Thanks to Food Tank: The Food Think Tank for publishing my guest blog coauthored with Tara Moreau of UBC Botanical Garden on the role of botanical gardens in food security. Much of this is due to Norbert Steinhaus inviting me to become involved in the EU-funded “Big Picnic” project. You can access the article here.
Cet article publié la semaine passée dans La Source parle un peu de ma présentation sur la francophonie canadienne lors d’un colloque organisé par l’Association d’études canadiennes le 1er mars à Aylmer. Mes remerciements à Marc-Aurélien Négri – auteur de l’article – qui a pris l’initiative de me contacter pour rédiger le texte. Voici le lien: http://thelasource.com/fr/2018/05/07/le-grand-voyage-de-la-francophonie-canadienne/
This opinion piece focuses on the Minerva Schools at KGI in San Francisco with some comparisons to other intentional universities, primarily on the west coast of Canada. The article was published by University Affairs on April 24th, 2018 and is freely available on the internet at: https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/build-intentional-university/
It was a privilege to lead a research project over the past nine months for the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada on the topic of micro, small and medium enterprises in the agri-food sector in the Philippines, Vietnam and Peru as part of the Global Affairs Canada funded APEC-Canada Growing Business Partnership. The report was published on March 23rd, 2018 and is available open-access for downloading at: https://apfcanada-msme.ca/research/micro-small-and-medium-enterprises-agri-food-study-philippines-vietnam-and-peru. My thanks to the Foundation as well as co-authors from Vietnam Silicon Valley and Dr. Roslyn Kunin as well as the support of research assistants Nathaniel Candelaria and Deyvi Danny Machacuay Saez and numerous key informants and interviewees without whom this research report would not have been possible.
Dernièrement, ce fut un plaisir de reprendre mon travail comme chroniqueuse à Radio-Canada. J’avais une chronique en français à « Rendez-vous » de Radio-Canada, Vancouver de 2000 à 03 sur le thème des communautés asiatiques en Colombie-Britannique qui a été repris par la suite pendant quelques années en anglais avec l’émission « BC Almanac ». J’ai récemment été offerte une autre chronique à l’émission intitulée « Les samedis du monde », diffusée dans toutes les provinces le l’Ouest canadien. La première chronique – inspirée par notre projet récent pour la Fondation Asie Pacifique du Canada – porte sur les micro, petites et moyennes entreprises agroalimentaires aux Philippines, au Vietnam et au Pérou avec des liens aux communautés originaires de ces pays dans le Ouest canadien. La chronique a été diffusée le 9 décembre 2017. Voici le lien à la bande sonore: http://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/les-samedis-du-monde/segments/chronique/50649/micro-entreprise-agroalimentaire-transformation-pays-emergents
For the uninitiated, there’s a term in Vancouver English for those who earn a living by sorting through the trash and collecting the valuable recyclables. They’re called binners and the expression was coined by Vancouver journalist Bob Sarti in the mid-1990s. I remember hearing about the binners and the establishment of the United We Can bottle and can refund depot on the Downtown East Side at the time. Ken Lyotier was the leader of this movement, which made national headlines as a social enterprise to facilitate income generation in the inner city. It reminded me of some of the small-scale urban livelihoods I had come across in my work in South and Southeast Asia. Informal recycling in particular was extensively documented by Christine Furedy – now retired in Australia after a distinguished career at York University. Professor Furedy was a pioneer in the study of “waste-pickers” and their role in urban solid waste management, particularly in Asia. One of the things she was known for was teaching her classes on garbage dumps. She was an inspiration. Ken indicated to me recently that, when he started organizing his fellow binners in the 1990s, he was unaware that there were similar groups emerging around the world including Wastewise and KKPKP in India, Linis Ganda in the Philippines and the famous cartoñeros in Argentina to name a few.
Upon returning to Vancouver a few years ago after many years with the public service in Ottawa, I was delighted to learn that the binners movement has not only survived but is now thriving, thanks, in part, to progressive policies supporting small-scale livelihoods in the City of Vancouver. I finally visited the new, relocated United We Can depot last year and also learned that Ken Lyotier – whose work has been recognized through many awards, including an honorary doctorate – started a complementary group called the Binners’ Project, now led by a dynamic young lawyer from France named Anna Godefroy. I had the pleasure of attending their first public meeting in April of this year. One of Binners’ Project’s causes celèbres, is to get mandatory deposits put on disposable coffee cups. Though recyclable, many of these cups go into the landfill unnecessarily. Not only would a deposit incentivize recycling generally, it would provide an income to binners – the unsung heroes of urban solid waste management.
