Food Centre

Because of the COVID crisis, our Food Centre looks slightly different. The UTMSU Food Centre currently remains open with restrictions. Students are asked to fill out and submit this form for your pick-up order and time: Food Centre Pick-Up Form. Forms are due the Sunday before pick-up. Please feel free to email food@utmsu.ca for inquiries.

We thank you for your patience and understanding.

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The UTMSU Food Centre is a place that provides access to good food for all students and community members who are food insecure. Some students are forced to choose between buying textbooks and buying food, and we believe that no student should have to make that choice.

Our Centre works to create community building, alternative access to good food and challenge the structures that create food insecurity. This work is accomplished by facilitating access to good food for all students who are food insecure while addressing the issues that create food insecurity in the first place.

We wish to be part of creating a world where food insecurity does not exist by following these key principles:

Food is a human right:

We recognize that access to good food is a human right, which is being systematically stripped away from individuals through systems of inequality and oppression.

Community building

We aim to create an involved community that challenges the social structure of passive food consumption. We wish to create an engaged community where people learn and exchange ideas related to food in order to drive change. We wish to not only provide our members with food assistance but with a welcoming space that is conducive to a feeling of belonging and engagement.

Sustainability

We wish to bridge the gap between food accessibility/security and sustainability. We believe that a sustainable food system is one where everyone has equal access to good food. An accessible food system is one where the environment is valued.

Allies with farmers and workers

We wish to connect people at all corners of the food system, from farmers, to workers, to students. We believe that working with other groups across the food system can create good change and mutual benefits.

Dignified immediate assistance

We believe that a good food access service is one that provides its members with real and good food that is wholesome and delicious. We recognize that individuals are not to be blamed for their food insecurity. Therefore, we prioritize the comfort of our members and their voices.

Long term solutions and not just bandages

We believe that a greater change to the food system is necessary to prevent food insecurity and poverty. Therefore, we aim to challenge and change the structures that create food insecurity in the first place.

Food democracy and community engagement

We believe in change from the grassroots. We will ensure that students who benefit from and use this service are involved in the decision-making. We wish to engage food insecure students in constructing their own solutions and responses to hunger.

Discrimination

We wish to create spaces that are free of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, citizenship, language, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, sex, mental and physical abilities. We also wish to address the intersection of food insecurity and various forms of social marginalization.

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