Since the launch of the Community Health Plan, seven CHBs across the Halifax and West Hants Municipalities have been discussing the root causes of food insecurity and advocating for systemic change at the national level. They’ve been busy writing to local MPs asking for permanent and adequate income supports, measurable national targets to reduce food insecurity, and a rights-based framework for long-term solutions. They echoed this messaging directly to Ottawa by submitting a formal brief as part of the recent pre-budget consultations.  

This is a great example of local action directly supporting the JustFOOD Action Plan recommendations to promote income-based solutions and promote fair and decent employment for all.  Thank you to all the Community Health Board volunteers and coordinators for your incredible leadership!

To find out more about Community Health Boards, visit communityhealthboards.ns.ca

This time, the ask almost didn’t make it to the floor.

A point of order, first

The motion came from Councillor Morse, who had attended the Basic Income Nova Scotia conference in April. One panel there brought together councillors from other Nova Scotia municipalities to talk about their own experience writing letters of support or passing resolutions backing a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income (GLBI).

Before Council could even discuss Morse’s motion, Councillor Purdy raised a point of order, arguing the topic was outside the municipality’s jurisdiction. The Mayor agreed it was out of order,  which meant Council first had to vote just to hear the item at all, needing two-thirds support to move forward.

Councillors Cleary and Austin pushed back on using a point of order this way, pointing out that Council has written,  and will likely keep writing,  letters like this to other levels of government, and that blocking an agenda item on these grounds sets a precedent worth thinking carefully about.

Council voted 13–3 to hear the item.

The motion passes

With the procedural question settled, Councillor Morse’s motion passed 13–3:

Halifax Regional Council requested a letter from the Mayor to the Prime Minister, federal ministers, and the Premier of Nova Scotia, calling again on the federal government to implement a guaranteed livable basic income, ensuring everyone has enough income to meet their needs, and reducing poverty in HRM and municipalities across the country.

Why this matters

Basic income keeps showing up in municipal chambers because income adequacy sits underneath so much of what local governments are already dealing with:  food insecurity, housing precarity, strain on community services. Council can’t implement a basic income itself; what it can do is add its voice, alongside a growing list of Nova Scotia and Canadian municipalities that have passed similar resolutions.

Want to see who else has spoken up? Here’s the running list of municipalities that have voiced support for a Basic Income Guarantee.

Want to watch the discussion yourself? The full Council debate runs from 3:49:47 to 4:17:10 in the July 14th meeting video — worth the watch, especially the exchange about how Council handles letters of support going forward.

MUFPP Priorities & Learning from Other Cities

The Roadmap lays out the internal and external priority interests within the 6 MUFPP categories (of which the JustFOOD Action Plan is also designed around) and specific actions that will support their achievement. We are pleased to see how much alignment there is with the priority areas being focused on here in HRM. Many of the priorities identified are already being advanced within the municipality, including municipal support for urban agriculture, emergency food planning, developing resilient cold storage infrastructure, and supporting local food hubs.  

At the regional meeting, one area of inspiration was learning about Baltimore City’s School Meal Program and Farm to School program. Their school program provides free meals to all students, with changing, nutritious menu’s, informed by student taste testing. Meal programs also run into the summer, as we know that food insecurity does not stop when the school season ends. Further, the city’s public school department actually operates their own farm, which is used for growing fresh produce for the meal program, food literacy programs, and student employment opportunities. While this city operates in a different jurisdictional context, it demonstrates an exciting way to provide students with year-round meal programming and increase their participation in the food system. 

The Emphasis on Connecting

Looking at the MUFPP Network more broadly, there is also a lot of alignment with the direction of the JustFOOD Halifax Network. While the official launch of this network is still in process, its aim is to connect food actors, uplift their voices and work, share resources, and help coordinate community implementation of the JustFOOD Action Plan. Much of the feedback we’ve heard from community partners so far is about the desire to feel more connected. Not only does this help facilitate partnerships and coordinate collective action, but it also makes food work more visible to each other, to community, funders, elected officials, and more.

One of the ways MUFPP is acting on this is by establishing a contact directory for all regional signatory cities to facilitate connections, mapping out the priorities being advanced in cities, and developing best practices libraries. By creating infrastructure to connect and learn from each other on a regional and international level, this improves capacities on a local level to act in a coordinated and impactful way. The JustFOOD Halifax Network will further support this on a local level by connecting actors, convening around shared priorities, sharing resources in our Feeding the Movement newsletter, and developing shared tools for food systems transformation. 

Much of these conversations are born out of the recognition that, in the face of increasing unpredictability in our climate, politics, and elsewhere, building relationships and connections is one of the best ways we can be more resilient and adaptable. While the context we are working in is a challenging one, it is encouraging to see the appetite for stronger relationships on a local, regional, and international level. We look forward to continuing to connect the work being done by our international partners with the work all of us are doing together on the local level. 

People came from across the food system: from community gardens and food hubs, from public health offices and frontline programs, from farmers’ markets and advocacy organizations, from Black and Indigenous communities, from rural HRM and from the heart of the city. People brought decades of experience, deep relationships, and honest perspectives, and shared that generously.

