The Charlottetown Food Council is hosting a series of community conversations to seek feedback on the city’s first food asset map.
The council, established by the city in July 2018, is made up of volunteers with experience and expertise in various food-related industries who will take a collaborative approach to improving the local food system.
The council’s most recent project is the development of a Charlottetown food asset map, identifying existing strengths and resources in the community. It will help the council and other organizations gain a better understanding of the city's existing food system and identify opportunities to improve it.
As part of the final stages, the council is hosting a number of 60-minute virtual community conversations to give the public an opportunity to engage with the map and expand on it by identifying food assets in their area. The four-part conversation series, hosted online, will feature a variety of panelists discussing several themes, including produce, distribute and receive, learn and celebrate, grow, build, support, buy and celebrate.
Pre-registration for the conversations is required at Charlottetown.ca/FoodCouncil.
At a glance
- The city, in partnership with the province, has also released a community food questionnaire to collect feedback and collect additional information about Charlottetown’s food environment.
- The results will be compared to a similar survey, launched prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, to gain insight into the way the pandemic has affected the food system.
- The questionnaire is available online (www.charlottetown.ca/FoodCouncil) and at City Hall (199 Queen St.), until Dec. 18 at 4 p.m.
- Survey participants will be entered into a random draw for a fruit tree from Van Kampen’s Greenhouse.
“This project was put on hold because of the global pandemic, but this has brought a new perspective for the food council to review,” said Bernie Plourde, chairman of the Charlottetown Food Council.
“The themes that we have laid out are meant to explore all corners of food assets within Charlottetown and we are excited to gather feedback from the community.”
Coun. Mitchell Tweel, chairman of environment and sustainability, is encouraging community members to take part to learn more about the food assets in their community.
“The Charlottetown Food Council has taken a collaborative approach with this project, and the community input is an important piece to this puzzle.”
The schedule for the Community Conversations (virtual) is as follows:
- Nov. 23 at 7 p.m. – Theme: Produce, Distribute and Receive
- Nov. 25 at 2 p.m. – Theme: Learn and Celebrate
- Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. – Theme: Grow, Build and Support
- Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. – Theme: Buy and Celebrate
