This section provides resources and tools for workshops and for taking action on policies related to food security.

They include:

Icebreaker 1– How food secure are you?

This activity helps to show how food security is everyone’s issue and that being food secure is more than knowledge and personal choice. It also shows how quickly a person can become food insecure. It is a good icebreaker to use if you are focusing on the first few sections of the workbook for your workshop. Materials Needed: Copies of Nutrition Quiz (page 88), Scenario Slips (page 84-87), Food Secure Snacks, Food Insecure Snacks (page 83)

Scenario Slip

There are two sets of “Scenario Slips.” One set contains challenges – circumstances that could plunge a family into food insecurity. The other set contains supports – conditions that increase a person’s level of food security.

Process:

Copy and cut out the scenario slips. Put them all into a bag or a hat for participants to draw from.

Divide participants into four groups. Hand out the Nutrition Quiz on page 88 to each group and allow ten minutes to complete it. The two groups that have the highest score will be the “food secure” groups and the two groups with the lowest scores will be the “food insecure” groups.

Tip: Having the room set up in a circle makes it easier for people to move around and to see each other.

Have two piles of snacks – “food secure” snacks and “food insecure” snacks. Ideas for these snacks are listed on the following page. Have participants come up and get their snack depending on which group they are in. When the participants receive their snack have them draw a slip of paper from the bag of “scenario slips.” After all the participants have taken a snack and a scenario slip, ask them, one by one, to read what their scenario says.

Depending on the scenario they may stay in their original group (food insecure or secure) thus keeping their original snack, or they may move into the other group. If they move into another group they then have to trade their snack with someone who is already in that group.

Challenges

If a person in the “food secure” group draws a challenge slip, he/she moves into the “food insecure” group and trades snacks with a participant who is moving into the food secure group. If someone in the “food insecure” group draws a challenge slip, he/she remains in the food insecure group and keeps the same snack.

Supports

If a participant in the “food insecure” group draws a support slip, he/she moves into the food secure group and trades snacks with someone in the “food secure” group. If someone in the “food secure” group draws a support slip, he/she remains in the “food secure” group and keeps the same snack.

Example: If a “food secure” person has selected a piece of paper with “Your Partner lost their job and the price of heating oil has increased dramatically just this week. It is a record cold winter” he/she would move into the “food insecure” group, trading their snack with a “food insecure” person. If a “food insecure” person selected a piece of paper that read “You have a huge garden and raise chickens on your rural property” he/she would move into the “food secure” group, again trading their snack with a “food secure” person.

Snacks to use with Icebreaker

Examples of “Food Secure” Snacks: Examples of “Food Insecure” Snacks:

As an alternative to using the Nutrition Quiz to divide participants into “food secure” and “food insecure” groups, you can place stickers on half of the name tags that are going to be worn for the day. If a participant has a name tag with a sticker on it, he or she is in the “food insecure” group. If a participant has a name tag without a sticker on it, he or she is in the “food secure” group. Once people are divided into “food secure” or “food insecure” groups proceed with the activity as described above.

Icebreaker 2: What food do you feel like today?

As participants introduce themselves, ask them what food they feel like today and why. For example, someone may say they feel like scrambled eggs today because they have been running around all day.

This icebreaker could be used at a workshop or dialogue no matter what section in the workbook your group is focusing on.

Icebreaker 3: Food Traditions

As participants introduce themselves, ask them to share a food tradition or something unique that is done with food in their household or family. This icebreaker can be used with any section of the workbook.

Bibliography and Useful Resources

General Food Security Websites

Food for the cities, The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UN.
www.fao.org/fcit/insec.asp

Sustainable agriculture production and consumption forum, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
www.agrifood-forum.net/home.asp

Canadian Organic Growers
www.cog.ca

Centre for Food Security Studies
www.ryerson.ca/~foodsec/centre_01.html

Agriculture and Agrifood Canada's Food Security Bureau
www.agr.gc.ca/misb/fsb/fsb-bsa_e.php?page=index

Oxfam Canada and Oxfam International
www.oxfam.ca and www.oxfam.org

Defining Food Security

Valerie Tarasuk
Discussion paper on household and individual food insecurity. (2001). Get it online:
www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hpfb-dgpsa/onpp-bppn/food_security_exec_e.pdf

Lynn McIntyre
Food security: More than a determinant of health. Policy Options, Vol. March, 2003, page 46-51. Get online:

Food Security, Families & Children, Communities, & Health

Community Tool Box
ctb.ku.edu

Julie Devon Dodd & Michelle Hébert Boyd
Capacity building: Linking community experience to public policy. (2000). Health Canada, Population Public Health Branch, Atlantic Region. Get it online:
www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/regions/atlantic/pdf/capacity_building_e.pdf

Jake Epp
Achieving Health For All: A Framework for Health Promotion. (1986).Ottawa, ON: Health Canada. Get it online:
www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/care/achieving_health.html

Bill MacCarthy
Mean streets: The theoretical significance of situational delinquency among homeless youths. (1992). American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 98, No. 3, pages 597-627.

