Creating a municipal-level emergency food plan: Lessons from Thunder Bay, Ontario

Emergency food planning is an emerging field of study and practice evolving from lessons learned about the need to be prepared to respond to increased food insecurity in the face of emergency events. In this era of climate change, geo-political conflicts, and growing inequality, disruptions to the global food system are occurring more frequently. Many of these disruptions have the potential to impact food access on a large scale, a reality that communities need to be ready for through preparation to mitigate impacts. Like other municipalities around the world, the city of Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, and its surrounding areas were caught unprepared by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food insecurity. Prior to the pandemic, there was no coordinated body to address a sudden increase in food insecurity, particularly among already vulnerabilized populations. In late 2020, Thunder Bay + Area Food Strategy (TBAFS), the regional food policy council, led the coordination of emergency food response and researched the early emergency food response that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings from this research identified the need for a collaborative Emergency Food Plan that brought together the municipality and a range of civil society organizations, institutions, and agencies. Acting on this research, the TBAFS coordinated the development of an Emergency Food Plan for the region, leveraging a group of primary partners who make up key components of civil society's food access infrastructure. This article provides an overview of this process in the context of existing research and literature along with lessons learned throughout the process.