The strong partnership with the Centre de valorisation des aliments (CVA), a centre promoting the foods of the Gatineau valley, is key to our community engagement. This partnership, focusing on food security and development of sustainable food systems, is a beacon of hope in our region. This entire effort has been achieved as part of the TD Environmental Leaders Program.
The CVA coordinates, develops, carries out and supports initiatives to guarantee food security for people living on its territory, while promoting sustainable food systems. This summer, the centre focused on creating a summer garden, from soil to harvest, with the support of uOttawa students. This project was carried out under the leadership and management of centre associate Luc Gaudet, in collaboration with the organization Aux Goûts du Jour (AGDJ), a local food bank.
The main goal of this initiative was to reduce the distance between food production and consumption by setting up a shared garden. In a region where, according to a Statistics Canada report, part of the population (12.7% in 2017–2018) suffers from food insecurity, this initiative is of crucial importance from a sustainability sharing of food resources between citizens perspective.
The partnership with the centre as part of the extracurricular volunteering program was fruitful. Together, the CVA and our student volunteers helped plan the project, highlighting different issues such as food waste. As well, our student volunteers received training to raise their awareness of environmental and social issues. Research, including developing a questionnaire, interviews and in-person meetings within the communities served by the CVA and the AGDJ, allowed for an overall study on population needs and visits to successful community gardens.
This collaboration fostered knowledge sharing with local members of the community, eliciting a range of research strategies, such as visits to art galleries, to enrich their perspective. Students were very effective in integrating technological innovations, such as online surveys, furthering rapid communication, data analysis and interdisciplinary collaboration.
“Dare to meet, to travel, to share the experience with other members of the ecosystem. For me, this is really the start of a new story and high quality meetings.”
Luc Gaudet
In conclusion, this model collaboration between our community engagement service, students Naomie Shank and Lise-Viviane Rurangwa, and the Centre de valorisation des aliments shows how a community-based approach can not only improve food security, but also strengthen ties within the community and promote sustainable development. It’s a beacon that we hope will shine even brighter in our community’s future.
We’d like to offer congratulations to this group of outstanding students and to the centre for all they have achieved.
If you have any questions about this story or about the ways you can get involved, email us. The centre would like to create a food bank as part of this project, to mobilize the community this fall.