I’ll be attending the upcoming Coffee Cup Revolution gathering at Victory Square, 200 West Hastings Street, on Monday, October 16th from 11am to 1pm. I hope to see many of you there! And, like the song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin goes:
Until you’ve seen, this trash can dream come true
You stand at the edge, while people run you through
And I thank the Lord, there’s people out there like you
Thank you / Merci Ken, Anna and all the binners for your courage and commitment!
Micro, small and medium enterprises, or MSMEs, are backbones of the economy in both wealthy and low and middle income countries (LMICs). The agri-food sector in particular is of fundamental importance in terms of livelihoods, food-security and meeting growing domestic and international demand for food, including value-added comestibles. If one includes informal enterprises and activities, the size and importance of the agri-food MSME sector takes on even more importance in both North and South.
Last week, I had the privilege of speaking at attending a workshop organized by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APFC) and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Ho Chi Minh City organized on the eve of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting taking place there. In case you missed it, the event was live streamed and recorded on the APFC’s Facebook page, and the session I participated in on September 11th is available here. Vilupti Christina Lok Barrineau, newly minted Vice-President of Operations of APFC, and I also published an op-ed in the Hill Times the next day on the role of agri-food MSMEs available here. The op-ed was also picked up in Vietnam and translated into Vietnamese.
My thanks to Vilupti and the team at APFC for this opportunity. Over the past few years, it has been a privilege to reconnect with the Foundation, with which I was very involved in the 1990s as their first intern in 1995/96 and subsequently as a consultant producing educational materials on the Asia Pacific as well as having the honour of being involved in the exciting Asia Connects Youth Conference that was part of Canada’s Year of Asia Pacific in 1997. Our research report on agri-food MSMEs in the Philippines, Vietnam and Peru is being produced in collaboration with Dr. Roslyn Kunin and Vietnam Silicon Valley, with the assistance of Nathaniel Candelaria and Deyvi Danny Machacuay Saez and will be available this fall.
After serving on the board of the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective for three years, I decided it was time to step down and make room for new voices. Being part of this 45 year old organization has been a privilege and I will continue to support it and encourage you to do the same. My farewell blog entry is posted here. Merci à mes collègues et bonne chance au nouveau conseil d’administration!
It was a pleasure being approached by design writer Anne Quito in April to provide media commentary on the ostensible banning of street food in Bangkok because of my work in this area over the years. As a result, the following article was published by Quartz on April 24th 2017 and can be viewed here. While the situation facing street vendors in Bangkok remains a bit uncertain, it was refreshing to see the global outpouring of support, particularly for the city’s lively street food sector, which provides important livelihood opportunities as well as delicious, affordable food for both locals and tourists alike.
English follows…
Ma nouvelle publication avec Narumol Nirathron – “La vente dans l’espace public : le cas de Bangkok” publication In F. Zogning et. al. (eds) L’économie informelle, l’entrepreneuriat et l’emploi – Publié par JFD Éditions à Montréal en avril 2017 suite au Colloque sur l’économie informelle à l’ACFAS en mai 2016. Ce texte est une traduction raccourci et légèrement mis-à-jour d’une publication qui a paru en anglais en mai 2014. Malheureusement, la situation à Bangkok a détérioré depuis quelques années, mettant les vendeurs et vendeuses de la rue en péril. Voici le lien pour plus d’informations: http://www.editionsjfd.com/fr/products/view/l-economie-informelle-l-entrepreneuriat-et-l-emploi/
My new publication with Narumol Nirathron – “La vente dans l’espace public : le cas de Bangkok” publication In F. Zogning et. al. (eds) \L’économie informelle, l’entrepreneuriat et l’emploi – Published by JFD editions in Montréal in april 2017 following the Colloque sur l’économie formula at ACFAS in May 2016. This text is an abbreviated translation with minor updates of a policy brief published in May 2014. Unfortunately, the situation in Bangkok has deteriorated in the last few years, putting many street vendors in peril. Here is the link for more information: http://www.editionsjfd.com/fr/products/view/l-economie-informelle-l-entrepreneuriat-et-l-emploi/
