Vancouver

The City of Vancouver has produced a set of urban agriculture guidelines for residential buildings four storeys or more.

Created through a collaborative process with the community, developers and the Vancouver Food Policy Council, these guidelines are a valuable tool for planning and designing urban agriculture into new residential developments in Vancouver.

On January 20th, these guidelines were presented to the mayor and council. The report is available on line
http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20090120/documents/p2.pdf

Cool stuff!

24 HOURS: Chickens on your block?
By MATT KIELTYKA, 24 HOURS

Backyard hens are making their way up city council's pecking order.

Following their meeting Wednesday night, the Vancouver Food Policy Council will pitch council to change city bylaws to allow residents to raise chickens at home for food.

"There is a lot of interest around this issue," said Trish Kelly of the food policy council.

"It goes with the trend of eating local food and having things like community gardens."

Coun. Andrea Reimer sees it as a great way for people to access local food.

"Obviously it's not for everybody, but I can't imagine why you wouldn't want as much food produced within city limits as possible," she said.

"I've casually spoken with most of the councillors and they're broadly supportive of the concept."

http://andreareimer.typepad.com/in_the_news/2009/01/courier-playing-chic...

January 21, 2009
COURIER: Playing Chicken
Jeff Nield
Vancouver Courier

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

From curbside on a brisk autumn morning on a quiet Mount Pleasant block just west of Main Street, a neatly kept house gives no hint that illegal activity is taking place out back. But, in a city rife with well concealed grow-ops, local residents know that looks can be deceiving. Mary, the retired owner of the property, is as non-threatening as her house, and on first impression she wouldn't fit anyone's stereotype of a lawbreaker.

Community Kitchen Leadership Workshop in Vancouver

Date: Thursday, Jan 29th

Time: 9:30-2:30 pm

Cost: $25.00 for community members & $45 for agency representatives

Location: Vancouver Food Bank, 1150 Raymur Ave., Vancouver
During this one-day workshop you will have the opportunity to find out more about community kitchens, different ways a group can work and how you can lead or start a community kitchen.
To register or for more information: Contact Lynn Leong, lynnl@foodbank.bc.ca, 604-876-0659 ext 105

The next Food Policy Council meeting will be

Wednesday January 14th 6-8:30 pm
Strathcona Room at City Hall

We have a packed agenda, as usual, and guests are welcome.

Claire Gram, Regional Coordinator of Vancouver Coastal Health's Healthy Communities & Community Food Security program will be presenting about what VCH is up to.

By making sure that all people, at all times, have access to adequate amounts of safe, nutritious, culturally appropriate foods, produced in an environmentally sustainable way and provided in a manner that promotes dignity*, Vancouver Coastal Health is working towards a healthier tomorrow for communities, families and individuals.

Vancouver Coastal Health is working in partnership with communities across the region to address food security issues. Currently, there are 8 local Community Food Action Initiative (CFAI) committees in the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.

Below are the questions that were discussed in the breakout groups during the forum. Answers to the questions are being compiled and will help in the "How Food Secure is Vancouver" study, which is ongoing. If you would like to comment on any of the questions, please post below...

Question #1
What can be done to protect and enhance our supply of local food given the ongoing pressure that urban development is exerting on the food production zone (ALR) in the South Coastal Region?

Question #2
How would you define food security, within the context of ensuring Vancouver’s food supply becomes sustainable?

Question #3
What are the key determinants of a secure and sustainable food system in Vancouver?

We packed well over a hundred people into the Unitarian Church last night for the How Food Secure is Vancouver presentation/discussion.

Using a combo of World Cafe and Open Space concepts the majority of the evening was spent in group discussion of 5 key questions the study is contemplating.

Once I get a copy of the questions, I will post them.
But for now, I just wanted to say thanks to all the folks who trekked out on a Thursday evening to participate.

Trish Kelly

At the November VFPC meeting, Liz Perkins and Dalia Levy from the Environmental Youth Alliance (www.eya.ca) presented to the Food Policy Council. They gave us an introduction to what EYA is, “a local youth driven non-profit organization that provides young people with meaningful employment projects that benefit our communities while supporting our environment- socially, economically, as well as ecologically.” And described the internship program they are participating in.

Funded by Gov of Canada, the 8 month internships involve hands-on experience in the community and growing food, and involve an independent project component. Dalia combined theatre and environmentalism to found an eco-art club to educate on students relevant issues, and Liz was hired on as coordinator of the Fruit Tree project, connecting with canning workshops to provide fruit.

We have 150 folks from organizations and the community registered for next Wednesday's forum. That's our maximum capacity for the room.

If you registered, you'll be receiving a confirmation/ reminder shortly. Support materials will come next week, just in advance of the actual event.

If you've had a change of plans, please let us know so others can take your spot.

It's really great to know that there is so much energy around Food Security issues in our city. We at the VFPC are looking forward to connecting with participants at the Forum.

When you arrive, you'll be greeted by me and the rest of the registration team. We'll have name tags, copies of the Vancouver Food Charter, and our new VFPC brochure.

See you there!
Trish Kelly
co-chair VFPC

HOW FOOD SECURE IS VANCOUVER?

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

Unitarian Church Hall at 49th & Oak St.

6:00 – 9:30 PM

The Forum will present new research and hold a “world café” dialogue about present conditions and major benchmarks of food security in Vancouver.

The research includes:

1) A consultant’s report pulling together the big picture of current and projected food production, consumption, distribution, sustainability, constraints, and opportunities.

2) The results of a food security environmental scan in Vancouver’s twenty-three neighbourhoods conducted in partnership with the UBC Land & Food System Faculty.

This is Phase 1 of a major research effort which will be completed in January 2010. When combined with other work being conducted in the community, it will be the largest study of food security ever done in Vancouver.

My name is Trish Kelly, I'm the co-chair and a member of the Vancouver Food Policy Council.

We hope that this blog will help you understand what the VFPC is up to.

After each Food Policy Council meeting, I will post an entry about the most exciting parts of the meeting.

The next VFPC meeting is Wednesday November 12th at 6pm. As our usual meeting room at City Hall is booked, we're meeting at the Social Planning office.

This month's meeting, we're seeing a presentation by members of Environmental Youth Alliance www.eya.ca, and a presentation from Alex Chisholm on Urban Agriculture. VFOC members will report back on various projects including our research into Backyard Chickens, Biofuels and their impact on food security, and our upcoming food security forum.