This event, which starts Thanksgiving weekend and extends to World Food Day, is about celebrating all things organic. We have a lot to celebrate – a vibrant alternative food system, a growing number of ecologically minded consumers and growers and new national Organic Products Regulations which we hope will unite
Canadians behind a single national organic logo.

RETAIL DISPLAY CONTEST
As part of our commitment to Organic Week, Organic Council of Ontario is  sponsoring an Ontario Retail Display Contest!
Eligible Participants: Retailers, Farm Stores and Farmers Markets with a focus on certified organic products.

Objective: Challenge our retail sector to be creative while promoting the new Canada Organic logo and certified organic products.
HOW TO ENTER: Submit a letter of intent with your business name, address and contact number to OCO by September 30th, and follow up with a photo of your display by October 10th. Your name will be submitted into a draw for ONE YEAR FREE OCO RETAIL MEMBERSHIP! That’s a cash value of $250 plus HST.
 

SUGGESTIONS: Team up with your local organic supplier to promote local AND Organic foods! Create a “find the Canada Organic Logo” treasure hunt within your store! Post materials on the benefits of organics.

DOWNLOAD THE INFORMATION
retail display contest
talking points o week
 

For more information please contact:
Melissa Miller
email: melissa.miller@organiccouncil.ca
subject: O Week Contest
phone: 519.827.1221

The Edible City: Where is Food on the Election Agenda?
Thursday, July 15, 2010
7:45 – 10:00 a.m.
Metro Hall
55 John Street
Toronto, ON

This latest session from the Election Issues Series is presented by The Canadian Urban Institute and the Cities Centre, University of Toronto.

How should we think about food?  According to new Metcalf Foundation reports edited by Philippa Campsie, we need to think and act very differently about how we grow, process, distribute and consume our food. Improved access to healthy and abundant locally-produced food is a worthy goal shared by the City of Toronto’s Board of Health, which just adopted “Cultivating Food Connections: Toward a Healthy and Sustainable Food System for Toronto” – 29 initiatives that promise to create a culture of “food systems thinking” within the municipal
bureaucracy, linked to the many players who comprise the urban food supply chain.  Dr McKeown championed this process.

So with all this positive thinking, why should food be seen as an issue in the lead-up to Ontario’s municipal elections in October? One part of the answer can be found in a report to be issued by the Martin
Prosperity Institute (MPI). Kevin Stolarick will address the plight of low-income Toronto residents living in areas devoid of quality food stores known as “food deserts.” The MPI report echoes findings raised earlier in this election series by Professor David Hulchanski (Toronto Divided? Polarizing Trends that Could Split the City Apart).

Through its trend-setting Toronto Food Policy Council (TFPC), Toronto’s efforts to promote food security have won respect internationally.   Over a 20 year period, using the unique convening powers of food, the TFPC has brought together a diverse range of stakeholders from across Toronto, the Greater Golden Horseshoe, Canada
and beyond.  The TFPC has supported initiatives to bolster food security in places such as Scadding Court. Alina Chatterjee will explain their strategy of developing community gardens and other innovations.

The TFPC’s recently retired coordinator, Wayne Roberts, has also been vocal about the opportunity to realign the vested interests engaged within the food system. He will discuss moving from the “old” food system to the “new” – blending the best of both in a series of innovative new partnerships. Join us at Metro Hall on the 15th to add
your thoughts on how and why food fits in the election agenda.

Speakers:

• Dr. David McKeown, Medical Officer of Health, City of Toronto
• Philippa Campsie, Principal, Hammersmith Communications and editor of recent reports on food systems issued by the Metcalf Foundation
• Kevin Stolarick, PhD., Director of Research, Martin Prosperity Institute
• Alina Chatterjee, Director of Re-Development &Special Projects,
• Scadding Court (tbc)
• Wayne Roberts, former coordinator of the Toronto Food Policy Council

Registration Rates: Members, $32; Non-Members, $40
To register for this event, please visit our website here.

