Canada's Largest Urban Farm Feeds the Needy: Grow Calgary

Canada's Largest Urban Farm Feeds the Needy: Grow Calgary

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r6sOiQ1W20A

In 2013, nearly 130 000 Calgarians turned to the Calgary Interfath Food Bank (CIFB) for help. 42% of emergency hamper recipients are children.

Grow Calgary is a volunteer led, food access initiative that aims to provide the CIFB with fresh, organic, locally grown produce to supplement Emergency Food Hampers. Now in our 2nd season, Grow Calgary's 1300+ volunteers have turned an 11 acre parcel of land on the Transportation & Utility Corridor (Ring Road), just off the TransCanada Highway west of Canada Olympic Park, into Canada’s largest urban  farm and food access program.

Grow Calgary subscribes to repurposing, upcycling and innovative reuse of construction/industrial material to build our small scale food production infrastructure.

Grow Calgary is part of the compassionate local food system of Calgary. We do not sell any of our 14 varieties of produce and all the food we grow goes exclusively and directly to the CIFB.

Grow Calgary aligns with numerous City of Calgary and Province of Alberta policies and fundamentally believes every Calgarian, Albertan & Canadian has a right to quality, nutritious food.
Grow Calgary helps those in need provide superior dense nourishment for their families.

Grow Food, Grow People, Grow Calgary.
Twitter/Instagram @growcalgary
Facebook: Grow Calgary
farm@growcalgary.ca 403.383.3420

PPCLI 100 RIPE: Regimental Independent Patricia Events

PPCLI 100 Regimental Independent Patricia Events (RIPE) are for all Patricia's and all Canadians to participate in to celebrate our 100th Regimental Birthday!

PPCLI 100 Ride to Edmonton

The Most Significant Obstacles to a Robust Local Food System in Calgary

#yyc #yyccc #food #urbanag #LFS #LocalFoodSystem #FoodAccess

I remember a meeting with Chima Nkemdirim @chimaincalgary (Mayor Nenshi's @Nenshi Chief of Staff) in late 2010. He asked me what my business model was for growing food & #Urbanag. I asked what his & the city's business model was for growing grass (Kentucky Blue Grass). 

There are 10's of 1000's of local food production economic development opportunities (all sustainable, healthy, nutritious, align with policy: Triple Bottomline, Sustainability 2020, Onward, imagineCALGARY, Food Assessment Action Plan, et al). There are very few for growing grass other than golf/turf management (Almost none that are sustainable, as most require, or are addicted to, massive doses of chemical fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides & significant maintenance resources to the tune of 1,000,000 person hours/annually in #YYC).

The Calgary Food Committee has been around for over 2 years & has, like so many #YYCCC committees, devolved into a back slapping networking opportunity. There is literally nothing that has changed in the #YYC #UrbanAg Local Food System landscape in these 2 years. There is still no #UrbanAg Zoning. There are no new #UrbanAg programs. No comprehensive, ranking, weighted, land inventory to access for aspiring urban farmers (We do however have some 111,000 acres of unused, empty land in #YYC). We continue to exist in a simple proteins only local food environment. Of course, all of this has been suggested to individuals at the highest municipal level, in council committees & to individual elected and non elected officials throughout municipal government since 2008.

The Role of an Ombudsman in Strengthening Municipal Democracy

 

The Role of an Ombudsman in Strengthening Municipal Democracy

 

The institution of the ombudsman, first created in Sweden more than 200 years ago, is designed to provide protection for the individual where there is a substantial imbalance of power.
Initially, this imbalance was between the citizen and the state but as the institution has developed, it has embraced other sectors.  Ombudsmen now exist, not just in the public sector, but also covering the private and independent sectors.
As well as considering complaints about public services, Ombudsman Association member schemes consider disputes between consumers and companies or between universities and students, for example.
However, in the private sector, coverage is fragmented and sparse with, in a very few cases, some duplication (where the ‘industry member’ can choose which scheme to belong to). None of this is ideal, but will require legislation to improve the situation as few sectors now readily establish schemes voluntarily.

What ombudsmen do

• Ombudsmen offer their services free of charge, and are thus accessible to individuals who could not afford to pursue their complaints through the courts.
• They are committed to achieving redress for the individual, but also, where they identify systemic failings, to seek changes in the work of the bodies in their jurisdiction, both individually and collectively.
• They can generally undertake a single investigation into multiple complaints about the same topic, thus avoiding duplication and excessive cost.
• They are neutral arbiters and not advocates nor “consumer champions”.
• They normally ask the body concerned and the complainant to try to resolve complaints before commencing an investigation.
• They usually seek to resolve disputes without resort to formal investigations where this is possible and desirable.
• Where they identify injustice, they seek to put this right.

In the private sector, ombudsmen usually have the power to make recommendations which are binding on the bodies in their jurisdiction unless successfully challenged through the courts.  The cost of their services is normally met by a charge to the bodies in their jurisdiction.  Most are established by, or as a result of, statute, and the relevant industry or sector is obliged to participate in the scheme.

6 Years & Counting, When Will Calgary Have an Ombudsman?

An Ombudsman for Calgary. It's an imagineCalgary Target for 2008, but yet, 6 years later, Calgarians are still waiting for Calgary City Council to initiate this official policy. Montreal & Toronto have civic Ombudsmen. 

Alberta provincial government dollars are available as defined in the MSI: "Eligible operating projects include capacity building activities that improve efficiency or effectiveness..." 

Let's look a little closer at how an Ombudsman can strengthen our municipal democracy:

The Role of an Ombudsman
The institution of the ombudsman, first created in Sweden more than 200 years ago, is designed to provide protection for the individual where there is a substantial imbalance of power.
Initially, this imbalance was between the citizen and the state but as the institution has developed, it has embraced other sectors.  Ombudsmen now exist, not just in the public sector, but also covering the private and independent sectors.
As well as considering complaints about public services, Ombudsman Association member schemes consider disputes between consumers and companies or between universities and students, for example.
However, in the private sector, coverage is fragmented and sparse with, in a very few cases, some duplication (where the ‘industry member’ can choose which scheme to belong to). None of this is ideal, but will require legislation to improve the situation as few sectors now readily establish schemes voluntarily.

What Ombudsmen Do

• Ombudsmen offer their services free of charge, and are thus accessible to individuals who could not afford to pursue their complaints through the courts.
• They are committed to achieving redress for the individual, but also, where they identify systemic failings, to seek changes in the work of the bodies in their jurisdiction, both individually and collectively.
• They can generally undertake a single investigation into multiple complaints about the same topic, thus avoiding duplication and excessive cost.
• They are neutral arbiters and not advocates nor “consumer champions”.
• They normally ask the body concerned and the complainant to try to resolve complaints before commencing an investigation.
• They usually seek to resolve disputes without resort to formal investigations where this is possible and desirable.
• Where they identify injustice, they seek to put this right.

In the private sector, ombudsmen usually have the power to make recommendations which are binding on the bodies in their jurisdiction unless successfully challenged through the courts.  The cost of their services is normally met by a charge to the bodies in their jurisdiction.  Most are established by, or as a result of, statute, and the relevant industry or sector is obliged to participate in the scheme.

For more info on an Ombudsman, please consider following the City Ombudsman Project on facebook or the Twitter account: @OmbudsmanYYC

With thanks to the Ombudsman Association.

Paul Hughes, 2014
@paulyhughes

Calgary's Dichotomy in Back to Back Tweets