Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank Directors Speak at City Hall

Veg Food Bank Directors Nital Jethalal and Matt Noble at Toronto City Hall.

In September (2023), Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank directors Nital Jethalal and Matt Noble, and colleague Riana Topan, from HSI Canada, mobilized to speak at Toronto City Hall, at the Infrastructure & Environment Committee (1:44:00), to urge the City of Toronto to reduce pollution, and to improve animal welfare and public health, by moving towards more plant-based food offerings city-wide.

Their deputations led to lively monologues from many of the Councillors on the committee, including impassioned statements like,

"It was stunning that the largest portion of consumption-based emissions are from food."
- Councillor Dianne Saxe

"We gotta eat more vegetables, get off the meat if possible - it saves money, saves our planet.... Eat plants, not animals!"
- Councillor Mike Colle

"Taking initiative as a city in areas like this - consumption-based emissions and the Cool Food Pledge - is so critical to us playing a leadership role as a major city in North America, and really leading the way on these issues, because it's not just going to have an impact in our own city, but it's going to have a global impact."
- Councillor Amber Morley

After the deputations, Councillor Dianne Saxe moved two important motions: That...

1. City Council direct the Director, Environment and Climate to include updates on Toronto's progress in meeting the Toronto Cool Food Pledge and the C40 Good Food Cities Declaration commitments annually.

2. City Council direct the General Manager, Environment and Climate, in consultation with the Chief Purchasing Officer, to report back to Infrastructure and Environment Committee with recommendations on whether Toronto should adopt a policy on plant-based purchasing savings for City and climate.

And both motions were adopted by City Council!

City staff are aware that plant-based foods have the lowest environmental impacts and that we can drastically reduce emissions simply by eliminating offerings of beef and lamb (ruminants), but... in some places in the City's new consumption-based emissions inventory reporting, there were statements that emissions reductions could be achieved by replacing servings of beef and lamb with chicken and fish instead.

So our directors also had to speak up for animals, and make sure to hit home that plant-based proteins are still far less damaging to the planet, even when compared to the impacts from fishing and farming chickens!

Matt applauded the City's goal of reducing food-related emissions by 25% by 2030, and told the committee about our recent plant-based culinary training for the CIty’s shelter chefs.

Nital spoke about plant-based defaults and how shifting to more plant-based foods is a "Swiss Army knife policy" that can achieve multiple goals, such as maximizing emissions reductions; saving money; improving public health; reducing land use, water use, deforestation, acidification, and eutrophication. And about how City Council can help move Toronto in the right direction through public education campaigns.

Riana highlighted case studies, including one showing how the University of Guelph Childcare and Learning Centre saw huge greenhouse gas emissions reductions (almost 65%), as well as increased nutritional profiles of their menus, and significantly lower food costs, by going completely plant-based.

This was a big moment for the City of Toronto, but these motions are just the beginning, and Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank is working on next steps to keep the momentum going, to make sure the City’s transition to lower-emissions foods is as successful and as plant-based as possible.

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