PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Food is more than a necessity of life; access to adequate amounts of safe and nutritious food is one of the most fundamental of human rights. Yet in parts of Canada, citizens are not guaranteed access to clean, safe and nutritious food. In impoverished communities all across Canada, food stores are difficult for the disabled and the elderly to get to or to haul their groceries back from. The food in these communities tends to be over-priced and of poor quality, especially in the case of so-called "fresh" foods. Most of the shelves are stocked with "filler" food items, high in refined sugars and chemicals and low in nutritional value. This situation further exacerbates serious health problems experienced by those in our society most susceptible to all types of illness. Finally, the profits made by grocery stores in these communities leave the communities, ultimately going from the pockets of the poor to the pockets of wealthy corporate shareholders. All these factors leave poor people undernourished, malnourished, sick, broke and trapped in a cycle that repeats itself and aggravates other kinds of problems faced by individuals, families and communities struggling to survive.

There should be a way that all people, regardless of income, can have access to adequate amounts of high-quality, nutritious food at affordable prices. A peoples' food co-operative, in which people join together and pool their resources in order to buy good food at wholesale prices from local producers, would do more than merely guarantee this access. It would assist local food producers, build community solidarity, and empower people.

I propose to conduct a feasibility study pertaining to the establishment of a peoples' food co-operative in an impoverished neighbourhood in Montréal. At the conclusion of the study, an action plan for the establishment of such a food co-operative will be created, made available, and acted upon in a community identified as most in need of such an institution.

NEEDS ADDRESSED BY THE PROJECT

1. The project will address the need for a peoples' food co-operative to be established in an impoverished community in Montréal. Currently, only three food co-operatives operate in the city. Of these three, one is a co-op for Hydro Québec employees and one is a student-run co-op run from the Concordia University campus. None of the existing Montréal food co-ops are located in a lower-income community. Further:
2. A food co-operative will improve the health of its members and members' families by making high-quality, nutritious food available to them at affordable prices.
3. A peoples' food co-operative will save money spent on the necessities of life for those in our community least able to afford these necessities.
4. A peoples' food co-operative will encourage, strengthen and reinforce community solidarity.

 

·2

5. A peoples' food co-operative will link consumers more directly to the production of food through direct contact with local food producers.
6. A peoples' food co-operative will keep money in the local community, further strengthening the community.
7. A peoples' food co-operative will have a positive environmental impact by encouraging the purchase of organic, pesticide-free and non-genetically-engineered foods, and by drastically cutting down on uneccesary food packaging through the availability of bulk foods.

HOW THE PROJECT WILL ADDRESS QPIRG'S MANDATE

1. It will improve the health of poor people.
2. It will empower poor people.
3. It will create jobs for the unemployed and underemployed.
4. It will stimulate and strengthen local economies and small-scale local food production.
5. It will encourage community solidarity.

Environmental Conservation Goals

1. It will promote organic food production.
2. It will promote recycling and reduce food waste.

WHY I CAN ACCOMPLISH THIS PROJECT

I have extensive experience with community organizing. I have been organizing youth opposed to racism for over a decade now, most recently with the Montréal and McGill chapters of Anti-Racist Action (ARA), in which I have been active since 1997. In addition to my duties as an organizer with these local chapters, I have also set up and currently administer a defense fund for anti-racists that has donated over $1300 to anti-racists in trouble in six countries; as well, I have set up an on-line store that funds ARA chapters in Canada and the U.S.

I am the only Canadian to graduate from the Training Institute for Community Organizing in New York City, where in 1998 I was placed with the Brooklyn chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now!, a poor peoples' social movement in the United States. In that capacity, I drew from my own experiences growing up poor as I worked closely

·3

with poor people in impoverished neighbourhoods to improve their living conditions through direct action.

As a member of a family that relied on food banks to get by, I understand first-hand the importance of and difficulties present for poor people to gain access to quality food. My mother is a currently a member of WE CAN, a highly-successful Edmonton poor peoples' food co-operative.

My training as a sociologist has qualified me to conduct the type of survey research and interview design and execution that will be crucial to obtain necessary information for this project. As the team leader for the 1991 census of the Boyle-Macauly district of Edmonton (an area with the lowest per capita income in the province), I gained practical experience in obtaining data from residents and achieved the highest interview completion rate for the neighbourhood to date.

