Throughout the pandemic, COVID-19 reduced incomes and disrupted supply chains.  Now, evidence suggests that many in Canada and around the world are at a greater risk to food insecurity.

Inadequate and insecure access to food can have local, national, and global implications.  As COVID-19 continues to disrupt global systems and individual lives, are there opportunities to improve food security in Canada and around the world?

To help us understand the local and global implications of COVID-19 on food security and whether there are any opportunities to build back better, The Canadian International Council’s Young Professionals Network and the CIC Edmonton Branch have assembled an expert panel to share their insights and answer audience questions.

The panel includes:

Dr. Alison Blay-Palmer is the founding Director for the Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems and a Professor in Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, A recognized national leader in food sustainability research, her work and teaching combine her passions for sustainable food systems and community viability through civil society engagement and innovative governance.

She is a Member of the Royal Society of Canada, College of New Scholars, previously a Scientific Advisor for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and, in 2019, Dr. Blay-Palmer was named the UNESCO Chair on Food, Biodiversity, and Sustainability Studies.

Dr. Neha Kumar is a senior research fellow in the Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, DC.

Dr. Kumar has a PhD in Economy and has an accumulated expertise that spans the diverse sectors of agriculture, social protection, gender and nutrition-focused programs.

Since joining IFPRI in 2008 she has been involved in several complex and multidimensional impact evaluations, including of social protection programs like the Productive Safety Nets Program in Ethiopia, agriculture-nutrition interventions such as the Harvest Plus funded biofortified Orange Sweet Potato program in Uganda and Mozambique and the Improved Vegetables and Fish Technology Intervention in Bangladesh.  Dr. Kumar currently leads a portfolio of projects in India and Bangladesh examining the linkages between agriculture, nutrition and gender.

Dr. Lynn McIntyre is a Professor Emerita of Community Health Sciences in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, at the University of Calgary.

She is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada in Public Health and Preventive Medicine, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and a Member of the O’Brien Institute for Public Health.  For her influential research on health equity and food insecurity, and for her contributions to public health policies in Canada, she was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2020.

Dr. McIntyre holds both a medical degree and master’s degree in Community Health and Epidemiology from the University of Toronto.

Where: Online (free event)

When: September 15, 2021

What time:  1PM-2PM EST (11AM-12PM MST)

To register: https://bit.ly/3yRuxoT