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World Food Day
Ontario Regional Office
200-215 Spadina Avenue
Toronto, ON  M5T 2C7
416-535-2335 x205
fax: 416-537-6435
[log in to unmask]
www.oxfam.ca; www.oxnet.org

The case for local purchase flexibility in Canadian food aid

On Tuesday, October 19th, at 7 p.m., Oxfam Canada will be holding a
traditional Ethiopian dinner and coffee ceremony at the St. Lawrence Hall, 157
King St. East, to BRING ATTENTION TO THE ISSUE OF FOOD AID and to celebrate
World Food Day (WFD).

World Food Day is the day set aside by the United Nations to take stock of our
efforts to feed the hungry. The Canadian government is no laggard when it
comes to emergency assistance. In per capita terms, Canada remains second only
to the United States as a provider of food aid to the world. Unfortunately,
Canada's contribution has shrunk steadily since 1993. And equally seriously,
Canada's food aid program is hampered by an antiquated regulation that
requires 90% of all food aid to be sourced in Canada. This rule raises the
costs, reduces the number of people assisted, and undercuts the potential of
food aid.

This year's event will focus on uncovering some of the complexities of
delivering food aid effectively and the importance of balancing a community's
immediate food aid needs with the long-term sustainability of small farmers'
livelihoods.

Dennis Gruending, a former CBC journalist and NDP caucus critic, will speak to
the case for local purchase flexibility in Canadian food aid. Purchasing food
in developing countries would come at little or no cost to Canadian farmers,
as it would have no measurable effect on Canadian farm prices. Food aid
comprised less than 1% of Canadian grain production in recent years. The need
for surplus disposal that once motivated policy is now history. Farmers tell
us they have markets for most of the grains they produce and their motivation
in supplying food aid is to reduce hunger. The question of untying food aid is
not unrelated to the WTO trade negotiations underway in Geneva. US food aid
has been consistently cited as one mode of unfair trade causing distortions in
the world market and putting developing country farmers out of business.

Traditional Ethiopian Dinner & Coffee Ceremony to follow along with a
performance by HYPED, a youth-run non-profit organization that is working to
improve education standards in developing countries

Tickets: Students $25; General $35

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