Lynn McInytre, Theresa Glanville, Susan Officer, Barb Anderson, Kim Raine, & Jutta Dayle
Food insecurity of low income mothers and their children in Atlantic Canada. (2002). Canadian Journal of Public Health, 93(6): 411-415.

Helena Restrepo
Increasing community capacity and empowering communities for promoting health, Technical draft report. (2000). Fifth Global Conference on Health Promotion, Mexico City, Mexico. Get it online:

Toronto Food Policy Council
Health, wealth and the environment: The impacts of CUSTA, GATT and NAFTA on Canadian food security (Discussion Paper #2). (1994).
AND Food retail access and food security for Toronto's low-income citizens (Discussion Paper #7). (1996). Get them online:
www.city.toronto.on.ca/health/tfpc_discussion_paper.htm

Valerie Tarasuk
Discussion paper on household and individual food insecurity. (2001). Get it online:
www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hpfb-dgpsa/onpp-bppn/food_security_exec_e.pdf

Kim D. Travers
The social organization of nutritional inequities. (1996). Social Science & Medicine, Vol. 43, No. 4, pages 543-443.

Bill Vorely
Food, Inc. Corporate concentration from farm to consumer. (2003). Get it online:
www.agribusinessaccountability.org/pdfs//247_Food%20Inc.pdf

World Health Organization
Social determinant of health: The solid facts (1998). Get it online:
www.who.dk/document/E59555.pdf

Food Security, the Environment and the Economy

Community Nutrition Program, Northern Interior Health Authority
All about food security. (2002). Compiled by Jay-Anna Major Briere.

Nita Chaudhuri
Child health, poverty and the environment: The Canadian context. (1998). Canadian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 89, Supplement 1, pages 526-530.

A Crump
Dictionary of environment and development: People, places, ideas and organizations. (1993). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Ask for it at your library.

Brewster Kneen
From Land to Mouth: Understanding the food system, Second Helping. (1993). Toronto, ON. NC Press Limited. Ask for it at your library.

Toronto Food Policy Council
Health, wealth and the environment: The impacts of CUSTA, GATT and NAFTA on Canadian food security (Discussion Paper #2). (1994). AND
A wealth of food: A profile of Toronto's food economy. (1999)
Get them online:
www.city.toronto.on.ca/health/tfpc_discussion_paper.htm

Bill Vorely
Food, Inc. Corporate concentration from farm to consumer. (2003). Get it online:
www.agribusinessaccountability.org/pdfs//247_Food%20Inc.pdf

Anthony Winson
The intimate commodity: Food and the development of the agro-industrial complex in Canada. (1993). Toronto, ON: Garamond Press. Ask for it at your library.

Sylvan Wittwer
The global environment and food production. (1997). State of the climate report, New Hope Environmental Services. Get it online:
www.greeningearthsociety.org/Articles/global.htm

Addressing Food Security

Toronto Food Policy Council
Reducing urban hunger in Ontario: Policy responses to support the transition from charity to local food security (Discussion Paper #1). (1994). Toronto, ON. Get it online:
www.city.toronto.on.ca/health/tfpc_discussion_paper.htm

Joanne Houghton
The dietitian's role in British Columbia's food security movement. (1998). Dietitians of Canada: Members in Action Newsletter.

P. Hawe, M. Noort, L. King, & C Jordens
Multiplying health gains: The critical role of capacity building within health promotion programs. (1997). Health Policy, 39(1), pp. 29-42.

Laura Kalina
Building food security in Canada: A community guide for action on hunger. 2nd Ed. (2001). Kamloops FoodShare. Ask for it at your library.

M. Koc, R. MacRea, L. J. A. Mougeot & J. Welsh. (Editors).
For Hunger-proof Cities: Sustainable Urban Food Systems. (1999).
Ottawa,ON: International Development Research Centre. Ask for it at your library.

