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Our Voice in Action |
News from OPHA Food Security Workgroup
OPHA's Food Security Workgroup sent the following letter to the letter to the Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance of Canada.
Re: CDPAC Policy Position Food Security in Canada – A Leadership Opportunity Towards Health Promotion and Reduction in Chronic Disease
On behalf of the Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA), I am writing to express our appreciation for your Policy Position of October 2007 addressing the issues of Food Security in Canada.
At our Annual General Meeting on November 20, 2007, the OPHA membership passed the attached resolution, Access to a Nutritious Diet for All. This resolution calls for the Province of Ontario to develop a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy to meet all Ontarians' basic requirements for health and well-being. Your policy position in the previous month was timely, formally acknowledging the increased susceptibility to chronic diseases among food-insecure individuals and households in Canada. Your recommendations for action through long-term strategies were very much in alignment with our Association's call and our long-term projects (including the Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance, one of your member organizations) which provide support to public and community health practitioners across Ontario.
Within OPHA, we established a Food Security Workgroup in 1993, which advocates and offers support for multi-sectoral and multi-jurisdictional initiatives to achieve food security in Ontario. Prior to our call for poverty reduction in the November 2007 resolution, we addressed concerns for the health of our food system (e.g. Climate Change and Human Health in 2004; A Systemic Approach to Community Food Security: A Role for Public Health in 2002).
On behalf of OPHA, I thank you again for your work and invite you to contact us as you foresee opportunities for collaboration or support in the future. For more information about our food security resolutions and ongoing work, please contact Tracy Woloshyn, Chair of the OPHA Food Security Workgroup.
signed Carol Timmings, President, OPHA
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