2019 CAFLP Annual Conference Panel Recap: “Defining the Field of Food Law and Policy: Histories and Futures”

"Silos" by rexhammock is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

“Food law is a very big tent.”

Food Law and Policy may be an emerging field and a developing area of study, but food, in all of its facets, certainly is not. In this panel, Geneviève Parent from the Faculty of law of Laval University and Don Buckingham from the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute took the audience through a brief overview of the history of food law in Quebec and Anglophone Canada respectively, to then turn to today and what future developments may focus on. From a Quebec perspective, Parent spoke to the cultural influence of France in the development of food identity, and the importance of the church in creating the very first farmers’ association. Turning to his own experience, Buckingham explored the role of agriculture in Canadian economy and the role it has played in the development of the country. Learning from Quebec, farmers’ associations were created in the rest of Canada also, organizations who still today play an important role in the agricultural landscape across the country.

Both panelists highlighted the importance of thinking outside of silos in food and agriculture to move towards a food system. This led to a discussion lead by Nadia Lambek about the current upswing of Food Law and defining the movement. What is Food Law and Policy? And why now? Food and agriculture is not a new subject in Canadian legal and policy space – so why has Food Law and Policy only developed as a movement now? Perhaps this is due to a new focus on social diversity or the influence of sustainable development in pushing academia and policies to look beyond their disciplines. Defining a movement so multi-facetted is no small task, but understanding its origins can maybe help us better shape its focus.

As leaving comments, Parent reminded the audience that all Canadian provinces must continue to learn from each other and work together. There is a change in paradigm taking place, in which she sees a re-balancing of free trade and space for local food systems. Buckingham agrees: “Food law is a very big tent.” There is strength in viewing systems and issues through a lens of multi-connectivity.

« Comment réfléchir en système ? : On vous lance la balle ! »

“Now, you guys build away! Food law’s time has come.”