Jenny van Enckevort
VFR: Jenny, tell us about yourself and the work that you do to support just and sustainable food systems in Vancouver.
Jenny van Enckevort: As a queer woman living with disabilities, I’m passionate about collaborating to build community in ways that centre the needs and voices of people from many unique backgrounds. I live and work on the rightful lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples—in a place colonially known as Vancouver. I became involved in community food security eight years ago, when my friend Joey Liu asked me to help her lead a project called The Food Connection. For five years, we offered monthly food workshops and potluck dinners at Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House. Our work was funded by Neighbourhood Small Grants, which is how I first connected with the power of collaborative community-building and grassroots advocacy.
I’m also a co-founder of the Food Collaborative Garden where we've turned private land into a common space for our neighbours. Many of us share in the responsibilities and rewards of growing food and community. We follow permaculture principles to tend the garden as a whole ecosystem within the surrounding landscape of urban ecosystems, and beyond. Thanks to the support of Indigenous community leaders, including Lori Snyder, Jolene Andrew and Cease Wyss, we also grow foods, teas and medicines native to this part of the world. Practicing ceremony and sharing plant wisdom in our garden are some of my greatest joys in life.
Professionally, I focus on communications and storytelling for many types of Earth care and social impact projects. I’m especially passionate about food justice work that centers the needs and voices of the people and communities with the greatest needs.
VFR: Tell us about the recent project, Toward Dignified Food Banking in Vancouver, that you have been involved with. What was the impetus for this project?
JvE: There’s a lot we take for granted when we have the food we need, and it’s really eye-opening to learn about the many challenges people face when they need help putting food on the table, or when they’re offering the programs meant to support our neighbours. This is a project that shares the stories of people waiting in line for food or receiving it at home, and those working on the front lines to provide it. Early this year, my colleague Sarah Kim asked me to come onboard to help complete this project by hearing from groups of food justice advocates from around Vancouver, interviewing community members who have received food assistance, and co-authoring a report, which you can read online:
Community-Centered Food Support and Care for All: Transforming Dignified Food Access in Vancouver
The project started when a group of local organizations decided to collaborate on creating a shared vision for developing a new approach to food-banking in Vancouver… back in 2019. The Greater Vancouver Food Bank, which we hear about quite a lot in mainstream media, was relocating to Burnaby and there were plans underway to shift the way wraparound services were offered in many neighbourhoods. This group stepped in to address the gaps they were anticipating.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, these same organizations shifted their focus to providing emergency food support in their communities—in response to increased demand and the abrupt closure of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank hubs on-site at many places throughout the city. Once the food crisis had eased enough for this project to continue, we worked to hear and share the voices of some people with first-hand experiences navigating these systems, as recipients and providers. There is so much wisdom in people’s unique and shared experiences, and it’s important for us as collaborators to share these stories and our recommendations with valued community partners like Vancouver Food Runners.
VFR: Many people don't know that food is a basic right in Canada. Can you explain how this right is outlined in United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and how it informs the City of Vancouver's Food Charter?
JvE: The United Nations named the right to “adequate food” as part of “the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living” in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights—which Canada signed forty-five years ago, in 1976. You could go down a rabbit hole reading about it, but I like this helpful resource from Food Secure Canada.
Vancouver’s Food Charter, created in 2007, similarly outlines a vision that includes the commitment to “a just and sustainable food system that recognizes access to safe, sufficient, culturally appropriate and nutritious food as a basic human right for all Vancouver residents.” Now, fourteen years later, food justice advocates in Vancouver are still working toward—and lobbying for—legislation, policies, practices and funding to deliver on this commitment.
Many of us believe that ensuring the right to food for everyone requires leadership by Indigenous nations and communities with the greatest unmet needs, along with cooperation from all levels of colonial government (municipal, provincial and federal), community organizations and funders. Every place is unique, yet it’s common for Indigenous people, Black communities, people of colour, newcomers to Canada, those with disabilities, and LGBT2QIA+ folks to be among those disproportionately affected by poverty and food insecurity.
Community-based organizations and community members have really important insights to share about creating cultures of food security where people can thrive together, instead of investing in systems that worsen food insecurity and treat people without dignity. We have a long way to go, yet the collaboration and dedication I see every day gives me hope!
VFR: What are some of the challenges community members face accessing food in Vancouver, particularly in the context of COVID-19? How does this lack of dignified access impact them on a personal level?
JvE: We spoke to people who had to travel farther on public transit during COVID, bringing their children along to pick up food for their families. This has been really challenging to coordinate for single parents especially, and means greater health risks compared to when people could pick up food closer to home.
Some seniors and folks with disabilities have struggled with waiting in long lineups for food, and find it difficult to carry food home with them. Many people are discouraged when there is a lack of choice, and when they receive foods that are unhealthy for them.
One community member spoke about how difficult it was to lose her independence, and how people can feel like second-class citizens when they receive food that is already spoiled… and face the disappointment of having to dispose of it when they’ve put in the effort to carry it home, and rightfully expecting the food to be edible.
There are also ways that organizations have been providing choices for fresh, healthy and familiar foods, delivered to people’s homes, and our report focuses on recommendations based on successes like these, along with the challenges.
VFR: During the project, four themes emerged from food justice professionals with respect to providing dignified food access. Please share about these four themes.
JvE: The insights shared by community members and food justice advocates led us to focus on these strengths…
Personal Agency: We see that folks feel the most engaged when programs include participants in designing how they’re run, removing barriers to access, and supporting people to contribute to their communities.
Whole Selves: We see people thriving when they can express themselves and their needs freely and without fear. Sometimes part of this self-expression means opting out of programs that don’t treat participants as whole people.
Community: We see the benefits of an approach that is more relational, and less transactional, with a focus on building social support and care, through activities like socializing, recipe-sharing and storytelling.
Food: We see that participants are happiest with food that is fresh, healthy, comforting and familiar.
VFR: In the project report, key recommendations from both community members and food justice professionals are outlined. What are some of the main recommendations?
JvE: These are some highlights from the recommendations we’ve shared with the City of Vancouver. We’re now sharing our findings more widely, and we invite you to share the report, and our insights as well!
Multi-Year Core Funding with flexibility on how to spend funds: Moving away from the charity-industrial complex could involve cultivating and strengthening relationships between funders and applicants, with the ability to pivot funding when changes arise and responsiveness is needed.
Agency for Community Members: When community members are given ownership of programs and services, and chances to give feedback in equitable ways, people feel a greater sense of connection and agency.
Cultural Safety Training: Our team would like to see service providers receive training on how to address language barriers, understand the importance of culturally familiar foods, and pay attention to the services people want to see offered in their communities.
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