SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Yellowknife Food Charter Coalition would like to change how Yellowknifers make dinner.

Christine Barker, Harvesters Table co-ordinator, and daughter Madison Thompson, show off some of the fresh produce available for sale. Local gardeners could either sell their wares themselves, donate their fruits and veggies, or have market staff tend, harvest and sell for them while they were on vacation. - NNSL file photo

Last Monday, representatives made a presentation to the municipal services committee to ask for $15,000 to $25,000 that would go toward a food strategy.

"We need to get a handle of where our food comes from," said France Benoit, president of the Yellowknife Farmers Market and spokesperson for the Yellowknife Food Charter Coalition. "We need to ... learn to produce and process and market more of our food so that we keep the money in the community and we keep the jobs in the community."

The city officially endorsed the Yellowknife Food Charter, which makes local food a priority, in July 2015. The Yellowknife Food Charter Coalition formed soon after.

In addition to funding, the coalition is asking the city to provide land for food production, including a zoning bylaw for food-production land, and to continue transitioning from ornamental to edible plants in city parks and green spaces. Coalition members also suggest potential tax breaks and the hiring of a staff person under the city umbrella.

The meeting did not have quorum and therefore could not make any recommendations.

"I think we would need more clarity about where exactly the budget would go and what it would cover," said Coun. Linda Bussey.

If the funding is approved, Benoit said the coalition plans to use it to leverage other funding from territorial and federal levels, as well as foundations interested in food systems.

"We feel that your contribution ... matched with a similar amount or more elsewhere could help us to begin the work of the food strategy," she said.

Carla Johnston, a research assistant with the coalition, said food strategies in communities such as Thunder Bay and Edmonton include regular meetings with civil employees, citizens and council, and would be tailored to the community. In Yellowknife, that would mean any food strategy would include hunting, gathering and fishing.

This is a way of thinking that's already being used in other local programs, such as the Harvesters Table at the Yellowknife Farmers Market. Introduced this year, the program offers a series of options for local gardeners to sell the fruits of their labour at the market.

Benoit says the initiative has been such a hit, there are plans to expand it next year.

"We have an extraordinary growing season," she said. "It is a myth to think that we cannot grow enough to feed ourselves here. And any bit that we do means that there are less imports from elsewhere."

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