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Editor-in-Chief: Nicholas PrystieContent Submissions Editor/Media Liaison/ BrandonAd Sales Rep: BraithwaiteEditor: John PasionLayout & Design: Lee McIlmoyleWeb Maintainer: Sunil AngrishCopy Editors: Shannon Jamieson PeggyanneMansfield

Printing: CanWeb Printers

Contributors: Mary Ellen Prange Sandy Skrzypczyk | Pat Elliot-Moyer Elizabeth Smith | Jacquie Colangelo Amanda Pepin | Volunteer Alex Daniel Moore | Donna Lee MacDonald | Sylvia Nickerson J’Accuse Davis | Joachim Brouwer Amy Angelo | Violeta Puente-Duran Nicholas Prystie | Dr. Tarasuk Carolyn Shimmin | Mark Raymond Elaine Power | Nick Prystie | Pat Reid | Kelly Mckinney Laura Ryan Clare Wagner | Lee McIlmoyle

Photography: Jesse Golem Jen HoesenIllustrations: Sylvia Nickerson Nick Prystie Lee McIlmoyle Terri Wallis

THE ANVIL is a quarterly newspaper with analyses and views on the topics that dominate our city’s discourse. If you want to be part of the team, contact us at: theanvilpublication@gmail.com

THE ANVIL STAFF

Mark RaymondAmanda Pepin

Dr. Tarasuk/Carolyn Shimmin

Mary Ellen PrangeVioleta Puente-Duran

Elaine PowerJ’Accuse Davis

Joachim BrouwerNick Prystie

Lee McIlmoyleSandy Skrzypczyk

Pat ReidKelly Mckinney

Laura RyanSylvia Nickerson

anonymousClare WagnerDaniel Moore

Donna Lee MacDonaldHCGN Staff

Jacquie ColangeloAmy Angelo

Volunteer AlexThe Downstairs Kitchen Staff

Pat Eliot-Moyer/Elizabeth Smith

various

OGP StaffNAS Staff

Terri Wallis

03) Cultivating Your Relationship with Food04) What’s Luck Have To Do With It? 05) Five Things Canadians Need To Know About Food Insecurity

06) Nutritious Food Unattainable for Too Many Hamiltonians 07) There IS a Solution to Food Insecurity08) The Promise of a Basic Income Guarantee09) A Seed Library in Hamilton10) Urban Foraging11) Charging Money for Good Intentions12) The Trouble With Food13) Hamilton Food Strategy14 A Farm In The City/ McQuesten Urban Farm Update

16) Centrefold Comic - “Food Bank” 18) Will Food Banks Still Be Necessary in Another Thirty Years?19) The Hamilton Community Food Centre20) Community Food Centres and the Right to Food21) The Hamitlon Farmer’s Market 22) Hamilton Community Garden Network/ Disposing Food Waste 23) Hamilton Victory Gardens24) Hamilton’s Good Food Box Program25) The Downstairs Kitchen/ Reducing Food Waste

26) Community Updates28) Feast On The Farm Event Poster29) Oliver’s Garden Project Poster30) Hamilton Neighbourhood Action Strategy/ Urban Gardening Colouring Page31) Food Sustainability Event Poster

EDITOR’S NOTEEDITOR’S NOTEIs food a human right? Should every person have access to free healthy food? Like air or water it’s something that we all need in order to survive. Why do we pay for one and not the others? Is it because it takes a certain amount of labour, more or less depending on the situation, to produce? I think if we thought of food as a basic human right then we might treat its production and distribution entirely different. When discussing the cover of this quarters issue, we wanted to convey this in an impactful way that asks you to think about the way we distribute food and that perhaps there could be a better way of doing it.

We took Da Vinci’s Last Supper and gave it a little twist. In the picture a good friend of ours, Eileen, plays the role of messiah and instead of sharing in the feast with the ‘disciples’ at the last supper she is spreading the natural, healthy food amongst those without. I think as you read on what you’ll discover is that the charitable industry is beginning to realize that the way things were done doesn’t work anymore. Food banks are evolving and this is a great thing. It means our system of charity will soon change too. A recent study by University of Toronto Professor Dr. Tarasuk showed that only 1 in 4 people eligible for food bank support actually used a food bank. This is attributed to the lack of dignity many people feel in having to go to one. When it comes to addressing food security Hamiltonians are thinking outside of the box. An Urban Farm in the McQuesten neighbourhood aims to involve the wider community in the growth and production of their own food. Emergency food services are starting to shift to a Community Food Centre model which focuses more on healthy food and relationships. Urban foraging is becoming hip. There is also a strong fight from the grass roots all the way to the heights of the government for serious change to OW and ODSP amounts and a shift to a basic income.

We are incredibly grateful to all of this quarter’s contributors. We know that we’ve missed a number of great advocates, agencies and leaders in the community who would have loved to speak on this issue. However, there is only so much space and we hope you can appreciate who we have brought to the table this time around. With the rising cost of food in Canada, maybe it’s about time we start talking about fresh healthy food for all.

Nicholas Prystie,Editor-in-Cheek,The Anvil

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in The Hamilton Anvil Publication are the responisibility of the individual authors, and may not reflect the opinions shared by The Anvil Staff, its community partners, advertisers, content providers, or financial supporters. Concerns about our editorial policies or the conduct of the individual content providers may be addressed to theanvilpublication@gmail.com. All Rights Are Reserved. © 2016 The Anvil Publication (Hamilton)

The Hamilton Anvil Publication is made possible by a sponsorship grant from the Hamilton Neighbourhood Action Strategy, and in partnership with the Jamesville Hub, and from community partners and advertisers like you.

Hamilton NEIGHBOURHOOD ACTION STRATEGY

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by Mark RaymondFood is weird. I mean, some foods are weirder than others, but consider the whole idea that our survival depends on finding mass to ingest every day. It doesn’t quite fit into the narrative of our imaginations. Struggling to define our place in the world doesn’t leave much time for soup-and-sandwich combos, and you never see action heroes in movies stopping to wash dishes, or use the toilet. Food has an awkward place in our culture today, like a distraction or interruption from seemingly more important things.

Your relationship with food shapes your connection to everything around you, and your relationships with other people. Food constitutes and replenishes your physical being, but it also shapes and is shaped by your world view. The degree to which you consider the importance of what you eat is the same degree to which you feel connected to the world and draw meaning from your experiences. Lots of people today run from grilled cheese to french fry wondering where all the meaning went.

Many modern processed foods come from industrial grains separated in vats and reassembled as crispy mouth-feels, or tube-fed to an incomprehensible biomass of animals to be cut up and shrink-wrapped in tiny pieces. The whole middle section of the grocery store is mostly two or three foods mixed with a whole bunch of chemicals. Profit is the driving vision behind this bizarre corporate menu, and sustenance works graveyard shifts in the mailroom. Everybody eats this stuff, and that’s why we’re all sick.

Advertising pressures us towards all kinds of cravings, but ultimately we make a choice to normalize and accept that salty poison in a box is what’s for dinner. In the same way, we all have a tendency to define our preferences rather than searching for them. Do you remember the first time you gagged when you heard about escargot? I still can’t believe there are fancy restaurants that serve insects, and nobody runs out screaming, even though they are truly delicious and among the most available nutrient-rich ingredients on the planet. My nephew is proud to announce that he hates potatoes, but he will change the subject and shovel a bag of chips in seconds,

and by the time I get to rationalizing that there is barely any actual potato in the bag, he is in the next room punching his brother and stealing his chocolate.We live in a strange time. Throughout human history, finding and growing food defined our daily existence. Children learned how to hunt and tend the harvest because their lives depended on it. To live and die by the sacrificial gifts of the animal was nothing more glorious than the modern equivalent, going to work in an insurance office with an overpriced bagel shop downstairs. The tactile subsistent connection with the animal seems more romantic, but can your district supervisor kill and butcher a chicken? Does the thought of it make you swoon and salivate?

Today kids grow up thinking oranges grow in the grocery store, and milk happens inside a plastic bag. There is a wall between us and a healthy relationship with food, but built into the wall is an automatic sliding door made of ketchup. Everything that tastes addictive is causing a buffet of chronic health problems. Wholesale subsidization of toxic practises makes junk food the most affordable, and cash-strapped public institutions are forced to serve it. You can’t get a top-notch fresh salad in a hospital cafeteria, but you can get a near-lethal dose of twinkies.

We are so far displaced from our food origins that ancient fundamental practises are becoming trendy. Gardening, one of the original means of production, is now a hip new expression of urbanism, which is wonderful. Restaurants promote local ingredients grown around the corner, and people pay big money for small bites of it. Our tender roots are being rebranded and upsold. It’s a step in the right direction, but we can do better.

There are so many practical ways to save money and eat well. The internet and a little practise can teach you anything. Some veggies and herbs will grow year-round in your window. Buying whole cuts of meat to process and freeze saves enormous amounts of money. With a few scraps of cheap gear you can build an aquaponics rig the size of a filing cabinet, and grow fish and lettuce in your bedroom. Sprouting whole grains is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to unleash a

torrent of superhuman nutrients. If you have a tiny lawn, a box garden will produce as much food as you’re willing to put in work for.

There are many ways to source better as well. Look for affordable shares in a local farm CSA, market or good food box. Join a community kitchen and learn how to share great food and knowledge with awesome people. Learn what grows in season around you and where to buy it for cheap, or find it growing for free. Join a food co-op. Dried pulses are a fantastically cheap source of protein and minerals, if you have a little water and time. Consider the wealth of data showing that a plant-heavy diet makes you live longer and healthier, because it’s also cheaper. Go to the market and ask a farmer what she has way too much of. Take it home and figure out how to turn it into fois gras.

These things take some time and resolve, but they add time to our strangely short lives, and the resolve to do great things with it. To patiently unravel the indecipherable code to nutrient optimization requires a lifetime of study, not just of every possible snack, but of our own changing bodies and physiological responses. This is an overwhelming and confusing conundrum, but along the way is an epic odyssey of otherworldly flavours and physical becoming.

Most of all, it’s your choice, and there is a world of choice outside of the rows of neon packaging. Your inner voice may be echoing that a greasy box of crispy fat chunks in sugar sauce is required before you can go further, but it’s not real. Peel back the layers of complexity in your opinions of food, and get at the juicy middle. Give thoughtful care to your lunch, and it will care for you in return. Invite some friends. This is the kind of love that we can all dream of, but we can have it and eat it too.

Mark Raymond is a retired chef who runs a foodbank, plays drums, rides a bike everywhere, eats lots of weird foods, and generally feels great. He lives in Beasley and is growing a food forest on his front lawn.

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Food insecurity - It sounds so clinical, so clean. What it doesn’t sound like is the simple truth of life without having enough; enough variety, enough to eat or enough money to obtain either.

With so many choices available to us, we tend to forget that food is a basic necessity of life – a human right. We wander the aisles of the grocery stores trying to decide if we want the locally grown tomatoes or the imports. Do we want chicken or beef? Maybe we’d like to have some fish this week.

That is what I get to do now, but it wasn’t always a luxury. Whether because of choice or circumstance, we can find ourselves faced with choosing between quality and quantity. Whether because of pride or shame, we can find ourselves unable to ask for the help we might need.

So what is it really like? I’m sure it’s very different for everyone. For me, it was chicken wieners because they only cost $0.99 for a pack of ten. It was a full kilogram tub of store brand peanut butter on a slice of bread when we had it, on a spoon when we didn’t. It was an entire case of Kraft Dinner that my boss’ father had bought for my son. But that was the easiest part of it all.

The hard part was giving my son food poisoning because I needed to stretch those leftovers just one more day. It was nursing him through the fall out of that and feeling like a failure as a parent because I couldn’t provide him with food that wouldn’t make him sick. It was having my son’s snacks taken from him in class and replaced with a handful of Alphabet cereal because the food we had in the house contained one of the ever-expanding forbidden food items in schools. At the beginning of each school year, a list is sent home to you detailing brand name items

that are “school-safe.” You send the list back, adding on basic staples like milk, bread and eggs, asking that they pick up these items for you along with all of the others on that bloody list. They aren’t living your life, so they don’t understand the feelings of inadequacy this list stirs up in you.

At some point, you begin to become isolated. Not necessarily because you want to, but because the budget doesn’t include both milk and toilet paper. The thought of leaving your guests to drip dry in the bathroom is too embarrassing to contemplate, so you just stop inviting people over. Maybe you have some coffee in the house to kick start your day, but no filters or sugar. The closest Tim Hortons becomes your salvation; not because you are buying coffee, but because – if you are careful enough – napkins can be used as a filter and sugar packets are easy to grab. Maybe your kid wants apples, so you forego the sugar and the filters because “umpire” apples are his favourite and he deserves more than a steady diet of KD and chicken wieners.

But sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes your life changes and you find yourself in a nice comfortable place. I was lucky enough to find a good man with a good job who fell in love with my son and then me. It took two years before we moved in together, but when we did, one of the first things I did was go out grocery shopping.

I remember feeling almost overwhelmed at the choices that were suddenly available to me. I walked up and down the aisles adding things to the cart that we hadn’t had in a long time. With the cart almost overflowing, I struggled to push it the final few feet into the checkout lane. Item after item after item was scanned; dollar after dollar after dollar added. When the cashier was finished ringing through my

groceries, the final bill was almost $400. Of course, I was mortified because what I had left of my paycheque was less than that.

