The Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council

A central piece of the Food Policy for Canada is the creation of a Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council. Recognizing that greater collaboration on priority issues is essential to making meaningful progress on some of the more complex and systemic food issues, the Advisory Council will bring together the expertise and diversity within the food system to address both the challenges of today and the future.

The Council will report to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. The Council will advise on new and emerging issues, enable on-going dialogue on food-related challenges and opportunities, share information and best practices, and assess gaps in policies and data. The Council will also have the opportunity to advise on the implementation of the four Food Policy action areas: Help Canadian communities access healthy food; Make Canadian food the top choice at home and abroad; Support food security in Northern and Indigenous communities; and, Reduce food waste.

The Council will include a diversity of members from the agriculture and food industry, health professionals, academia, non-profit organizations, and Indigenous organizations. Consideration in the assessment of applications will be given to ensure representation on the Council includes youth, women, and visible minorities, among others.

The anticipated term for appointments to the Advisory Council is two to three years.

Support for travel and accommodation costs will be provided when financial assistance is essential for an appointed member’s participation, and will be in accordance with relevant Government of Canada policies including the Treasury Board Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures.

Application process

Applications to the Council were accepted between August 9, 2019 and September 20, 2019.

Selection Criteria

Candidates must be residents of Canada, and demonstrate:

• significant experience in applying a food systems approach to addressing food-related opportunities and challenges
• ability and demonstrated success in applying a strategic, forward looking, and solutions-based approach to addressing opportunities and challenges across the food system
• experience in mobilizing and coordinating actions across multiple stakeholders and levels of government to achieve positive results across social, health, environmental, and/or economic food-related outcomes
• credibility among the agriculture and food industry, health professionals, civil society, Indigenous organizations/ communities and/or academia

Preference will be given to candidates with applications that can demonstrate broad support for their participation on the Advisory Council.

Consideration to ensure diverse representation on the Council will be given in the assessment of applications.