Good morning, and thank you for inviting me to the panel.
I'll start off by speaking a little bit about the council to give you some perspective about the organization. It's a multi-sectoral, trusted voice for science-based food and nutrition policy and information in Canada. It was established in August 2004 through a merger of two other organizations: the National Institute of Nutrition, which was in existence for over 25 years, and the Canadian Food Information Council, which was in existence for over five years.
The purpose of CCFN is to be a catalyst in advancing the nutritional health and well-being of Canadians by championing evidence-based solutions to key nutritional issues, and we advocate for evidence-based nutrition policy. So I thank you again for inviting me here.
I'll give you more details about the organization. We have a multi-sectoral membership comprising universities, health organizations, non-governmental organizations, commodity groups, food companies, retailers, pharmaceutical companies, and the like. Our board of trustees is made up of 15 individuals, nine from the private sector and six from the public sector. The chair is a public sector trustee. Our main strategic direction is to ensure that nutrition policy activity is evidence-based and that it supports the health and well-being of Canadians.
At the moment, we have three priority areas, the first being childhood obesity. Trans fats in the diet is the second, and Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating is the third. Due to the complexity of the problem of childhood obesity, we feel that this issue will be one of our priorities for many years to come.
The purpose of my attending the panel today, and what I was asked to do, is to present CCFN's perspective on childhood obesity as one of our priorities related to policies combating obesity.
Since our inception, we've had three initiatives, which I'm going to report on today. The first was an obesity forum called New Directions in Policy in Canada, which was held in October 2005. Our second initiative was our participation on the trans fats task force in 2005, and although that doesn't apply directly to childhood obesity, the model does apply to how to solve health issues and that sort of thing. Finally, tomorrow we're hosting a think tank on school nutrition and activity, and I'll tell you a little bit about that as well.
A couple of key findings from our forum--I won't reiterate all the great facts and figures that have already been brought up this morning--were that obesity is an epidemic, and childhood obesity is an epidemic. And that's a fact. It's becoming quite worrisome, not only nationally but globally. Obesity policy needs to be multi-level and multi-sectoral in its approach. There are potential solutions; we just need to get started.
Obesity is definitely better prevented in the first place, so the more we can do now, the more we will really help the issue down the road. Again, complex issues require multi-level, multi-sectoral approaches. It's important to be cautious, though, and not compare obesity with other issues, such as tobacco. It's good to use it as a model, but obesity and childhood obesity is not the new tobacco. People don't need to smoke, but people do need to eat.
It's important to note that there are multiple obesity epidemics happening at the same time. It is affecting children and youth, but also poor children and youth and aboriginal children and youth. There are different complexities in the different groups that policies will need to be shaped around if they are to help.
So in terms of tackling the problem from a government perspective, looking at eating, body weight, physical activity, health, and promotion, health-related agencies need to continue that important research, consumer education, and advocacy. In the private sector, we need consumer and professional education, healthy living programs, promotion, and food and product research and development. All that stuff needs to happen simultaneously to create some synergy.
There is one example, the New Zealand Food Industry Accord, which I was going to speak about today. The membership of the New Zealand Food Industry Accord, developed in 2004, was multi-sectoral in nature--the food industry, NGOs, producers, distributors, and the like. All members of that group acknowledged that obesity is a complex problem and that all parties must take ownership in the solution.
That model perhaps could be used in a similar fashion for the Canadian experience. There have been a number of efforts and initiatives, all simultaneously. There have been numerous collaborative partnerships and initiatives in that regard: in research, labelling, advertising on obesity, and education in schools on diabetes. There's the encouragement of companies to lead initiatives as well: food and beverage composition and recomposition, serving sizes, labelling, sponsorship support, social marketing, and public awareness. So just to look to a solution abroad of initiatives that have been happening from the New Zealand experience would be worthwhile.
The next one is our work with the trans fat task force, which was co-chaired by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and Sally Brown, who is on our panel today. The reason I bring up this initiative is because childhood obesity and trans fat are very different issues in complexities and whatnot, but the model to have all sectors around the table to discuss and come up with some consensus around a complex issue was a very worthwhile process. So I did want to bring that forward today, and I would recommend an open model to address childhood obesity as well. That's recent. That work was just completed.
Finally, there's our think tank on school nutrition and activity, which is happening tomorrow. We have key experts presenting on how children formulate eating behaviours, physical activity in children, what school-age children are eating, childhood obesity and the school environment, and partnerships--international, national, and provincial. Our experts are going to address how strong the evidence is to take action and what are the gaps in evidence. The speakers will focus on prevention, comprehensive treatments, healthy environments in schools around food and activity, evidence-based policy, partnerships, and more research and continued surveillance.
In summary, then, childhood obesity rates are increasing and have many negative consequences. It's strategic to prevent childhood obesity from increasing any further. Childhood obesity is complex, and solutions will also need to be complex, but a multi-sectoral approach will definitely help in that regard.
Thank you.