{"id":34470,"date":"2024-04-18T16:18:05","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T20:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=34470"},"modified":"2024-04-25T11:23:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T15:23:00","slug":"addressing-income-struggles-is-key-to-battling-food-insecurity-yrfn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/addressing-income-struggles-is-key-to-battling-food-insecurity-yrfn\/","title":{"rendered":"Addressing income struggles is key to battling food insecurity: YRFN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As important as food banks are to communities like Aurora, addressing income inequality will be the key to tackling food insecurity, according to the York Region Food Network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing the income gap will be an integral pillar in a new and refreshed York Region Food Charter which is now nearing completion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

York Region\u2019s first Food Charter was published in 2013 and a lot has happened in the subsequent decade, including climate change, the pandemic, and the ongoing affordability crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now it is time to \u201clook at this again to re-examine all of our values, our goals, come back to that\u2026 and try to figure out how to move forward,\u201d says Morgan Sage, Food Policy Coordinator for the York Region Food Network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis document has been a great way to bring people together and have these conversations around food in this completely different landscape we\u2019re working within right now,\u201d says Sage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later this month, Aurora Council will consider making a \u201ccommitment\u201d to support the new York Region Food Charter and a recommendation from staff \u201cto work with local agencies and York Region in pursuit of food security for Aurora residents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Robin McDougall, Director of Community Services for the Town of Aurora, says the Federal government has a \u201clead policy role\u201d on many of these matters, the municipal level can tackle the issue through public health delivery, food inspection, nutritional health promotion, zoning policies, and waste management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll have an impact on food security, but given the government structure for Aurora, York Region holds most of the responsibility for the policies that govern each of these areas,\u201d said McDougall in a report to Council. \u201cAurora certainly has a responsibility in planning, zoning, waste management, water supply and recreation. Indirectly, Aurora can support the other areas of responsibility (housing, public health, transportation, and social services) but lacks the resources to lead them and Aurora relies on the Region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the ways Aurora has stepped up to help address food security, said McDougall, are the installation of mini food pantries placed in four areas of Aurora in conjunction with the Aurora Food Pantry and the Aurora Seniors\u2019 Centre; community gardens recently approved the incoming John Abel Park in the Town\u2019s northeast; and food donations encouraged at numerous annual community events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConsidering that food security relies on a healthy food system, Aurora cannot provide food security alone. Aurora has an integral role; however, it depends on the Region, Provincial and Federal governments, to support the local communities,\u201d she said, adding that it would be more valuable for Aurora to sign onto the York Region Food Charter rather than a Made-in-Aurora plan. \u201cAurora could commit to taking action to achieve the Charter\u2019s vision in our organization and the community we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A staff recommendation to endorse the Charter was approved by Council at this month\u2019s Committee of the Whole meeting without discussion and will be up for ratification at the April 23 Council meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work on the Region\u2019s new Charter continues at pace and Sage says they are seeking endorsement of the finished product from the Regional Council this fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new document is based on five key pillars including Income, Community & Culture, Health & Wellbeing, Agrifood, and Environmental Stewardship, but that lead pillar will prove to be a keystone for the whole, she notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is agreement in our consultation that food insecurity is a major problem,\u201d she says. \u201cThat goes without saying, but it is interesting because it has been across-the-board with community members emphasizing food insecurity now. It\u2019s also the policy-makers saying food insecurity is an issue and we need to talk about it \u2013 and when it comes to food insecurity, when you get down to the nitty-gritty of it, you get down to income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen it came to updating the Charter, we knew we had to make income the central focus because, in the past, when you talk about food insecurity, the solution that some people come up with is, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s have increased food bank hours,\u2019 or \u2018Let\u2019s have a community fridge.\u2019 Those are fantastic community assets and 100 per cent we need those because there are people right now struggling in our community, but if we\u2019re talking about a long-term solution, we need income solutions so everyone has the ability to purchase what they want, what\u2019s culturally acceptable to them, what fits their food preferences, and do that all with dignity as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Sage has worked on the issue of food security and the Charter\u2019s development, she says she\u2019s found \u201cloads of misconceptions\u201d about what food insecurity actually means. People come at the problem with well-intentioned solutions like suggesting people grow their own veggies and micro-greens where they can, but those offerings don\u2019t really get down to the roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf people want to grow something in their backyard or grow something in their kitchen, people should have the right to access that and have the knowledge to be able to do that. Even in our Charter, we talk about knowledge and sharing as one of our key pillars. We want to make sure people have the ability and knowledge to do that,\u201d says Sage. \u201cOne of the major things that [we have struggled with in the Emergency Food Sector is] we sometimes struggle to get the point to stick with people that food insecurity is an income issue and we have been saying it for years and years \u2013 and people still come forward with these solutions for food banks; that\u2019s not to say anything negative about food banks, which are a much-needed resource in the community, but the root cause of food insecurity is income and that\u2019s the message we\u2019ve had issues getting to stick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis Charter is meant to be a guiding document for the entirety of the food system. I\u2019m really excited to actually share it out into the world because we\u2019ve had a lot of conversations both within specialized sectors within the food system, but we have really been trying to bring those conversations together and make sure it is reflective of York Region and our food system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCommunities want the Charter to be actionable. As we continue to develop it and continue to edit and bring all those consultation pieces, we\u2019ll make sure that there\u2019re actions community can take\u2026 at different levels and organizations can take as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As important as food banks are to communities like Aurora, addressing income inequality will be the key to tackling food insecurity, according to the York Region Food Network. Addressing the income gap will be an integral pillar in a new and refreshed York Region Food Charter which is now nearing completion. York Region\u2019s first Food […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8XY","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-23 12:54:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}