COVID-19, a changing Canadian food-security landscape, and food movements

Abstract

This research brief presents results from a scan of peer-reviewed and grey literature published from March 2020 to the end of August 2021 looking at the impacts of COVID-19 on food security in Canada. The purpose of this literature scan is to look at how the national food-security landscape has shifted due to the pandemic and to analyze what these changes mean for civil society­–led food movements working on the ground to enhance food systems sustainability and equity. This brief presents key findings from the literature scan focus­ing on food-security policy, programming, and funding; food security for individuals, house­holds, and vulnerable populations; and food sys­tems. We then draw on our collective experi­ences as food scholars and activists to discuss the impli­cations of these findings for food movement organizing. Here, we focus on networks, policy advocacy, and local food systems as key considera­tions for food movements in a changing food-security landscape.

Keywords

• Sustainable Food Systems
• COVID-19
• Pandemic
• Canada
• Food Security
• Food Movements