Anan Xola Lololi
Anan Xola Lololi is a Food Sovereignty & Food Justice advocate. Anan is the interim Executive Director of the Black Food Sovereignty Alliance and one of the founders of the Afri-Can FoodBasket (AFB), a non-profit organization that began in 1995 in Toronto. He is a Food Policy Fellow in the School of Public Policy and Democratic Innovation (“SPPDI”) at the Faculty of Arts at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is the former Executive Director of AFB (1995-2021) for 26 years, promoting Community Food Security, Food Sovereignty, and Food Justice in Toronto, North America, and the Caribbean. From 2019 to 2024, Anan has managed Black Food Sovereignty Toronto, an AFB program. He is a food sovereignty community consultant with the City of Toronto’s Confronting Anti-Black Racism unit (CABR).
Brooke Rice
Shé:kon sewakwé:on, Katsi’tsarónkwas iontia’ts. Wakehnhehsí:io niwaki’tarò:ten tanon Kahnawà:ke nitewaké:non. Brooke Rice is a Snipe clan of the Kanien’kehá:ka nation, born and raised in Kahnawà:ke. She is an aunty, daughter, granddaughter, sister and relative. She is the Co-Founder of Tkà:nios- It Grows, a grassroots initiative birthed to rekindle our connection to self, land and others through Haudenosaunee land based learning and food sovereignty. Her dream is to create a sustainable Agri-food hub within the Kahnawá:ke community for the generations to come. Being an energetic Snipe, she loves hanging out with her family and friends, eating scrumptious foods, foraging, learning about sustainable energy, planting, seed saving and hunting with her Hunny.
Jim Thomas
Jim Thomas is a researcher, writer and activist who tracks policy, governance and finance at the intersection of technologies and food systems. Previously a director for the ETC Group, Jim now consults and writes at www.scanthehorizon.org. Much of Jim’s three decades of work has been tracking and intervening in policy around genetic engineering , nanotechnology, climate tech, Agtech and recently Artificial Intelligence (AI). He has been active for 20 years in the UN Convention on Biological Development (where he is an appointed expert on Synthetic Biology) , has been convening a global ‘tech critics network’ and most recently has been leading a civil society process exploring how movements might push to defund agribusiness in the frame of reparations, ecological justice and towards agroecology. Jim is an AI Market and Power fellow with the European AI and Society Fund and an occasional slam poet.
Kristen Lowitt
Kristen Lowitt is Assistant Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at Queen’s University. Her research goals are directed towards working with communities to build just and sustainable food systems in rural and coastal settings. Three main themes characterize her research program: a) the role of small-scale fisheries in sustainable food systems; b) food sovereignty and settler-Indigenous partnerships; and c) collective action and civil society participation in food systems governance. One of her current research projects is about the role of a basic income for a just transition in the food system; in collaboration with social movement partners, the project is looking at the economic security that is needed for small farmers, fishers, and Indigenous food providers as they transition to and scale-up sustainable practices.
Marissa Alexander
Marissa is a registered dietitian who is passionate about anti-racism, food security, and equity. Living and working on the traditional and unceded territory of the Lheidli T’enneh, she has had the honour of working alongside 55 First Nations communities in northern BC. She is also privileged to be able to connect with many different peoples and communities through her anti-racism consulting work. In her very little spare time, she is working on her Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on equity and cultural studies. As someone who is thankful to be a part of many, often oppressed, communities she is always looking for opportunities to elevate voices and lived experiences. When she is not focused on social justice work, she likes to spend time with family, friends, and her dog Ru. You can often find her crafting or creating, and she tries to include humour in her work as much as possible.
Phoebe Stephens
Phoebe Stephens is an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University. Her research focuses on strategies to support sustainable food transitions. Phoebe’s work tends to focus on the role of finance in both hindering and fostering more positive social and environmental outcomes. Recent research projects include comparing food price changes in local versus mainstream food systems to shed light on the potential benefits of supporting more decentralized markets. Phoebe’s research has been published in academic journals including Agriculture and Human Values, Food Security and Canadian Food Studies. Phoebe completed her PhD in Social and Ecological Sustainability and MA in Global Governance from the University of Waterloo, and BA in International Development Studies from McGill University. For more information on her research, you can visit www.phoebegwenstephens.com
Rachel Cheng
Rachel is a community organizer, photographer, and writer working at the intersection of food and culture. She was born and raised in Toronto, but has lived in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal for over 16 years, working with various non-profits and community projects in food and the restaurant industry. Embedding antiracism and decolonial approaches in her work, she has consulted on campaigns, events, exhibits, and communications around food. Rachel works full-time with the Conseil du système alimentaire montréalais (Montreal food policy council) as a community mobilization officer
Stéphanie Wang
Stéphanie was born in Montreal to Cantonese parents who grew up in Madagascar. After studying the sociology of agriculture and working for 5 years with agricultural organizations affiliated with the international network of farmers La Via Campesina, she founded Le Rizen in 2016, a company specializing in the production and processing of organic Asian vegetables located in Frelighsburg. She is the author of the text Des fermes pérennes and co-author of the books Légumes asiatiques and Asian Vegetables. In 2023, she received the producer of the year award at the Lauriers de la Gastronomie québécoise.
Tim Li
Tim Li is the research program coordinator of PROOF, a research program studying effective policy interventions for household food insecurity in Canada at the University of Toronto. PROOF’s work shines a spotlight on the size and seriousness of food insecurity in Canada, the inability for charitable assistance to resolve it, and how it can be remedied through public policies supporting adequate incomes. Over the past decade, PROOF has helped establish food insecurity as a serious public health problem, a marker of pervasive material deprivation, and a matter of public policy.
Wade Thorhaug
Wade, raised on a farm in southern Saskatchewan, has long been passionate about food systems. After earning a BSc from the University of Calgary and working abroad in education, he moved to Iqaluit, Nunavut, where he developed a deep appreciation for Indigenous food systems. As president and Executive Director of Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre, he expanded its reach and impact. Wade also co-founded the Nunavut Association of Non-Profit Organizations and as the current co-Executive Director at Food Secure Canada, advocates for food security, regional sovereignty, and dismantling colonial food systems.
Wendie Wilson
Wendie L. Wilson is a mother, educator, artist and writer. Born and raised in Kjipuktuk (Halifax), Wendie is a descendant of African Nova Scotians who have had history in the province for 400+ years. She has a keen interest in documenting the food history of this distinct cultural group and collecting the narratives connected to Canada’s oldest Black cuisine. Wendie is dedicated to elevating the profile of the community and sharing their culture with others. Utilizing her Masters in Africentric Leadership has allowed her to view situations through an African-centered lens. As a co-founder of the African Nova Scotian Freedom School, she is dedicated to contextualizing the history and culture of African Nova Scotians and making it accessible to those that it impacts, believing that education is the great equalizer.