I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are here today on the traditional unceded territory of the Kanien’kéhaka people. 

I am proud to represent in our nation’s capital a 200-year-old academic institution that is a leader in fields as vital to the challenges our world faces today as agriculture and the environment. 

I am also proud to be part of a government that is implementing Canada’s first National Food Policy, a multifaceted approach to advancing food security based on comprehensive consultations that have taken place with Canadians and stakeholders.

Budget 2019 announced over $134 million over 5 years in initial investments to implement the National Food Policy.The National Food Policy will help Canada build a healthier and more sustainable food system — one that necessarily includes farmers, producers, and food businesses.

In the brief time I have, I would like to focus on four specific priorities of the Food Policy.

The first is building strong and resilient community food systems.

The National Food Policy will support communities by investing in community-based initiatives that increase access to food with the potential to provide important social, health, environmental, and economic benefits. This includes through the first ever National School Food Program, currently in the planning stages.

The second priority is advancing the government’s commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples by helping to build new relationships based on respect and partnership and on support for strong and prosperous First Nations, Inuit and Métis food systems — as defined, of course, by communities themselves.

First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities in Canada have distinct food systems that have been nurtured and developed over many generations. Reconciliation begins by acknowledging how historic government policies have disrupted these food systems and recognizing the importance of food to Indigenous culture and well-being. For Indigenous Peoples, food is the medicine that ensures their wellbeing; it is a way of sustaining culture and community; and it is a way of reconnecting to the land.

The Food Policy aims to ensure that Indigenous knowledge and practices are considered alongside other forms of knowledge and evidence.

Macdonald College, of course, has already been playing a important role in this area through CINE, the Centre for Indigenous People’s Nutrition and Environment, which undertakes community-based research and education related to traditional food systems in a manner that incorporates the empirical knowledge of the environment inherent in Indigenous societies.

A third priority is protecting and conserving the environment by supporting the adoption of practices and technologies that contribute to clean air and water, soil health, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Along these lines, I was pleased in 2017 to have joined the then Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Jean-Claude Poissant, to announce funding for projects here at Macdonald College to investigate novel ways in which emissions can be reduced through improved water and biosolids management and the creation of technologies, practices and processes that can be adopted by farmers to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

More recently I was pleased to learn that McGill was awarded provincial funding for three Mac-based research projects in sustainable agriculture. 

Last but not least, the National Food Policy will encourage a more systematic approach to reducing food waste focused on transforming operations for the processing, retail, and food-service sectors — and to reducing food waste within the federal government.

In fact, two years ago, the federal government launched the $20-million Food Waste Reduction Challenge, and this past March, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau announced that the government had received over 500 inspiring ideas to prevent, divert and transform food waste. 

Thank you again for inviting me today. Once again, I am proud to represent in Parliament such a world-class academic community that is making cutting-edge contributions to both Canada’s and the planet’s food security.