This event is a collaboration between the Black Environmental Initiative and the York Region Youth Food Committee focused on exploring the intersections of food insecurity and environmental racism in what is currently known as Canada.

We will host a ZOOM fireside chat from an array of speakers with expertise in food sovereignty, food justice, and environmental justice, amongst many other areas.

An array of speakers are joining us to share in a conversational and anti-oppressive space online.

Speaker Line-up:

Jean Philippe Vézina (he/him)

Jean Philippe Vézina is a market gardener and a social entrepreneur. Being himself of Haitian origin, he was inspired by the traditions and arrangements of the Creole garden (jaden lakou) to develop his eco-friendly farm located in Dunham, Quebec.

The Jardins Lakou project represents, for its owner, much more than an opportunity to grow vegetables. This is the business endeavour he chose to bring together in the same organization – his managerial experiences, his vision for a sustainable world and his need to reconnect with his Haitian and African roots.

Thanks to this unique offer of locally-grown Afro Caribbean vegetables, many families have been able to enjoy fresh produces from his farm and make Caribbean and African culinary discoveries.

For Jean-Philippe, “cultivating the land means more than just crops, it’s ensuring a Community Heritage and Future. »

Dr. Amy Shawanda (she/her/kwe)

Dr. Amy Shawanda is Anishinaabe from Wikwemikong, Manitoulin Island. She is the Provost Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Hansel Igbavboa (he/him)

Hansel Igbavboa is a multi-disciplinary artist, a filmmaker, community organizer and researcher. His work is steeped in storytelling, community building, activism, and social innovation. Many of his works explore the liberative and transformative power of food, and reconnection to indigenous knowledge and traditions. He explores these realms/topics within his art and life practice in photography, filmmaking, painting and through the work he does with and within community organizations, and initiatives.

He currently works at FoodShare as the Right to Food Campaign coordinator, a community researcher and steering committee member at the Black Youth Farming collective, and formerly a research assistant at the Center for Studies in Food Security at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Silvia Sarapura (She/her)

Silvia, an interdisciplinary academic with expertise in sustainable agri-food systems, is a professor in the School of Environment Design and Rural Development in the University of Guelph. She has more than twenty years of proven experience in the fields of intersectional and gender planning, participatory plant breeding and farmer led research in agri-food systems. As a result of her extensive research engagement in Africa, South East Asia, and Latin America, Silvia built a strong and innovative track record in international rural and agricultural research for development. Until July 2019, Silvia was a Senior Researcher with the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Netherlands. She worked with regional partners platforms for the strengthening of agri-food and seed systems in Mozambique; applied agricultural research with CGIAR Centres and CGIAR Research Programs such as CCAFS, RTB and AWARD - the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development. She also collaborated with African public and regional organizations on the Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD) Platform- Africa; in climate-smart agriculture and gender planning with Dutch and international organizations. As a Post-Doctoral Fellow with WorldFish, CGIAR, Silvia was part of the Global Scientific Team with the Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems in five countries of Asia, Oceania and Africa. She also led the Gender Capacity Development and Organizational Culture Change Initiative in WorldFish. As an agronomist, she worked with the International Potato Center (CGIAR) in farming systems and farmer-led research in Peru. Silvia’s undergraduate studies in Agronomy were concluded in the Universidad Nacional del Centro del Peru. She completed Her MSc and PhD studies with the University of Guelph Canada. She also had a Post-Doctoral Fellowship with the WorldFish Centre, CGIAR in Malaysia.

Anan Xola Lololi (He/Him)

Anan Xola Lololi is a Food Sovereignty & Food Justice advocate, musician, and vegan (44 years). Anan is one of the founders of the Afri-Can FoodBasket (AFB) a non-profit Food Justice & Food Sovereignty organization that began in 1995 in Toronto. He has been the executive director of AFB (1995-2021) promoting Community Food Security, Food Sovereignty, and Food Justice in Toronto, North America, and the Caribbean.

Anan has a master’s degree in environmental studies from York University with a focus on Community Food Security and a diploma in Business Administration from Centennial College. Anan is presently a Research Associate Fellow @ Ryerson University & Chair of the Black Food Sovereignty Working Group (BFSWG-Toronto). His passion is working in low-income communities to help create food secure communities.

Adwoa Toku (she/her)

Adwoa Toku is the Seniors Gardening Program Facilitator at Black Creek Community Farm! She is passionate about regenerative urban agriculture, wellness through food and community care. Learning and sharing knowledge is important to her and these days she gets excited about mycelial-plant relations.

Nicole Austin (She/Her)

Nicole is an ardent food justice and food security advocate, environmentalist, and geographer, who strongly believes nutrition and food are central to individual and community well-being, and act as the foundation upon which marginalized peoples are able to build capacity to become food sovereign on their own terms. Nicole is determined to understand how urban socio-environmental barriers, systemic racism and other exclusionary practices and policies impact marginalized communities and is dedicated to strengthening community-based initiatives to mitigate and transform these oppressive systems. Food insecurity is rooted in economic inequity and a broken food system therefore, Nicole is focused on restorative justice and regenerative urban planning where everyone belongs. Nicole holds a degree in Geography and Environmental Science from the University of Guelph and recently earned a B.A.Sc. in Nutrition & Food from X University. She is currently working as the Black Food Sovereignty Engagement Coordinator at the Urban Farm and is part of the Strategic Planning team with Toronto’s Black Food Sovereignty Alliance.

Please note this event is free and will be recorded to reduce barriers in participation. Donations are optional and all proceeds will go to providing additional funds to our speakers.

We also like to give a special thanks to Innovation York for the funding support in making this event possible.