Assembly 2021

Our first online Assembly, our incredible Assembly 2021: RESILIENCE brought together co-operators, Black and Indigenous food sovereignty leaders, and innovators from across Turtle Island.

We had speakers from coast to coast from as far North as Yukon, South to Mississippi; from Coast Salish Territory to the West and Mi’kmaqi territory to the East.

Thank you for joining us.

About our Program for Assembly 2021: RESILIENCE

Our Assembly brings together farmers, co-ops, food sovereignty leaders from across the province to learn from each other to further advance the local food and farming cooperative movement in Ontario and beyond. Our themes this year focus on cooperative development, pandemic resilience and BIPOC food sovereignty including speakers who reach across the country from the west coast to the Yukon and beyond.

Spanning three days of workshops, inspirational speakers, and our Mentor Match-up connecting co-ops and organizations across the sector, this year we will be adding a film screening of First We Eat about Northern food sovereignty and an interactive online cooking session surrounding stories of and cooking with manoomiin (wild rice).

Since our last Assembly in March 2020, we have seen how communities have come together to help each other through COVID-19. We have also seen an increased interest and development of local food and farming initiatives as well as cooperatives throughout the sector. People are thinking differently about food sovereignty, and how to build sustainable movements towards a better way forward. See more below about how we made our Assembly happen virtually for the first time!

Keynote Plenary Panel: On Food Sovereignty and a Just Transition

Time: 12:00pm-1:30pm EST

Description: This plenary panel opens our Assembly with speakers from across the country and beyond, setting the tone for discussing food sovereignty, cooperative ways to move the food movement forward facing the pandemic, and re-imagining ways to empower people to be actors in their food system. You won’t want to miss this one!

Speakers:

See what Dawn had to say about food sovereignty during the pandemic in this June 2020 National Observer article

Hear what Kali had to say about worker co-ops, economic democracy and Black community-led self-determination in this interview with Chris Hedges and this podcast episode on Democracy at Work.

Mentor Match-up Breakout Groups

Time: 2:00pm-3:30pm EST

Description: Breakout rooms hosted by the speakers below providing space for any attendee to ‘drop in’ to breakout rooms and hear about our speakers’ organizations/services and what they offer; to have an open space to ask their questions and connect with experts in the field. Two 40-minute sessions with a 10 minute break in the middle allows for attendees to choose 2 sessions to join.

Speakers:

Working Together

Time: 4:00pm-5:30pm EST

Description: This session is for all attendees to hear about the work LFFC has been doing in 2020-2021, to give input as to the direction our organization will take in the coming year and how we can better support local food co-ops and farm co-ops in Ontario. Free for LFFC members.

Facilitator: Shylah Wolfe, LFFC Project Manager

Annual General Meeting

Time: 6:00pm-8:00pm EST

Description: Our LFFC Annual General Meeting. All members invited, organizational members have voting rights.

Facilitators: LFFC Board of Directors

Imagining Post-Pandemic Food Futures

Time: 12:00pm-1:30pm EST

Description: Now that we’re a whole year out from when the country shut down from COVID-19, what has changed? What parts of pre-COVID times are worth returning back to? This panel will explore how our speakers and their communities responded to the pandemic and will explore what sustainable solutions for re-visioning our food system may be necessary for long-term viability.

Speakers:

Farming in COVID: Farming, Labour and Food Distribution

Time: 2:00-3:30pm EST

Description: This panel discussed farmers adapting from markets to online sales and distribution, as well as farm labour, migrant worker rights and other issues related to farmers.

Speakers:

Check out this video to see how Dave Kranenburg quickly pivoted to reinvent the way farmers collaborate and spearheaded a new distribution path for local food that now feeds 300 homes via 55 growers per week.

Social Economy and Small Business Sustainability

Time: 4:00-5:30pm EST

Description: Our speakers will discuss social economy and alternative ways in which to invest and how this can support the local food and farming sector. As we work our way out of the emergency measures of the pandemic, we explore how can we support small businesses through the pandemic, invest in socially responsible ways and what this means for our society.

Speakers:

Film Screening and Panel: First We Eat

Time: 6pm-7:30pm EST

Description: What happens when an ordinary family, living just south of the Arctic Circle, bans all grocery store food from their house for one year? Add three skeptical teenagers, one reluctant husband, no salt, no caffeine, no sugar and -40 temperatures. Putting food sovereignty to the test in the far North of Canada - filmmaker Suzanne Crocker, living just 300 km from the Arctic Circle, removes absolutely all grocery store food from her house.

We will host filmmaker Suzanne Crocker and Jackie Olson of Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation to discuss the film and Northern food sovereignty in the Yukon. More on the film First We Eat here.

Speakers:

  • Suzanne Crocker, filmmaker

  • Jackie Olson, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation

Indigenous Food Sustainability: Land, Water, Climate Action and Intentional Allyship

Time: 12:00pm-1:30pm EST

Description: Recognizing that over the past 100+ years, the foodways of Indigenous Peoples have changed drastically and not by choice or for the better, hear from 3 panelists who are working to reclaim sovereignty over the foodways in their community, region and nationally. How is climate change affecting Indigenous peoples and their relationship with food throughout Canada? How can we work towards meaningful allyship and action?

Speakers:

BIPOC Food Sovereignty and farming

Time: 2:30pm-4:00pm EST

Description: The right to food and to create systems in which to feed our own communities in self-determined ways is a pivotal part of food sovereignty. A lack of food accessibility, land acquisition and culturally appropriate foods are disproportionately affecting Black and Indigenous People of Colour communities. In this session we will hear from innovative and inspiring BIPOC-led farming and food sovereignty organizations that serve to break through the impacts of colonization to develop a community-owned, community-led food system that is equitable and sustainable. Our speakers will discuss a range of BIPOC food sovereignty initiatives in the Greater Toronto Area and rural Ontario locations, from the NFU BIPOC Farmers Working Group to the Black Food Sovereignty Toronto initiatives and co-operative farming.

Speakers:

Manoomin: Interactive Cooking Session

Time: 5:00pm-7:00pm EST

Description: Join our interactive cooking session and dinner party hosted by our Indigenous Relations Coordinator and trained chef, Kanina Terry, in conversation about manoomin (wild rice), the cultural significance of this food historically to the Anishinabe and today, and what food sovereignty means. All Full Conference Pass holders and Thursday Day Pass holders will automatically be registered for this session, but anyone can register for this session separately if they desire. Recipes and a shopping list will be emailed to you ahead of time, and we will cook on screen together, sitting down with conversation and a delicious meal.

Facilitators:

  • Kanina Terry, LFFC Indigenous Relations Coordinator and chef

  • Jana-Rae Yerxa, faculty for Anishinaabe Gikendaasowin for the Seven Generations Education Institute.