LOCATION DETAILS

The main conference day will be taking place at the University of Victoria in the Students Union Building. The main gathering space will be the Michele Pujol room.

The University of Victoria is situated on the unceded lands of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ people. Read CRFAIR’s territory acknowledgment here.

Helpful links for planning your trip to campus:

 

AN OVERVIEW OF THE DAY

8:30 - Registration

9:00 - Welcome

Members of the Good Food Network Leadership Group will welcome you and set the table for our day together.  We will introduce key topics of this years gathering including diversity, equity, and inclusion in our network. There will also be an update on the Good Food Network and the progress we have made over the past year.

9:40 - Concurrent Sessions #1

10:40 - Concurrent Sessions #2

11:40 - Networking and Show and Share Fair

Time to network with fellow participants and peruse outreach displays of various organizations and businesses, as well as a small poster fair.

12:30 - Lunch

1:30 - Good Food Strategy Update

There has been a lot of progress throughout the network over the last year.  Leaders who are working in each of the impact areas - Local Food Economy, Food Access and Equity, and Food Literacy - will provide highlights from the past year.  We will review the updated Food System Collaborative Outcomes Map. Participants will then be asked to reflect on the long term outcomes that we are working to align our efforts toward.

2:30 - Concurrent Sessions #3

3:30 - Keynote and Call to Action

This session offers tools for understanding the centrality of racial inequity in the food system, as well as concrete local examples of planning for a more equitable food future. CRFAIR is committed to holding space for these provocative and unsettling conversations and considers this session an early step on a long journey together. Learn more.

4:45 - Closing Remarks

CRFAIR promotes healthy and sustainable food systems.  This considers our relationships with each other, and the land and waters of this region.  We endeavour to honour the land and its treaties by strengthening our relationship and responsibilities to them. We live and work on unceded Coast Salish Territories*, specifically of the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees) and Xwsepsum (Esquimalt) Nations here in the core area, the W̱SÁNEĆ Nations {W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip), BOḰEĆEN (Pauquachin), SȾÁUTW̱,(Tsawout) W̱SIKEM (Tseycum)} out on the Saanich Peninsula and Gulf Islands, to the west Sc'ianew (Beecher Bay), T’Sou-ke, and Pacheedaht, and MÁLEXEȽ (Malahat) and Pune’laxutth’ (Penelekut) Nations.

The presence of settlers (non-Indigenous peoples who live on these lands) is not neutral; it has had and continues to have devastating impacts on many aspects of life for Indigenous peoples. Many of our practices, including the seeds we plant, the ways we educate, and our methods of growing food came to these lands through the ongoing process of colonialism. Settler colonialism has suppressed local well-being by harming Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ food systems, whether they be land-based or of the sky and sea. We hold this understanding in our interactions and engagements with this land and its people. 

There is important work being done by many nations and allies to ensure the continued thriving of these food systems, communities, and knowledge systems. Those of us who are settlers need to recognize that our knowledge and way of doing things may not be the priority as we work towards food security for everyone in this region.

* The term Coast Salish is used to encompass a number of Indigenous peoples, including Esquimalt, Hul’qumi’num, Klahoose, Lekwungen, MALAXEt, Musqueam, OStlq’emeylem, Pentlatch, Scia’new (Beecher Bay), Sliammon, Shishalh, Skxwú7mesh-ulh Úxwumixw, Stó:lo, Straits, Tsleil-Waututh, T’Sou-ke, W̱SÁNEĆ, and Xwemalhkwu.