Food & Agriculture
Promoting Healthy Communities
The health of a community involves more than the health care system. It is the product of environmental, social and economic policies as well as the actions of community groups, businesses and individual citizens. Health is a basic resource for everyday living; it is part of the quality of our lives. It is a positive concept influenced by our circumstances, beliefs, our culture, and our social, economic and physical environments.
Background
In 2005, the Roundtable on the Environment established a short term subcommittee to develop a discussion paper on a Healthy Communities concept. A report entitled A Background Report on a Healthy Communities Approach and Framework for the CRD Roundtable on the Environment (PDF 
) was completed in September 2005, and a Taskforce on Healthy Communities was subsequently formed to further explore a Healthy Communities decision making framework using food security as a case study. In March of 2006 and in partnership with the Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiative Roundtable (CR-FAIR), the Taskforce hosted two working sessions called "Putting Food and Food Policy on the Table."
In June 2006, the Roundtable on the Environment established a Healthy Communities subcommittee (HCSC) to investigate the pros and cons of adopting a Healthy Communities approach to decision making. Since the concept of Healthy Communities is very broad it required that the Healthy Communities Subcommittee work closely with a spectrum of interests from other agencies, businesses and the community and to initially focus on a topic that could yield tangible results both in terms of specific actions as well as to help flesh out the broader healthy communities framework.
The first deliverable of the Healthy Communities Subcommittee was a collaborative report entitled Final Report, Phase 1: Putting Food and Food Policy on the Table (PDF ) prepared in partnership with CR-FAIR. In this report you will find the background on Putting Food and Food Policy on the Table forums, the findings from the forums, recommendations for actions and next steps and a list of the partners involved.
In 2008, the Healthy Communities subcommittee was re-named the Food & Agriculture subcommittee to reflect its focus.
The Food & Agriculture subcommittee, CR-FAIR and their partners have now completed the Food and Health Action Plan (PDF ) for the Capital Region.
For more current information on the status of this project and related food security initiatives please visit the e-newsletter Making Food Matter.
© Image courtesy of Evan Leeson