Item - 2019.HL4.6

The Board of Health:

1.  Appointed the 14 individuals listed below to the Toronto Food Policy Council for a term of office ending December 31, 2021, and until successors are appointed:

- Mimi Bizjak, Community Member

- Ashna Bowry, Board of Health Appointee

- Leslie Campbell, Community Member

- Councillor Joe Cressy, Toronto City Councillor and Chair, Board of Health

- David Crombie, Special Advisor

- Sarah Elton, Community Member

- Councillor Jennifer McKelvie, Toronto City Councillor

- Bashir Munye, Community Member

- Anita Prasad, Community Member

- Susanna Redekop, Community Member

- Robert Sleeper, Community Member

- Emma Tamlin, Youth Member

- Koa Thornhill, Community Member

- Nathalie Vengal, Community Member

The Board of Health:

1.  Authorized the public release of the names and biographies in Confidential Attachment 1 to the report (March 21, 2019) from the Medical Officer of Health, immediately following its adoption of Recommendation 1.

(April 8, 2019 - 9:43 a.m.)

The following information contained in Confidential Attachment 1 to the report (March 21, 2019) from the Medical Officer of Health is now public:

Biographies for Toronto Food Policy Council Appointees

Mimi Bizjak (Community Member)

Mimi Bizjak is a second-generation farmer, with 14 years of experience in sustainable agriculture. She and her husband operate a diversified tender fruit orchard in Beamsville, Ontario. In 2014, they purchased the family farm established by her parents, Louis and Maria Bizjak in 1974. Mimi is committed to farming using regenerative and sustainable farming practices, selling at local farmer’s markets and building healthy food communities by farming with integrity and respect for the land. Mimi’s mission is to reconnect people to the source of their food and how it is grown. Mimi loves to share her knowledge as a grower and teach people that nutrient dense food starts with nutrient dense soil. Mimi believes that nurturing and improving the health of the soil, leads to healthier people and a healthier planet.

Ashna Bowry (Board of Health Appointee)

Ashna Bowry is an academic Family Physician at St Michael's Hospital, Toronto. She trained at the University of Bristol, UK and completed a residency in Family Medicine at the University of Toronto. Ashna graduated with an MSc degree in International Health and Tropical Medicine from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Ashna's clinical focus is providing primary care to vulnerable patients in inner-city Toronto, mainly pediatric, mental health and chronic disease management cases.

Leslie Campbell (Community Member)

Leslie Campbell is the Senior Coordinator of Research and Policy Analysis with FoodShare Toronto. Before returning to Toronto to work in food justice, Leslie spent six years working in community development, agriculture, and education in Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Latin America. He is driven by a passion for supporting community food access through the development of sustainable, equitable, and efficient food production and distribution systems.

Councillor Joe Cressy (Toronto City Councillor and Chair, Board of Health)

Councillor Joe Cressy is the City Councillor for Ward 10, Spadina-Fort York. A City Councillor since 2014, Joe has been a champion for building a better and more liveable city – for affordable housing, public transit, safe cycling infrastructure, new and improved parkland, expanding community services, childcare, arts and culture, and combatting our growing overdose crisis. Working with local neighbourhoods, Councillor Joe Cressy built new bike lanes across the downtown. He prioritized equity and affordability, securing dozens of new units of affordable housing and standing up for new Torontonians. He fought to improve transit and public space through the King Street Transit Pilot and John Street Cultural Corridor, saved 401 Richmond and created a new arts and cultural tax class, and secured a partnership for a new YMCA on Richmond Street. He championed the creation of the Syrian Refugee Resettlement program. He built new parks and greenspaces in every neighbourhood across the old Ward 20, and fought hard to implement supervised injection services, that are currently saving the lives of Torontonians across the city. In his various appointments, including to the Board of Health and Chair of the Toronto Drug Strategy Implementation Panel, Community Development and Recreation Committee, Toronto Community Housing Corporation Board of Directors, Sub-committee on Climate Change and Adaptation, and previous Toronto Youth Equity Strategy Champion, he is committed to making life fairer, and more liveable for everyone.

David Crombie (Special Advisor)

David Crombie has served as Mayor of Toronto (1972-1978), Member of Parliament (1978-1988), and federal cabinet minister. He has also served as President and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute, Chair of Ontario Place, founding Chair of the Waterfront Regeneration Trust and Chancellor of Ryerson University. He is currently chair of the Greenbelt Council and the Toronto Lands Corporation, and recently chaired the Advisory Panel for the Co-ordinated Land Use Planning Review. He is a Member of the Order of Ontario and an Officer in the Order of Canada. He is a tireless advocate for the City of Toronto.

Sarah Elton (Community Member)

Sarah Elton researches and writes about food, food systems and ecological public health. She is the author of four books about sustainability and food, including Consumed: Food for a Finite Planet. Sarah is a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health where she is investigating urban growing and health. She also teaches food studies at the U of T. Prior to returning to school, Sarah was a well-known CBC journalist and broadcaster.