Close to tears, I admitted to the cashier that I had underestimated the cost and would have to take some items off. Thankfully, she didn’t get frustrated or make me feel any more foolish than I already did; she just waited for me to decide what needed to go back. Before I had made any decisions, though, my partner came through the door looking for me. He looked at the conveyor full of groceries and then over at me and I could see that he understood. Taking out his wallet, he simply asked how much more was needed, paid the balance and loaded the bags into the cart. I said before sometimes you get lucky. I meant it.

I’ve never been in that sort of situation again and, looking back now, I realize that my pride and dignity were contributors to why I was there in the first place. But if I had to do it all over again, with hindsight being twenty-twenty, I would likely do it all the same. With pride and dignity being such integral parts of self-worth, no one should ever have to give those up to access food at all much less the limited options that are provided in current Band-Aid solutions.

Today, I head to the grocery store once a week, grateful that luck found me before the Band-Aid fell off.

Amanda is a life-long Hamiltonian, the last ten of which have been spent in the Gibson neighbourhood. She actively seeks small ways to lessen the challenges of those around her, including having been involved in the establishment and maintenance of the Powell Park Community Garden; a garden in which a combination of plot rentals and communal growing provide access to fresh, local, wholesome foods for local residents.

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For many Canadians, food plays a central role in the holiday festivities. But for those experiencing food insecurity, a bountiful feast will not be in the cards this year. Over four million Canadians, including 1.15 million children experience some level of food insecurity.

Food insecurity, also known as ‘food poverty,’ can cause significant anxiety over diminishing household food supplies and result in individuals modifying their eating patterns — adults skipping meals so children can eat or sacrificing quality food choices for cheaper, less healthy options, for example. Food insecurity also often results in physical hunger pangs, fatigue and lack of concentration and productivity at school, work or play.

Then there are the social impacts of food insecurity that most of us wouldn’t consider, such as not being able to invite friends and family to dinner or being unable to afford to meet people for coffee. Food poverty can also create stress and conflict in family relationships and meals are often not a happy gathering opportunity.

Here are five things Canadians need to know about food insecurity:

1. Food Insecurity Significantly Affects Health

Evidence shows that among children, food insecurity is associated with poorer physical and mental health outcomes, including the development of a variety of long-term chronic health conditions such as asthma and depression.For adults, research shows that food insecurity is independently associated with increased nutritional vulnerability, poor self-rated health, poor mental, physical and oral health and multiple chronic health conditions including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, depression, epilepsy and fibromyalgia. Studies also show that food insecurity impacts a person’s ability to provide self-care and manage chronic health conditions.

Evidence also shows the health impact of food insecurity exists on a gradient – meaning adults

in more severely food-insecure households are more likely to report chronic health conditions as well as receive diagnoses of multiple health conditions.

2. Household Food Insecurity Is A Strong Predictor Of Healthcare Utilization And Costs

A study in Ontario found that among adults, total healthcare costs — including inpatient hospital care, emergency department visits, physician services, same-day surgeries and home care services — increase significantly with the level of household food insecurity.

In other words, food insecurity costs us all through increased healthcare use. Compared with adults in food-secure households, annual healthcare costs were, on average 16 per cent (or $235) higher for adults in households with marginal food insecurity, 32 per cent (or $455) higher among those with moderate food insecurity and 76 per cent (or $1092) higher among those with severe food insecurity.

3. Food Bank Use Is A Poor Indicator Of Food Insecurity

Food Banks Canada recently estimated food bank use for a twelve month period at 1.7 million people, yet the number of food insecure individuals living in Canada is more than double this estimate. The main reason for this discrepancy is that most people struggling to afford the food they need do not turn to charities for help. The evidence suggests that using food banks is a last resort. Because food banks rely on donated food, both the amount and type of food available for distribution is limited, and agencies are unable to provide for everyone in need.

4. An Adequate And Secure Level Of Household Income Is Strongly Linked To Food Security

It is perhaps surprising, but households reliant on wages and salaries make up the majority of food insecure households in Canada at 62 per cent. Households whose main source of income was either pensions or dividends and interest had the

lowest rate of food insecurity in 2012 at seven per cent — compared to 11 per cent for people in the workforce and 70 per cent for people on social assistance (i.e., welfare and disability support programs). Researchers suggest the low rate of food insecurity among Canadian seniors reflects the protective effects of our public pension system.

5. Relatively Modest Increases In Income Have Been Found To Lessen Food Insecurity Among Low-Income Families

Studies have shown that improved incomes and changes in employment can reduce food insecurity. An example of this can be found in Newfoundland and Labrador where evidence shows that from 2007 to 2012 the rate of food insecurity among households living on social assistance in this province fell from a staggering 60 per cent to 34 per cent. During this time period, the Newfoundland government made several changes to improve the circumstances of people living on social assistance, including increasing benefit levels and indexing them to inflation (until 2012).

Let’s not let another year go by without addressing food insecurity in Canada. In a country as rich as ours, there’s no reason anyone should go hungry.

Carolyn Shimmin is a Knowledge Translation Coordinator with EvidenceNetwork.ca and the George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation.

Valerie Tarasuk is a Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto and Principal Investigator of PROOF, a research program funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to identify policy interventions to reduce food insecurity in Canada

For more information check out http://proof.utoronto.ca/

A version of this commentary appeared in the Globe & Mail, Hill Times and Vancouver Province.

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dollars compared to those who are food-secure.

Over the past 25 to 30 years, there have been various food responses to food insecurity – food banks, good food boxes, community gardens and collective kitchens – but these have not reduced the problem in any significant way. Income responses are needed to fix food insecurity because it is a problem strongly associated with low household incomes. To effectively reduce the problem of food insecurity in Hamilton and throughout Canada, we need action from the provincial and federal government to enact policies that will increase access to affordable housing and childcare, increase social assistance rates to reflect the actual cost of basic needs, and/or implement a basic income guarantee.

For more information on the cost of healthy food in Hamilton in 2015, visit the City of Hamilton website at: http://www.hamilton.ca/public-health/health-topics/how-much-does-healthy-eating-cost.

Nutritious Food Unattainable for Too Many Hamiltonians

by Mary Ellen Prange, RD, City of Hamilton Public Health Services

Every year, City of Hamilton Public Health Services monitors what it costs to buy basic nutritious food. The cost of 67 food items in a sample of grocery stores across Hamilton is surveyed. These 67 items make up the Nutritious Food Basket (NFB) which can be used to prepare a week’s worth of healthy meals and snacks that fit the recommendations of Canada’s Food Guide. The NFB survey is a requirement of the Ontario Public Health Standards.

Public Health Services compares the cost of the NFB and the cost of average market rental housing to incomes for various family situations. Year after year, the calculations clearly show that families and individuals who earn minimum wage or receive social assistance do not have enough money for the basic costs of living. When there isn’t enough money to cover fixed living expenses such as rent, heat, hydro and transportation, there is little or no money for more flexible expenses such as food. This can lead to a situation known as “food insecurity.”

Food insecurity is defined as “inadequate or insecure access to food because of financial constraints.” It is a significant social and public health problem in Hamilton. In 2011-2012, 11.6% of households in Hamilton – more than one in nine – experienced food insecurity. Food insecurity can be classified as marginal (worrying about running out of food), moderate (compromising the quantity or quality of food consumed) or severe (reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns due to lack of food). The food insecurity situation was moderate or severe for over 8% of Hamilton households in 2011-2012.

Food insecurity is a problem rooted in household income. While there has been a lot of attention recently to the rising cost of food (in particular fresh vegetables and fruit), food is still reasonably priced in Hamilton compared to what it costs in other parts of Ontario and Canada, and in other countries. Incomes have not kept pace with the costs of basic living, causing too many to struggle with making ends meet.

The following table shows real-life situations for Hamilton households in 2015:

All of the households except the family of four with median Ontario income illustrate individuals and families living on low incomes. The proportion of income needed for food and housing leaves insufficient money for other basic living expenses including transportation, telephone, clothing, laundry, personal care, household items and school-related expenses. These households are highly vulnerable to food insecurity.

Families and individuals who experience food insecurity are more likely have poorer health compared to those who are not food insecure. Not having access to nutritious food makes it difficult to manage health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure and then more medical care is needed. A recent study found that Ontario adults in severely food-insecure households used 2.5 times the healthcare

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Food insecurity occurs within a household when food quantity and variety are reduced due to financial limitations (1,2) . In Hamilton, food insecurity affects more than one in nine households (3). How might families and individuals deal with food insecurity? One, by turning to food banks for temporarily relief; two, by buying less food and thus eating less; three, by purchasing energy-dense, lower cost foods; four, by feeding their children before themselves. This can result in nutrient deficiencies and poor health. How can we mitigate the ill-effects of food insecurity? By increasing the number of food banks? By comparing all the weekly flyers and budgeting accordingly? By advocating for lower food costs? The answer is no. Food insecurity occurs when income is inadequate (4). Thus, we can come up with all sorts of temporary solutions, but until income is not appropriately addressed, food insecurity will continue to exist. A tool that is used to monitor the cost and affordability of healthy eating is the Nutritious Food Basket (NFB) (5). The foods selected for the NFB fit within the Canada’s Food Guide for Healthy Eating (vegetables, fruit, grains, milk and alternatives, and meat and alternatives) and are based on the lowest cost (6). In Hamilton, the cost of healthy eating for a family of four was $827 per month in 2015 (3). The average monthly housing cost was $1030, and income from Ontario Works $2196 (3). For a family of four on OW healthy eating -at its cheapest- costs close to half of the household income. The remainder goes towards rent, and 15% is left for “others” (3). So budget is tight. No doubt about it. Whether or not this breakdown accurately describes households’ expense patterns (and it most likely does not), it is insufficient. The 15% that represents the “others” figure is $339. Other necessities include clothing, toiletries, detergent, toilet paper, baby products if needed, other bills. Then there are non-necessities: cigarettes, alcohol, family outings and events, and so on and so forth.

Food insecurity should not exist. And while income remains insufficient for many, other measures need to be taken. Currently, the allocation to basic needs (food and others) for a family of four on OW is under $500; that’s almost half of the cost of the NFB (7). What if, for instance, the cost of the NFB was included

in the calculation for OW? And along with that an educational component implemented, whereby community educators assist families and individuals in choosing food items that make up the NFB? The allocation of funds to nutritious foods would at least partially address food insecurity. It is possible to reduce food insecurity. In Belo Horizonte, Brazil, food insecurity and hunger were reduced through the implementation of the Zero Hunger Strategy (8). The success of the program was made possible by a Mayor, in the 90s, who mandated that all citizens have access to healthy food (9). In the following years, inter-sectoral collaboration, implementation of policies along with well-planned evaluation systems, among others, resulted in the program success and nation-wide expansion (9,10).

The following are brief summaries of some of the programs designed under this initiative: 1. Bolsa Familia (Family Grants): a cash-transfer program targeted to families with high needs; 2. Popular Restaurants: where government funded, low-cost, nutritious meals are accessible to everyone; 3. School Meal Programs: fully funded by Government; 4. Food Banks: not the traditional kind; these are designed to reduce unnecessary food waste; produce is donated by farmers and supermarkets, safely packaged and donated to local charities; 5. Food Outlets: sell a number of food items at a set-cost which is below market price; 6. Basic Basket Research: similar concept to the NFB, except these are done weekly by the city and posted on local bus stops, and others, to help the public find the lower cost options, and encourage big retailers to make prices more competitive; 7. Straight from the Country: select rural producers sell quality controlled produce at a regulated price in city locations (8,9,10). The Zero Hunger strategy took millions of Brazilians out of extreme poverty, significantly reduced chronic malnutrition in children, and reduced the number of households that faced severe food insecurity (10).

Reducing food insecurity is possible. Brazil has been exemplary and has proven that determination, collaboration, participation,

and exceptional planning and leadership can make a big difference. Hamilton is not without its efforts. There are several organizations and bodies fighting food insecurity every day. Even the City of Hamilton (website) suggests that social assistance should be based on actual cost of living and encourages the public to talk to their local MPs (3). In Hamilton, there is no food shortage. Let us create policies that allow for more equal distribution of food, that help reduce waste, that increase activity in the local economy, and ensure that no one goes to bed hungry again. It can be done. References1. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-624-x/2015001/article/14138-eng.htm#a22. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/surveill/nutrition/commun/insecurit/index-eng.php3. https://www.hamilton.ca/public-health/health-topics/how-much-does-healthy-eating-cost4. http://proof.utoronto.ca/food-insecurity/5. http://proof.utoronto.ca/resources/the-nutritious-food-basket/6. http://d3fpllf1m7bbt3.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/media/browser/2015-07-06/how_much_does_healthy_eating_cost_2015.pdf7. http://yourlegalrights.on.ca/sites/all/files/OW_and_ODSP_rates_and_OCB_as_of_Oct-2015.pdf8. http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/greenercities/en/GGCLAC/belo_horizonte.html9. http://www.worldfuturecouncil.org/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/Future_Policy_Award_brochure.pdf10. http://www.mocofoodsecuritycollaborative.org/Rocha%20presentation%20Brazil%20Food%20Security%202014.pdf

Violeta recently completed her Master’s in nutrition and focused her final project on food insecurity. She works as a health educator in chronic disease management and in her time-off she enjoys blog writing and running. She is currently pursuing dietetics and plans to work in the community setting when she becomes a dietitian.

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by Elaine PowerI’ve been studying the issue of food insecurity for over 20 years. Food insecurity refers to the state in which people can’t afford to buy healthy, culturally appropriate and personally acceptable food to feed themselves or their families. It is a serious public health concern, affecting over 4 million Canadians including about 1.15 million children. It is clearly a symptom of poverty.

