Urban food activism as struggle for food sovereignty in Western Canada

URBAN FOOD ACTIVISM AS STRUGGLE FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY IN WESTERN CANADA FROM 2014 TO 2018

Abstract

In recent years, in addition to becoming a reference in the struggles of peasant movements in the Southern Hemisphere – central feature of its ‘first generation’ – food sovereignty (FS) has also been incorporated into the urban contexts of the Northern Hemisphere, which marks its ‘second generation’. Recognizing that there is still a gap in studies addressing this process in the Canadian context, this paper aims to discuss the ‘second generation’ of FS in two cities of Western Canada: Vancouver, in British Columbia and Calgary, in Alberta. For this analysis, we use qualitative exploratory methodologies to understand how FS can take place in urban contexts in Canada through the practices of urban food activists. Among the main results, we find that in the urban context of the Canadian West, FS can be understood through a broad perspective, relating to the various stages of agri-food systems.