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The theme – Waves of Change: Sustainable Food for All – reflects the need to place questions of long-term sustainability at the centre of how we think about, produce, and eat our food. It also reflects the growing strength and complexity of the food movement and its commitment to creative and lasting solutions to the problems of hunger, sustainable livelihoods in the food business, and the protection of our health and the environment. Waves symbolize the momentum generated when many drops of water come together as a collective power, as well as highlighting the critical role of water and water-based food. Each of us has an important role to play in making waves to build the kind of food system we would like to see.

Keynote Speaker

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2pm - 03pm EST

Join us in this FSN teleconference to learn about approaches to municipal food policy across Canada, and how those approaches can be applied in your community.

In June 2013 a report titled Municipal Food Policy Entrepreneurs: A preliminary analysis of how Canadian cities and regional districts are involved in food system change was released by the Toronto Food Policy Council, Vancouver Food Policy Council, and the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute. In a cross-Canada survey, they found that 64 local and regional municipalities are working to improve the food system, using a mix of municipal policies, programs and civil-society interventions. Joanne Bays will present the results of the report, highlighting the role municipalities can play in advancing local food systems in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Presenter: Joanne Bays, National Manager Farm to Cafeteria Canada and Vancouver Food Policy Council member.

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1:00 - 2:30 pm EST

“Evaluation of Food Security Initiatives: A Dialogue” is the first webinar in a two-part series delivered jointly by the Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance of Canada (CDPAC), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and the First Nations and Inuit Branch of Health Canada.

This webinar provides and opportunity for learning, dialogue and exchange about 'what works' in food security evaluation, and will highlight the resource entitled "Evaluating Outcomes of Community Food Actions: A Guide" (the Guide), developed by PHAC, in collaboration with Health Canada.

Participants will hear from and ask questions to expert speakers on a range of issues including:

1. An introduction to evaluation of food security initiatives;
2. An overview of the resource entitled, "Evaluating Outcomes of Community Food Actions: A Guide" (the Guide);
3. Introduction to Community Food Centres Canada, including their food security evaluation initiatives and resources (more...);
4. Discussion of 'what works' across initiatives, groups, and settings.

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Thursday, February 6, 2014
1-2 pm ET (noon-1 pm CT)

Join us for presentations by Reverend Elizabeth Metcalfe and Shantu Mano of Greater Edmonton Alliance, moderated by Elizabeth Lange, of St. Francis Xavier University!

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About A Vision of Flipping the Iceberg of Power: The Greater Edmonton Alliance faces big land and big oil, Alberta

Edmonton is a city of more than 800,000 people in central Alberta, located in the Canadian Prairies. This city-wide alliance is made up of nearly 40 different institutions, including faith groups, unions, community organizations and local businesses. In recent years it has advocated successfully for affordable housing, positive changes in care for the elderly and the creation of a comprehensive local food strategy. Its members encourage people to engage in the public decision-making process and to hold government and market sector leaders accountable to citizens. The alliance helps strengthen member organizations by providing training at the local, regional and national levels.

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Shantu Mano describes the process of building a credible grassroots organization in one of Canada's largest cities.

Event Contact

Deb Markley
Center for Rural Entrepreneurship
919-932-7762
deb@e2mail.org
http://ruralwealth.org/page/webinars-1

Building Resilient Communities Conference invites explorations of how various ‘dark horses’ in the broad North Atlantic – including minorities, small towns, peripheries, aboriginal communities, those with little money, status, voice or political leverage – can rise to the occasion and chart liveable futures.

Building Resilient Communities Conference will serve as a platform for the critical and inter-disciplinary discussion of experiences where those living ‘on the edge’, however defined, show unexpected ingenuity and mettle; and respond cleverly to dire economic straits or public policy negligence. Including:

• Politically, by developing suitable governance practices; flexing jurisdictional powers; and engaging in multi-level political and (para)-diplomatic relations;
• Economically, by facilitating small-scale entrepreneurship; promoting investment; creating skill-rich jobs; encouraging inward and circular migration; and developing new forms of human-scaled, place-based, no-growth economies, sensitive to environmental needs; and
• Culturally, by nourishing strong communities that celebrate traditions and encourage artistic expression; sustaining suitable environmental practices; and welcoming newcomers in their rooted yet routed ways of life.

The Building Community Resilience Conference will bring together community leaders, voluntary organizations, governments, businesses, and researchers to highlight the "dark horses" – people, organizations, and communities who are doing innovative things based on good governance, economic development, environmental considerations, and culture. These activities are critical to creating and sustaining healthy and resilient communities.

Visit the conference website for more details

Get ready to eat, breathe, talk and experience municipal sustainability - Atlantic-style!

The 2014 FCM Sustainable Communities Conference and Trade Show (SCC) is heading to Charlottetown, PE. Find out how you can make your community safer, stronger and greener - come and join hundreds of your municipal colleagues as they meet to discuss how to adapt for extreme weather events and overcome today's challenges to local sustainability.

Running under the theme Sink or Swim: New Approaches to Adaptation and Resilience, this year's SCC will deliver an action-packed, three-day learning experience, complete with a full day of advanced training, networking opportunities and Island hospitality. Plus, it will have all-new content organized under three main streams:

• Building resilient, adaptive communities
• Optimizing our assets and infrastructure
• Collaboration and innovation

Whether your municipality is just getting started with its sustainability programs or well down the green road, the SCC will meet your needs with content that appeals to big cities, smaller urban centres and rural and remote communities.

Three BIG reasons to attend ...

1. Atlantic flavour - The SCC comes to the Maritimes for the first time and will dish out a generous helping of the region's renowned warmth and hospitality to go with local examples of sustainability leadership that you can learn from and bring home with you.
2. Advanced training - Delegates asked for more training and now we have it, with full-day courses (with accreditation for some) to boost your knowledge and capacity around specific sustainability challenges.
3. Hot topics - After witnessing devastating flooding, fires and other extreme-weather events, everyone wants to know how to make their communities more resilient and sustainable. We'll hear how Canadian communities are getting there, from coast to coast to coast.

Come to Prince Edward Island and be part of our best SCC yet! See you in Charlottetown!

Register Now!