In low-income households, a lot of work (usu-ally invisible) goes into managing the house-hold budget. When it looks like there won’t be enough money for food, the person primarily re-sponsible for food provisioning, usually a wom-an, intensifies the management process, first decreasing the quality of the food, substituting cheaper, more filling foods, to the detriment of fresh produce and dairy products. If the man-agement strategies are still inadequate, then the family food provisioner will reduce the quanti-ties of food until, in the most severe situations, people skip meals, sometimes for a whole day. To the extent possible, mothers will protect their children from hunger with multiple strategies, including sending them to relatives’ for meals, going hungry themselves, going to food banks, or even stealing food.

It is not hard to imagine that food insecurity has a detrimental effect on nutritional status and health. It is also not hard to imagine that the stress of this management process takes a tremendous toll on physical health. Social health also suffers

when it becomes difficult or impossible for peo-ple to participate in social, cultural or religious activities that involve sharing food with others.

We know from the social determinants of health literature that there is a gradient in health, such that people who live in poverty are much more likely to develop chronic diseases requiring di-etary management, such as diabetes and heart disease. Being food insecure makes it impossi-ble to eat properly to manage these conditions. We also have evidence that for those who are precariously food secure, getting a diagnosis of a chronic disease may be enough to tip the house-hold into food insecurity. This may be a result of the extra associated costs of the disease (e.g., paying for blood sugar monitoring equipment) or because of the disruption of the careful man-agement strategies, or some combination.

Canadian research published last summer shows that as food insecurity worsens, health care costs rise. In the most food insecure households, where people were skipping meals, health care costs were 76% higher than in households that were food secure. When the cost of prescrip-tion drugs was added in, health care costs were 121% higher in the most food insecure house-holds compared to food secure households. This means that reducing food insecurity, by address-ing poverty, will save money in the health care system.

Analysis of food insecurity measurements on the Canadian Community Health Survey shows that the vast majority of Canadian households on social assistance are food insecure, reflecting the low levels of benefits in almost all provinc-es and territories. However, the majority of food insecure households report their primary income from earnings, suggesting the inadequacy of wages in keeping people out of poverty.

A basic income guarantee could replace social assistance, with all its problems, as well as sup-plement earned income. An adequate basic in-come would virtually eliminate food insecurity in this country. This is one of the major ways in which basic income would operate to save us money, by improving health and saving costs in the health care system.

In addition, if a basic income were effective in addressing poverty, we would see the food banks in this country disappear because no one would need them anymore. Imagine what other projects we could tackle with so much energy and time and enthusiasm released from charitable food provisioning.

Originaly Printed on the Leaders and Legacies Website at :h t t p : / / l e a d e r s a n d l e g a c i e s .c o m / 2 0 1 6 / 0 2 / 1 4 / f o o d - i n s e c u r i -ty-and-the-promise-of-a-basic- in-come-guarantee/

In search of a few good Smiths…Right now we are a small group of volunteers that want to get important ideas into the hands of our neighbours. We strive to provide a variety of interesting opinions on a given topic that affects our community. In order to be successful we could use your help.- Do you have a passion for a certain topic or just enjoy writing and editing? - Would you like to see your art work or photography in print?- Wouldyouliketosupportusfinanciallythroughadvertisement?- Do you like long strolls in the neighbourhood and meeting your neighbours?- Are you socially active? (The media kind)We are looking for board members, writers, artists, photographers, advertisers, distributors and social media enthusiasts that would like to support the ongoing work of the Anvil. For more information you can contact us at: theanvilpublication@gmail.com or by phone at905-746-2382.Ourwebsiteisat:Hamiltonanvil.wordpress.comandyoucanalsofindusonFacebook and Twitter

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After an archaeological dig on First Nations land in Wisconsin, ancient squash seeds sealed in a pot were grown into a variety of squash that is an estimated 800 years old. This particular variety of squash is a hallmark--an icon of the conditions in which it was grown because it has been preserved so well and for so long, but also because each season presents a new climate, new weather pattern and new set of DNA that will sculpt the next generation of seeds and plants. The essence of North American Agriculture 800 years ago is held in this squash seed. Preserving this biodiversity, heirloom varieties and culturally traditional varieties of plant is important.

In Northern India, Uttarakhand, the Navdanya Seed University is a seed-production farm which began with the initiatives of Dr. Vandana Shiva--a powerful writer, speaker and educator on issues of environment and social justice. Shiva’s Major works--some of which are Ecofeminism, Stolen Harvest, Earth Democracy, Soil Not Oil-- illustrate and confront the issues surrounding agriculture in a fertile area, in a time of neo-imperialist global capitalism. Navdanya aims to grow organic seed and provide for the farmers of the area--to educate those who enter the property and to support local subsistence farming--rather than mass-farming crops to sell off to wealthier countries. They have created 111 seed banks in 17 provinces of India. They are well on their way to protecting India’s crop biodiversity and agricultural autonomy. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault on an island off the coast of Norway was created through the efforts of the government of Norway, Croptrust, and NordGen. The goal is to hold samples--currently 860,000--of plant genetic material within a protected area in case of climatic or directly man-made disasters. The bank is a controlled climate area, allowing seeds to last for an indefinite amount of time. The vault has the capacity to hold 2.5 Billion Seeds, room for vast amounts of beautiful food crop protected and preserved for continual use.

Seeds are the very basis and key to our food system. They are the absolute image of the evolution of a species of plant, the conditions in which it was grown, it’s variety and

characteristics each year. Changing slightly each season, species adapt and become resilient to pests, weather, and become hearty in their region. Each year we choose seeds from the plants which have produced well, given us good food to eat and grown strong.

The care taken to watch and learn from each plant is absolute artistry, and we have some amazing seed companies in Ontario. Small producers of organic seed are the best choice when starting your own collection. However, we cannot expect every individual to have the excess income, or the need for quantity to purchase new seed every year for their garden. And just as the producer builds a relationship with their plants and garden, so should everyone.

Why not put our hands into the process, and nurture our connection to our food and the earth in our communities? Why not teach our children--our own little seeds--to see how plants grow again and again?

A seed library is a collection of seeds from vegetables, herbs and flowers that may be commonly used in a home or community garden. Anyone who is interested may look at the library’s collection, borrow the seed, grow out the plants, save some of the seed from them, and bring them back to the library at the end of the season.

It is a simple, connected practice in community and ecology; aiming to provide public access and protection for our food system. Seed Libraries are an international movement, arising from the pressure put on us by large agricultural companies controlling the world’s food sources. The organization Seeds of Diversity provides educational resources and is a source of activism in keeping seed production, biodiversity and species information in the hands of everyone.

The seed library as a project promotes people connecting with each other, sharing knowledge, sharing what worked for them each season with each plant, and creating a green urban space--linked together by gardens in every corner and coming back each fall to the collection.

While we make connections with our plants, our gardens, our regions, and our families--we mimic these relationships in our communities. We do this to Keep varieties and species growing every year. Keeping the seed viable, every year the season will bring out something new, something changed in the plants we are growing. The seeds become true products of Hamilton--from gardens at the base of the escarpment, east, west, to the bay-front and our own hands--our childhoods, our stories.

The Hamilton Seed Library began with these purposes in mind. HSL has been building their collection for the past year and a half, have attended Seedy Saturday events each year, and brought their mobile seed library cart around to events such as the 2015 May Day celebrations in Beasley Park.

The Seed Library in Hamilton is: One branch, one large box of seeds, seven volunteers, one cart to visit with, an email address and a Facebook Page.

If you’d like to know more, are starting or continuing your garden, or have seeds from your own garden you’d like to share with the city community, please contact the HSL at the information below.

Hamilton Seed Library @The Tower, Hamilton’s Anarchist Social Centre281 Cannon St. EastOpen Hours: SUN 11am-5pm, MON 2-6pm, THURS 12-5pmh t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m /hamiltonseedlibrary?fref=ts

J’Accuse has worked and lived in Hamilton for the past two years and fallen in love with its gregarious people and wild natural spaces.

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Urban foraging is the art of scavenging consumable and reusable items in our cities. Foraging originally meant only gathering plants that were growing wild in public, but when prefixed with urban, the term has come to have a broader and very politicized definition.

The flotsam and jetsam, the detritus created by the Capitalist paradigm of conspicuous consumption and thrown into the ever-burgeoning growing waste stream, is taken out, diverted and recirculated. The last utility is extracted from products made on dehumanizing assembly lines in soulless factories by ‘alienated’ labour. These factories now include what was once known as the family farm. Other terms for urban foraging might be ‘curb crawling’, ‘trash gleaning’ or ‘dumpster diving’. When I travelled through the sprawling megacities of the Global South, I often came across long rows of ornamental orange trees planted on officious looking thoroughfares. I would fill my pannier bags with the succulent fruit that had rolled into the gutter or lay right in the street. In my northern sojourns, I have retrieved whole steaks, lettuce heads and yogurt tubs from dumpsters, where they have been discarded because one day has passed on the expiry date. Sometimes, I have stumbled upon the homeless in the morning emerging bleary

eyed from these ubiquitous fixtures of the urban landscape.

Urban foraging is often seen as an affront to public decorum, and even considered deviant behavior. In earlier times, widowed and unmarried women gathered herbs and medicinal plants to heal their sick neighbors. Their foraging was considered diabolical, and they were burned as witches. It is even illegal in some municipalities to rummage through private business’s dumpsters, which are tightly locked after hours. But urban foraging should be seen as an alternative to the out-of-date packaged tins and blemished fruits donated to soup kitchens and food banks, and doled out by private groups. These programs do more to assuage the collective guilt of those organizing them than imparting dignity to those receiving the free food. It satiates the poor’s bodily needs, but leaves their souls unnourished.

Urban foraging is empowering to those who are marginalized, disenfranchised, and stigmatized in our community. Searching for your daily sustenance, as opposed to having it ladled on your plate, shows resourcefulness. It takes ingenuity, skill, and labor to search for food. And the visceral experience of eating what you have gathered is greatly enhanced. The animals and

plants we seeded, tended, and then harvested, or butchered on the family farm, tasted better than what we bought at stores.

Food waste in Capitalist societies is endemic and obscene. The French National Assembly recently passed legislation, making it a crime to throw away perfectly good food.

This country has long been in the forefront of direct action social movements stemming to the days of The Commune in 1870 and the Paris student uprising in 1968. Urban foraging is sometimes called ‘recoupe’, derived from two words meaning to ‘cut back’ and ‘recover.’

‘Recycling commandoes’ crisscross the cities of France in organized brigades, seeking food and other discarded consumer products . Guerilla ad hoc feeding stations are set up in public squares to feed the hungry. (Hamilton’s ‘Food Not Bombs’ recently had such as event in Gore Park) The issue of food security cannot be honestly discussed without considering foraging as a legitimate way to obtain the organic material we need to survive and prosper.

Joachim is co-secretary of the Gibson-Landsdale Community Planning Team.

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http://thestinsoncreativelab.wordpress.com/https://www.facebook.com/groups/767109143350358/

I was recently driving from Brantford to Copetown down the country roads that are lined with seemingly endless rows of green farmland. There was so much of it, whatever the crop was, that if someone were to make even just a simple soup using each plant for one pot, or even 5 plants for each pot, you would have enough soup to last the city for a long, long time.

And all that was from one farm, off of one road, in one small Canadian town. If you consider the amount of land dedicated to farming, even just in Ontario [only 12.67 million acres - less than 5% of Ontario’s entire land area (Statistics Canada, 2011, Ontariofarmlandtrust.ca)], which in itself is way less than possible, there is a potential for a hell of a lot of food.

But the sheer amount of food is not the entire point. In order to maintain that vast expanse of land to a level at which it can reliably and consistently yield the desired amount of viable crops, the farmer and his/her crew have to dedicate a huge amount of time, effort, knowledge, stress, and resources, financial or otherwise. And this all before a single seed is planted. Once the seeds are in the soil, then the real work begins. Watering enough but not too much, day after day; fertilizing enough, but not too much, day after day; keeping animals away from seedlings, seeds, and soil; keeping diseased plants and weeds away from healthy plants, if possible without the use of pesticides or antibiotics. Any one of these is a tall order in and of itself. Raising, treating, maintaining not just a few bushes, but acres upon acres of living, growing things. Things that can grow weak or sick or hungry or thirsty, just like children.

But instead of raising children to adulthood, sending them on their way, moving on to live a happy life of fulfillment until retirement, the farmer harvests their hard work, sends it off to the people who need it (i.e. all people), and resolves to start again from scratch as soon as possible. And this cycle repeats itself year after year until either the soil or the farmer, or unfortunately the market, can no longer handle it.

Farmers are grossly undercompensated, as we can never hope to fully compensate them for as noble an undertaking as providing food for everybody. But in place of gratitude and appreciation for what is provided for us, the product of their hard labour is all-too-often horribly mistreated, taken for granted, and utterly wasted.

One might imagine, after all the toil and sacrifice and care given to the crops, the farmer would like to see every morsel used and enjoyed to its fullest

potential. Of course, realistically speaking, there are factors that will inevitably prevent this from happening. Along the road, from the farm to the fork, the food will encounter several obstacles: less-than-ideal weather, necessary handling, shipping, more handling, storage, stacking, stocking, preparing, packaging, and so on. All of these will occur at the very best of times, and each of them will contribute to the diminishing of final amount of meals on the table. But these are all forgivable, necessary steps in the farming process, so long as the vast majority of the product gets to where it is intended to go.

Money, on the other hands, lays landmines along that long road starting at the very first step, and these landmines cause appallingly high amounts of otherwise viable product to rot, become undesirable, or simply get passed up and thrown away, often without having a chance to be selected for consumption.

