Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table a petition drafted by Graham Riches from Parksville in my riding. He calls on the government to fulfill international commitments to treat food as a human right. He draws the attention of the House of Commons to the fact that the right to adequate food is a fundamental human right recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ratified by Canada in 1976. Under the ICESCR, Canada has a legal obligation to ensure physical economic access to sufficient, safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food for all.
The petitioners highlight that the United Nations has affirmed that food insecurity is primarily the result of inadequate income and social protection, not food shortages, yet over 10 million people in Canada experience some form of household food insecurity, and the reliance on food banks continues to rise. Canada has neither entrenched the right to food in domestic law nor established clear legal duties for monitoring or remedies to fulfill this obligation.
The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to recognize the right to adequate food as a justifiable human right in Canadian law consistent with the ICESCR; invite the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food to conduct an official visit to Canada and report to Parliament; develop, in consultation with indigenous peoples, provinces, territories, civil society and people with lived experience, a federal right to food framework act that establishes government duties, measurable targets, monitoring remedies; and lastly, align federal poverty reduction, income security, food and health policies with Canada's international human rights obligations, including the ICESCR and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.