Restoring Connections Between Food and Public Institutions

When we think about what the levers are that could really shift Newfoundland and Labrador’s food system, the food we buy and serve at big public institutions like healthcare facilities, schools, and prisons is top of mind. Right now, the vast majority of that food comes from out of province. This leaves a lot on the table, both in terms of community economic development and well-being. Food First NL is working to change that.

In 2022, we continued our work to restore the connections between food and public institutions. Much of our healthcare and food procurement work focused on participating in the Labrador Anchor Collaborative. Together, we moved forward on a pilot project to bring country foods onto healthcare facility menus. We also continued our work to improve school food systems and supported both on-the-ground and systems-level work.

Labrador Anchor Collaborative

The Labrador Anchor Collaborative is a team made up of representatives from Food First, Labrador-Grenfell Health, the Government of NL, Nunatsiavut, NunatuKavut, and Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation that is working together to leverage the health system to improve access to traditional foods in Labrador. We are part of a national network of seven collaborative teams convened and supported by Nourish Leadership. 

In 2022, the Labrador Anchor Collaborative brought its work into focus. With support from Nourish, we worked through visioning exercises, engaged with partners and health system users, and identified short, medium, and long-term opportunities to shift food systems in Labrador. 

Our collaborative met in person for the second time — no small effort with members coming from all over the province — and spent time on the land with Indigenous partners. We will continue this work through 2023. Members of the collaborative also travelled across Canada to spend time with members of the other collaborative teams. 

Josh Smee, CEO of Food First NL, stands on a sunny ridge taking a selfie with six women, settler and Indigenous, leaning into frame. All smile. Behind, a road cuts through the frame. Beyond it is a clearing full of white tents bordered by conifers.

Joshua Smee, CEO of Food First NL, with members of the Labrador Anchor Collective on a recent visit supported by Nourish.

2022 Project Highlights

  • Finalizing our plans to pilot the introduction of country foods to patient menus in the Goose Bay long-term care facility

  • Supporting LG Health in launching a survey of patients in long-term care to understand their traditional food preferences

  • Hosting engagement sessions at the Pye Centre for Northern Boreal Food Systems and spending time at the Gull Island Gathering 

  • Meeting our cohort colleagues in person in Montreal and Thunder Bay

“Our time in Goose Bay this September had all sorts of magic to it. We hosted a community engagement at the Pye Centre which had just closed their U-Pick for the year, and spent our breaks filling baskets with juicy September strawberries and peas. We also spent a day out at the Gull Island Gathering where we got some serious partridge-plucking lessons and advice on how country foods should show up in healthcare. There’s a special energy to project planning in special places, that’s for sure. ”
— Josh Smee, Food First NL CEO
In an industrial kitchen, masked participants wearing white Nourish Leadership aprons and gloves work at countertops with various ingredients. At right, a woman in orange kneads a bowl of dough.

Participants at the Nourish network gathering in Thunder Bay, ON.

The Shoulders We Stand On

Our involvement in this project wouldn’t be possible without:

  • the many relationships that were built during Food First NL’s Our Food NL project, which had sites in Nunatsiavut.

  • the people and organizations we connected with and learned from through the Health Accord.

  • the leadership and expertise of the Indigenous governments on the team, whose work connects closely to other work they’re doing to strengthen their local food systems. 

Learn More

Healthcare and Food Procurement

Our health system is by far the biggest food buyer in the province. Food First NL has been working to identify pathways to bringing local foods into our healthcare system for a number of years now. Yet we know that there are still many barriers standing in the way of making those pathways work.

In 2022, we connected with national work in this space, brought ideas to the province’s social procurement policy process, and helped convene conversations with health leaders. We look forward to keeping those conversations moving in 2023.

School Food

School food systems are another area of great opportunity. In 2022, we worked with schools at multiple levels:

  • We continued our role as Regional Lead for Farm to Cafeteria Canada and helped to connect three new schools (in St. John’s, St. George’s, and Cap-Saint-Georges) to grants supporting farm-to-school programming.

  • Our Food on the Move team in St. John’s supported staff at Holy Heart of Mary High School at their first Farm to Cafeteria salad bar.

  • We participated in many national conversations about the incoming School Food Policy as a member of the Coalition for Healthy School Food

  • We continued advocating for universal school food programs here in N.L. through policy submissions. 

Inside a packed school cafeteria, high school students line up to the back of the room to access the taco bar. At centre, a male student with glasses scoops yellow bell peppers into his tortilla, surrounded by other students.

We were happy to lend a hand at Holy Heart of Mary High School’s first taco bar, which was funded through a Farm to Cafeteria grant.