First of all, with all the work involved, one person, or even one family, cannot hope to keep up with the demands of the farm. Farmhands are necessary, as is compensation for their work. However, hard work that it is, not a lot of people are going to want to get their hands dirty without getting back what they believe they deserve. And there is so much hard work that many people will be required to fill all the spots along the way. Some of those spots will require necessary experience in order to ensure optimum output. And experience doesn’t come cheap.

Once all the initial back-breaking work is done, all the fields are tilled, seeds are planted, plants are tended, crops are harvested, and everything is ready to be shipped to the business end, the farmer is still on the hook. There are still shipping companies to pay to get the product where it needs to go. Think about insurance, gas, maintenance, labor, overtime, and benefits for even one driver, not to mention any assistant loaders/unloaders that may be required.

Once packed and shipped, the product still needs a destination. What kind of shelf space will be required, and in what kind of venue will the product be sold? Is it organic? Is it pesticide free? What are all the overheads and at what price can the farmer reasonably be expected to part with his/her painstakingly raised crops and carry on next year? Who is going to buy? What kind of overheads do the potential buyers have to keep in mind when negotiating a price?

Most food needs to be processed in some way before it can be sold or even. A processing facility costs money to operate and maintain.

And unless this is a particularly well-to-do farmer, this facility comes between the farm and the store. This means payroll and taxes and so on for a completely third party.

Unfortunately, the amount of steps from beginning to end tends to increase, along with cost of operation, in relation to the amount of product that is intended to be produced, shipped, processed, shipped, packaged, shipped, displayed, and finally, hopefully, sold and used for its intended purpose. If any discounts are applied, they go to the consumer buying in larger quantities, as opposed to the farmer trying to move larger quantities to the end of the line. The bulk of the cost, be it financial, physical, or otherwise, is charged to the well-meaning farmer who only wanted to share his or her land and food with those who need it. Something is desperately wrong with this situation.

Another unfortunate fact is that if you want to try and help out the little guy by-passing the multitude of middlemen, i.e. going straight to the farms or the farmers market, the prices tend to be higher than you’d find at your local grocery store. There doesn’t seem to be a great solution to the systemic problem other than letting it go on, business as usual. But the fact remains that there are lots of farms in and around Hamilton that advertise on the side of the country roads for things like fresh strawberries, beef, eggs, and so on.

One possible solution is to just follow that impulse next time you’re on the road and you see one of these signs. Take 10 minutes and visit the farm you always pass. Take a walk through the farmer’s market, either at Jackson Square or Ottawa Street, and compare prices and quality. Have a chat with the person behind the counter and talk about what kinds of obstacles are involved in simply growing and selling food to hungry people. Perhaps consider buying less food more often, European style, and then buying fresh won’t seem like such a risk.

You’d be surprised at the ideas you can get as far as cooking when you see all that fresh meat and all those fruits and vegetables out there on display without all the fancy packaging and labeling and shipping and handling. And you’d be surprised at the quality of the food as well when it doesn’t have to go through all those extra steps just to get to the same place. Maybe the extra dollar or so is worth it.

It may be small consolation, but solidarity with the people who provide our food can go a long way. Support the farmers.

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How Food Insecurity Is Actually Ruining My Life!by Lee Edward McIlmoyle(And Maybe Yours, Too)

I’ve been thinking about this for some time, and I’ve come to the conclusion that there are a lot of things we DON’T say about the cost of living, and in particular, the cost of food, these days.

We as Canadians are conditioned to minimize the amount of griping we do. We’re taught from an early age not to make a fuss. We’re proud of our resourcefulness and resilience, and our willingness to put up with a lot of crap to keep the peace and maintain the lifestyle we’ve been brought up to believe is essentially the Canadian Dream: a job, a house, a car, a family, and three square meals (plus the ubiquitous Tim Horton’s coffee run, of course).

The problem with this attitude is, it doesn’t actually solve any of the problems we’re beset with today. As things get worse, we buckle down and tighten our belts to ride out the storm in tried and true Canadian fashion. But what if it never actually gets better? What if the belt-tightening goes on until we look something like Dita von Teese in her smallest corset? What if we never catch that break? At what point do we finally demand the changes that really matter... and do we even know what those changes should look like?

Take food insecurity. It’s a topic that is on the lips of every adult in the country, these days. We may not all agree on the name or terminology, or even the causes, but we can all agree that the price of food is getting high, and it’s making a deeper impact on our lives than we’re comfortable admitting.

Over twenty years ago, when I first moved out on my own, I was working sporadically as a temp worker, I was bringing home something in the area of $750 a month. When I was periodically underemployed, E.I. would graciously provide me with the then-princely sum of around $620 to squeak by on. And as slim as that may sound, it was just about enough. I even had enough to sneak out for an occasional beer, if I wasn’t too fussy about the brand. You can’t cover the rent on that, now.

Ten years on, when I somehow convinced my second fiancée to move to Canada to live with me, I was still living and thinking in pretty much the same ballpark. I made more money when I was working steady, but the net result was that I was living at pretty much the same level, with a little more to set aside for things that were needed to feather the nest and prepare for marriage. But that practically dwindled overnight, or so it seemed. In truth, it was probably more like I’d just overlooked the way I had been struggling to get by, because I was living alone and wasn’t too fussed about when things got tight. But once I was married, all of that changed.My lovely wife, a born-and-bred New York City girl, makes no bones about letting me know when things are unacceptable, and I quickly learned that

a lot of how I had been living and feeding myself was far from adequate. Who knew that cold tea and pizza slices were not food staples?

The thing is, by this time, we were starting to bring home in the realm of $2500 a month, give or take, and yet still we were struggling. And it had an adverse affect on how we planned both for the immediate and distant future. For one thing, we didn’t move out of my little one-bedroom apartment, which I’d been living in almost since I’d moved out on my own. The grandfathered rate I was--and still am--paying was too good to walk away from without some serious thought. Then when the graphic design money started to peter out, we totally lost our nerve and dug in for the time being, hoping things would improve and we’d be able to move into something more spacious. As for children, that dream has sailed, too. Just as the money finally ran dry, the housing boom started, and soon houses that were going for around $150,000 when I was in my mid-twenties were starting to sell for $300,000, and these days, twice as much again. Affordable apartments are even scarcer.

But what about food prices? Well, for a while, they crawled up slowly. A family-sized box of cereal that in 2000 was selling for around $3 a box was now going for closer to five. And then $6. And then $7. I’m not making this up. My favourite cereal, then as now, was Special K Red Berries. Just about the most expensive cereal on the shelf, then as now, but I last saw it going for $8, before my local grocery store stopped stocking it in family size. Having just looked it up, apparently nobody stocks it in the 750g size anymore. You can get 350g for $5.50, though.And that’s just fancy flakes and dried fruit, folks!

The real numbers are, as always, in the fresh foods. Remember that broccoli scare? I’ll bet you’d had no idea how much you liked broccoli until they told you you couldn’t afford it anymore. That particular scare ended after a few days, but it doesn’t stop there. I bought a box of small white mushrooms just the other day that I normally would have passed over for a bag of large bulk mushrooms, except that a bag of almost twice the quantity threatened to cost me three times as much. For plain white mushrooms. Nevermind that the reason I was skimping on mushrooms in the first place was that, at the middle of the month, I’m down to my last ten dollars, which I’d conveniently forgotten I even had stashed away in my wallet for milk (FYI: I bought milk the other day, too; $4.25, IIRC).

These are small sums I’m quoting. I know that. But they add up, fast. I do the bulk of my grocery shopping at either Lococco’s or Costco (when they aren’t doing a meat recall), because the quality of the produce or meat cuts (yes, we’re still meat eaters) is marginally better than my local grocery

store, at a bulk price point that makes more sense, in the long run.

Or at least, it used to. My grocery shopping trips of two years ago were around $300 on average, for a month’s worth of groceries. Now, I can expect to pay about $500 or more for the same quantity. And that doesn’t include the extra $200-$300 I spend on foods bought at No Frills.

I won’t even go into our need to use the Good Food Box AND the Venture Centre, as well.

I’m semi-retired at middle age because of a bad back and faulty head wiring. I still do a little graphic design, pro bono, for neighbourhood associations and other volunteer groups who can’t afford to pay what even my buddies at Wise & Hammer or Kitestring charge (they’re great; check them out). I’m mostly supported by ODSP and the very rare small art sale. As you can imagine, I’m not in great financial shape. More than once, I’ve thought about pleading with friends for a bit of work, just to make ends meet, but I’m too afraid of having to declare the profit and having it clawed back, or going over my limit and temporarily losing my ODSP coverage, as much for mine and my wife’s expensive prescription drugs as the actual money we’re alotted every month. And we make out better than our friends who are still on Workfare or EI.

It doesn’t take a slide rule or a college education to see that good, healthy food is getting pricey, and scarce, too. This area used to known as the Niagara Fruit Belt. We were famous for our fresh homegrown produce. Nowadays, we’ve turned most of the traditional family-run farms into housing developments. The cost of shipping us the sorts of foods we used to grow in great abundance locally is a major culprit in the steady increase of fresh food prices in the grocery stores.

We’re encouraged to eat local, with initiatives in place for growing food locally, again. But if you’ve ever tried to start a community garden, you’ll know that there are expenditures and red tape that makes it prohibitive for any community group that doesn’t have dozens of volunteers and hundreds of dollars to invest annually, particularly if your mission is to provide opportunities for families who can’t afford exorbitant plot fees.

What I’m saying is, we all know there is a real problem, though maybe those on the bottom rung see it clearest. But maybe what we should all be asking ourselves now is, what can we do to help?

Thoughts, anyone?

13

What is the future of food in Hamilton? A simple question, but a complex issue to address. No doubt, depending on who you ask, you will get many different answers. And if you then ask how the city should build a healthy, sustainable, and just food system, you will get even more differing answers.

A RICH HISTORY OF FOOD ACTIONS

Hamilton has a rich history of food actions. The City has adopted a Food Charter and has policies to support urban agriculture and farmers’ markets. The number of community gardens continues to grow, and this year will mark the first season of an urban farm in Hamilton. We have a vibrant food scene made up of entrepreneurs who produce, process, distribute, and sell local food products in restaurants, farmers’ markets, and in other retail settings such as the Mustard Seed Co-op grocery store. This doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of all of the great food actions that Hamilton should be proud of.

CHALLENGES TO OUR LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM

But we also have to face the fact that there are gaps and challenges that need to be addressed. There are too many Hamiltonians that once they pay for other basic needs like shelter lack the income to purchase healthy food. Many residents, regardless of income, lack the knowledge and skills to grow, purchase, and prepare nutritious meals. Too many neighbourhoods are “food swamps,” where residents have easier access to unhealthy food than healthy food options. Local farmers are aging, and new farmers are finding it harder to make a sustainable living by farming alone, leading many to work off the farm to make ends meet. While the demand for local food is strong, we don’t grow enough food to meet that demand.

OPPORTUNITY TO DO SOMETHING GREAT

This is an important time in Hamilton’s evolution of food actions. We need to think strategically to build a stronger local food system now and in the future. To do this, the City of Hamilton is in the final stage of developing a food strategy. It will be a 10 year plan to help guide decision-making on where and how to direct resources allocated toward food actions.

A food system framework is being used to create Hamilton’s Food Strategy. A food system includes all the processes that go into food production, processing, distribution, accessing, consuming, and finally dealing with food waste. Food systems are influenced by their local geographic, political, economic, environmental, and social situation.

Hamilton’s Food Strategy will focus on where the municipality has the ability to influence our local food system. This holistic approach means considering all parts of the food system rather than just one part. Ultimately, the Food Strategy aims to connect food policies, programs, and people to build on the great work that is already happening, while addressing gaps and working more effectively together.

BUILT ON COMMUNITY CONSULTATION

The next best thing to eating food is talking about it. And this was very true throughout our community consultation. Between late 2014 and fall 2015, about 2,600 Hamiltonians provided input to inform the Food Strategy. Passionate Hamiltonians participated in a Food Summit, an online survey, town halls, workshops, interviews, events, and open houses. City staff reviewed where City resources (funds and staff time) are currently allocated toward food actions and reviewed other municipal food strategies

from Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Thunder Bay, and Toronto to see what they have done. The Food Strategy will be grounded in extensive consultation, evidence, and best practices.

A FOOD STRATEGY WHOSE TIME HAS COME

Our City must decide on some issues for which there may be little agreement – sometimes because there is little or no information or research to help make informed decisions. Sometimes it’s a matter of having many divergent viewpoints on how to address local food issues. A holistic approach that looks at all the parts of a food system can help minimize the chances of making decisions in isolation that have the potential to negatively impact one part of a system while acting on another part.

We all depend on food to fuel our bodies, but our relationship with food goes beyond its nutritional value. Food also intersects with how we function within our families, neighbourhoods, communities, and city. The vision for the Food Strategy is “A city with a sustainable food system where all people at all times have economic and physical access to enough safe, nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences.” Fundamental to this vison is the principle of ensuring we have a healthy, sustainable, and just food system that continues to nourish all of us.

This spring, the draft Hamilton Food Strategy will be presented to the Board of Health for endorsement. However, the Food Strategy will be a living document - not the end point. With the right mix of determination, innovation, and collaboration, we can transform Hamilton from a good food city to a great food city.

In the meantime, please visit www.hamilton.ca/foodstrategy to read more, watch a short animated video, or sign up for food strategy updates.

