Agriculture committee  I think it's very simple: Mandate measurement and provide incentives. Have producers, manufacturers and retailers mandated to measure and monitor their waste, to set targets and to hit the targets, but provide incentives to do that. As soon as you do that, we're going to lower

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members, for the opportunity to speak today. Second Harvest is a non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to environmental protection and hunger relief through food redistribution, research, awareness and education. We work with thousands of food bu

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would go back to the centralization of an indigenous-led process group that can get the food up there and the surplus rescue food program.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, and to be fair, that's not what we do. We just rescue food and get it there. All the other stuff is for other people.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's it. Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Sure. The federal government—Agriculture and Agri-Food—has food security funding. They allocated about $250 million. We were grateful that we were one of the organizations selected. We've allocated grants. There is a surplus food rescue program, which I think is critical because

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's the cold chain. It's always the cold chain that's the biggest gap. At the end of the day, we have food safety compliance rules that you must adhere to, and that's the reality. I think we're doing all the right things, but the infrastructure is just not there. But we're still

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Again, it's a coordinated, centralized approach. I would say that's our biggest challenge.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm just going to start by saying that I am, again, not an expert in this at all. We work with partners and just listen to what they need. Second Harvest is just opt in. We have food. Whoever wants it can have it, and it's perishable. The indigenous working group was led by Jos

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We're lucky because we have great partners, but we clearly can't provide the amount of food that is needed. Transportation is incredibly expensive and it's almost prohibitive for us to get food into northern communities. Also, the reality is that the land mass is so huge. It's mu

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you to the esteemed members of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs for inviting Second Harvest Canada to provide some remarks. Second Harvest is by no means an expert in the complex and multi-faceted challenges of northern and indigenous food security