Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero hunger

Reduce hunger

The Food Policy for Canada provides the foundation for increased integration and coordination of food-related policies and programs to make progress towards healthier and more sustainable food systems. The Food Policy's vision is that:

• all people in Canada are able to access a sufficient amount of safe, nutritious, and culturally diverse food
• Canada's food system is resilient and innovative, sustains our environment and supports our economy

The Government of Canada created the Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council as a central element of the Food Policy for Canada. The multi-disciplinary Council reports to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and has provided advice on food system issues, including reducing food insecurity.

Similarly, the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council (CAYC) is a group of young Canadians providing advice, enabling on-going dialogue on food-related challenges and opportunities, sharing information and best practices, and advising on the strengths and weaknesses of policies and programs affecting the agriculture and agri-food sectors.

Under the Food Policy for Canada, the Local Food Infrastructure Fund is designed to support local food projects, such as those at food banks and community gardens across Canada, to provide at-risk populations, such as the less privileged and isolated communities, with improved access to healthy foods through investments in infrastructure.

Opportunity for All - Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy recognizes that poverty and food security are intricately linked, and includes food insecurity as an indicator on the Strategy's Dimensions of Poverty Hub under the Dignity Pillar. This strategy seeks to reduce and remove systemic barriers, including for those communities that face unique barriers that can make them more vulnerable to poverty.

The Government of Canada will strengthen Canada's food system by working together with provinces, territories, municipalities, Indigenous partners and stakeholders to develop a National Children's Food Policy and to work toward a national children's nutritious meal program.

The Nutrition North Canada (NNC) program supports increased access and availability of nutritious food to residents of eligible isolated and remote communities in Canada's North without year-round surface access. Budget 2021 provided funding to expand the Nutrition North Canada's programming. The program supports communities in all 3 territories, and northern regions of 6 provinces. Nutrition North Canada helps to make nutritious food and some essential items more affordable and more accessible. In addition to NNC's retail subsidy program, its co-developed Harvesters Support Grant was deployed in 2020. It is directly supporting isolated communities obtain and share country foods from the land in keeping with Indigenous rights and traditions while expanding local food sharing systems.

The Northern Isolated Community Initiatives Fund focuses on finding innovative and practical solutions to support Canada's Indigenous food production systems, and increase food security in Canada's North in collaboration with other federal, territorial and Indigenous partners.

Canada supports knowledge development on the nature and extent of household food insecurity, including Indigenous Peoples in Canada, prioritizing vulnerable populations at risk of food insecurity, and undertakes international collaboration on food safety.

The Agri-food and Aquaculture Regulatory Review Roadmap, published in 2019, identifies numerous actions being taken by federal partners. Actions include a re-design of food regulations to reduce impediments that prevent industry from bringing innovative products to market by establishing regulatory frameworks to allow, for example, new paths to market in areas such as Human Milk Fortifiers and Supplemented Foods. It will also provide greater flexibility and agility to the regulations to be able to respond to advances in science and technology, while protecting the health and safety of Canadians. Under the 2019 Roadmap, the Government of Canada has reduced administrative burden for shellfish aquaculture in Atlantic Canada and is pursuing additional improvements to enhance clarity, environmental protection and overall sustainability of the sector.

Both aquaculture and wild capture fisheries are lifelines in Canada's coastal and Indigenous communities for food security and well-being as well as cultural continuity and economic development. Canada contributes to the goal of sustainable food systems, through responsible, science-based fisheries management under the Sustainable Fisheries Framework which promotes and ensures precautionary and ecosystem based approaches are used to keep fish stocks healthy, protect biodiversity and fisheries habitats, and make sure that Canadian fisheries support conservation and sustainable use of resources..

Safe Food

Canada is committed to safeguarding food, animals and plants, which enhances the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment and economy. This is done by:

• enforcing federal food safety regulations for both domestic and imported food so they consistently meet Canadian high-quality standards

• preventing hazards in the food supply system and manage any food safety emergencies and incidents by working with industry and federal, provincial, territorial and international food safety stakeholders
• ensuring that food accessed and consumed by Canadians is safe and accurately represented^{Footnote 3}

Improve environmental sustainability of the agricultural sector

The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP) brings together federal, provincial and territorial governments with an agreement to strengthen and grow Canada's agricultural sector. The Sustainable CAP will help position Canada for continued success as a global leader in sustainable agriculture, economically, environmentally and socially.

The Government of Canada is developing a Sustainable Agriculture Strategy for Canada to help set a shared direction for collective action to improve environmental performance in the sector over the long-term. The goal of the strategy is to ensure Canada's agriculture sector is ready and able to recover quickly from extreme events, thrive in a changing climate, and ensure a steady food supply.

Under the Natural Climate Solutions Fund, Agricultural Climate Solutions provides opportunities for the agriculture sector to use natural climate solutions to develop and implement farming practices to tackle climate change.

The Agricultural Climate Solutions - Living Labs stream aims to establish a strong, Canada-wide network of living labs which bring together farmers, scientists, and other sector partners to co-develop, test, implement, and monitor beneficial management practices on working farms to reduce Canada's environmental footprint and enhance climate resiliency. The Agricultural Climate Solutions - On-Farm Climate Action Fund supports farmers in adopting beneficial management practices that store carbon and reduce greenhouse gases specifically in the areas of nitrogen management, cover cropping, and rotational grazing practices.

The Agricultural Clean Technology Program supports the development and adoption of clean technology that will enable reduced GHG emissions and promote sustainable growth in Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector.

Through the Fisheries and Aquaculture Clean Technology Adoption Program, Canada has invested $35 million over 7 years (2017 to 2024) in clean technology for our fisheries and aquaculture industries to help protect our environment.

Aquaculture represents almost 20% of total seafood gross domestic production (GDP) in Canada and about a third of total economic value of fisheries. Aquaculture in Canada is a shared responsibility among federal, provincial and territorial governments. The Government of Canada:

• ensures that aquaculture is managed sustainably across the country under the Fisheries Act, including where the provincial government has a lead leasing or licensing role
• conducts targeted regulatory research on fish pests and pathogens, ecosystem management and interactions with wild fish populations
• conducts collaborative research to improve environmental decision making and sustainability of the aquaculture industry protects, conserves and restores aquatic habitat, including to support fisheries that are central to communities, notably Indigenous communities, which may rely on them for food, social or traditional reasons