EN | FR

November 15 and 16, 2022
Victoriaville
Consult the regional posters...

Supporting the Emergence
of Collective Solutions

DECLARATION
OF THE FORUM SAT

Territorial food systems (TFS) have become indispensable collective players in the health and the socio-ecological transition of our communities.

We, the participants of the Forum SAT*, gathered in Victoriaville and online from all over Québec, are convinced of the importance of transforming our relationship to food on the model of the One Health approach, in which the health of populations is regarded as inextricable from that of the ecosystems in which they live.

We have a common understanding of the interconnected issues affecting food systems: food insecurity; unequal access to nutritious, traditional, and culturally appropriate foods; lifestyle-related chronic disease; marked rise in food prices; soil degradation; unaffordability of farmland; shortage of young farmers and farm labour; rising cost of inputs; competition from imported products; the precariousness of farm incomes, and the effects of climate change on subsistence activities, agriculture, fisheries, and biodiversity, among many other issues.

We recognize that it is essential to work in collaboration with all the partners who are striving to guarantee food autonomy, food security, and the right to food for our people. Governments, collective and private enterprises, teaching and research institutions, organizations, producers (i.e., farmers, fisherfolk, gatherers, and others) and citizens all have a role to play in implementing territorial food systems in Quebec.

TFS is a model based on and characterized by:

  • access to healthy food for all;
  • rootedness in the realities of territories and populations;
  • fair and transparent transactions;
  • ecosystem-regenerative farming, forestry, and fishing practices;
  • intersectoral and inclusive governance;
  • active participation of communities.

We call for the deployment of financial, political, and legal mechanisms, consistent and complementary with existing measures, to support the sustainable implementation of TFS throughout Quebec. We propose the following measures:

  • Develop a legal framework for TFS and recognize the right to food.
  • Implement programs guaranteeing access to fresh, healthy, local food in all communities, particularly in food deserts and remote regions (e.g., food stamps, universal school food program, mobile markets).
  • Pool food processing, storage, and transportation facilities, in particular through the creation of social economy-based logistical hubs.
  • Support food sovereignty and fight food insecurity for the First Nations and Inuit, who are facing distinct food realities, needs, and systems.
  • Support the food sovereignty initiatives of racialized communities, notably black communities.
  • Reinforce the protection of farmland and soil health, in particular through the creation of farmland trusts.
  • Allow access to land, forests, rivers, and the ocean for settlement of young farmers and for community subsistence.
  • Pursue the implementation of community-based food systems, in particular by promoting the development of multifaceted and multifunctional urban agriculture.
  • Reaffirm the value of farming as a profession in order to guarantee farmers a dignified standard of living.
  • Reduce food loss and waste in all components of TFS, in particular through the circular economy.
  • Reduce the ecological footprint of TFS and support businesses in adopting sustainable practices and in adapting to climate change.
  • Consolidate or develop inclusive, intersectoral consensus forums to provide for coordination among stakeholders, including individuals.
  • Guarantee stable funding that is complementary to existing funding sources, and limit accountability mechanisms to the essential.
  • Develop effective networks for discussion of promising solutions among regions facing similar issues (e.g., communities of practice).
  • Continue research on TFS to improve our understanding of the existing dynamics and to document their outcomes.

We offer our expertise, our networks, and our determination to local and national governments so that territorial food systems can become powerful vehicles for the socio-ecological transition of our communities.

The participants of the Forum SAT

* SAT for systèmes alimentaires territoriaux in French or territorial food systems in English

STRENGTHENING FOOD AUTONOMY THROUGHOUT QUEBEC

Access to healthy, local and sustainable food for all is a collective priority in Quebec. This objective is supported by a diversity of actors and has taken on its full meaning in recent years. The various networks working towards this goal each have their own strengths and aspirations, but it is now time to promote the bond between territorial and sectoral actions and to accelerate mutual learning and collaboration between the various networks and expertise. In this context, a small group was formed in 2021 to launch a unifying process that will allow us to accelerate the pace and strengthen each other.

At a time when food autonomy has become a common aspiration for public authorities and local communities throughout Quebec, this approach takes on its full importance and calls for a broad mobilization of a range of actors.

