Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia supports Bill No. 258, the Food Security and Self-sufficiency Act

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over a year since the first reading of a Private Member’s Bill by Alana Paon, the Independent MLA for Cape Breton-richmond.

On March 10, 2020, Paon introduced Bill No. 258, the Food Security and Self-sufficiency Act, promoting local food, food security and support for local food producers, among other suggestions.

Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia (FMNS) strongly supports any legislation with clearly defined objectives to increase food security and self-sufficiency through building local and sustainable food systems throughout Nova Scotia. FMNS is a non-profit co-operative of over 35-member farmers’ markets, representing over 1,500 owner-operated businesses, and our members are actively contributing to improving food security and building thriving local food systems, but this movement requires unanimous government support and clear, legally binding legislation with teeth to do so.

In 2007, Nova Scotia passed nation-leading legislation, Bill No. 26, the Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act (EGSPA), which had 26 unique goals with clearly defined targets.

Unfortunately, there was never a final report for EGSPA on whether they met their goals and multiple organizations have confirmed that these two local foodfocused goals never were met. EGSPA was phased out without a final report and replaced in 2019 with Bill No. 213, the Sustainable Development Goals Act, which contains zero mention of the words “food” or “farm,” and has no goals related to food security or local food production.

While these goals are not exhaustive, they’re an incredible first start. The Food Security and Self-sufficiency Act is due for a second reading this year. With the first sitting of the House of the Legislative Assembly having just taken place yesterday afternoon, our government is finally back in a position to approve this bill and get started on charting a path to supporting socially just local food systems, reducing food insecurity, and building a selfsufficient province.

FMNS commends all efforts made by the Nova Scotia Government to move in this direction and looks forward to working with all stakeholders towards this exciting opportunity to build local and sustainable food systems in our province.

Sincerely,

Justin Cantafio Executive director Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia