About the Campaign

In 1976, Canada signed the United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, accepting a legal responsibility to respect, protect and fulfill the right to food. Then, in 2001, Toronto City Council unanimously adopted the Toronto Food Charter. The charter highlights the City’s commitments to food security and recognizes that everyone in Toronto should have barrier free access to nutritious, affordable and culturally appropriate food through whatever means they choose.

Despite these federal and municipal commitments, food insecurity is a problem that’s growing exponentially. That’s why in 2021, together with individuals and organizations invested in food justice, we launched our Right to Food Campaign calling on the City of Toronto to create a new food charter. One that was representative, actionable and accountable.

Over our three-year Right to Food campaign, we used community consultation, visual art, dance, music and more to make sure as many folks as possible were aware of food being their human right, and of the City’s commitment to realise it. We engaged more than 5,000 individuals through 196 in-person workshops, where children, youth, seniors and racialized folks were all dreaming of what realizing the right to food would look like. Learn more about the campaign.

The campaign also met the goal we set out to achieve: City of Toronto agreed to our demands for a new charter!

Getting that commitment was a testament to the value of raising our voices together and an important first step toward meaningfully realizing Torontonians right to food.

But more hard work and collective advocacy lies ahead. To ensure we end up not with a document, but a real plan for addressing food insecurity, we need a food charter written by the folks most impacted by its root cause: poverty alongside folks working to defend the food rights of their communities. We will continue our work to ensure that the process of developing a new charter is representative, actionable and accountable. Find out what’s next.

We also recognize that the systems- like governments- that have been built without so many of us in mind may never be the tools that set us free. At FoodShare, we will continue working to advance the right to food beyond the food charter.

Which is why we will also, always work closely with community to look for ways to take care of each other when it comes to food, respecting both new and old ways of knowing.

Right to food work is not new in our city – we will continue to amplify grassroots organizations led by Black folks, Indigenous folks, folks of colour, elders, folks living on a low income and all those left out of system for so long. These are the folks who’ve been leading this work for decades and are best equipped to identify what the right to food looks like in Toronto, and for their communities.

At FoodShare we believe that in a Toronto where the right to food is respected, everyone should be able to make dignified choices about what they eat.

Right to Food Campaign Lookback

Campaign Launch (Oct 2021)

FoodShare partnered with Hxouse on the launch of the Right to Food campaign

  • Read and share the receipts about the state of food insecurity in our city
  • Learn about some of the organizations working toward food security and sovereignty in their communities

Demanding a New Food Charter (Oct 2021)

FoodShare’s Right to Food Campaign called on folks across Toronto to sign a petition demanding a new food charter for our city

  • Read the petition that called for a food charter that was representative, accountable and actionable

Town Hall (Oct 2021)

FoodShare hosted an event featuring community leaders from Afri-Can FoodBasket, Dashmaawaan Bemaadzinjin, St. James Town Community Co-Op and Uplift Kitchen.

  • Watch the recording to learn more about what communities across the city are demanding from the city when it comes to the right to food

All-Age Learning Resources (Feb 2022)

In advance of 2022’s Great Big Crunch (and throughout the three-year Right to Food campaign), FoodShare’s Community Learning and Engagement team collaborated with Advocacy colleagues to develop a series of workshops where participants can explore the general landscape of food insecurity here in Canada, learn about right to food movements across the world, and do a deep dive on the Toronto Food Charter.

Motion to Update Food Charter (Mar 2022)

On March 24th 2022, Councilor Joe Cressy brought forward a motion to update the Toronto Food Charter to the Economic and Community Development Committee. The motion passed at the committee and was put forward to City Council. 

Digital Day of Action (Mar 2022)

On March 30, 2022, FoodShare developed a toolkit and hosted a Digital Day of Action in collaboration with Dietitians for Food Justice and Birchmount Community Action Council to help folks call on City representatives to vote in support of the food charter motion. Over 7,600 emails were sent to city councillors, the mayor and the secretariat in advance of the April 6th council meeting.

City Council Motion Passed (Apr 2022)

One week after our Digital Day of Action, on April 7, 2022, the motion to update the Food Charter was approved by the Toronto City Council.

Realised, Reimagined Art Exhibition (Sept 2022)

In the fall of 2022, the Advocacy team at FoodShare launched an art exhibition, Realised, Reimagined, exploring the possibilities of a future in which the right to food is realized for everyone.

Food Charter Planning (May 2023)

FoodShare takes part in the first conversation between the City of Toronto and community organizations to discuss a pathway to updating the Toronto Food Charter as part of the Poverty Reduction Strategy. The need for an inclusive consultation process is identified as a key priority.

Toronto Food Stories Art Residency Begins (Aug 2023)

From August 2023 through July 2024, the Advocacy team at FoodShare organized an art residency that brought together four artists from different corners of the city to share the stories of the people and movements that are transforming our food system and bringing us closer to realizing the right to food in our city.

Campaign Ends (Oct 2024)

FoodShare’s official Right to Food campaign ends but the work on a new food charter, and advancing the right to food in Toronto continues…