This email is sent from:
555 Richmond St. W., Suite 402
PO Box 612
Toronto, ON M5V 3B1

Series Sponsor:

By using the Young Reporters handbooks, chalk full of tips from National Post environment writer Vanessa Farquharson and photographer Jennifer Howard, students can sign up for the program, strengthen their skills, and have the chance to win great prizes, such as:

• A personalized congratulatory letter from prized Canadian author Graeme Gibson,
• One of three signed copy of the beautiful The Bedside Companion to Birds by Graeme Gibson,
• A great prize from Toronto health-food store The Big Carrot
• The chance to have their submission printed in the international Young Reporters publication,
• The chance to have their article printed in the
  teen magazine What If?

But more than that, this program is an opportunity to engage our next generation of writers, photographers, activists, voters and decision makers.
The deadline for the contest is April 30, 2010.

GUELPH, ON, April 1 /CNW/ – The Ontario Agriculture Sustainability Coalition (OASC) to host a Town Hall meeting of Ontario’s agricultural leaders and as many as 200 local farmers.

WHAT: Sustain our Farms Forum – A Town Hall meeting for farmers and agricultural leaders.
WHEN: Tuesday, April 6, 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
WHERE: Stratford Rotary Complex, Community Hall, 353 McCarthy Road, Stratford,
Ontario
WHY: Ontario’s local food supply is in jeopardy, along with thousands of families, farms and processing jobs. Urgent government action is needed to ensure that Ontario agriculture is sustainable.
WHO: MP Gary Schellenberger, MPP John Wilkinson, MPP Ernie Hardeman, Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Critic, Invited: Mayor Dan Mathieson, City of Stratford, Chris White, Chair of the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) and Mayor of the Township of Guelph/Eramosa

The OASC’s members include the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association, the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association, Ontario Grains & Oilseeds, Ontario Pork, the Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency and Ontario Veal, together with the Christian Farmers’ Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
For further information: OFA President, Bette Jean Crews: (613) 921-0597; Lesley Robinson, Redbrick Communications: (705) 241-3287, robinson@redbrick.ca

Just 4 more days to go!

For further information or to RSVP, please contact Azma Ousmand, our event coordinator at aousmand@theicarusfoundation.com or visit the Icarus Foundation website: www.theicarusfoundation.com.

ADDRESSING THE BOTTOM LINE – Industry Panel on Hospitality, Tourism & Climate Change

Date & Time: Monday, April 5th, 2010 from 1:00pm to 5:00pm
Where: Ted Rogers School of Management,
Ryerson University, Room 1-150, 55 Dundas St. West

Hosted by The Icarus Foundation in partnership with Ryerson’s Hospitality and Tourism Management Course Union (HTMCU), Sustainable Tourism Society (STS), and George Brown College, the symposium is an opportunity for you to join university and college students and industry professionals as they debate one of the most pressing issues that the tourism industry currently faces.

Tourism and climate change research will be presented by top student groups from Ryerson University and George Brown College. This will be followed by a panel discussion by key industry representatives that will explore the impact, mitigation and adaptation strategies that climate change poses for their businesses. The panel is to encourage students and industry to come together and share their impressions on the threat that climate change poses on tourism as an economic driver, as well as their suggestions for mitigation and adaptation strategies. Led by key industry
leaders, the panel will be in a Q&A format.

The panel will be comprised of the following key industry professionals:

Jason Steinberg – Founder & President of Carbon Foresight
Joshna Maharaj – Renowned Chef & Activist
Tracy Ford – Public Relations Manager, Delta Chelsea Hotel
Dr. James Gray Donald – Associate Vice President, Sustainability Leader at Sears Canada

Program Itinerary:
1:00pm – Registration
1:30pm – Welcome & Introductions
1:45pm – Carbon Offsetting Status of N.A. Tourism Industry. Research presented by Ryerson University students
2:10pm – Customer Preference of Green Initiatives in Toronto Hotels.
Research presented by George Brown College students
2:30pm – Coffee break
3:00pm – Industry panel followed by Q&A
4:00pm – Networking session
Tickets: Students $10, Industry $30