FORGING LINKS
ACROSS QUEBEC

The Forum SAT (SAT for systèmes alimentaires territoriaux in French or territorial food systems in English) is a process of mobilization and collaboration of different actors and networks in favour of the implementation of territorial food systems throughout Quebec. The Forum SAT approach brings together more than twenty partners: food systems rooted in their territories, national networks linked to food and territorial development, research centres as well as support and social economy organizations. They define the orientations of the approach, get involved and disseminate it in their networks.

Throughout 2022, various preparatory activities will be organized in collaboration with our partners and will lead to the Forum SAT which will bring together, in November 2022, all the actors concerned by the deployment of territorial food systems in Quebec.

Looking Further Together

WHAT IS
A TERRITORIAL FOOD SYSTEM?

The Forum SAT’s approach aims to build a vision of territorial food systems that will be shared by actors and networks in favour of their deployment throughout Quebec. It is difficult to propose a single definition of territorial food systems, but some elements are essential to build a sustainable, inclusive and resilient food system:

 

A territorial approach

Food systems are anchored in their territory, which can be local (their community, their neighbourhood), supralocal (several municipalities, the MRC [Regional county municipality], several MRCs) or regional. Exchanges and connections are created between the different territorial scales. Actors from different agri-food sectors interact and break down sectoral silos. The territorial approach adopts a global perspective necessary for structural changes.

A systems approach

Food systems are complex; they involve a multitude of actors in the food chain: production, processing, distribution, consumption, waste management and transport. These actors need to be considered in their specific roles, but also through their connections with each other. In turn, these actors are embedded in a web of external actors that also have a structuring role in territorial food systems, such as municipalities, the food industry and public authorities. It is therefore necessary to combine the knowledge of the different actors and to establish good communication between them in order to create a network of collaboration at the territorial level.

See the definition of a food system proposed by REPSAQ from the Encyclopedia of Food and Health.

 

An approach based
on the social-ecological transition

In the face of the rapidity of climate change and the limits of the dominant agro-industrial system, the implementation of territorial food systems that combine societal responsibilities and sustainable development becomes essential to ensure greater local and regional food autonomy. Developed under different models depending on the region, territorial food systems share a common objective, that of contributing to increasing food autonomy and security for all in a perspective of social-ecological transition.

Watch the three videos (in French) on sustainable food systems, the ingredients for a food community, and the steps to set up a food community, produced by Vivre en Ville.

THE OBJECTIVES OF THE FORUM SAT
  • MOBILISE provincial and territorial actors and strengthen the collaboration of networks and partners in favour of the implementation of territorial food systems throughout Quebec.
  • IDENTIFY and collectively develop tools and strategies for the deployment of territorial food systems throughout Quebec, adapted to the realities and levels of progress of each territory.
  • BUILD a shared vision of territorial food systems and the priority issues with the actors involved in the process.
  • ENGAGE stakeholders in a movement for the deployment of territorial food systems.

Collaborate
for the social-ecological transition

Preparatory Activities

MARCH TO OCTOBER, 2022

Preparatory events

  • June 3, 2022, Summit on the institutional supply of local food in the Arthabaska MRC, organized by CISA in Victoriaville.
  • June 20, 2022 in Montreal and fall 2022 in the regions, Rendez-vous de l’alimentation scolaire au Québec (Event on school food in Quebec), organized by the Chantier pour un programme d’alimentation scolaire universel au Québec.
  • Other events to come.

Tour of the regions

  • The regional tour aims to initiate the construction of a common vision on the conditions for success and transferability of territorial food systems. From June to September 2022, in-person and virtual workshops will bring together SAT-related actors and networks in each region of Quebec.

Governance Working Group

  • This working group aims to explore the scales of governance within territorial food systems and existing models that can be transferred and adapted to other territories.

Right to Food Working Group

  • This working group addresses a cross-cutting theme of the territorial food systems: the right to food protects the right of every person to feed themselves in dignity and serenity.

Thematic meetings

  • Details to come.
Analysis and Synthesis

JULY TO OCTOBER, 2022

  • Gather the information collected during the preparatory activities
  • Analyze and synthesize the information
  • Prepare thematic sheets
Forum SAT

NOVEMBER 15 AND 16, 2022
VICTORIAVILLE

  • Present a first outline of a shared vision of territorial food systems and their priority issues
  • Put forward innovative projects and their limits
  • Present the conditions for success in building more resilient and sustainable food systems

This is a first step to build and organize stronger food systems that will adapt to the regional characteristics and unforeseen situations that await us.

