Sunday July 20, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Executive Lead, Urban Food Resilience Initiatives Society
On July 17, 2025 the Premier of British Columbia issued new mandate letters to his cabinet, including to the Minister of Agriculture of Food
Premier David Eby has kept Lana Popham in the role of Minister of Agriculture and Food but updated and fleshed out her portfolio to primary recognize deepening economic challenges from influences beyond local and provincial.
The focus is still on food production, including supporting BC farmers. Popham has the added new responsibilities of manaing
Where consumers come in is seen through a lens of “make life better for BC families by supporting BC Farmers and food producers”.
UFRIS perspective on two mandate letters:
In the Premier’s mandate letter to Lana Popham as Minister of Agriculture and Food there is no mention of community gardens or enabling individual households with the skills and resources for food-growing resilience of their own though we do note the phrase “protection of BC families from food price shocks”.
There is no indication that the key mandate of Urban Food Resilience Initiatives Society (UFRIS) has yet been heard, i.e. to ensure that all development permits for new urban infrastructure be required to include food-growing capacity in some manner.
Except perhaps, we may be able to make in-roads on our goal to see food resilience capacity in cities within this part of the Agriculture minister’s mandate letter: “identifying supply chain disruption vulnerabilities”.
UFRIS will continue to address this item through the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs (now being led by Minister Christine Boyle). We note that Minister Boyle’s Housing and Municipal Affairs mandate letter includes the support of tenants “with interventions that deliver affordability and a high quality of living”. When tenants in condos and apartments have no yard space to grow food, the UFRIS policy goal of ensuring food-growing capacity in high-density housing applies here.
Boyle is also directed by the Premier to “work with local governments to achieve housing targets and address concerns related to infrastructure”, which for UFRIS includes food-growing capacity.
We might also see more assurance of food-growing capacity in urban infrastructure in this mandate priority: “Work across ministries to expedite permits required for new housing construction.”
Comments welcome: write to info@urbanfoodresilience.ca
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