What is a Food Charter and Why Should Sault Ste Marie want one?

Everybody needs to eat!
And everybody deserves access to healthy foods.

A Food Charter is a document to help guide policy makers, communities and residents with regards to food.  It comes about through public consultations and discussion groups where various stakeholders express their needs, concerns and visions about the future sustainability of our food system.

Sault Ste Marie is not only a beautiful place but a bountiful area with the potential to have a strong local food system.  While there have been many strides in this direction, much more can be done.  Past events and projects have raised awareness of the need to support and foster a vibrant local food system where our producers and processors can make a fair living and everyone has access to sufficient, nutritious and ethically produced food.  Awareness is growing but a number of challenges remain.  Members of our community still go hungry while much of our local agricultural land lies unused or is misused.  Much of the food knowledge and skills of our ancestors have been lost due to a reliance on processed food.  A food charter is an acknowledgement of the achievements to date and a commitment to work together in meeting the challenges facing our food system in the future.