CCEDA continues its series of Cortes Conversation Cafés on Thursday December 7th from 4 to 6 pm, at Gorge Hall in Whaletown. The topic of discussion will be “Enhancing Food Security,” and childcare will be provided on-site.
How can we support a vibrant local food system while allowing local growers and food processors to earn sufficient livelihoods?”
Currents interviewed organiser Kate Maddigan on November 28th to find out a bit more about the Café series and this particular event.
CC: Kate, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. Can you tell us a bit about these Conversation Cafés? what’s the idea here?
KM: So, the point of the Conversation Cafés — that are meant to be monthly — was to update the Local Economic Action Plan that was completed back in 2018. That’s also known as the LEAP Report […] And we really just wanted to update that, because there’s been a few changes on the island
And that’s kind of what we’re trying to address in these monthly conversations. [A Café] is a two hour conversation, on whatever topic it is that we are trying to update from the LEAP. So, so far, we’ve done a few Cafés. The very first one, in September, was on small business. You know, how can we support small businesses on Cortes island? The second one was on tourism — creating a plan for tourism as a force for good on Cortes Island; and then the third Conversation Café, that one was on education. And that was about, you know, how can we support a more vibrant education system on Cortes? That was the last one, and now we’re moving into December, and now we’re going to look at Food Security.
CC: So this one on December 7th is about food security. That’s a very big topic, a very broad, far-reaching topic. How are you going to frame it for a two-hour discussion?
KM: The question that we’ve posed for this particular topic was “How can we support a vibrant local food system while allowing local growers and food processors to earn sufficient livelihoods?”
That’s the question that we posed. I have invited you know, the food bank. I’ve invited people from the various farms — Linnaea, Reef Point, Bluejay… I hope that we can bring those folks in and, and just see what they’re thinking — and also just the rest of us who are reliant on these systems. And [find out] people’s comfort levels are around where the food system is on Cortes right now
CC: So would you say this event is primarily for people involved in the food system on the island, like growers, producers, farmers’ market vendors, grocery retailers? or is it for the general public?
KM: All of these Conversation Cafés are open to anyone who wants to participate. You know, this is a community effort and everybody’s voice matters. Typically we don’t have, you know, crowds of people show up. We always have just the right amount of people that show up and, you know, whoever shows up are the right people. That’s what I always say!
We’re offering childcare that’s going to be provided on site. And if anyone needs help getting to the event, please let me know. You know, my email address is kate@cceda.ca and I’d be happy to help because I really hope that people feel welcome. Everybody is welcome! So yeah, I really hope people come on out to the event.
The Conversation Café on the topic of Food Security will be held from 4 to 6 pm at Gorge Hall in Whaletown, on Thursday December 7th. More detailed information about the event structure and use of information gathered at the event, can be found in the podcast version of this article.
[feature image and podcast image: AI generated, prompt by author. ]