The House of Commons Agriculture and Agri-Food Committee met on June 11, 2026, to study food security in the face of global instability. Witnesses included Joshua Smee (Food First NL), Lori Nikkel (Second Harvest Canada), Justin Cantafio (Atlantic Food Action Coalition), Karen Hoeft (Salvation Army), Alex Boyd (Greener Village), and Jean-François Archambault (La Tablée des Chefs).
Joshua Smee described how food hubs in Newfoundland and Labrador help small farmers access markets and allow consumers to buy local food reliably, but said these non-profit hubs need multi-year operating funding, not just capital grants, to build a customer base and become self-sustaining. He recommended a dedicated federal funding stream for both capital and operating costs, and urged the federal government to set ambitious local procurement targets in school food agreements with provinces.
Lori Nikkel argued that Canada must invest in domestic processing capacity and innovation, noting that underused co-packing infrastructure causes edible food to go to waste. She highlighted Second Harvest’s national research project on processing capacity and said buying locally reduces food waste by shortening supply chains. She also pointed to past federal surplus food rescue programs as models for keeping Canadian-grown food in the domestic system.
Justin Cantafio said Canada does not have a food production problem but has lost the processing, storage, distribution and market pathways that let communities feed themselves. He called for investment in regional food infrastructure, use of public procurement as an economic development tool with hard purchasing minimums, support for independent grocers and food hubs, and new metrics beyond GDP to measure farm profitability, processing capacity and food insecurity. He disagreed with the idea that global efficiency should override local systems.
Karen Hoeft said food security is fundamentally about access, and that community organizations face rising costs for staffing, transportation and storage. She called for a permanent, stable $300-million federal food security fund to give community hubs predictable financing to invest directly in the Canadian food chain, noting that during the pandemic, emergency federal funding proved effective.
Alex Boyd said global instability has driven a 135% increase in demand at Greener Village over five years, with more employed people, newcomers and students seeking help. He argued that food banks are not often seen as partners for local agriculture due to infrastructure barriers, and recommended investing in local infrastructure projects like Greener Village’s Thrive Perishable Food Rescue Centre, which processes fresh produce into frozen products for distribution. He also supported a federal tax credit for farmers donating surplus food.
Jean-François Archambault said La Tablée des Chefs recovers surplus food from the hospitality and institutional sectors and distributes over 3.3 million servings annually, but could scale to 15 million servings with better mobilization. He called for a national ambition to triple food recovery, clearer messages to event promoters to prioritize food donation, and a reopened local food infrastructure fund. He also urged that food literacy be embedded in the national school food program and that kitchen equipment manufacturers offer discounted equipment to community organizations.
During questions, witnesses discussed the need for foundational research on processing capacity, the importance of reducing interprovincial trade barriers, and the role of progressive procurement to create demand for local food. Several witnesses noted that food affordability is primarily an income issue. The committee also heard about the impact of corporate concentration in the grocery sector and the need for community-owned infrastructure. No procedural debate, motions or votes were recorded.
AI-generated summary — may contain errors; verify against the official evidence.