Ham

ilton

’s Best Milkshakes

Munchee’s Variety171 King St E

205 King Street E. • Hamilton, Ontario • L8N 1B3 905-522-2205 • studio205canada@gmail.com

14

We have seen dynamic changes in the McQuesten Neighbourhood in Hamilton over the last 14 years. It began with 2 resident groups, the Martha Movers, and the Ori-Mar-Rox, who were concerned about the isolation of people living in the neighbourhood and set out to address the issue. These 2 groups became the McQuesten Community Planning Team. Over the years our neighbours have identified many issues and have set about to resolve various problems and improve our quality of life.

Each year we have 2 big parties: the spring event is called the McQuesten Crawl and the fall event is called the Block Party. Each includes a free BBQ and provides the opportunity for over 600 neighbours to gather and get to know one another, and various service agency partners participate and inform the community of the programs that they offer.

There’s a history of partnership in this neighbourhood. The Hamilton Wentworth Catholic Disctrict School Board allows us to use a former school as a community centre, now called the St. Helen Centre at McQuesten. We have a great working relationship with the Hamilton Community Foundation, which has over the years generously funded many neighbourhood led initiatives, and has given us much guidance and encouragement.

From the beginning, we used the model of Asset Based Community Development and this has blossomed into a neighbourhood Action Plan in partnership with the City of Hamilton. Neighbours came together to identify the following goals: increase neighbourhood safety and security; strengthen economic opportunities and investment; enhance community health and wellbeing; strengthen neighbourhood pride and promote community beautification; and promote, strengthen, and encourage education

opportunities. In September 2012, we presented the plan to Hamilton’s City Council, and it was approved.

ENHANCING COMMUNITY HEALTHUnder the goal of enhancing community health and wellbeing, food security was identified as a primary need. The closest grocery store is two kilometres away and most of our neighbours do not have a car.

Ten years before we undertook the formal process of creating a neighbourhood plan, we identified the need for a community garden. It started with five beds placed on a vacant plot of land owned by the City of Hamilton, and adjacent to a geared-to-income town house survey. Today we have 55 plots, eight raised beds to meet accessibility needs, and 10 children’s beds.

Through this process, some of the neighbours noticed a three-acre empty strip of land owned by the City of Hamilton that had lain fallow for over 60 years. We dreamt of having an urban farm where we could produce large quantities of fresh organic produce for our neighbourhood, as well as have a green house where we could grow greens throughout the winter months, teach and learn about food production, and along the way hopefully create a few good jobs for our neighbours.

Once the Neighbourhood Action Plan was endorsed by our City Council, we forged ahead with the dream of an urban farm.

We entered into a partnership with the Hamilton Victory Gardens, a charitable organization that has hundreds of volunteers who built over 250 raised bed gardens at the back of St. Helen to grow fruit and vegetables for donation Food began to grow; more than 6000lbs in the first season!

We commenced construction of the Urban Far in October 2015 and will be in production for the spring of 2016. With the fresh produce from the Hamilton Victory Gardens coming to our local Roxborough Food Bank customers, and now having a weekly farmer’s market offering produce at very low cost, we are providing an abundance of fresh, local organic food for our neighbours.

When the foodbank is open, we operate the McQuesten Bistro, where we provide free coffee, tea, and healthy snacks. We educate folks about unfamiliar vegetables, like what swiss chard is and how to cook it, or how to make kale chips.

While that foodbank is open, another group of residents runs The Clothing Closet, which has free used clothing available for all ages and sizes. We have a senior’s program running, as well as the Roger’s Raising the Grade Computer Centre, which will soon be available under the auspices of the Kiwanis Boys and Girls Club. This will help us to assist our neighbours search for jobs, create resumes, and simply stay connected to information and people. Another group of people started Zumba classes and wellness program this past fall to promote health and wellness.

Future goals for the Urban Farm are ti develop a community food centre with a commercial kitchen available where we can train and mentor our neighbours. We aim to develop social enterprise opportunities for our residents as well as building capacity and skill development for everyone.

(originally published in Tamarack Institute: Engage! A Connected Force for Community

Change, December 2015)

The McQuesten Urban Farm saw an incredible 2015-growing season! Hamilton Victory Garden’s grew an extraordinary volume and variety fo vegetables, in spite of difficulty watering, weeding a very large site. The bulldozers of Cardi Construction broke ground on 30 October 2015, with Bienenstock’s designs. We launched and trialed our first social-based, agri-ventures, like a farmer’s market and SPROUTS summer camp, both of which got McQuesten moving and engaging in this farm along with dozens of dedicated, enthusiastic volunteers who fulfilled the practical, hard work that is farming. Now,

winter has brought hibernation and reflection around our experience in the garden, which is helping form understandings of what we can offer McQuesten and Hamilton in 2016.

Here are some highlights of the season: On Saturday 04 July, the McQuesten Farm Fresh Market launched on site at the St. Helen Centre at McQuesten, immediately adjacent to the Urban Farm. We were able to sell organically grown fruits and vegetables, grown on site, and picked that day, at a cost that reflects the modest incomes of our McQuesten neighbours. The

farm and market planning teams decided to set prices for bunched items at 50¢ (yes, 50 cents!) Food stored from a few days earlier was also made available on a ‘free’ table. The market ran every Saturday from 12-2pm, rain or shine, wind or hail, from 04 July to 31 October. McQuesten neighbours harvested food on Saturday morning and they set up tables and operated the stand in the afternoon. Remaining produce was made available to customers of the Roxborough Foodbank. It was distributed by McQuesten resident volunteers who operate the Bistro, a drop social time that hosts all neighbours, but

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especially folks waiting to access the food bank.

18 weeks of the McQuesten Farm Fresh Market generated $1,684 that will help cover water costs for this past season, and equipment costs for future seasons. There were 15-25 crops available at the market every week and customers came back with rave reviews. After we added up the many varietals on offer, like several types of radish, kale, and tomatoes, we had over 80 individual fruits and vegetables available for the neighbourhood! The Hamilton Victory Gardens, who harvested for 25 weeks, were able to harvest 9,750lbs of food!

19 September was the McQuesten Block Party hosted, by the Planning Team. We harvested 902 lbs of food and earned $185.00 at the market! On 24 October it was cold and raining, frost had hit several days before, and folks thought the season had finished. But our volunteers stayed warm setting up the way we had all season, with vigor and dedication, and they made $16 in sales to a few hearty and committed customers that we had nurtured relationships with over this long season. That day same cold day, we processed beets, picking, sorting, topping, and scrubbing in the icy cold wash tubs, and later made a batch of borsch soup to enjoy at our Harvest & Halloween Party to be held the following week. We also lifted cinder blocks from the ground to make way for the construction of the McQuesten Urban Farm’s irrigation pond; difficult and tiring work to be sure.

Stories of how foods were enjoyed, recipes were created, praise for hard and dedicated work were shared with the farm team week after week. Neighbours and tourists were impressed by the freshness and taste of our bounties, and unsurprising, we grew crops that would easily meet the standards of Grade ‘A’, and made it available at the most modest costs to neighbours with the most modest means.

Managing the gardens, the volunteers, and the market requires the equivalent energy of many full time workers, and yet that was not the only key outcome of our Farm this summer! McQuesten Sprouts, a nature-based summer camp program, also launched in the gardens this year. Week long programs operated for 6 weeks, and 68 families joined us. They had a great time playing, crafting, cooking, gardening, swimming, hiking and taking a trip to Plan B or Simpler Thyme Organic Farms. One of our campers, Breylon Stowe, entered a trio of beautiful parsnips into the Rockton World’s Fair, and he won a first place ribbon in the parsnip category, and one of 4 coveted President’s Awards for best in show! Like our McQuesten Farm Fresh Market, the Urban Farm project was able to offer McQuesten Sprouts camp at a very modest rate of $10 per week per child. Some families generously paid a little extra to open up opportunities for families with more modest means to send their children too.

Although there is not much activity on the

gardens in the winter, we have been busy inside the St. Helen Centre at McQuesten doing farm related work and activities. In partnership with Niwasa and the Joint Stewardship Council of the Red Hill, we cohosted a Medicine Walk and 2 salve making workshops lead by Haudenosaunee Medicine Women, Eunice Henry and Pat Hess. Groups learned about the many medicines that Indigenous people have been cultivating, protecting, foraging and using from the Red Hill Valley for generations, and then how these medicines are used to treat ailments. Early in 2016 food handling certification, first aid certification, WHIMIS, and farm safety courses will be hosted at St. Helen Centre at McQuesten. McQuesten residents are able to attend at no cost, and others are welcome to register for nominal fees.

The McQuesten Urban Farm and Hamilton Victory Garden’s efforts and achievements in 2015 were continually impressive. If you missed the season’s opportunities, connect this year; we are here and growing for good! Extra special thanks for such a successful 2015 season to the McQuesten Community Planning Team, the Hamilton Community Foundation, the City of Hamilton, the Neighbourhood Action Strategy, the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton, Hillcrest School grade 6 teachers and students, Columbia College Students, and the dozens and dozens of volunteers who donated ~2470 hours to the Hamilton Victory Gardens and the Urban Farm!

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Food banks opened their doors 30 years ago. Meant to be a short term, emergency solution to hunger, their doors remain open because the need has been steadily growing and shows no sign of stopping. Canadians have been duped into believing that we can keep hunger at bay by donating to our local food banks. We teach our children to give to those who are not as fortunate and have less than we do. But, after three decades, it’s time to implement sustainable solutions that will allow every Canadian to have financial and food security.

People using food banks generally have some source of income. Employment is the main source, followed by Employment Insurance (EI), social assistance, and disability-related income. In each case the amount of income is insufficient, and food is sacrificed in order to pay for housing, transportation, and daily living expenses that are inflexible.

To end hunger and poverty, Canadians need a national living wage; improved access to and levels of EI; rates of social assistance and disability payments that keep recipients above the poverty line; a guaranteed livable income to boost the incomes of those falling below a standardized federal poverty line; and to close the gender wage gap. To make a meaningful change in the lives of lower and middle income Canadians, we need an affordable, national universal childcare program, and a national affordable housing plan.

The low income cut-off (LICO) in 2011 for a single person living in a large urban center was $23,289 before taxes. For two persons it was $29,004. A family of four was $43,292. According to Statistics Canada, one in ten Canadians live in poverty. That’s 3.2 million Canadians, including 634,000 children.

The poverty gap between total welfare income and LICO varies from province to province. Total welfare incomes consist of the sum of social assistance plus provincial/territorial and federal child benefits as well as relevant provincial/territorial and federal tax credits. Welfare

payments vary by status: single employable; person with disability; single parent; one child couple; two children couple. However, all recipients, with the exception of a single parent and child living in Newfoundland, are living well below the LICO level.

If we focus on welfare income as a percentage of LICO, then the single person living in Manitoba fairs worst at 35.9%, while a single parent and child in Newfoundland does best at 103.2%. Generally, single people receive the lowest welfare payments across the country, while single parents with one child receive the largest amounts. Falling between the two extremes, in ascending order, are a person with disability, a couple with two children, and then single parents with one child.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found social assistance transfers raise a mere 13 per cent of jobless Canadian households out of poverty. The average across OECD countries is 50 per cent.Low rates of social assistance in almost all provinces and territories means recipients have little chance of breaking free from poverty. Even if a person receiving social assistance finds work the extra money is clawed back by provincial governments leaving them in the same financially precarious situation.

Non-custodial parents may be required to make child support payments to custodial parents receiving social assistance but, all provinces (except British Columbia) claw back support payments up to the amount equivalent to the custodial parent’s social assistance payments. In other words, children living in poverty most likely won’t see a penny of court-ordered child support. Likewise, provinces need to stop clawing back any portion of the Canada Child Benefit paid to families on social assistance.

A guaranteed living wage (GLW) needs to be set, so that incomes are at least 10 per cent above the poverty line. A guaranteed living income (GLI) could achieve that in one of two ways: The Negative Income Tax (NIT) model tops up incomes falling below a designated

minimum income floor, while the Universal Basic Income (UBI) model gives every citizen a fixed, non-taxable payment above which any additional income is taxed. The provincial welfare system is the only program that would become redundant.

The shift in labour markets toward precarious employment is here to stay. A GLI means an individual or family has access to adequate funds for housing and food when they need it. Currently, over four million adults and children live with food insecurity. GLI could lower this number by 1.2 million individuals. This in turn would result in significant savings within the health care system alone.

Federal and provincial governments need to close the gender wage gap once and for all. Canada has one of the largest gender pay gaps in the OECD. The difference between men and women’s median wages is 19 per cent in Canada vs. an average 15 per cent in the OECD. In Ontario the gap is about 30 percent, down just 6 per cent since provincial legislation was introduced 25 years ago.

Every month 852,137 Canadians, 33 per cent of whom are children and youth, use a food bank to try to alleviate their hunger. Each person, or family, can access a particular food bank once a month. On average, they’ll receive enough canned and prepackaged food to provide nine percent of their monthly food needs.The organizers of the Ontario campaign, Put Food In the Budget, think it’s time to decide whether we want to continue relying on food banks to help people meet their most basic needs for food or do we want proactive solutions that will provide each Canadian with the means to make their own food choices in a dignified manner?After 30 years of ‘emergency’ food banks, it’s time to demand government policies that put food into the budgets of all Canadians.To find a food bank in Canada near you, follow the link below:https://www.foodbankscanada.ca/Utility-Pages/Find-a-Food-Bank.aspx

Guaranteed Living Income Would Bring Food Security to 1.2 Million Canadians

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For 30 years, a team of dedicated staff and volunteers at Neighbour to Neighbour Centre have been meeting the issue of food insecurity head on. What started as a small food bank has evolved into a vibrant community centre. Neighbour to Neighbour works to alleviate and prevent poverty by offering access to social supports, tutoring programs for children, utility subsidy programs, counselling and a host of other interventions. We empower people with the tools and support they need to improve their health, confidence, hope and sense of belonging.

