Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), the Government of Canada recognizes that rising inflation is challenging many Canadians to meet their essential needs, including accessing food.
The Food Policy for Canada has a suite of measures to strengthen food systems and improve Canadians’ food security through an initial investment of $134.4 million, and an additional $10 million in Budget 2023 for community-led infrastructure projects to promote access to nutritious food.
The Government of Canada is working to make life more affordable for Canadians and contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Develop Goal of ending hunger by 2030. The government delivered important improvements to a range of income supports, such as the Canada Child Benefit, old age security, guaranteed income supplement, and tax credits for low-income workers and their families. The 2023 federal budget included a new, one-time Grocery Rebate to offer inflation relief to lower-income families which was dispersed on July 5, 2023.
With regard to (b), after the Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council was established in 2021, a working group was assembled to make recommendations to the Minister related to reducing food insecurity in Canada. The working group presented 3 recommendations: (1) Set a target to reduce food insecurity by 50% by 2030, based on the Canadian Income Survey's 2019 baseline. Further, seek to eliminate severe food insecurity. (2) Alleviate the disproportionate impact of food insecurity on Black and Indigenous people; and (3) Enhance measurement of food insecurity in Canada noting the comprehensive report that was submitted with recommendations on measurement and reporting.
With regard to (c), the Government of Canada has invested significantly into community-based initiatives to support Canada’s food systems. Under the Food Policy for Canada, the 5 year Local Food Infrastructure Fund, or LFIF, is designed to improve access to safe, nutritious, and culturally diverse food. It provides support to community-based, not-for-profit organizations to reduce food insecurity by establishing and/or strengthening local food systems.
A comprehensive accounting of projects funded under the Local Food Infrastructure Fund, including the name of the recipient, the agreement number and duration, a brief project description, the funding amount and location of the recipient are listed as part of the Open Government website.
For example, in 2022, Cold Lake First Nations received just over $200,000 Canadian to create a food system. The objective of this project is to purchase food processing equipment, cold and dry storage, fish harvesting equipment, food forest, garden beds with irrigation and kitchen upgrades.