Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food toured Canada earlier this month

Posted by Craig Clarke

on May 25, 2012

The Special Rapporteur on the right to food undertook an official visit to Canada, at the invitation of the Government, from 6 to 16 May 2012. The purpose of the mission was to examine the way in which the human right to adequate food is being realized in Canada. The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada for coordinating the visit. Additionally, he wishes to thank the representatives of the following federal government ministries, who met with him: Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada; Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Health Canada; Human Resources and Skills Development Canada; Justice Canada; and the Canadian International Development Agency.

"What I've seen in Canada is a system that presents barriers for the poor to access nutritious diets and that tolerates increased inequalities between rich and poor, and Aboriginal non-Aboriginal peoples. Canada is much admired for its achievements in the area of human rights, which it has championed for many years. But hunger and access to adequate diets, too, are human rights issues -- and here much remains to be done.”

The UN human rights expert was nonetheless confident that the country could move towards establishing food systems that deliver adequate and affordable diets for all, and called upon the Canadian government to convene a national food conference that would clarify the allocation of responsibilities between the federal level, the provinces and territories.

Three areas of concern were highlighted that should be addressed in a national food strategy. First, a large number of Canadians are too poor to afford adequate diets. “800,000 households are food insecure in Canada. This is a country that is rich, but that fails to adapt the levels of social assistance benefits and its minimum wage to the rising costs of basic necessities, including food and housing. Food banks that depend on charity are not a solution: they are a symptom of failing social safety nets that the Government must address."

Second, more than one in four Canadian adults are obese, and almost two thirds of the population is overweight or obese, costing at least 5 billion Canadian dollars annually in health care costs and in lost productivity. “This is also a result of poverty: adequate diets have become too expensive for poor Canadians, and it is precisely these people who have to pay the most when they live in food deserts and depend on convenience stores that charge higher prices than the main retailers.”

Third, the situation of Aboriginal peoples raises specific concerns. Referring to the situation of fly-in communities in Manitoba and reserves in Alberta that he visited during the mission, De Schutter called for a reform of the Nutrition North Canada program that subsidizes retailers to serve remote communities. He also called for a structural approach to tackling the socio-economic and cultural barriers to opportunities for those living on reserves that result in their not enjoying fully their right to adequate food. He also regretted that neither the federal Government nor the provinces consider that they have a responsibility to support off-reserve Aboriginal peoples in overcoming the structural discrimination they face.

Click here to read full end of mission statement