PEOPLES' FOOD CO-OP TIMELINE

May 2001 - Research and Liaising

• Locate and establish contact with other food co-operatives in Canada and the U.S. (such as Edmonton's WECAN) to examine their organizing models and to assess their applicability to the Montréal project.

• Research types of co-operative organization structures to determine what co-operative model is most suitable for the project.

• Identify the community in which the co-op will be located!

• Examine census and government agency data to determine which areas of Montréal are the most likely to require and benefit from the establishment of a food co-op.

• Locate and establish contact with Montréal poor people's social movement(s) and advocacy agencies to gain direct contact with people in the community and to determine what areas in the city have the least access to affordable, nutritious, good-quality food.

• Locate and establish contact with community health agencies to determine what areas of Montréal have high pervalences of nutrition- related health problems.

June 2001 - Community Research

- Develop a questionaire and interview schedule to determine the food needs of the people the co-op will serve.

·4

• Speak directly to the people the co-op will serve and gain their assistance with data collection.

• Examine problems around obtaining affordable high-quality food in the target community.

• Price comparisons from local food stores with prices in other areas of Montréal.

• Investigation of the availability of fresh food in the community.

• Examination of the quality of food available in the community.

• Investigation of the availability of organic foods and locally-produced foods.

• Scouting possible locations for the food co-op.

July 2001 - Selling the Plan to the Community

• Researching costs for wholesale foods, organic foods and foods from local producers, renting a space, utilities, a delivery vehicle, etc.

• Drafting the proposed co-operative structure, in consultation with community members.

• Organizing community meetings and one-on-one meetings to present the co-op plans to the community.

• Recruiting volunteers from the community for the final preparatory stage.

- Signing a lease for the co-op space.

• Building shelving and moving into the co-op.

• Purchasing office equipment.

• Recruiting co-op members.

• Having first co-op meeting and running through meeting structure and decision-making process.

• Arranging accounts with food wholesalers and local food producers.

• Making up the first co-op food order.

• Gathering co-op member fees to place the first food order with.

• Booking a van for pick-up and delivery of food.

• Planning delivery routes.

September 2001

• Delivery of the first food orders!

• Project trouble-shooting and wrinkle-ironing.

Beyond September 2001

At this stage, the co-op should be a volunteer-run, self-sustaining, autonomous institution with great potential for expansion. Future activities that could compliment its mission to allow low-income persons access to affordable, high-quality and nutritious food might include:

• setting up a weekly community kitchen, where members get together to cook bulk meals, thereby stretching their food budgets even further while building interpersonal contacts and community solidarity.

• establishing a community garden during the growing seasons.

• employing co-op members as the project expands beyond the capacities of an all-volunteer organization.

• expanding the product line to include frozen foods as revenue permits the purchase of freezers and other equipment.

• organizing social events for members, such as summer bar-b-ques, community potlucks, etc.

• hiring a nutritionist, available for private consultation and for group faciliation for co-op members.

• using the co-op as a model to establish similar co-ops in similar communities in Montréal and elsewhere.

·6

PEOPLES' FOOD CO-OP ESTIMATED BUDGET

$1,250 - transportation

$750 - office equipment

$500 - sheving for the co-op

$300 - grocery bins for delivery

$200 - phone line and rental

$200 - photocopies

$150 - membership cards

$150 - incorporation, business licenses

REFERENCES

Dr. Morton Weinfeld

Chair, Canadian Ethnic Studies Program

McGill University

201, 3463 Peel, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3A 2T7

Tel. (514) 398-6853

email: mweinf@po-box.mcgill.ca

Dr. Claudia Mitchell

Program Director, Canada-South Africa Education Management Program

McGill Univeristy

3724 MacTavish, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3A 1Y2

Tel. (514) 398-1318

email: cycm@musica.mcgill.ca

Kris Schwarz

Organizer, Toronto Anti-Racist Action

P.O.Box 291 Stn.B

Toronto, Ontario

Canada M5T 2T2

Tel. (416) 631-8835

email: ara@web.net