Explore Official Dialogue Feedback

Environmental evidence - Breakout Session Room 3 Oxford study: more accounting is needed of how plant based is saving of land used for forage and pasture; greater flexibility in how we manage land; freeing up land base; carbon sequestration; increase in biodiversity; fresh water use and watershed planning to reduce demand on freshwater, reduction in water pollution, lessening of ocean dead zones, reduction in pollution plastic in oceans Meet our GHG targets: Production and consumption -all along the value chain needs to be considered in their impact on GHG targets Inclusion of end to end calcu... Read morelation of the impact of meat on GHG Need for transparency, measurements, accountability for high standards to exceed Paris agreement Protect farm land and spaces for food production, secure political commitments and financial investment to ensure access to land (and favourable business environments for plant-based entrepreneurs) Ensuring access creates pathways for re-wilding, and enabling land to be connected to treaty and reconciliation Land protection: what is needed into the future to ensure decision-makers, politicians continue to protect the land (i.e. protect the law - ecocide law protecting land tracts from destruction) Read less

Ethical Rationale - Breakout Session Room 2 When plant-based strategies are established, what might be the social and equity opportunities? Animal ethics should be considered part of equity, ethics (i.e. intersectionality) Opportunities: Meat prices have been increasing over time and some surveys indicate a diet shift due to this (reducing or eliminating meat) Plant-based foods are more ‘viable’ for producers by growing demand (this could help create an equitable playing field) Transition to plant-based effectively, gradually and pay special attention to the way we nudge different groups o... Read moref people (consider what’s realistic and meeting people where they are in terms of accessibility and knowledge) Citizens are calling for healthier options and low carbon foods more and more What are the tensions we have identified and how can we manage them? Indigenous communities and plant-based diet advocates Although it is a valid concern, it can sometimes be overblown - Indigeneity and Aboriginal rights can be respected AND can improve animal protection. The tensions can be overblown and used as an excuse to shut down discussion about the harms of factory farming, trapping, commercial fur farming (with seal hunting perhaps one exception) Vegan indigenous movements are happening currently in Canada Focus on supply more than demand - the drivers of inequitable access to food, e.g. curtailing influence of corporate food producers - should these people have a seat at the policy table? What actions, if implemented in the next 3 years, will have the greatest impact on well-being and SDGs? Health and sustainability are connected. Dietary guidelines are part of the puzzle, but need to address the implementation gap in order to meet SDG outcomes. Noted the work of Springmann et al (BMJ 2020 study in particular) Read less

Health - Breakout Session Room 1 Must consider planet as the sickest person in the room; if we do not take care of environment; we cannot detach ourselves from the health of other beings Diversity of culture is useful in promoting plant-based diets; some world religions also can put us in the direction of plant based diets The role of public health - educate public health professionals to recommend plant based diet; engage with physician groups, health authorities, nursing unions, nutritionist -- similar to the lobbying efforts against cigarette companies Harness the power of social media and ... Read moredo a tweet storm, tik tok videos Undertake true accounting of negative impacts of industrial meat system (eg. use of antibiotics in agri food business; pandemic threat, zoonoses). Utilize health economics to compare health care and well-being for a society that is generally healthy compared to generally ill (overweight, comorbidities, NCD) Read less

Our overarching remarks from all discussion groups include: The need to promote Canada’s Food Guide; it is strong but has not been leveraged; other countries are looking to Canada’s guide (eg. Australia is remodelling their National Food Guide and looking at Canada’s) Food guide is weak in terms of implementation and translating the food guide into meals on a plate Create new opportunities with the Food Guide, for example: to create a national school meals program to normalize plant-based diets and to promote sustainable diets at a young age Accelerate adoption of Canada’s Food Guide a... Read moret all public institutions Directing government to provide subsidies and funding Reallocate and redirect subsidies away from animal products (dairy and meat) and shift towards plant-based food growing. E.g. subsidise cultivation of plant foods, pulses, algae, insects, etc. Structurally rethink how we invest in food infrastructures, food systems Provide subsidies to industrial animal production to reinvest in plant based food production, re-training Help with transitions away from animal agriculture on par with powering past and divesting from coal and similar to reorienting agriculture away from tobacco to other cash crops and value addition Transitioning to a more plant-based food system is where the world is moving towards to combat pandemic risks, food security, public health issues, environment, and other important issues, however, Canada is not fully realizing our opportunities Public education and awareness of plant-based nutrition and wellness Public health campaigns to educate and empower individuals (i.e., new parents about nutritional foods, health care providers with education and how to use the guide) Educate the public with science based, evidence-based information on plant-based food system literacy; understanding the benefits of plant-based; and a good understanding of plant-based nutrition and health awareness We need to increase the field of plant-based food system literacy Draw attention to the interconnectedness between public health, environmental health, and animal health and welfare Support course development that can be offered in universities and schools, i.e. plant-based food system literacy, plant-based nutrition elective Read less

The focus of our Dialogue was to explore plant-based strategies for human and planetary health. Our five topics of discussion/breakout rooms included: health, ethical rationale, environmental evidence, pandemics and food, and food security. With our Dialogue being hosted by Canadian individuals, our focus was on the Canadian scale. Our discussions were not simply focused on the benefit of a plant-based diet, but on how to educate, promote, and emphasize the benefits to the general public.