Our February 2022 KFPC Network Meeting took place via zoom on the evening of February 2. During this time we explored and imagined the topic of mutual aid together. 

Lindsay Harris, one of our 4 facilitators of the evening, opened the meeting with an exciting activity that set the stage for our collaborative endeavor. Rather than using a predefined understanding of mutual aid, we sought to examine what our network believed mutual aid to be. Using an instinctual, say don’t think, style of facilitation we broke out into groups of 3 to come up with 10 description words for mutual aid as fast as our fingers could type them into the chat! We heard a number of different ideas and phrases, but a lot of overlapping thoughts such as community, collaboration and sharing as well. We described mutual aid as:

Not only did we manage to bring a better understanding to what we ourselves thought of mutual aid, but what others in our network did. We then leaned into Dean Spade’s definition: “Mutual aid work plays an immediate role in helping us get through crises, but it also has the potential to build the skills and capacities we need for an entirely new way of living at a moment when we must transform our society…” 

Exploring that second caveat, building the skills and capacities of what is needed, we transitioned into hearing about mutual aid work around poverty within our community. Bonnie Klohn and Emily Pletsch presented their learnings and findings from the project, Changing the Face of Poverty. In addition to discussing the project, findings, and intentional ending in detail, the two shared their anti-stigma video with the network.

As we moved into the discussion group part of the evening, we again sought to establish a more collaborative framework. Rather than our KFPC team defining topics to explore, we asked participants to decide using an open space format. Once we opened the floor to ideas, 3 different topics were created and individuals selected the breakout room of their choice. These included:

1. How to bring mutual aid to emergency food aid? (E.g., food boxes)
2. How to organize mutual aid for building connections?
3. How the rubber hits the road – starting, planning, action, and delivery of mutual aid

For over 25 minutes, we explored our chosen area, while building momentum and creating community. No structural questions were given to lead discussions, everything was carried on organically by participants! Breakout sessions were a buzz with ideas, thoughts, and questions. 

In group 1 specific thoughts emerged, such as: “needs don’t always end when the grant funding runs out”, “mutual aid is not always a universal answer to every non-profit project”, and the need to infuse the ethos of “solidarity not charity” into food programs. In group 2 the conception and feasibility of a human library or skillshare program was explored. A concept where people could access a “resource of people” to discover their corresponding skills to share. The group also discussed ways to encourage people to get to know each other in their communities, whether through specific community initiatives or building physical spaces for informal points of connection. In group 3, examples of mutual aid participants had seen or experienced were shared. 

After our lengthy and exciting discussions, Bonnie Klohn brought us back to the main group and asked us all to share in the chat something we will be taking away with us after the meeting. Some mentioned specific ideas formed, like the Human Library. Others talked about a grant they heard of they hoped to apply for. While a few mentioned specific statements such as, “I was surprised by the amount of work that’s already been done.” 

Mutual aid is a topic of great interest in our city. It’s something we are seeing, it’s something we are doing! Our network meeting was intended to stir our community into action! Even just building up our understanding of mutual aid. If you’d like to explore the topic of Mutual Aid with us further, please sign-up for our March 2 Book Club here. 

A big thank you to our presenters and our network for meeting and sharing space with one another. The discussions were as inspiring as they were exciting! We hope to see you all for our next network meeting – in person – at The Stir on April 6, 2022 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.

On the first of this month our network gathered online for our December Network Meeting to discuss Community Food Action (CFA) in our city. With a number of new and familiar faces, Bonnie Khlon started our meeting with a brief discussion on the extreme weather events of this past fall and the importance of local food in climate change.

Our new communications lead, Krista Macaulay, facilitated the panel structured meeting where presenters shared and discussed food programs in Kamloops. Our panel included Mariana Guerra’s presentation of the Evaluation Plan on the Gleaning Abundance Program (GAP), Peace Jilani sharing her thesis research on the impact of the GAP, Serena Caner discussing Farm2School and the potential of school food environments in Kamloops, and Caitlin Quist & Kevin Pankewich presenting their Evaluation Plan on the Butler Urban Farm (BUF).

After the panel of presentations, attendees were asked to join the topic of their choice –  BUF, GAP, or School Food Environments – to provide adequate time to dive deeper into dialogue. Our breakout rooms followed the “what, so what, now what” liberating structure to reach a broader vision of CFA in our city, considering what is happening with food in our urban environments and what are the best steps for its continuation and growth.

The fruitful discussions looked at the current role of CFA in our city –  but really highlighted why food matters in Kamloops. Peace’s research on the Social Return on Investment of the GAP showed the numerical effect CFA has on food security and food waste, but also on the immeasurable impacts such as community building, emotional capacity and friendships. This theme was repeated in both the School Food Environment and BUF breakout room: where there is food, there are people. Where there are people, there are opportunities for connections, community development, and joy.

Looking forward, ideas were given on what more our programs could be doing. We discussed how CFA programs can grow, how to strengthen our outreach to wider networks, and what roles the KFPC can take on to lead new community food initiatives – specifically in school food environments.

The meeting concluded with a brief update from staff members of the KFPC on the brand launch of The Stir – Kamloops’ regional food hub and the exciting next steps towards doors opening in early 2022!

Thank you to our amazing panel of presenters and all who attended the meeting. Food has a deep purpose in our city, not only does it sustain us, but it connects us. We hope to see you all for our next network meeting in the new year on February 2!