The event made space for conversation, organized around the seven focus areas of the JustFOOD Action Plan (more on this below). People named what isn’t working alongside what is. Working groups began to take shape. Connections formed across organizations that hadn’t found each other before.

What we heard, loud and clear

People are craving connection.
The opportunity to talk, share, and learn alongside others doing this work is genuinely valuable and not something people get enough of.

Our commitment: We’ll keep finding ways to bring people together.

People are ready to collaborate.
This is worth celebrating. The energy in the room was generous, practical, and pointed toward action.

Our commitment: The Support Team exists to make collaboration easier by handling planning, logistics, and reporting so you’re free to dream and build.

Relationships come before structure.
We heard clearly that trust needs to come before working groups, especially in the Food Sovereignty and Equity space. The network is about people, not just the work.

Our commitment: We’re listening. We’ll ask how the network can best support relationship-building, not just task completion.

People want to understand what working groups actually look like.
The concept resonated but people wanted more concrete information before committing.

Our commitment: We’ll make this more tangible. Expect more information soon about how working groups function, what they do, and how the Support Team will make participation as light as possible.

Enthusiasm for the Network was clear: 93% of attendees valued the opportunity to connect with others and gain insight into the diverse food system work underway throughout the Region.

Why We’re Doing This

This marked a major milestone in bringing the JustFOOD Action Plan to life, taking a concrete step toward Recommendation 1a’s call to “develop a governance structure” for coordinating collective food action across the region.

Inspired by the model the Annapolis Valley Food Council has been using, we drafted a network structure where working groups come together from community, working at their own rhythm, with reps from each working group forming a Board. Our draft differs in a few ways: the Annapolis Valley Food Council is an independent non-profit, while the JustFOOD Halifax Network is a collaboration nested within the EAC.

This collaboration, this constellation of organizations working together, consists of the Ecology Action Centre, Halifax Regional Municipality, and Nova Scotia Health – Public Health. Many others have been at the table through the years, as this group has evolved from the Halifax Food Policy Alliance and, before that, the Halifax Food Charter. (There was almost a Halifax Food Council too — if you were thinking that, you’re right.)

The first step in launching a Network is to test it. We invited a small, diverse group to get feedback.

The invitation put forward that food justice work is already happening every day in the Halifax Region — in communities, by organizations, and by people who sometimes don’t know who else is working on similar goals. The JustFOOD Halifax Network hopes to change that.

The JustFOOD Halifax Network aims to strengthen the food system as a whole by:

• Making food actors visible to each other across organizational silos
• Building shared infrastructure: a common plan, shared data, resources, and collective advocacy capacity
• Amplifying collective voice
• Supporting Indigenous and African Nova Scotian & Black food sovereignty
• Implementing and bringing the JustFOOD Action Plan to life

This Network is grounded in the years of work developing and advancing the JustFOOD Halifax Action Plan, which was endorsed by Halifax Regional Council in 2023 — and in the belief that when food actors in Kjipuktuk / Halifax are connected, as a choir of voices, we grow as people, as organizations, and as a movement.

The Support Team is still growing the Network. We’re reaching out to organizations that couldn’t make it to the launch, and planning events across HRM’s Regional Districts so more people can take part. These events will help more people learn about the food work happening close to home, make new connections, and make sure the Network reflects everyone doing this work across the region.

There are a few easy ways to be part of this. If your organization’s work connects to the JustFOOD Action Plan, you can sign on as a JFAP Implementing Organization. Doing food work in your community outside of an organization? You can sign on as an Individual. Either way, it starts with a short conversation with our Support Team.  And, join our newsletter to stay in the loop on events, working groups, and everything else happening across the Network.

Produced with assistance from Generative AI (Claude, Anthropic). Reviewed and approved by JustFOOD staff prior to use.

This distribution to Pantries is part of an advancement of Recommendation 14 from the Action Plan: supporting community-based programs and grassroots initiatives that provide dignified access to good food. Community Pantries are vital low-barrier food resources, grounded in mutual aid “take what you need” principles, that allow community members to support each other in accessing food.  As many pantries are grassroots and volunteer-led, they often don’t qualify for more traditional funding models. At the same time, they are facing a growing demand, with stocked pantries often being cleared out within the day.

The Community Food Truck will continue to play an important role in moving surplus, donated, and purchased food to Pantries.

Check out the pictures below from our distribution days!

Later in the Summer, the Urban Agriculture Specialist joined the team. This role provides direct support and expertise to community gardens on municipal land in HRM. The Specialist has been busy distributing much-needed water infrastructure to gardens, launching the community garden grant program, and collaborating with other Municipal teams to support food-growing on municipal land. Learn more about HRM Community Gardens here.

In the Fall, the team grew again with the addition of the Community Food Specialist. This position is dedicated to bringing a food lens to municipal policies and programs, developing food and climate programs, and supporting community food access. So far, this Specialist has been working to share learnings from the Stormkit Project (check out the report here) and connecting with other Municipal teams and community food actors to better understand needs.

With these 3 new positions joining the Food Policy Strategist, it’s very exciting to have a fully formed Municipal Food Team. Together, the team is working hard to continue implementing the JustFOOD Action Plan and maximizing food action within HRM. Stay tuned for more updates on municipal food work here!