Community Food Security Coalition
Weaving the food web: Community food security in California. (2002). Get it online: www.foodsecurity.org

Canadian Association of Food Banks
Position statement on the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and Canada's progress on its domestic commitment to improve access to food. (2002). Get it online:
www.cafb-acba.ca/pdfs/press_releases/WFSummitPosition.pdf

Smilek, S. & Bidgood, B.
When the Fridge is Bare. (2001). Waterloo, ON. Get it online: www.foodbankwloo.org/fridgebook.html

Wilson B., & Tsoa, E.
HungerCount 2002: Eating their words: Government failure of food security. (2002). Toronto, ON: Canadian Association of Food Banks. Get it online: www.cafb-acba.ca/pdfs/other_documents/HCFinal2002E.pdf

Food and Hunger Action Committee
Planting the seeds: Phase 1 Report. (2000). City of Toronto Food and Hunger Action Committee. Get it online: www.city.toronto.on.ca/food_hunger/

The Policy Process, Implementing Policy & Influencing Public Policy

Community Animation Program
Taking action through public policy: A focus on health and environment issues. (2002). Environment Canada & Health Canada. Get it online:

Brenda O'neill
The Policy Process. University of Manitoba. Get it online:
home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~oneillbl/canadianu/policy/

Disabled Women's Network Ontario
Steps toward a credible and inclusive public policy process: Women in Public Policy Process. (2000). Women in Public Policy Initiative. Get it online:

Julie Devon Dodd & Michelle Hébert Boyd
Capacity building: Linking community experience to public policy. (2000). Health Canada, Population Public Health Branch, Atlantic Region. Get it online:
www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/regions/atlantic/pdf/capacity_building_e.pdf

Phillip Haid & Elder C. Marques
Nine lessons for influencing policy-makers. (1999). Youth Action Forum, Autumn 1999.Get it online: www.iog.ca/news/nine_lessons.html

Rebecca Sutton
The policy process: An overview. (1999). London, UK: Overseas Development Institute. Get it online:

Lawrence Green, Rose Nathan & Shawna Mercer
The health and health promotion in public policy: Drawing inspiration from the tobacco control movement. (2001). Health Promotion Journal of Australia, Vol. 12, No. 2.

Newfoundland and Labrador Heart Health Program
Making public policy healthy. Get it online:

Katey Walker
Influencing policy decisions. Leads Unit IV: Community/Public Policy Leadership Skills. (2001). Kansas State University Research and Extension. Get it online:

The Public Health Association of Nova Scotia (PHANS)
Public health association of Nova Scotia: Election Primer. (June 2003). Get it online: www.phans.ca/docs/PHANS_Primer_june03.pdf

Sarah Marie Borron
Food policy councils: Practice and possibility. (2003). Eugene, Oregon Hunger-free Community Report. Get it online:
www.lanefood.org/foodpolicycouncils.htm

Mary O'Brien
Preparing for a campaign. (2001). Presentation at the 19th Annual Pesticide Conference, Beyond Pesticides/National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, Boulder, CO. Get it online:
www.beyondpesticides.org/infoservices/pesticidesandyou/Fall%2001/Preparing%20for%20a%20Campaign.pdf

Nova Scotia Women's Fishnet
Good Policy, Good Health. (2002). Order it online:
www.cwhn.ca/hot/resources/gp_gh_toolkit.html

Breakfast for Learning
Community advocacy toolkit. Breakfast for Learning. (2003). Look out for it online: www.breakfastforlearning.ca

Maritime Centre for Excellence in Women's Health
Social and Economic Inclusion in Atlantic Canada Toolkit. Get it online:

The Centre for Health Promotion, Health Communication Unit
Overview of health communication campaigns. (1998). University of Toronto. Get it online: www.utoronto.ca/chp/hcu

Provincial/Territorial Food Security Groups

This is list is not complete. It is meant to give you a starting point to find what is happening in your region. These websites include contacts and other links. Use the next page to keep track of other groups and resources that you locate in your region.

BC Food Systems Network

Growing Food Security In Alberta
www.mailman.srv.ualberta.ca/mailman/listinfo/foodsecurityalberta

Regina Qu'Appelle, Population and Public Health Services, Food Security
www.rqhealth.ca/programs/comm_hlth_services/pubhealth/food_security.shtml

Winnipeg Harvest
www.winnipeg.org

FoodNet, Ontario Food Security & Nutrition Network
www.opha.on.ca/foodnet/index.html

FoodShare
www.foodshare.net/

Toronto Food Policy Council, City of Toronto Public Health
www.city.toronto.on.ca/health/tfpc_index.htm

Eco-Initiatives of Montreal
www.cam.org/%7Eecoini/

Atlantic Canada Organic Regional Network (ACORN)
www.acornorganic.org/

Nova Scotia Nutrition Council
www.nsnc.ca/

Food Security Network of Newfoundland and Labrador
www.foodsecuritynews.com

Yukon Anti-poverty Coalition

Yellowknife Community Garden Collective
www.volunteernwt.ca/orgs/organdetail.asp?organ=271

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