Meet Our Speakers - Darinka Tomic

Name: Darinka Tomic

Title: Professor, School of Legal, Public and Office Administration, Seneca Polytechnic

Education: PhD, Western University - Faculty of Law

Q: Tell us a bit about your work: what do you do/research/teach/practice? And how does it relate to or involve the governance of food or food systems?

After working in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for fifteen years, I entered graduate studies in law. My research interests were international public law, international human rights law, and international trade. My master’s thesis was about the right to food and intellectual property in the United Nations, including international human rights and international trade. I highlighted the right to health, food, and intellectual property, including the rights of persons with disabilities and freedom of expression, as key interlocking concepts. 

My research has always taken a global perspective, and my doctoral work was no different. I explored the concept of reputation, similar to the common law of defamation, in moral rights, prohibited marks and geographical indications. A chapter of my recently defended doctoral dissertation was about reputation as expressed in the Canadian law of geographical indications. Geographical indications indicate that a product has a specific geographical origin and has a reputation or certain qualities due to that identified origin. I researched reputation in protecting geographical indications for various food products that required Canada to amend the Trademarks Act according to our country’s international trade and intellectual property obligations. I am particularly interested in the policy-related aspect of the right to food and its place in international law. 

Q: What is an ongoing and/or emerging food law and policy issue that you have come across through your work that you feel is important and why? What is at stake?

My research on the right to food has highlighted how poorly articulated this right is. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights acknowledges that the right to food is only a part of the broader right to an adequate standard of living. The later International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights includes the “right to adequate food" and the "right to be free from hunger." Still, it does not have a distinctive definition of what the "right to food" means in international human rights law. Other terms like food sovereignty, security, and safety have also been introduced, adding to the complexity. I argue that without a clear definition of the right to food, we cannot develop a policy that adequately balances it with other rights, especially as food production becomes increasingly commercialized.

Q: Can you give us a hint about something you'll discuss at the conference?

To better understand what is at stake when it comes to the right to food, I have taken my research off our planet and into outer space. NASA and the Canadian Space Agency have collectively founded the Deep Space Food Challenge to develop technology for food production that will use less energy, less mass, and produce little waste. While this is ostensibly about the ability to sustain human life during deep space voyages, the results of this challenge are equally expected to expand the opportunities for food production on Earth.

Q: What drew you to connecting Intellectual Property rights with the Right to Food?

It is a common oversight that intellectual property is a human right, considering it grants rightsholders a monopoly, for example over a process, expression, or mark. Still, intellectual property is clearly defined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is better balanced in human rights and international trade than the right to food. Looking at intellectual property, I tried to find a model for adequately balancing the right to food.

The inspiration for my research came from Laurence Helfer and Graeme Austin's book Human Rights and Intellectual Property: Mapping the Global Interface. There is a chapter about the human right to food and intellectual property. I read that chapter, ran to my supervisor, and said this is the topic I want to research for my thesis. I was lucky to have also taken a course with Graeme Austin when he was a visiting professor at Western Law in 2015.

Q: You used to work in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, what did you learn in that role that you feel lends itself well to your current research, and how was food integrated into the support you provided to the Legislative Assembly?

I worked in the Legislative Assembly when Steve Peters was Speaker of the House. He organized fairs on the grounds of Queen's Park, where local food producers presented their products. I was fascinated by the vast potential of Ontario's food production and the richness and variety of food products. I greatly respect food, and seeing a politician bring this local approach to his work was impressive and inspirational.

In my research, I have taken a step away from food production to the policy perspective, asking how we can make the right to food an equal player in international trade and the issues associated with the increasing commercialization of food production while protecting it as a fundamental human right.