The City of Yellowknife and Wilfrid Laurier University have partnered to explore the potential of a community food hub in the city.
Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty says this partnership will hopefully help directly address one of the recommendations within its agriculture strategy
“We will explore options for a commercial food incubator and community food hub in Yellowknife,” she adds.
Through funding received from Mitacs, the city and university researchers will engage community members on how to enhance the local food economy by addressing community needs.
Laurier researcher, Dr. Andrew Spring says they’ve been working in Yellowknife for several years now and have developed relationships with local organizations such as Ecology North, the Food Charter Coalition and the Yellowknife Farmers Market.
“This opportunity to collaborate with the City of Yellowknife is an exciting endeavour to support the community’s vision for a sustainable food system,” he adds.
The partnership began when the city adopted the Grow Strategy, “a long-range plan for increasing community and commercial opportunities in Yellowknife’s urban food and agriculture system.”
The strategy is about growing the local food economy; growing connections to land, culture and people; growing the level of food security; growing the amount of food that is raised, hunted, fished, and foraged; and growing links to regional agriculture initiatives, programs, and funding.
Beginning March 25th, a series of webinars and focus groups will explore different food hub models within Canada and how they can be applied to Yellowknife.
Input and local context will be provided on how to improve access to healthy, locally produced food and support a sustainable food system in Yellowknife.
