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Access to healthy, local and sustainable food for all is a collective priority in Quebec. However, with actors each having their own strengths and aspirations, it becomes important to generate linkages between actions at different scales and to accelerate mutual learning and collaboration between the various networks.
Launched in 2021, the Forum SAT (SAT stands for systèmes alimentaires territoriaux in French or territorial food systems in English) is a process of mobilisation and collaboration of different stakeholders and networks in favour of the implementation of territorial food systems throughout Quebec. The process brings together more than twenty partners: food systems rooted in their territories, national networks linked to food, nutrition and territorial development, research centres as well as support organisations and social entreprises.
Following a series of regional consultations and preparatory activities in 2022, the main Forum SAT event was held 15-16 november in Victoriaville and saw nearly 400 participants from across the province come together for two days of exchanges and co-creation. This first major gathering was a big success, allowing a broad and insightful exploration of actions that support the deployment of territorial food systems in the province. We invite you to read the event summary here (in French only at the moment).
The mobilisation of this vast coalition has since continued and the Forum SAT team is pleased to announce that the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation has extended its generous financial support into 2023. Thus, the Forum SAT can continue to be a rallying and convergence point for actors and stakeholders in healthy eating, the right to food and the socio-ecological transition of the food sector.
MARCH TO OCTOBER, 2022
Lead-up events
Tour of the regions
Working Groups
Analysis and dissemination
15-16 NOVEMBER IN VICTORIAVILLE
A first large-scale gathering
See the event schedule and speakers list HERE (French pdf).
2023-2024
Action plan priorities
With the support of the advisory and coordination committees, the Forum SAT team is currently implementing initial steps of a 2023-2024 action plan centered around the three following priorities, which it will implement in coordination with its partners.
Fall 2023 special programming
Two online discussion panels are programmed this fall and will feature testimonials of project leaders from around the province. The topics covered in the webinars are the following:
MARCH TO OCTOBER, 2022
Lead-up events
Tour of the regions
Working Groups
Analysis and dissemination
15-16 NOVEMBER IN VICTORIAVILLE
A first large-scale gathering
See the event schedule and speakers list HERE (French pdf).
2023-2024
Action plan priorities
With the support of the advisory and coordination committees, the Forum SAT team is currently implementing initial steps of a 2023-2024 action plan centered around the three following priorities, which it will implement in coordination with its partners.
Fall 2023 special programming
Two online discussion panels are programmed this fall and will feature testimonials of project leaders from around the province. The topics covered in the webinars are the following:
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:
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:
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
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:
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.
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.
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 Forum SAT approach is financially supported by the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation.
