Food Council Working to Develop Food Asset Map

Charlottetown Food Council Working to Develop a Local Food Asset Map
Posted on 11/06/2020

The Charlottetown Food Council is hosting a series of community conversations throughout November and December to engage with residents and seek feedback on the City of Charlottetown’s first Food Asset Map.

The City of Charlottetown established the Charlottetown Food Council in July of 2018, made up of a group of volunteers with experience and expertise in various food related industries. Each of the members brings a unique perspective to the table and together they take a collaborative approach to improving the local food system.

The most recent project undertaken by the Food Council was the development of a Charlottetown Food Asset Map, which identifies the existing strengths and resources in the community. The development of this asset map will help the Food Council and other organizations gain a better understanding of the City's existing food system and identify opportunities to improve it through future partnerships, policies, and projects.

As part of the final stages of the Food Asset Map, the Charlottetown Food Council is hosting a number of virtual Community Conversations, which will provide the public an opportunity to engage with the new asset map and expand on it by identifying what they recognize as food assets in their area. The four-part conversation series, hosted completely online, will feature a variety of panelists discussing the following themes:

  • Produce, Distribute and Receive: To bring together community members and primary industry members of the food supply chain to share perspectives and information on the local food system.
  • Learn and Celebrate: To uplift voices of BIPOC community members, with regards to our local food system, to create an understanding of how culture, policy, and projects may adversely affect some members of the community, as well as to understand the historical and cultural significance of the land that food is produced on.
  • Grow, Build, Support: To build on assets in the food system, creating more connections and action at neighbourhood levels to benefit the community as a whole.
  • Buy and Celebrate: To build on and celebrate assets in the food system to encourage more citizens to buy and support local.

“I strongly encourage community members to take part in these virtual events and conversations to learn more about the food assets we have in our community,” said Councillor Mitchell Tweel, chair of Environment and Sustainability. “The Charlottetown Food Council has taken a collaborative approach with this project and the community input is an important piece to this puzzle.”

The community conversations will be 60-minute virtual workshops hosted online. All members of the public are invited and encouraged to virtually attend one of these community conversations on food. Pre-registration is required and available online at the link provided below.

“We feel it is very important to engage with our local communities to talk about our food system,” said Bernie Plourde, Chair of the Charlottetown Food Council. “This project was put on hold because of the global pandemic, but this has brought a new perspective for the Food Council to review. The themes that we have laid out are meant to explore all corners of food assets within Charlottetown and we are excited to gather feedback from the community.”

The schedule for the Community Conversations (virtual) is as follows:
 Monday, November 23 at 7 p.m. – Theme: Produce, Distribute and Receive
 Wednesday, November 25 at 2 p.m. – Theme: Learn and Celebrate
 Tuesday, December 1 at 7 p.m. – Theme: Grow, Build and Support
 Thursday, December 3 at 2 p.m. – Theme: Buy and Celebrate

The Charlottetown Food Council, in partnership with the Province of PEI, has also released a Community Food Questionnaire as another avenue for the public to provide feedback and collect additional information about Charlottetown’s food environment. The results of this questionnaire will be compared to the results of a similar survey, which was launched prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, to gain insight into the way the pandemic has affected the food system. Survey participants will also have the opportunity to opt in to be entered into a random draw for a fruit tree from Van Kampen’s Greenhouse. The questionnaire is available online, as well as paper copies at City Hall (199 Queen Street), until Friday, December 18 at 4 p.m.

To register or for more information on the Community Conversations, or to complete the survey, visit: www.charlottetown.ca/FoodCouncil