For most of us, particularly if you are not a business owner, policy is not something that we tend to pay attention to because there is seemingly no need. However, just like your little toe, when you stub it and it becomes painfully obvious that you have one, policy erupts into one’s consciousness when it hurts.

Mark your calendars! Our Annual General Meeting is on Thursday May 13th from 10-12pm PDT. This online AGM will weave together our regular AGM business with vignettes performed by Kaslo, BC based spoken word artist Shayna Jones. Our AGM is open to anyone who is interested in attending.

Imagine you are the only one like you in your community. There is something that makes you special — and obvious. Each time you leave the sanctuary of your home you have to brace yourself for the inevitable stares, maybe some comments and always the question “where are you from?” As if you don’t belong to this place you call home. Shayna Jones doesn’t have to imagine that experience. It is her lived reality.

A recording of Abra Brynne’s keynote from the 2021 Basin Food & Buyer’s Expo is now available to watch online. This presentation touches on the challenges and opportunities in 2021 for relocalizing our food systems.

Do you raise meat? How about cannabis? Are you one of Central Kootenay’s new spirits producers? If you said yes, you will know that you are doing business in three of the most heavily regulated sectors in the agriculture / food world. And you will know that just because you solved your current challenge with policy does not mean that another one will not crop up next month, next year, some time….
.

Check out the latest edition of Policy Morsels, our quarterly e-newsletter with updates on our activities, events, and the latest policy happenings. Our April 2021 edition includes information about our upcoming AGM, the relaunching of working groups, project updates, and more!

The Central Kootenay Food Policy Council was honoured to have been a part of the annual Basin Food & Buyer’s Expo on April 9, 2021. This virtual event brought together food producers, processors and food buyers in the Columbia Basin and provided opportunities for learning, sharing and networking as well as the celebration of local food.

The Silverton Co-work Society recently received close to $900,000 in funding to create a North Slocan Valley Community Food Centre in Silverton. The funding will support the creation of a community food centre that will have programs, resources and infrastructure that serve to strengthen community resilience and support the local food economy.

Join us for our next Central Kootenay Food Policy Council Meeting on Thursday March 11th from 10 – 11:30am PST via Zoom.

Check out our hot-off-the-virtual-press 2020 Annual Report and read about all of the amazing work we’ve been able to do over the past year in collaboration with our partners and with support from our generous funders…