The City is committed to the right to food for Toronto residents and is updating the Food Charter, including how it will be accountable for the commitments it makes. The Toronto Food Charter was originally launched in 2001.

Food Charters outline a community’s shared vision, values, principles, and commitments for an ideal food system. They are developed through a collaborative, participatory process that involves community members, local government, businesses, farmers, non-profit organizations, and researchers. They serve as educational tools to raise awareness about food systems and help shape policies and programs to address residents’ needs while promoting the right to food for everyone.

The City is working with the residents and communities most impacted by food insecurity.

In order to update the Food Charter to be reflective of our city, all residents of Toronto are encouraged to participate in a series of engagement opportunities, especially people who face the most challenges accessing safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food.

The City wants to hear from residents who:

  • are low income
  • are racialized, especially Black people
  • are Indigenous
  • receive social assistance, such as Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Program, as their main source of income
  • are living with a disability
  • rent, as opposed to own, their home
  • live in households led by lone parents, especially female lone parents
  • are apart of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community
  • are new to Canada

Community Organization Engagement Sessions

Toronto’s community and grassroots agencies provide critical frontline services to Toronto residents. Agency staff are deeply connected to their neighbourhoods. They understand the issues affecting their communities and what is needed to address them. The City is hosting targeted workshops to understand these valuable insights. Feedback from these sessions will be compiled as part of a report to Council in 2025.

Public Survey

Toronto’s Food Charter is a whole-of-city resource intended to reflect the diversity of our great city. It should also capture the full range of food systems, from growing to disposing. This online survey will be open to all who live, learn, work and play in Toronto.

Community Conversations

The best way to ensure the Food Charter reflects the needs of residents is to hear from Torontonians directly. Building upon the online survey, community conversations will allow residents to give more detailed feedback. We have partnered with community agencies who will coordinate and lead small group conversations across the city.

Details about conversations happening in your neighbourhood will be made available in December.

Food Charter Review Timeline

Incomplete: Community Organization Engagement
Fall 2024 – Upcoming

Hosting targeted workshops with community and grassroots agencies to gather insights.

Incomplete: Online Survey
Winter 2024 to Spring 2025 – Upcoming

Collecting feedback about Toronto’s Food Charter. Open to all who live, learn, work and play in Toronto.

Incomplete: Resident Engagement
Winter 2025 to Spring 2025 – Upcoming

Community conversations in partnership with community agencies who will coordinate and lead small group conversations across the city.

Incomplete: Key Informant Interviews
Spring 2025 – Upcoming

In depth discussions with select individuals and small groups expanding on feedback received from the survey and engagement sessions.

Incomplete: Validation Survey
Spring 2025 – Upcoming

A short survey open to people who participated in previous engagement activities to provide an opportunity to confirm if we are on the right track.

Incomplete: What We Heard Report
Summer 2025 – Upcoming

A report summarizing the feedback received from all the engagement activities.

Incomplete: Report to Toronto City Council
To be determined – Upcoming

Staff present the refreshed Food Charter to Toronto City Council.

Access to food is a human right. It is the right to access safe, affordable, and nutritious food from their own cultures without having to accept lesser quality, convenience, or service.

Canada signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1976 which recognizes the “fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger”.

Canadian governments are obligated to take measures to respect, protect and fulfill the right to adequate food. This includes the City of Toronto.

Food insecurity and hunger are violations of human rights.

Toronto’s Food Charter (2001)

The Right to Food –by Canada Without Poverty

Right to Food – FoodShare Toronto campaign

The City of Toronto is not responsible for the content of the external websites listed on this page. The City of Toronto does not endorse, approve, or guarantee the accuracy of the information available on these websites.

Subscribe to the Mailing List

Updates about Toronto’s Food Charter will be shared through the Poverty Reduction Strategy e-newsletter.  Stay informed about what the City of Toronto and its partners are doing to reduce poverty in the city. Regular updates sent monthly.

 

Click to: Unsubscribe

The personal information on this form is collected under the authority of the City of Toronto Act, 2006. The information is used to allow the City to send you an email to confirm your wish to subscribe to a City of Toronto e-notice. Questions about this collection may be directed to the ListServ Administrator, Strategic Communications Division, City of Toronto, Toronto City Hall, 7th floor, West Tower, Toronto M5H 2N2. Email: webfeedback@toronto.ca. By subscribing to one of the City of Toronto’s e-updates you are providing express consent, as defined by the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), to receive email updates from the City of Toronto.