Every so often, food prices take a large leap in a way that is felt in many people’s pocketbooks. It has happened recently and is continuing to happen and it happened back in the 1970s. These large leaps have many of us thinking and talking about food security and food sovereignty. In the June issue of Maclean’s, Anthony Perruzza, city councillor for Ward 7 (Humber River-Black Creek) in Toronto wrote “Let Cities Run Grocery Stores.” Motivated by Zohran Mamdani, New York’s new mayor’s call for government-run grocery stores and examples from Finland and the U.S. military, Perruzza introduced a motion in Toronto’s city council last March to pilot four non-profit city-run stores. The motion passed with overwhelming support. This is an initiative worth watching.

Some of Perruzza’s key arguments:

  • The city can waive property taxes and reduce development costs by repurposing the empty and underutilized warehouses and civic centres we already own.
  • We already have existing supply relationships with suppliers to city operated food banks, school-nutrition initiatives and seniors’ homes that can be capitalized on.

There is lots to think about in Perruzza’s article and it made me wonder why we don’t see more food co-ops happening in response to the current food cost inflation as we did back in the 1970s? I looked a little further for what I could find about food co-ops in BC.

The Kootenay Co-op in Nelson began in 1975 as grassroots buying club of 20 families and is now one of the largest community-owned grocery stores in Canada. Emphasis is on local, organic and community support.

The Kettle Valley Food Co-op in Grand Forks is described as a marketplace where local producers sell their products to local folks. Their goals are to provide access to quality agricultural products grown in the Kettle Valley, to facilitate year-round production and distribution of local food, to build our farming economy by offering fair pricing to farmers, and to increase transparency in the food distribution chain.

The Monashee Community Co-op in Lumby was organized in 2013 by area residents interested in organic foods. By 2019 they had over 500 members, their first paid employee, and are currently on a steady path of growth.

City operated or community managed, there are alternatives when people come together and take initiative. There may be other food co-ops operating in BC and we would like to know about them. If there is one in your community that we have missed, please leave us a comment.