Building on our commitment to addressing food insecurity, Neighbour to Neighbour is proud to announce that the Community Food Centre movement is coming to Hamilton. Neighbour to Neighbor was chosen from 25 locations across Ontario to partner with Community Food Centres Canada to open the Hamilton Community Food Centre.

The need for this type of centre is acute. An alarming number of our neighbours live in a state of food insecurity because of poverty. The Rolston neighbourhood, located on the Hamilton Mountain has been identified as one of 11 high priority neighbourhoods in the City. This is where 35% of residents live on incomes below the poverty line, including 49% of children under the age of six. At the same time, both mental and physical health issues stemming from social isolation and poor diets are on the rise for people of all income levels.

The Community Food Centre approach is a progressive compliment to traditional methods of charitable food distribution. A Community Food Centre provides a dignified and welcoming space for the community to tackle issues of poverty, hunger, poor health, childhood obesity and social isolation. Programs are offered in a shared space supporting individuals and families as they learn new food skills, improve their physical and mental health, find supports and become empowered and engaged. The result: a healthy, equitable and more connected

community.

Neighbour to Neighbour has acquired a 6,000 square foot facility at 310 Limeridge Road West on Hamilton Mountain in the Rolston neighbourhood. We are excited to be able to integrate the Hamilton Community Food Centre with our existing programs to enhance our work and impact. Whether it is through an after school cooking program, a senior’s lunch, a healthy food and fitness program or a peer advocacy group, we are going to engage people in new ways that build health, connections and hope. We also commit to working beyond just one neighborhood to be a model and a resource for the whole city.

The Hamilton Community Food Centre will have:• Acommunitykitchenthatwillnotonly serve meals but will provide a space for people to share and develop their food skills and cultures while making friends• A community garden that willyield fresh produce while people learn about growing food and getting active outdoors• After school sessions and summercamps for children and youth• Freshfoodmarketsthatwillprovidelocal, seasonal food at an affordable price• Fitness and health educationprograms• A community bake oven that willserve as a hub for social events and gatherings• AhubfortheHamiltonCommunityGarden Network and Hamilton Edible Education Network connecting people throughout the city to gardens and food literacy programs• Partnerships to provide mobileprograms and training throughout Hamilton while bringing valuable health and wellness programs to the Hamilton Mountain

• CommunityadvocacyofficesandaSocial Justice Club connecting people with social support along with the tools and skills to have a voice on the issues affecting them most, including housing and social assistance.

This work will contribute to a more healthy, sustainable and just food system. At the same time, we know that the lack of access to good, healthy food is tied to poverty issues and can’t be solved with changes to the food system alone. One organization or community can’t tackle the food system and poverty issues affecting us – they have to be addressed locally, provincially, and nationally. We look forward to adding more voices to the great advocacy efforts in Hamilton while becoming part of the national voice of Community Food Centres Canada. At the Hamilton Community Food Centre, we will use food as a powerful tool to impact individual and community health while advocating for long term changes to address the injustices surrounding us.

The Hamilton Community Food Centre will be a space where all people can come together to grow, cook, share, and advocate for good food for all. We are excited to open in the fall of 2016 as the 8th Community Food Centre in the Canada. Do you want to get involved? To find out more, contact Clare Wagner, Director of Community Food, at cwagner@n2ncentre.com or 905-574-1334 x 205

After working at botanical gardens, Clare focused on garden outreach and education in Hamilton as Green Venture’s Community Garden Program Coordinator. She is now Neighbour to Neighbour Centre’s Director of Community Food shifting her focus to social services and community development centred around food. Clare is passionate about working with her community to create a healthy, dignified, and just food system.

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In May 2012, a United Nation’s Special Rappateur toured Canada to examine how our country is realizing the human right to food. He visited Toronto, Montreal, northern Manitoba, and Edmonton. He met with a variety of groups that all have a vested interest in ensuring that all Canadians have the means to access food that is sufficient and adequate in a dignified manner. And his findings were less than glowing.

As his report explains, he learned that First Nations, Inuit, and Métis were on average two to three times more food insecure than non-aboriginal Canadians; he found a lack of protection for the right to food in our constitutional law; he noted that Canadian food aid has grown while domestic food insecurity continues to rise; he commented on the failure of our social assistance to give people the means to buy food on a regular basis; and, he noted how food bank and food assistance programs are fervently try to keep pace with widening income inequality, but falling behind.

That last challenge is the one I’d like to talk about for this special issue on the right to food. Emergency food programs occupy a tricky place in our food system. On the one hand, they represent a systemic failure to ensure all people have the means to access food that is sufficient, nutritious, and culturally appropriate. At the same time, they offer one of the few existing responses to that failure and continue to develop solutions in the absence of stronger public policy. Some of the best work being done right now to realize the right to food is through community food centres—a model that is finding a home in Hamilton.

When Brandon Braithwaite asked me to write an article for this issue, we met to talk about the role that food banks play in creating access to high-quality food. I showed him around the building where I work at Mission Services’ location on Wentworth Street North, just south of Barton. This is the home of the Good Food Centre, where every month over 800 households from single adults to large families of 6, 8, or 10 pick up a half-a-week’s supply of food. It can get very busy here. Just a few weeks ago 85 families came through in a single afternoon, surpassing all recent records.

My job is to write funders to tell them about new projects on the go, and to convey the value of investing in food as part of a strategy to reduce

poverty, improve health, and build community. More and more, emergency food programs see their efforts overlapping with all of these issues; food simply serves as the connector. It’s a way to bring people together, improve quality of life, and create linkages that cut across social and economic status. What sustains this work, however, is an intolerance for hunger and food insecurity.

The idea that food bank programs need to think more deeply about the value they add to communities was touched on at the Hamilton Food Summit last spring. One of the goals proposed then was that our city’s food system should move away from the traditional food bank model and toward “food hubs or community food centres.” This is the direction Mission Services’ Good Food Centre has been heading, along with several other food programs downtown, on the mountain, and in the east end.

Last year, for instance, we became a member of the Good Food Organization, an initiative of Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC) to build the capacity of food programs across the country in working toward a healthier and just food system. This umbrella organization grew out of the work at The Stop in Davenport West, Toronto. Jason McBride explains The Stop’s achievements in The Edible City, especially how at The Stop food is considered “a basic human right, regardless of income or class” (167).

I would challenge McBride on one simple point. The Stop is not the first emergency food service to take the stance that every person, whether they are rich or poor, deserves access to food. The intervention that The Stop and now Community Food Services Canada are making is much more specific, and audacious, namely that people deserve access to healthy food in a way that makes them feel no less because their economic status prevents them from obtaining food through our current (capitalist, globalized, etc.) food system.

It’s great to see more food banks buying into that message. The Good Food Center is just one of more than 50 or 60 programs across the country that have adopted the “good food principles.” Indeed, the beauty of CFCC’s strategy is how it creates a way for food banks--often perceived as a road block in the system--to become involved in devising meaningful, lasting solutions to food insecurity. It gives food programs a framework

to connect emergency-level responses (giving out 3 or 4 day supplies of food) to coordinated anti-poverty and community-building efforts.

The Good Food Centre is working hard to realize that vision in a host of ways. We now bring in more fresh fruits and vegetables to supplement non-perishables; last summer we distributed 60% more produce than the year before. We source most of our food from local growers and suppliers, thus helping to strengthen Hamilton’s economic food system. We are adding a sit-down community meal program this spring, and we’ve created policies to empower people who use the Good Food Centre to volunteer and become more involved. In addition, we are forging new partnerships to help us better meet people where they are at--whether by offering cooking lessons or by making legal aid services available on site. All of this work is propelled by belief that everyone deserves access to good food. Food that is healthy, plentiful and appealing. That belief cuts across many different political lines, which is hopeful. But according to the UN Special Rappateur, Canada still has a ways to go to making the human right to food a reality for everyone.

Here are just a few ways you can become part of that solution at the Good Food Centre:

We love donations of…Healthy cerealsDried beans & ChickpeasLentils & RiceApplesauceNuts & Granola barsDiapers & Baby formulaToothpaste & Toothbrushes

Drop offs…196 Wentworth Street North (the brick building across the parking lot from Cathy Wever Elementary), 8:30 to 4:00

Connect with usFacebook: MissionServicesofHamiltonTwitter: @MissionHamiltonInstagram: @MissionHamilton

Daniel Moore is a resident of the Sherman Hub and the Grants and Communications Officer at Mission Services of Hamilton.

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The Hamilton Farmers’ Market has been involved in the selling and trading of local food in downtown Hamilton since 1837. The Market is as old as the City itself and in 1883 the first civic building built in Hamilton housed the Market downstairs (where we get our food) and the Council upstairs (where we make our decisions to build our community). This isn’t unique to Hamilton – think historically of any forming community and the central food hub will most likely be built around the decision making mechanisms required for a community to stabilize and grow. For the first 50 years of the 20th century, the Hamilton Farmers’ Market was legendary across Canada, and indeed across North America, as the largest outdoor open air Market - bare none - in Canada. People travelled from far and wide to visit the outdoor Market – it was an attraction - and if you know a Hamiltonian over the age of 80 they may well remember as a child the huge open air Market (before it was moved semi-indoors in the 1960’s into the parking garage on York). Hamilton was, and continues to be, ideally geographically situated in the heart of the fruit and vegetable basket of western and southern Ontario and the size of the outdoor open air Market reflected the volume of the supply and demand food chain not only for families but for food businesses and trade agents as well. During this period before the invention and then widespread use of automotive transportation, there was also a secondary Market rumoured to be called the Midnight Market at the edge of the bay in Hamilton. The Midnight Market was where farmers and food trade agents would meet and do business and then travel back to their communities with their goods to set up stalls at Markets across southern and western Ontario. It is also rumoured that local food purchased by food agents at the Midnight Market would travel by barge during the night along the shore of Lake Ontario to arrive at dawn for the Market (s) in Toronto. This poetic image of barges travelling at night on Lake Ontario laden with local food to feed Toronto is very poignant and is inspiring to comprehend what our local food industry was and can be again. Essentially

Hamilton was the first food terminal in the region.

On James Street, in 1895 the City received its new City Hall on and then the Market Hall in 1898, an “astonishing specimen of architecture with spires and copper topped domes”. Unfortunately the Market Hall perished in a fire in 1917 and makeshift shelters became permanent shelters in 1929. The open air Market continued to exist around these shelters until the tension became untenable between the Market’s trucks and stalls on the streets competing with the motorists of the City. Apparently it took eight years of debate by City Council to decide to move the Market off the streets and into a parking garage the City had built in 1958 at the corner of York and MacNab. One could imagine that the length and breadth of the review reflected the integral role the open air Market had in the City. Then at the end of the 1960’s with an ambitious urban renewal plan to build Jackson Square and the adjoining towers, the Market was moved again into its current location as an anchor tenant, alongside the Central Library. It is interesting to note that all of these activities and locations (the first civic building, the open air market, the market hall, the Market shelters, the move into the parking garage in 1958, the move into the current location in 1980) all took place around a few block radius of York Boulevard and James Street. It is also interesting to note that up until the mid-1980’s, the Market and arguably the heart of the city operated 3 days a week following an antiquated rhythm connected to local food production - prepare for Market (Monday) go to Market (Tuesday), prepare for Market (Wednesday) go to Market (Thursday), prepare for Market (Friday) go to Market Saturday – Sunday rest.

So…..where does that land us now with the downtown central Hamilton Farmers’ Market (HFM) and what about local food and food security? HFM continues to offer local food year round either directly from its farmer vendors or indirectly from food trade agents just like it always has. HFM reflects the the supply and

demand for international produce and food products that reflect the diversity of our great City. HFM, our city’s central year round indoor Market, is many things: it is a famers’ market; a market of international food products; a market of prepared foods and a market of boutique food shops that include butchers, bakers, fish, deli, cheese, eggs and flowers. It is also a Market that contributes to Food Security by offering various qualities of food. As evident in developments in food policies such as in France and in corporations such as Loblaws, imperfect or diminishing produce still has nutritional worth and by identifying and validating this by sales, it can significantly reduce food costs and food waste – two major components of assisting food security. This dynamic, of selling seconds, is and has always been part of what a Market is.

The core strengths of the Hamilton Farmers’ Market are both the quality of the food and the genuine relationships between the vendors, including farmers, and their customers. The Market continues to play a critical and the role in the community both as a food and a social hub. Some of my favourite aspects of the Market include hearing genuine conversations between customers and their favourite vendors and how people openly enjoy and celebrate food and eating in the Market. As our technology based lives separate us from face to face interaction, and with the growing demand for quality local food, it is no surprise that Markets are experiencing a renaissance throughout North American communities.

We are at the beginning of a very exciting and long awaited great new chapter for the HFM with the Council appointed inaugural Board of Directors recently created to oversee the care and direction of the Market, a Board that includes vendors, community members and City Council. Interesting times ahead for the HFM as the Board listens to the public and creates a Market that works for everyone: farmers, vendors and the public.

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The Hamilton Community Garden Network (HCGN), a project hosted by the Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, collaboratively supports people in building and sustaining community gardening projects from the perspective of improving food security and community building in Hamilton.

