Foreword

The agriculture and agri-food sector is one of the key drivers of the Canadian economy. The health care system is one of the laIncreasingly, governments, industry, and health organizations are recognizing the connections between health and food, as well as the opportunity offered to Canadians through initiatives to better converge health, agriculture, and agri-food policies. The Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) has launched a project to develop an Integrated Health and Agri-Food Strategy for Canada. CAPI is a not-for-profit corporation that provides an independent voice on agri-food issues.

To pave the road to an integrated strategy, CAPI undertook an exhaustive study on the relationships between food and health (Finding Common Ground: Food for a Healthy Population and a Healthy Agri-food Sector available at: www.capi-icpa.ca/pubs.html). A project team of experts in agriculture, health care, and nutrition researched examples of integrated food and health policies around the world and found that few examples exist of integrated health and agri-food strategies or initiatives. In December 2007, following the presentation of CAPI’s synthesis report,¹ the Institute received support from Health Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to pursue the groundwork for the establishment of an Integrated Health and Agri-Food Strategy for Canada. In January 2008, CAPI retained the service of Dr. Laurette Dubé, Founding Chair and Scientific Director of the McGill World Platform (MWP) for Health and Economic Convergence, to lead the preparation of a discussion paper to serve as the springboard in moving toward an integrated health and agri-food strategy. The paper is co-authored with agriculture, agri-food and nutrition experts of the MWP, Paul Thomassin and Janet Beauvais, both of McGill University. The discussion paper has benefited immensely from the virtual expert meetings and one-on-one interviews convened to collect insights from the Canadian and international scientists, policy leaders, and decision-makers affiliated with the McGill World Platform.

A Discussion Paper as the Springboard for an Integrated Health and Agri-Food Strategy for Canada

The McGill World Platform for Health and Economic Convergence follows a long-term collaboration between the Desautels Faculty of Management and the Faculty of Medicine to create a novel transdisciplinary, multi-sector and multi-level approach to science, policy, education, and action. This unique approach is called a Whole-of-Society (WoS) approach. The WoS approach uses knowledge dissemination to simultaneously push the boundaries of medicine and management (used here as a proxy for the diversity of related health and economic disciplines). Ideally, this approach will contribute to health and wealth for all. The core engines driving this collaboration have been the world renowned McGill Health Challenge Think Tanks and their satellite events (www.mcgill.ca/healthchallenge). Taking health, agriculture, agri-food and business as their initial domains of application, the Think Tanks and satellite events have convened an unprecedented collaboration among some of the world’s most innovative thinkers and organizations from agriculture, food manufacturing and marketing, economics and finances, along with experts in health, nutrition, and community development. Participants hailed from academia, government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and health and community organizations, as well as from multinational corporations and smaller companies.

The Think Tanks have allowed participants to join forces, so they can start examining how businesses and communities can contribute to the effort to bring about food and nutrition security worldwide, and thereby help combat the current rise of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and stroke. The participants of the Think Tanks examined how to take a broad, integrative approach in this effort, one that incorporates the three facets of healthy eating:

1. accessible food;
2. nutritious food; and,
3. safe food.

These three facets are central to an integrated health and agri-food strategy, if such a strategy is to ensure stability in the availability, access, and utilization of safe and nutritious food. The strategy must contribute to providing this stability in a manner that is economically, environmentally, socially and culturally sustainable, and in a manner that contributes to halting or reversing the rise in diet-related diseases.

In February 2008, an early-stage convergence building process was started with the participation of a project team that included experts from Health Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The objective was to prepare a discussion paper that would foster cross-sectoral dialogue across the federal government. The aim of the building process was to articulate a common vision for an Integrated Health and Agri-Food Strategy for Canada, a vision around which these parties could assemble short-term and long-term start-up objectives for change, with associated outcomes and actions.

In June 2008, an Advisory Committee that includes governmental and non-governmental stakeholders in this initiative convened to review the early-stages of the discussion paper. Attendees suggested that a small discussion group be formed to refine the common vision before elaborating a set of start-up objectives, outcomes, and actions in more detail. This group met on September 4, 2008 and agreed on a common vision that would guide the further preparation of the discussion paper. The discussion paper would serve as the springboard for the convergence building process, which in turn would lead to the formal development of the Integrated Health and Agri-Food Strategy for Canada.

Ideally, this discussion paper will provide a basis for further dialogue among Canada’s government and non-government leaders in the health and agriculture and agri-food sectors, with the objective of developing an integrated strategy. To this end, these leaders could meet at a summit during which they would be invited to play a foundational role in the creation of multi-level (national, provincial and global) and multi-sector (governments, business and civil society actors in agriculture, agri-food and health) knowledge and action networks. Such networks are necessary for the strategic development, implementation and sustainability of the specific initiatives required. The networks would also build public awareness and foster political commitment. The outcome of such a summit could be the draft version of a strategic framework for action that would constitute the Integrated Health and Agri-Food Strategy for Canada. The strategy would be presented to the ministers of Health Canada and of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and subsequently promoted by business and civil society leaders to catalyze action.

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