Councillor Jennifer McKelvie (Toronto City Councillor and Member, Board of Health)

Councillor Jennifer McKelvie is the City Councillor for Ward 25 Scarborough-Rouge Park. She and her family have lived in Scarborough-Rouge Park since 2005. She is a proud graduate of the University of Toronto Scarborough (B.Sc. Environmental Science) and a Professional Geoscientist. Her graduate (Ph.D. 2006) and postgraduate research was supported by numerous provincial, national and international awards, including the prestigious L’Oréal/United Nations Educational Scientific Organization (UNESCO) Women in Science Fellowship. Prior to becoming Councillor for Scarborough-Rouge Park, Jennifer managed industrial-academic partnerships and environmental research in the non-profit sector. Jennifer has a long-record of community service. She recently served as first President of the Scarborough Community Renewal Organization (2016-2018), and as President of the Centennial Community & Recreation Association (2015 to 2017). In this capacity, she worked collaboratively with stakeholders and residents to advocate for investment in Scarborough. Jennifer has also served as a member of the UTSC Council (2015-2018), as a citizen member of the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (2015-2018) and as a member of the Scarborough Women of Philanthropy (2015-2018), a council in support of the Scarborough & Rouge Hospital Foundation. In 2017, Scarborough Rotary Clubs recognized Jennifer for her dedicated community work with the Paul Harris Fellow award. She is also a recipient of the Leading Women, Building Communities Recognition Award by the Province of Ontario (2015) and was a University of Toronto Scarborough Canada 150 Neighbour (2017).

Bashir Munye (Community Member)

Bashir Munye is a passionate chef and food advocate who specializes in global cuisines using locally grown and culturally diverse foods. He is committed to supporting and promoting small scale farmers and artisanal producers, and using Ontario grown world crops. Bashir's professional goal is to be an agent of systemic policy and curriculum change in the current narrative of culinary institutions, so that they are more representative of the dynamic, diverse communities who live in Toronto. He advocates for good, clean food for all through teaching, public speaking, food demonstrations, workshops and other projects.

Anita Prasad (Community Member)

Anita Prasad is a grassroots community development worker and organizer whose journey over the last 15 years has covered community food security, human rights, education, mental health, urban poverty, and community-based environmental justice and conservation both in Canada and India, and from both urban and rural lenses. Currently Anita works with homeless populations across the city of Toronto on issues of food security, working on a systems level with the community food sector. Her work focuses on health and nutrition through improved access to affordable, fresh, healthy, culturally appropriate food for marginalized and low-income communities. Anita brings global experience, perspectives, knowledge and stories to the work of food justice and food policy in Toronto.

Susanna Redekop (Community Member)

Susanna Redekop is the Communications Coordinator at Local Food and Farm Co-ops. Formerly the Communications Coordinator and Floor Coordinator at the West End Food Co-op, Susanna played a key role in opening Toronto’s first multi-stakeholder food co-op and co-managed the store for six years. Susanna holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Toronto. She has spent a decade working in the food security sector in Toronto, including as a founding member of the Toronto Youth Food Policy Council. She also has a long involvement with a variety of co-operative organizations from housing to childcare to food. Susanna was awarded the Parkdale-High Park Community Leadership Award in 2018 for her community contribution to the West End Food Co-op and the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust.

Robert Sleeper (Community Member)

Robert Sleeper is Haudenosaunee from the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. He is the Endaayaang Storycatcher Research Coordinator for the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness at York University. He is a social worker with years of clinical and research experience. He has worked with the Indigenous homeless throughout Ontario, primarily in Toronto and Thunder Bay. He has an undergraduate Honours Degree in social work from Lakehead University and an MSW in-progress. His current work focuses on Indigenous health and youth homelessness in the context of Canadian Indigenous reconciliation, with expertise in partnership-building, ethics, and healing. His research interests and experiences lie in Participatory Action Research, Indigenous education, food security, education and youth identity and wellness.

Emma Tamlin (Youth Member)

Emma Tamlin is Co-Chair of the Toronto Youth Food Policy Council, representing the voices of diverse youth on food policy and advocacy initiatives across Toronto. Emma graduated from the University of Waterloo in 2016 with a Bachelor of Environmental Studies. She is currently the Logistics Coordinator at Two Roads Logistics. With a passion for re-naturing cities and an enthusiasm for food because of its connection to human health and environmental sustainability, she hopes to bring more fresh food and nature to cities through urban agriculture and rooftop gardens. In her current position, she hopes to learn how to increase transparency and make more sustainable decisions along the supply chain.

Koa Thornhill (Community Member)

Koa Thornhill is currently the Program Coordinator for Malvern’s Action for Neighbourhood Change initiative and manages the CEED garden project (Morningside Heights Urban Farm) set to launch in Spring 2019. Koa has worked in communities across Scarborough over the past 12 years addressing socioeconomic barriers and social inequities faced by residents in disadvantaged communities. More recently, she has focused her work around food security issues in Malvern and inner suburban areas. Koa is a University of Toronto graduate with a background in community development, mental health, food justice, program development and teaching.

Nathalie Vengal (Community Member)

Nathalie Vengal is a youth, worker and food security advocate. Nathalie has an undergraduate degree in Human Rights and Equity Studies from York University, and now works as a National Representative for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW Canada). During her time in university, she was awarded the Equity and Diversity INI award, and founded the "Youth feeding Youth" food bank agency at the Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples. This agency focuses on serving out-of-status youth and families in the City of Toronto. Nathalie also volunteers as a Board member for the North York Harvest Food Bank and is fluent in both English and Spanish.

The Toronto Food Policy Council (TFPC) was created as a Subcommittee of the Board of Health (BOH) in 1991 to keep Toronto Public Health (TPH) and the BOH abreast of emerging policy issues, trends, challenges, and possibilities related to fostering an equitable, sustainable food system.

This report provides an update on the membership for, and recommends appointments to, the TFPC.