A temporary stop gap measure, food banks were never meant to last. The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) Food Centre is no exception. Founded in 1997, it was designed to provide short term assistance for students facing financial and food access issues brought on by unprecedented tuition fee increases. Fifteen years later, fees continue to rise, outpacing inflation and wage increases. In response, the Food Centre has evolved past its primary purpose of being a food cupboard, and now seeks to provide nourishment to the Carleton campus community on numerous fronts.
The centre operates on three pillars. First, the food hamper programs that provide emergency access to people in need in a respectful manner. Second, it provides food skills and education programs that aim to impart and develop knowledge and aptitude in gardening, food security, budgeting and food behaviours. Third, its advocacy and engagement pursuits allow students to have a voice in food security policy issues at the local, provincial and national levels.
The increased usage of the centre’s emergency food access program is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the co-ordinators are pleased beyond measure that people are accessing a service that is so often fraught with stigma. On the other hand, it means that more and more people are food insecure. A recent CBC article that looked at the food security of people on the University of Ottawa campus had a shocking number of vitriolic comments decrying the need and legitimacy of post-secondary food assistance programs. A subsequent Maclean’s article echoed those sentiments, urging student politicians to stop “crying wolf.”
But a 148 per cent increase in usage at the CUSA Food Centre indicates that we are not crying wolf. This figure points towards a very serious problem that needs to be addressed.
Food Centre staff don’t believe that food banks are the answer. They treat symptoms rather than addressing the problems. In order to consider solutions, it is a necessity to first define the problem. Traditional food banks do not treat food insecurity – they treat front-line hunger. This leads to attitudes such as “any food in the belly is good food.”
The Food Centre’s programs are based on the idea that the problem is much broader than hunger. The programs touch on social issues and related policies in the areas of poverty, health, education and the food economy. Four to six years of borderline poverty does not set students up for success. An intersectional and multifaceted approach that platforms ideas and ingenuity will sow the path to systemic change. Dialogue is one of the first steps towards action.
One way that the CUSA Food Centre is starting conversations is with its upcoming “I Care About Hunger” campaign where we will be asking people to reflect on their perceptions about hunger and food insecurity. It is not often in our day-to-day lives that as co-ordinators of the Food Centre we don’t discuss hunger as well as food security and food sovereignty (at one point my roommates instituted a piggy bank that I had to drop a quarter in every time I went on a rant). But when asked why I cared about the issues at hand, I was momentarily stunned by my lack of an instant answer. Eventually I was able to put to words what my thoughts were, “I care about hunger because I don’t believe that any individual should ever have to feel guilty, shunned, stigmatized, or made to feel less than because of an issue rooted in society.”
But it is not all doom and gloom. There is a burgeoning desire to create a campus food system that is more accessible, sustainable and equitable. The tireless efforts of numerous food security advocates, activists and academics across our campus have led to a building momentum to bring these issues to the table, to have robust discussions front and center. University campuses offer a unique position to catalyze changes and it is our belief that the Food Centre and the community that it serves, can play a key role in their successes. Join us in 427B UC and the Graduate Student Association’s Community Garden as we challenge the root issues and begin to work on sustainable solutions.
– Tabitha Macdonald,
Food Centre co-ordinator
