A nation that cannot feed itself is a nation that is inherently food insecure. Welcome to Canada, 21st Century.
One of the depressing aspects of the last few decades is the ease with which seemingly normal people walk obliviously past the aching pools of humanity spread out on our sidewalks.
At what point will people start looking up from their iPhones -- at least momentarily -- and think: Something must be done.
That moment should have come with the recent axing of Ontario's "special diet allowance," in which Dalton McGuinty's government literally took food out of the mouths of hungry people, in the name of deficit reduction.
"Canada has long been seen as a land of plenty. Yet today one in ten families with a child under six is unable to meet their daily food needs. These rates of food insecurity are unacceptable, and it is time for Canada to adopt a national right to food strategy." - Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.
Yesterday Olivier De Schutter concluded his first official visit to Canada as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, a whirlwind fact-finding mission and tour across the country conducted on the invitation of the Canadian Government.