In a collective move to understand, discuss and develop solutions to poverty and food crises, UBC students filled Hebb Theatre on October 15, 2011 for “Food for All: A Conference on Poverty and Global Food Security”. Co-hosted by UBC Faculty of Arts, the UBC-Community Learning initiative, the UBC Department of Economics and the Working Group to End Global Poverty, the day-long conference featured a series of presentations and workshops aimed to motivate students to take action on food insecurity in their communities.

The speakers covered a range of food security issues, including the need to cultivate food self-reliance in BC, the damaging effects of food charity, and the importance of encouraging youth to connect with nature. Despite the breadth of topics broached, conference speakers highlighted the feasibility of student action by exploring the global issues of poverty and food security at a local scale. UBC alumnus and City of Vancouver Social Planner James O’Neill, for instance, focused on how food relates to and defines the city in terms of community and land use development. O’Neill revealed that municipal policies surrounding food are largely new, and insisted that food democracy can only be achieved through the contribution of actors outside of the local government.

To put presentation rhetoric into immediate practice, UBC students then collaborated with fellow conference attendees in small discussion groups to design food policies that support a just and sustainable food system. These policies formed the basis of another dialogue involving both the speakers and the reconvened audience members, and also served as potential plans of action for participating organizations to consider.

The conference generated widespread interest, with participation from UBC students, faculty and staff as well as members of the larger community.

“I wanted to come because the global context of food poverty and democracy are important to me,” said Stephanie Shulhan, a Master’s student in UBC’s Land and Food Systems program. “I like how the students have localized issues, and specifically how these issues affect people in Vancouver.”

In addition to interacting with speakers from the City of Vancouver, BC post-secondary institutions and local and international nonprofit organizations, students also benefited from exploring volunteer opportunities at booths set up by the participating organizations.

“I know that institutions can do more to alleviate hunger and poverty,” said Chanel Ly, an SFU Environmental Geography Major and representative of SFU’s local food project. “So I’m here to network and pick up ideas for food projects at SFU.”

As a follow-up to Food for All, UBC-Community Learning Initiative is offering grants of up to $500 to UBC students who attended the conference and who would like to implement food security projects in partnership with a community organization. For more information about the grant, contact Heather Turnbull, Community Service Learning Coordinator for the Faculty of Arts, at heather.turnbull@ubc.ca.