A Community Gardens is when a group of people grow and maintain vegetables, herbs, flowers or all of the above on a collective piece of land. In addition to helping people access land to grow food, community gardens also are a place for learning new skills, building relationships and so many other social, psychological and physical benefits. Through our online garden directory, we help people to connect with a diversity of community gardens in the Hamilton area; plot rental gardens, communal gardens, gardens for youth, gardens that donate their produce to food programs, public space gardens, and gardens that support pollinators. Some of these are connected to Community Health Centres, Food Banks,

Schools, City Housing sites, Neighbourhood groups, or Churches while others are open to the public. In either care, community gardens are started by a group of people working together with many in Hamilton growing deep roots over many years. With over 88 community gardens in the network, the HCGN connects people to guidance and tools to:

- Find Gardens through our interactive directory and map- Access Resources and Tools to start, run, or participate in a garden, and access donations/supplies, including our “10 Steps to start a community garden in Hamilton” guide- Learn and Connect see our online events calendar for workshops, gardening events, and meet-ups and connect with us on social media, or give us a call

Using our website- www.hcgn.ca –we maintain up-to-date profiles and contact info for community gardens in the Hamilton area. This helps people to see where the gardens are on the map, basic info about the garden, and who to contact. In our Tools and Resources page we host a collection of resources and information on lots of urban gardening topics and our 10 step guide to starting a community garden in Hamilton. And of course anyone can get in touch to ask questions. For garden coordinators we host Knowledge Swaps during the winter months where we have the chance to meet up in person to cross-pollinate ideas on how to mutually support each other and develop tools that can further promote, ripen and sustain community gardening. Our network works to connect everyone to allow the sharing the ideas, materials, expertise.

The HCGN is working towards a Hamilton in which everyone has the opportunity to participate in and benefit from gardens grown to meet their needs.

Some food waste is unavoidable. Help the environment by composting your food waste. Composting saves room in the landfill and turns nutrient-rich food scraps into fertilizer for local farmers. Follow our tips below for a clean and green composting experience.

WHAT CAN I PUT IN MY GREEN BIN? • Food scraps• Coffee filters and coffee grounds• Facial tissue• Paper bags, napkins, towels and plates

For a full list of acceptable and non-acceptable items, visit www.hamilton.ca/waste.

BIN LOCATION AND STORAGE• Make composting easy! Keep a small bin, used to collect organic waste, in your kitchen within easy reach when preparing foods and cleaning up after a meal• Store your larger bin outside away from direct sunlight to avoid odours• Don’t store your bin near decks, railings, or fences, as this can give animals a way to enter your bin

AVOIDING SMELLS• Put your bin at the curb weekly, even if it is not full• Use a natural deodorizer such as baking soda in your bin• Rinse out your bin weekly after collection day• Wrap meat scraps in newspaper and place them in the freezer until collection day• Place paper towel at the bottom of your kitchen bin to absorb moisture which can prevent odours• Line your bin with newspaper or a paper bag to keep it clean

FOOD STORAGE TIPS• You can compost kitchen grease! Pour it into a paper cup before placing it in your green bin• Do not put plastic, glass, or metal in your green bin. • Remember to remove plastic bags, elastics, tags, and stickers from your food before it goes into the green bin. Too much contamination means the whole truckload goes to landfill! • Place an egg carton, newspaper or

a piece of cardboard at the bottom of your bin to prevent items freezing to the bottom in winter

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN COMPOSTBackyard composting is an easy way to reduce the amount of waste that you put at the curb each week. Composting is a process that turns kitchen and yard waste into a dark, nutrient-rich soil additive. Hamilton encourages residents to use backyard composting in addition to the organics collection program.

• Backyard composters can be purchased from the City of Hamilton at a Municipal Service Centre for $44.28 + HST• Make sure you put in equal parts dry (yard material) and wet (kitchen scraps) waste• Keep meat and fatty foods out of your backyard composter to avoid attracting pests• Turn your compost regularly • The compost is ready to use when it is dark, crumbly, and most of the original identity of the material is lost

For more information on backyard composting visit www.hamilton.ca/waste.

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An article published recently in the Hamilton Spectator states that poverty in this city has not decreased over the past 10 years. This alarming statistic is relevant to this current Food Security issue of the Anvil because food insecurity is rooted in poverty. Poverty is greatly influenced by many factors. According to Tom Cooper of The Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, who is quoted in the aforementioned article, the availability of affordable housing is one such factor in Hamilton. The last issue of the Anvil addressed gentrification in Hamilton and it is no surprise that the subsequent issue is on food security. As housing prices in Hamilton rise, those most vulnerable will experience decreasing access to affordable housing and, as a result, increasing food insecurity. Food is a negotiable expense; rent is not.

After paying rent and other non-negotiable household expenses, many low-income households turn to food banks and meal programs for assistance. As a result most food banks are busiest in the last two weeks of the month. Fortunately, there is a well-developed network of food banks, meal programs and food organisations working to address hunger and food insecurity in Hamilton. Hamilton Victory Gardens is just one of these organisations.

Hamilton Victory Gardens is a network of 14 different garden sites in the greater Hamilton area. We have a team of volunteers at each site who tend to the gardens. They seed, plant, weed, water and harvest a wide variety of beautiful fruits and vegetables for low-income individuals and families.

We grow for food banks and meal programs not just because of the need for emergency food in Hamilton, but because access to nutritious, good quality food is a human right. The volunteers at Hamilton Victory Gardens provide fresh produce for food banks that is high in quality, nutrition and freshness. A family that has visited one of the many food banks we donate to can have carrots, broccoli or spinach for dinner that have been picked from the garden as recently as that morning.

We know that nutritious food is important for good health. The ways in which people access nutritious food are also of great significance. Many of us can go to grocery stores or even farmers markets to purchase the foods we want.

This experience is so normal to us that we forget that there are those in our communities who cannot afford to do this. Only a fraction of those who are eligible to receive food bank assistance choose to do so, likely due to the stigma associated with using food bank and meal programs.

In order to address this stigma, food banks and meal programs have been working hard to provide more dignified processes and improved food. Food banks are striving to provide healthier options and have their own fresh food procurement programs. Even more exciting are the number of food organisations expanding their programming to include nutrition and cooking classes.

In addition to meeting some of the demand for fresh food at food banks, Hamilton Victory Gardens provides an alternative to the food bank and meal program experience through our Volunteer for Veggies program. If folks need fresh food, they can join us at one of our gardens for some fresh air, socialising and garden work, and leave with some produce in return for their time and effort.

We have also partnered with A Rocha’s Earth to Table program for newcomers and refugees. When they first arrive in Canada, newcomers rely on food banks at which foods that they are familiar with are few. The gardening program removes the need to stand in line at the food bank and replaces it with a warm, welcoming gardening experience where newcomers can grow and harvest culturally appropriate foods while they meet and chat with community members. In 2015, we helped the McQuesten Urban Farm launch their Farm Fresh Market, a normalised way of accessing fresh vegetables for residents in need but who do not use the local food bank.

Providing fresh produce to those in need just scratches the surface of what we do at Hamilton Victory Gardens. Food security is about more than accessing food. It’s also about healthy food literacy for all. Elementary schools from Hamilton, Ancaster, Stoney Creek and Waterdown visit so that their students can experience hands-on how to plant, water, identify and harvest a number of vegetables and fruits. Special needs high school students delight in the amazing tactile experience of the plants, soil and outdoor work. Beyond these formal educational experiences,

the gardens are places where adults and children first learn of and try ground cherry, watermelon radish, kohlrabi, or kale. This improvement upon healthy food literacy can also be witnessed through the exchange of recipes and sharing of snacks prepared from food from the gardens. Our gardens are places where people learn about and share nutritious food together.

Food security is just one social determinant of health; social inclusion is another. Our gardeners work hard not just tending to the plants, but to foster a socially inclusive environment as well. Our gardens also are spaces for community, tended by volunteers from a variety of backgrounds. Some are students, some use the meal programs we donate to, some are new comers, some are employed full-time and some are retirees.

Our gardens bring people together despite culture, gender, age or income. The garden is a social leveller. Everyone is covered in dirt! We have heard from a number of our volunteers that the gardens are places where they feel they connect with others, where they can come out of their shell and be welcomed by community. Some of our gardeners face economic limitations but are eager to provide for others. One of our volunteers expressed that participation in the garden gives her a lot of pride because she is able to give back to her community. All of our gardeners are dedicated to keeping their neighbours healthy and their neighbourhoods beautiful.

The community participation is the most inspiring result of the work we do. Hamilton Victory Gardens cannot address the poverty that causes the food insecurity in this city. What we can do is provide the space and gardening know-how our volunteers, students and other participants need to effect change in their own communities.

Hamilton Victory Gardens is not alone in this effort to engage community. Food banks, meal programs and food organisations across Hamilton value community. If we continue to work in ways that support community cohesion, as a city we can challenge the systemic barriers to food security so that lasting solutions to hunger and poverty in Hamilton can be achieved.

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From the food deserts of Hamilton’s in-ner-city to the rising cost of imported veg-etables, issues of food security can easily become overwhelming. For all the pro-posed policies, perspectives of trendy food critics and public outrage regarding over-priced cauliflower, remarkably little has been put into practice which goes beyond traditional supermarket or soup-kitchen model. As rising rents and a falling Canadi-an dollar squeeze businesses and charities, a different kind of project is offering the opportunity to confront these issues at the community level.

Hamilton’s Good Food Box programs repre-sent a collective attempt at tackling issues of food security in the most direct possi-ble way: feeding people. Unlike traditional charity-based models, Good Food Box pro-grams don’t give out food for free but in-stead strive to distribute it in a way that’s affordable, accessible and sustainable. This allows them to provide fresh produce, something rarely seen at food banks.

The first Good Food Box program emerged from Toronto’s FoodShare in the 1990s, and similar projects now operate in cities and regions as distant and diverse as Ot-tawa, Calgary, Victoria, Sudbury, Niagara, the Okanagan and even a number of First Nations’ communities. The intention is to make healthy produce, especially local goods, available as economic as possible.

Hamilton’s initiative started its life as an initiative of members of the Grace Luther-an Church, who have managed to distribute over a hundred boxes each month for over

a decade now. Their good example helped inspire Environment Hamilton and Dundas in Transition to begin distributing their own boxes, reaching an additional 400+ and 100+ boxes per month respectively. These three projects, though technically independent, cooperate regularly and enjoy a substantial crossover in their volunteer crews.

Each Good Food Box begins with fresh vege-tables and fruits, purchased wholesale with a focus on Ontario grown and delivered to twice-monthly packing events where vol-unteers sort, portion and fill each box. The boxes are then delivered to neighbourhood distribution points located in small busi-nesses, community centres and faith-based organizations where subscribers can pick them up for $15 each.

While there is one part time staffer who oversees Environment Hamilton’s Good Food Box, it is heavily subsidized by volun-teers and in-kind support. Key volunteers organize each pack and Salvation Army and Indwell / Perkins Centre provide in-kind donations ie physical spaces to pack, vol-unteers pack and deliver the boxes and site coordinators collect / distribute orders to subscribers. Lastly, Salvation Army pro-vides a delivery truck and Welcome Inn has been a long time supporter.

The Good Food Box model doesn’t come without challenges, including the expec-tation for subscribers to pay in advance may place a burden on many low-income subscribers, the rising costs of imported food and logistical demands (vehicles, etc) being borne by volunteers, and of course

the pressures caused by rising food costs and low Canadian dollar. Despite all of this, these projects have endured for a decade or two in many places, as well as manag-ing to grow and spread to countless new locales.

Grappling with issues of food security means more than just feeding people; it means finding new ways to produce and distrib-ute food making reliable access to healthy food a priority. Good Food Box projects in Hamilton and elsewhere don’t solve that problem entirely, but they offer a working model which has long-since proven stable and sustainable. The program also focus-es on the dignity for all because it’s built on principles on universal access; no one needs to demonstrate need to participate in the project.

Quick Facts:Grace Lutheran Church’s Good Food Box started in 2005 and packs 120 boxes / month with 12-15 volunteersEnvironment Hamilton’s Good Food Box started in 2011 and packs 400 boxes / month with one part time staffer and 15-20 volunteers Dundas’ Good Food Box started in 2011 and packs 110 boxes / month with the support of 15-20 volunteers

For more information about the Good Food Box program:environmenthamilton.org

This article was written by Alex, Good Food Box volunteer.

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Just over 50 per cent of all food waste happens in the home. It is estimated that Canadians waste as much as $1500 worth of food per household each year. Major contributing factors include preparing too much food, not using leftovers, and letting food spoil.

Here are some tips to help you reduce food waste and save money:

Start by planning your menu for the week based on food you have in your home.

• Beforeyouhead to thegrocery store,see what is already in your cupboards/pantry, refrigerator and freezer. • Make leftoverspartofyourmenuforthe week.• Make a grocery list of the foods thatyou need to complete your menu.• At the grocery store stayon task andpurchase only what is on the list.• To prevent food waste on the plate,serve food family style so that people can control how much they add to their own plate.

Keep your cupboard or pantry stocked and organized with basic, non-perishable food (canned goods, rice, pasta, crackers, flour, spices and seasonings, vinegars, and cooking oils) that can be used to turn the fresh and frozen food in your fridge and freezer into a variety of meals.

• Keep track ofwhat is in your pantryand organize by zones – baking, snacks, quick meals, canned goods, grains and breads, spices and seasonings.

• Shop in yourpantryfirst rather thanrepurchasing.• Keeponionsandpotatoesinacooldryplace.• Buyinlargequantitiesonlyifyouhavea plan for using that amount of food.

Organize your fridge to keep food fresh and reduce spoilage.