More details on the event to come.

SAT Forum, it's here and now!

    VICTORIAVILLE / PROGRAMMING

Master of Ceremonies: Denis Gagné, co-host of l’Épicerie for 20 years

 

8 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.: Welcome and registration

8:45 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.: Opening of the Forum SAT

9:15 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.: The Forum SAT process 

10:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.: Break

10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Tour of the regions: initial findings

 

Lunch

 

1:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.: Thematic workshops, part 1

3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Thematic workshops, part 2

Participants will have to choose 2 workshops among these choices:

  • Promoting the implementation of territorial food governance, organized by TIR-SHV Mauricie, Université Laval and UQAC
  • The legal framework of food systems: focusing on the right to food, organized by Regroupement des cuisines collectives du Québec
  • Agri-food logistics poles and mutualization solutions to increase the supply of fresh and local products, organized by the Conseil québécois de la coopération et de la mutualité
  • Feeding everyone sustainably: food stamps to fight food insecurity, organized by the Association des marchés publics du Québec
  • Towards a universal school feeding program in Quebec: collective prototyping workshop, organized by the Chantier pour un programme d’alimentation scolaire universel au Québec
  • Reducing the environmental impact of SATs through the circular economy, organized by Territoires innovants en économie sociale et solidaire (TIESS)
  • Planning the ecological transition of food systems with a prospective approach, organized by Chemins de transition
  • Agricultural establishments rooted in the territories and contributing to their vitality, organized by the Centre d’innovation sociale en agriculture (CISA)
  • Do community greenhouses address the needs of Nordic and indigenous communities in terms of health and food security?, organized by the Centre d’innovation sociale en agriculture (CISA)  * Workshop in English with simultaneous translation in French

* thematic workshops are only available to people attending the SAT Forum in person

 

Cocktail hour with the flavours of Centre-du-Québec

Master of Ceremonies: Denis Gagné, co-host of l’Épicerie for 20 years

 

8:45 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.: Opening

9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.: Territorial food governance: three inspiring approaches

  • Sophie Lapointe, Borée from Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
  • Christine Laliberté, Nourrir notre monde from Gaspésie
  • Anne Marie Aubert, Conseil du système alimentaire montréalais (Montreal Food System Council)

10:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.: Break

10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.: Dialogue with public and local authorities

  • Geneviève Masse, Assistant Deputy Minister for territorial and sectoral sustainable development, Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec (MAPAQ)
  • Horacio Arruda, Assistant Deputy Minister of Public Health, mandates in prevention, promotion, planning and protection in public health, Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS)
  • Stéphane Bouchard, Assistant Deputy Minister for Regions and Land Use Planning, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MAMH)
  • Isabelle Lizée, executive director, Espace MUNI

 

Lunch

 

2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Point of view of Patrick Mundler, professor of rural development at Université Laval and specialist in local food circuits

2:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.: Deliberation on the proposals to be carried collectively

A look back on the themes of the November 15 workshops and an invitation to the actors, organizations and networks present to make known their current and future contributions and commitments to support the deployment of SATs in the regions and local communities across Quebec.

4:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Closing of the Forum

 

As part of the SAT Forum process, a tour of the regions was carried out from June to October 2022 and led our team to meet with actors in the 17 regions of Quebec. Whether in the form of workshops, in person or virtually, or by referring to documents produced during recent consultations with regional actors, we collected data on the needs, issues and success stories of Quebec’s food systems.
In collaboration with the regional actors, summaries of the SATs in each region were developed in order to get an overview. From these summaries, posters have emerged which are presented at the SAT Forum. These posters are a first draft of the regions and a portrait in time, knowing that SATs are dynamic and in constant evolution. In 2023, the summaries will be finalized and available online on our website.

Discover the speakers of Forum SAT 2022

OUR PARTNERS
REGAL+, Laurentides
First Nations and Inuit in Quebec and Labrador Food Security Committee
OUR FUNDING PARTNERS
CONTACT

1431 Fullum, Suite 105, Montréal, QC H2K 0B5
forumsat2022@gmail.com

PARTNER

The Forum SAT approach is financially supported by the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation.

EN | FR