Thank you.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for inviting us to appear. We feel privileged to have this opportunity to present our vision of the fight against poverty to the Human Resources Committee. At the Regroupement, we always work together; so, we both decided to come and meet with the Committee today. Ms. Mazerolle sits on the Board of Directors of the Regroupement des cuisines collectives du Québec and she works in the field as a facilitator with member groups in the Laurentians region. I am a last-minute replacement for the person who usually acts as spokesperson for the Regroupement des cuisines collectives du Québec. I will try to explain our overall vision.
I would like to begin by introducing the community kitchens concept and talk about our vision of the fight against poverty. I will then discuss cooperation with some of our associations.
The community kitchens concept was developed in 1982. It is important to understand that it grew out of the desire of two people living in poverty to take control of their lives and do more than simply receive gifts of food. So, the basic principle is empowerment. This group was created in 1990 and now includes some 1,400 groups across the province and more than 37,000 people. Community kitchens were developed by five or six people who got together and pooled their money, skills and energy to prepare meals that they would take back home. Skills development and improved purchasing power are the fundamental principles behind the community kitchens concept.
We have a political component which is founded on the principles of popular education and independent community action. We have always fought poverty—first and foremost, in order to eliminate prejudice and avoid ghettos. That is why the community kitchens are open to everyone, both rich and poor. We rely on individual skills.
Several years go, we developed a vision which is separate from what is known as food security, something many people often misunderstand. We refer to food security from the standpoint of food unfairness or the response to food insecurity. We believe that the right to food is far more than that, and thus we prefer to talk about food autonomy. That food autonomy is based on four major thrusts: providing access to healthy food at a reasonable cost; giving people purchasing power and the ability to choose their food; respecting the principles of sustainable development and the environment; and, responsible consumption, now and for future generations.
Food autonomy is not something that exists at an individual level; it is not just a matter of developing individual skills. It also refers to collective action, and communities need to develop the means to respond to the right to food.
As I said earlier, the community kitchens movement was the initiative of two women who wanted to be able to make ends meet. So, the guiding principle is to fight poverty and avoid ghettos. We want to empower people so they can take control of their own lives again and access the tools that will allow them to do that.
We have significant personal testimony and research we could refer to dealing with the impact of community kitchens in Quebec and other provinces. We have less contact with those associations, but we know that community kitchens are a means of helping people to save and reducing the effects of poverty while improving their lifestyles, that they have a major impact on people's physical and psychological health, and that they strengthen self-esteem and develop skills, as well as creating mutual assistance networks. These are ways of fighting poverty. As well, we have always been very active and supported the demands of le Collectif pour un Québec sans pauvreté.
What do we think the government should do to contribute to reducing poverty in Canada? In that connection, we would like to talk about the work that is carried out by the Regroupement des cuisines collectives du Québec and other associations in the province, including the Association québécoise des banques alimentaires et des Moissons, Équiterre, Option consommateurs and the Table de concertation sur la faim. We looked at how we could really eliminate poverty by enforcing the right to food. As we see it, enforcing the right to food is very important.
In Quebec, we have the Coalition pour une souveraineté alimentaire. In Canada, there is a similar organization with the same kind of orientation, with branches in every province. It is called Food Secure Canada. So, we work in close cooperation. Our guiding principle is that food is an essential need and a recognized right, and that it must not be considered simply as a consumable good. There are different provisions that set out the right to food—for example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. I am not a lawyer, but the United Nations has a special rapporteur on the right to food. There is also the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.