*Nick Saul, Co-founder and President and CEO of Community Food Centres Canada speaking to students
Meal Exchange recently held its National Student Food Summit for the 14th year in a row. I was fortunate enough to attend the summit for the first time as a representative from the University of New Brunswick’s Fredericton Campus Food Strategy Group.
From June 22-25, student leaders from across Canada came together on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron people, where the University of Guelph now resides, to develop and discuss issues of food insecurity. Food security focuses on sustainable production, transportation, and consumption of food as well as socially-just and responsible food systems.Food security has been a targeted of change for many communities and groups, but Meal Exchange is the largest organisation in Canada that works with students on campuses, and has been doing so since 1993. In a 2016 food access study, Meal Exchange found that almost 40% of post-secondary students across Canada were food insecure, often foregoing healthy foods in order to cover other expenses such as tuition, rent, and the costs of books.
Currently, Meal Exchange is working with more than 40 student groups to improve food security in their communities. Meal Exchange believes that post-secondary campuses are the ideal place to approach food insecurity because it’s the student’s who have a drive for change drive for change, and Meal Exchange’s goal is to equip them with the skills and resources they need to tackle food insecurity on their campuses.
The University of Guelph was a fantastic location for this year’s summit as it’s considered the leading Canadian campus in terms of food security and quality by its students for more than 10 years. The university continually uses local food for its student and recently won Ontario’s “Local Food Champions” award. This was the perfect setting for the passionate students who attended the conference. Seeing the advancement in food security that is possible when student leaders take initiative and create change in their campus communities was a key component of the summit.
The summit featured a variety of speakers ranging from a seasonal agricultural worker to Guelph Liberal MP Lloyd Longfield. Meal Exchange organized a number of workshops for the summit, such as techniques to increase student recruitment and engagement, and strategies for effective planning of projects. I look forward to sharing this knowledge with UNB Fredericton’s campus.
Personally, the most memorable part of the summit was not the speakers or the workshops, but speaking with students about the challenges and strategies they have encountered on their campuses as they attempt to increase food security in their university and college communities. Having the opportunity to discuss with my peers the possibilities that exist moving forward for the UNB Fredericton campus was encouraging and empowering.
I came back from the National Student Food Summit with a vision of what is possible on UNB Fredericton’s campus and how to achieve that vision, but that was the easy part — now for action.
-30-
- Help make New Brunswick a more food secure province by searching our directory of over 450 local businesses at buylocalnb.ca.
- Join our BuyLocalNB Facebook group and get the latest news on New Brunswick producers at Facebook.com/BuyLocalNB/
- Join the Meal Exchange Facebook group and stay up-to-date on Food Security at Facebook.com/mealexchange/