Pathways to Policy Transformation: Lac La Biche Solutions Hub
Prairie Food System Vision Network (PFSVN) has a vision and mission aimed at supporting, identifying and encouraging solutions that influence the socio-ecological transformation of our food system. They accomplish this through their Solutions Hub activities such as virtual conversational gatherings and by supporting local projects through pilot food systems microgrants.
Responding to complex problems has traditionally taken a top-down approach, with experts deciding what would be best for others. Overwhelmingly, top-down implementation of solutions has proven to be less effective at understanding community needs and determining appropriate solutions. Policy and regulations exist to manage risk and influence and shape how we can respond to complex issues. These forms of social control can be restrictive and seem like a barrier but can also be an opportunity to identify outdated policy and regulations which could be a pathway to transformation as well as manage risk. New methods such as social innovations labs or solution hubs are a means to build collaborative approaches to solve difficult problems such as transforming food systems. Solutions developed through participatory and inclusive community engagement are being adopted as a path to encourage problem-solving to address complex challenges at the community and regional level, led by local community members.
The Local Solutions Hub pilot, a PFSVN community-engaged initiative, was hosted by the Stone Soup Food Centre and Community Learning in Lac La Biche, Alberta, as an opportunity to identify ways to move towards community resilience and policy transformation. The Stone Soup Food Centre has developed a food recovery program which collects food from the local grocery store, restaurants and wild meat, and redistributes it back to the community. Their journey to capture food waste is having a major positive impact on the community.
The Local Solutions Hub took a bottom up approach to explore new ways the Stone Soup Food Centre could expand their efforts to capture and redistribute food in their community to better meet local needs. Of significance is the new relationship they developed with Alberta Health Services (AHS). Involving AHS has proved to be advantageous to their programs rather than restricting. Following the solution's hub gathering, they began to partner to offer food handling courses to their volunteers and gained a better understanding on how they can grow their program in compliance with food safety legislation which is regulated by AHS.Connecting and working with AHS through the Solutions Hub event enabled the Stone Soup Food Centre to develop relationships and take a more proactive approach to organizing food related events and to gaining a commercial kitchen license, which was essential for them repackaging food into suitable portion sizes, along with other food activities. Beyond food safety, community volunteers who engaged in the Solutions Hub also benefited by building their knowledge and skill set related to food programming; Stone Soup staff have noted an increase in volunteers’ confidence and desire to contribute.
Understanding current food safety regulations is fundamental to larger, more transformative change. A participant of the Local Food Solutions Hub stated that policy change only happens when people understand and question whether existing regulations are still relevant or if reforms are needed. AHS suggested that to influence policy you have to communicate effectively with and make them aware legislation isn’t working. To transform policy, communities need to be proactive, work with government officials and demand change to outdated policies that are not addressing community needs. The process of transformation can be slow, but by working from the bottom up, grassroots people can contribute to solutions which are relevant to their community. Through the process of relationship building, communities can work with governments in determining if policy transformation is needed to achieve their goals.