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Food Waste
In Canada, an astonishing 58% of food produced is lost
each year — 35.5 million tonnes of food. 32% of this is
avoidable food waste — food that could have been eaten
before it was thrown away.
The average Canadian household spends $1,766 on
food that is wasted each year.
Waste Reduction Week Canada (2019). Food waste in Canada: The facts.
Not Everyone has Access to Water
The water supplied to many First Nations reserves is
contaminated, hard to access or at risk due to faulty
treatment systems.
Contaminated water directly risks Indigenous peoples’
ways of life — Indigenous women are seen as the keepers
and protectors of water. Contaminated water makes it
hard for Indigenous peoples to engage in ceremonies,
customary fishing and hunting practices and teaching
children and sharing traditional knowledge.
Human Rights Watch (2016). Make it safe: Canada’s obligation to end the First
Nations water crisis.
• Kehewin Cree Nation had a Boil Water Advisory (BWA) in
place from April 2012 until September 2020 — for 8 years,
all 1,000 residents did not have access to clean drinking
water.
• Kapawe’no First Nation had a BWA from September 2010
until April 2018.
No long-term advisories are currently in effect in Alberta.
However, there are several short-term boil water advisories
in place.
Government of Canada (2022). Map of long-term drinking water advisories
on public systems on reserves. Government of Canada (2022). Short-term
drinking water advisories.
Our Water is at Risk
Run-off from glaciers provides a lot of the water that Albertans rely
on. The North Saskatchewan River, for example, is fed by glacier run-
off. Climate change is melting these glaciers and putting our water
sources at risk.
The loss of glacial water sources will cause shortages for Rocky
Mountain House, Lake Louise, Hinton and the Bighorn Dam. This
will affect more than 1 million people out of 4.4 million living in
Alberta — that’s almost a quarter of Alberta’s population.
The Rocky Mountains could lose 90% of glacier volume by the
year 2100.
Rieger, S. (2020). Melting glaciers will bring instability to more than 1 million
Albertans’ water supply. CBC News Calgary.
Food Sustainability
Farming
Big Business in the Farming Sector
Canadian farm
debt has doubled
since 2000, now
standing at
$129 billion.
• Family farmers must buy fertilizers, chemicals, machinery, fuel,
technology, land, and pay rent and interest to large corporations,
which eats at their profits. Agribusiness corporations have
captured 95% of all farm revenues, leaving just 5% for
farmers.
• Farmland is increasingly being purchased by investors — which
shifts ownership and access to land and its resources from
local communities to financial capital and corporate interests,
and pushes up farmland market values.
• Farmers are increasingly working on farmland that they
rent rather than own. This forces farmers to think in the short-
term as their position is precarious and restricts their ability
to engage in long-term projects that are essential to making
farming sustainable.
• Many farmers’ ability to retire rests on them selling their
land — which continues to increase the cost of farm land
and makes it even harder for future generations to afford
land. Aske, K. (2022). Finance in the Fields: Investors, Lenders, Farmers,
and the Future of Farmland in Alberta. Parkland institute.
Food Security in Our Time
Responsibility of Food Waste
Distribution:
5% Production:
6%
Restaurants:
13%
Retail Stores:
12%
Processing:
20%
Consumers:
21%
Manufacturing:
23%
Sources for these statistics are available at ecfoundation.org
LEGACY IN ACTION
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