• Don’toverfillyourfridge.Airneedstocirculate around food to keep it cool.• Check the fridge temperature. Itshould be 4C or lower.• The bottom and middle shelves arethe coldest part of the fridge and a good place to store items like milk, yogurt, sour cream, and eggs. • Reserve the refrigerator door, thewarmest place, for condiments and sauces. • Use the dairy compartment for hardcheeses.• Usethedelidrawerfordelimeatsandother cheeses.• Store rawmeat, poultry, and seafoodonthebottomshelf.Useatraytopreventany drips from contaminating other food. • Use the upper shelves for leftovers,ready to eat foods, and berries• Storefreshvegetablespronetowilting(like lettuce, beans, and broccoli) in one of the crisper drawers and set for high humidity. Set the other crisper drawer for low humidity and use for fruit, mushrooms and peppers.

“BestBeforedates”are foundonpackagedfoods

that will stay fresh for 90 days or less. Food from unopened packages may be consumed after the best before date has passed, although it may lose some of its taste, freshness, texture, and nutritional quality. However, once the packaging is open, “BestBefore”datesdonotapply–neverrelyonyour eyes, nose or taste to judge a food’s safety.When in doubt, throw it out!

Your freezer should also be kept organized so that food gets used, not buried and forgotten!

• Asmuchaspossible,freezefoodswhenthey are fresh. • Store food in airtight containers toprevent freezer burn. • Freeze food in uniform stackablecontainersthatcanwithstandthefreezer’stemperatures. If using freezer bags, flatten the bag and contents and freeze flat. • Labelallcontainersoffrozenfoodwiththe contents, number of servings and the date frozen. • Organize your freezer in foodcategories. For example: Vegetables, Fruit, Grains,Breads,Milk,Cheese,Meat,Fish,Poultry,BeansandLentils,andMeals.• Ifyouhaveachestfreezer,usereusableshopping bags with handles that will allow you to lift food easily from the bottom layer.• Keep track of food in the freezer tohelp with menu planning.

For more information on Safe Food Storage visit • Canada.ca/FoodSafety• EatRightOntario.ca(searchfoodsafety)• BeFoodSafe.ca

Recently relocated to the north end, The Down Stairs Kitchen is a community outreach project of the Christ’s Church Anglican Cathedral. The DSK started out over 5 years ago as one of the original neighbourhood revitalization projects in the Sherman Hub area. Housed then at St. Giles United Church, at Main and Sherman, the popular Community Dinner program was forced to relocate when St. Giles Church closed last winter. We are excited to be in the north end now, says Manager Cathy Hughes. We are excited to bring our community dinner program and community kitchen programs to the north end.”

The Down Stairs Kitchen is a health focused initiative with goals to offer programming to address the major factors which determine good health outcomes. Our current focus is on food sustainability and helping neighbours enhance their capacity to access healthy food and food related skills such as nutrition and meal planning, bulk purchasing, budgeting.”

A Community Dinner is held the third Thursday of the month. It’s an all ages event with a different menu each month featuring fresh local food. Doors open at 5:30 and dinner is served at 6:00pm. Volunteers are encouraged and any resident who would like to be featured as a guest speaker or performing artist is welcomed to participate at the dinner.

Social enterprise is also a very important part of what the Down Stairs Kitchen does, as it strives to build program resources by helping neighbours achieve employment and other related life skills while increasing capacity in individuals and the community. Currently an assortment of catered food may be purchased and the proceeds go back into supporting the program.

Quite recently, the DSK received a grant from the Hamilton Community Foundation and have started plans to hold a Community Dinner Theatre. They are looking for community residents interested in performing and visual arts, all forms of music and drama to get involved.

With support from the Anglican Foundation of Canada a new community kitchen project will soon be starting to help newcomer women learn food safety skills, budgeting, share recipes, participate in group purchasing and just chat while cooking together with other neighbourhood residents.

Cathy tells me that the 2nd Annual “Pies for Poverty” Fundraising Project will launch in time to help neighbours with Easter holiday entertaining. In partnership with the local anti-poverty initiative, Campaign for Adequte Welfare and Disability Support(CAWDS) assorted seasonal pies and freshly baked goodies soon be available for order.

The Down Stairs Kitchen is located inside St. Luke’s Church Hall at 76 MacAulay St. (corner John near Wood St)More information about Community Theatre Project, Community Dinners or Pie Sale or other Kitchen events can be obtained by calling 905.529.5452 or emailing dskitchen6@gmail.com

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Central Neighbourhood Association

Reach one of the most densely populated areas in the city of Hamilton with low cost, effective advertising. Opportunities are available for local businesses on the Association’s active website supplemented with mentions in our regular newsletter and social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter. For more information please go to http://centralneighbourhood.ca/sponsorships-donations/

Upcoming EventsCentral Park Clean Up - Saturday May 14th. Central Neighbourhood Association will be holding its annual clean up of Central Park in conjunction with the Community Team Up to Clean Up initiative and our commitment to the Adopt a Park. The provisional date has been set for Saturday May 14th at 10 am, please watch for posters in and around Central Park and local businesses and local leaflets delivered through your door.

Annual General Meeting - Monday May 30th. The Associations Annual General Meeting has provisionally been set for Monday May 30th starting with round table discussions of local topics at 6.30 pm and then the formal part of the meeting at 7.30 pm at the Galley on Bay. Councillor Jason Farr has been invited to attend to deliver a city update. Watch for flyers delivered door to door for more details.

Keep up to date and let us know what you are thinking as Central Neighbours by liking and visiting our Facebook Page Facebook.com/CentralNeighbours and on Twitter @CentralHamOnt As well as our website centralneighbourhood.ca

North End Neighbourhood Association

The neighbourhood association for residents of the North End“A child and family-friendly

neighbourhood”

The next NEN Community meeting is April 6. We are happy to host Councillor Jason Farr who has agreed to attend as our guest to answer questions and dialogue with our community. Please come to socialize and share your thoughts with your neighbours and hear from our Councillor. Looking forward to seeing you April 6 at Bennetto Recreation Centre at 7:00. All residents are welcome. Meetings take place the first Wednesday of each month.

As you may know from Social Media, there was a meeting of North End and Beasley residents in January about John Street North and specifically the John Street Bridge. The folks there and others wanted to know what’s happening with John North and are looking for information about the bridge replacement. We have received additional information from our Councillor Farr which we want to share with our readers: “The bridge replacement is a CN project, like the Bay St. Bridge, not a City project. Their plan is to replace the bridge with the same lane configurations and widths as are there today, with the exception it will be a little taller and the approaches a little steeper to meet new Canadian Federal Rail track clearance requirements. This will not preclude the two-waying of John St. No additional land is required for the bridge replacement as planned. CN current plan is for the work to begin in sometime in 2017 or early 2018. We will get a tighter time frame as detail design proceeds, likely later this year or early in 2017.”

The next “Community Engagement” meeting about Waterfront Redevelopment is planned for 7:00 p.m. at 294 James Street North April 28. These meetings are usually well attended and all are welcome. For more information go to the City Website - https://www.hamilton.ca/city-initiatives/priority-projects/waterfront-redevelopment or “search” waterfront redevelopment. Hope to see you at these monthly meetings to join in the discussions.

About North End Neighbourhood Association:

Membership is FREE for residents. Just email or phone to let us know if you wish to be a member and so you will be on our email list for updates and notifications of meetings and events.

NEN is the Neighbourhood Association for the North End. Its mission is to advance the social, physical, and cultural interests of the residents of our community, through the identification and research of issues affecting our community, the education of residents and the promotion of their active involvement in the democratic process to ensure that the interests of our community are protected as a Child and Family-Friendly community. NEN works to achieve its goals by providing a forum for residents for the discussion of all matters of community interest, and developing and fostering a positive community spirit. Contact Information: Carmen Cooper nenchair@gmail.com or Sheri Selway, secretary sheri.selway@gmail.com Email: nenchair@gmail.comWebsite: www.northendneighbours.comFacebook: North End NeighboursTwitter: @nenhamilton

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Beasley Neighbourhood Association

The Beasley Neighbourhood Association has been busy preparing for spring. Annual elections will be held at the April 13th meeting. Beasley Park redevelopment will commence in the next couple months and Neighbourhood Plan updating continues. You can help us set a vision for Beasley using the online mapping tool at www.ourbeasley.com or by sharing input at the upcoming Beasley Fair April 23rd (see below). Beasley meetings are on the Second Wednesday of the Month from 7-830pm at the Beasley Community Centre 145 Wilson St.

Sharing Knowledge: An Intercultural Exchange Series in Beasley

A series of interactive sessions where our neighbours from diverse backgrounds will share their knowledge and lived experiences about topics that matter in our community 4 Saturdays in AprilFREE, all are welcomeApril 9 Intercultural ConversationsOld Beasley Community Centre (133 Wilson St); 2 -- 3:30 p.m. April 16Intro to Tai Chi Class Beasley Community Centre (145 Wilson St); 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Views on Wellness

Old Beasley Community Centre (133 Wilson); 2 - 3:30 p.m.

Sat April 23Traditional Somali Dance ClassBeasley Community Centre Gym (145 Wilson St); 3 -- 4:30 p.m.

Sat April 30Intergenerational Relationships Through Asset BuildingOld Beasley Community Centre (133 Wilson St); 2 - 3:30 p.m.

These sessions are hosted by the Beasley Inclusion Group, a group of Beasley residents committed to fostering equity, inclusion and diversity in our neighbourhoood. If you have any questions please reach out to us at beasleyinclusiongroup@gmail.com

The Hub is a collaboration of local residents and services providers. We work together to add and enhance these great neighbourhoods in the downtown. Through our small grant initiative residents are able to apply for up to $1500 to support their communitybuilding projects.

Past grants include:Downtown Soccer ProgramCommunity Gardens & DinnersNeighbourhood Events (Easter Egg and Spring Celebrations)Youth Career NightThe List goes on…

If you are interested in more information about Small Grants you can connect with Community Developer Brandon Braithwaite through email bbraithwaite@sprc.hamilton.on.ca or by phone at 905-746-2382Check us out on Facebook and Twitter

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@OliversGProject oliversgardenproject.com

Oliver’s Garden Project started in 2011 Oliver was 6 and Piper was 5.

Oliver saw two little kids rummaging through blue recycling bins one day in his neighbourhood, he asked his

mother “why”. When she told him they probably needed to find bottles or cans to take back to make some money. This did not sit well with Oliver. His family already grew vegetables in their backyard and was going to sell the produce to save for a family trip. Oliver convinced his parents otherwise. He decided that the money raised would go directly to kids in his community who needed it more. Oliver’s Garden Project was planted.

The community got wind of what Oliver and Piper were up to and the newspaper called, wrote an article about his plan. That led to the Hamilton Community Garden Network (HCGN) getting in touch and partnering for a contest with Nature’s Path Organic Foods and Organic Gardening Magazine. Oliver’s Garden Project’s idea won! With that grant in 2012 they were able to create home vegetable gardens for five different families in their community, host workshops, grow more vegetables to sell and host a community breakfast fundraiser in Gage Park.

The partnership with HCGN lead to another grant, which included The Boys and Girls Club of Hamilton

in 2013. With that grant from The Cowan Foundation, Oliver’s Garden Project was able to create an after school program that allowed for over 100 kids in the inner city to learn how to grow their own food, using a local high school’s green house as well as teach the kids how to create healthy recipes.

Also in 2013, Oliver’s Garden Project was approached by several Hamilton based Food Trucks to buy their tomatoes for menu creations. As well, a local small business owner, The Wandering Locavore has purchased their heirloom tomatoes to be used in the company’s Heirloom Tomato Jams, which are now sold at The Mustard Seed Co-op.

Oliver’s Garden Project has since started a school vegetable garden at Oliver and Piper’s school. They have been invited to set up their little veggie stand at Ottawa Street Market, Food Truck Events and different fairs and functions around the city.

They have donated vegetable proceeds to The Living Rock, Food4Kids and Neighbour2Neighbour assisting at risk youth.

Oliver’s Garden Project is “Empowering youth to grow, eat and share with their community”One tomato at a time.

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It seems hard to believe, but the Neighbourhood Action Strategy is entering into its 5th year! Similar to what happens in spring, we continue to support initiatives that take root and grow. But some still ask, what exactly is the Neighbourhood Action Strategy anyway?We like to say that the Neighbourhood Action Strategy is an innovative and somewhat complex approach to community development. The NAS (as we like to call it) was created to help improve the lives of Hamilton residents specifically in 11 priority neighbourhoods by:

• Working alongside our partners at the Hamilton Community Foundation, Hamilton Best Start and the SPRC to assist community development.

• Assisting in the development of resident-led Neighbourhood Action Plans. These plans help City staff and Council make decisions around funding neighbourhood improvements and leveraging additional investments as needed.• Creating and supporting relationships with other levels of government, business and organizations that support healthy, vibrant and inclusive neighbourhoods.

Lately we’ve also been involved in a variety of projects such as asset mapping, Snow Angels, NLI projects, the Learning Annex, Neighbourhood Improvement Program, Building Momentum Hamilton, Your Vision Hamilton and a variety of community consultations to name a few.

Originally housed under the City Manager’s Office at City Hall, the NAS is now part of the Community & Emergency Services Department and has its office at the beautiful Lister Block. Suzanne Brown, one of the original NAS employees, is now our Director and leads a diverse team of employees who use their various skills and connections to support the NAS. Al Fletcher, the Manager of the NAS, is a strong supporter of resident-led initiatives and loves to find proactive solutions to neighbourhood issues. We love to help and have incredible connections within the City and beyond, so please reach out to us and let’s see how we can assist! For more information please visit:h t t p s : / / w w w . h a m i l t o n . c a / c i t y -i n i t i a t i v e s / s t r a t e g i e s - a c t i o n s /neighbourhood-action-strategy

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