Network Meeting Summary 

December 2, 2020

Introduction

The intention behind the December network meeting focused on “race and the food system” was to bring diverse voices up to the forefront and gain multiple perspectives to see where the strength of our community ties. The December network meeting is part of a series of network meetings created to facilitate a discussion around race and the food system. These discussions have been attempted in the past by the Kamloops Food Policy Council but not to this calibre. Food is something that connects us all and regardless of our shape, size or race, we are disconnected. In this fast-paced society, we fail to have these important conversations around food. This was where our network members came into play. Having a resilient community of network members at the KFPC that has been together for 25+ years at the grassroot and organization level provides a huge opportunity to start this conversation. This preliminary conversation will guide further series that will dive deeper into how we view ourselves talking about racial caucusing, culture and normativity and intersectionality. The overarching goal is to create an anti-racism manifesto for the Kamloops Food Policy Council. The best approach is to gain insights from the community and create the manifesto taking into consideration different voices and perspectives.

The Facilitators

 Fauve Garson

Final year Master of Environmental Sciences Student at Thompson Rivers University. Fauve is currently studying the connections between race and inequalities such as class and race within our local regional food systems. Fauve intends to use the series of network meetings and network members to further expand her learnings.

Bonnie Klohn

Bonnie recently completed a Master of Art Education and is a part of a family that has been in Kamloops for 6 generations with ancestors from Scotland. They came from a place in Scotland that is called Innerleithen. Meaning the meeting of the two rivers. It is the meeting of the river Tweed and the Leithen river. The area is one of the major salmon bearing rivers in the United Kingdom. Bonnie feels a sense of responsibility as her ancestors are one of the first set of settlers to remove indigenous people from management and jurisdiction of their land. She feels a connection to the Salmon people responsible for the survival of that species.

Deborah Ogundimu

Deborah is a Master of Business Administration candidate at Thompson Rivers University, a plant based African immigrant with a cultural and spiritual connection to food. As someone who grew up with a farm in close proximity, immigrating to a country with a different food system and a lack of culturally relevant food has showcased the need to explore where the disconnect lies and how this gap can be filled from a business perspective.

Breakout & Jam board Sessions

The attendees were distributed into 30-minute breakout rooms to discuss;

• What did your grandparents do for a living? What did they eat?
• Where is home for you? What foods are associated with home for you?
• Tell us about your etho-racial background. What do you know about its food system? Does it still happen now?

Afterwards, the facilitators hosted 3 Jam Board sessions to give members the opportunity to share their insights from the breakout sessions.

Insights on the Meeting

As a younger generation, we explored the foods that our grandparents ate and food associated with our history and cultures. The older generation put a lot more time into meal creation. There is a shortcoming with regards to intergenerational knowledge transfer for settlers and immigrants due to modernization, capitalism and convenience.

Historically, it was normal to prioritize food and the time it takes to prepare food. We are now in a “grab and go” lifestyle where the younger generation fail to see the importance of traditional food preparation techniques. The introduction of modern foods has helped to create a gap between what we traditionally pass on and what we now enjoy in our current lifestyles.

Capitalism through advertisement creates this instant convenient culture, an idea that convenience foods such as hamburger helper and craft dinners are a better alternative and a good substitute to the traditional slow food system. This has impacted our food system since the 50s. The network members discussed the externalities and how the modernized food system impacts the BIPOC community. The onset COVID-19 has brought to the limelight how the BIPOC workers and community are affected by the modernization of our food system. There is an increasing number of COVID-19 pandemic breakouts in factories where these convenient foods are produced. There is a strong connection between race and the industrial food system. There is an increasing amount of food deserts especially in the United States but also in Canada. Grocery stores are now replaced with fast food establishments like Taco Bell and food stamps are introduced in those areas. The members of the BIPOC community are encouraged through targeted marketing to eat from these fast food establishments. They lack access to culturally relevant and healthy food.

It is also evident that within those that are long time settlers, as several generations pass, intergenerational knowledge transfer has become less impactful. Food has become less ceremonial and traditional but more functional. Cultural food has been altered or even completely changed due to their immediate environment. It has become a fusion of cultures.

Wrap Up

Due to the complex nature of the topic, the plan is to continue to dive deeper on these conversations. We do not have a network meeting for January but in February, the goal is to facilitate a deeper conversation around culture and normativity. We consulted with Kyra Garson, a faculty member at TRU, who works in interculturalization to help facilitate a workshop and lead us through the conversation. Fauve’s thesis is on intersectionality concerning food and race. This could expand much further than food and race. The last network meeting on racial caucusing is to strengthen diversity, multiple perspectives and voices. This will help us create an environment to celebrate the BIPOC community and learn from each other.

 Announcements

• Indoor Winter Market at Purity Feeds Greenhouse from 10AM to 2PM on Saturday. The winter market ends on December 19.
• Mitch Ward, Migrant Farm Worker Outreach and Support worker. – There was a case concerning the abuse of migrant workers on local farms. Mitch has been supporting the workers for application for open work permits and pursuing some level of justice. Due to COVID-19, some migrant workers were on implied status as they could not return home due to the pandemic. This meant they could not qualify for employment benefits even though they had to contribute to the fund. Mitch fought with Service Canada and the worker got a full 30 weeks paid.
  • This sheds light on the challenges migrant workers face. There is a huge problem with inequality and race as those workers are systematically disentitled to federal benefits.

 Resources

Cory Doctorow – “Radicalized” Collection of Short Stories

“How Black Culinary Historians are Rewriting the History of American Food.” by Ruth Terry

Next Network Meeting

Wednesday, February 3, 2021