of food issues.