About The British Columbia Food Systems Network
The BCFSN Mission Statement:
To work together to eliminate hunger and create food security for all residents of British Columbia.
- Food security requires a sustainable food system in which:
- everyone is able to acquire, in a dignified manner, adequate quantity and quality of personally acceptable food;
- people are able to earn a living wage by growing, producing, processing, handling, retailing and serving food;
- the quality of land, air and water, the well-being of animals, and the integrity of plants and seeds are maintained and enhanced for future generations; and
- food is recognized as the basis of health and celebrated as central to family, community and cultural integrity.
- We recognize that food is essential to life and is therefore a human right. It is also a gift from the Creator so that both the food and its sources must be honoured.
- We encourage initiatives to reclaim local ownership of community food systems and develop food self-reliance by sharing food, information, skills, and resources.
- We develop and advocate policies to redesign food and related systems that contribute to hunger or are unsustainable. This includes food production, processing, transport or retail; it also includes health, welfare, education, institutions, economics, and trade.
- We work to ensure that the voices of grassroots organizations and marginalized groups are heard in the process of policy formation at all levels.
- We link provincially, nationally and internationally with organizations and networks committed to the same goals.
- Our network therefore includes people who experience hunger and food insecurity, who produce food, who work to protect the environment, and who develop policy frameworks that foster food security for the whole population. We link provincially, nationally and internationally with organizations and networks committed to the same goals.
- The BC Food Systems Network is a non-profit organization.
- Membership is open to anyone who supports our mission and democratic, inclusive process. Please download the Membership Form, complete it and send it to the address on the form, along with any membership fee you wish to pay. To join our listserv without becoming a member, subscribe by clicking on this link and following the directions. Please note that you must be subscribed to post to our listserv.
- We have a Board of Directors who are responsible for providing leadership to the Network and support to its members in their work towards a just and sustainable food system in British Columbia.
The Board of Directors elected for 2011 - 2012 are:
- Jamila Ali
- Abra Brynne
- Dayna Chapman (Bella Coola Valley Sustainable Agriculture Society, Bella Coola)
- Trish Chung (Horse Lake Community Farm Co-operative, Clinton)
- Christina Elliot (Central Okanagan Community Gardens and Central Okanagan Food Policy Council)
- Jen Gamble (Shuswap Food Action Co-op, Salmon Arm)
- Linda Geggie (Capital Region Food & Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable, Victoria)
- Arzeena Hamir (Richmond Food Security Society, Richmond)
- Carol Kergan (Central Okanagan Food Policy Council, Kelowna)
- Azalea Erin Moen (Student, Vancouver)
- Erika Mundel (PhD candidate at UBC/UBC Farm caretaker)
- David Parkinson (Powell River Food Security Project, Powell River)
- Diana Penner
- Cheryl Thomas (North Thompson Valley Food Coalition, Clearwater)
- David Tracey
Additional information about the Network can be found in The Network Brochure. If you wish to become a member of the Network, download the Membership Form. Fill it out and send it to the Communications Co-ordinator.
