The Public Grocery Store Project

Food Secure Canada’s national campaign to put public and non-profit grocery models on the table.

Food prices have risen nearly 30% since 2019, while supermarket chain profits have more than doubled. A handful of corporate chains control most of the market. Public and non-profit grocery models offer a way to break that grip, connecting food produced in Canada directly to communities.

Around the world, public alternatives have operated for decades. In Mexico, a national network of public stores serves rural and low-income communities. The United States’ Commissary system serves over 8 million military shoppers a year, lowering prices by more than 20%. In Greenland, a public grocery network reaches some of the most remote northern communities, keeping prices reasonable.

In Canada, public grocery stores have hit national headlines. But the mainstream response has largely been dismissal, and there is still very little research or public knowledge of how these models could actually work here.

The Public Grocery Project brings together research, a national forum, and movement-building to expand the national dialogue and open up space for these ideas to be seriously considered. We’re looking at the full range of public and non-profit models — public grocery stores, cooperatives, non-profit food retail, and public distribution systems — with an open mind about what could work here.

What we’re doing

Research: Developing a policy toolkit — including a report, a policy brief, and practical materials for policymakers, municipalities, and organizers — covering the models, costs, and benefits of public and non-profit grocery alternatives.

A national forum: Hosting Canada’s first-ever forum on public grocery stores, bringing together international practitioners, researchers, and Canadian civil society and government.

Movement building: Growing a national coalition and public campaign — including a nationwide survey of Canadians — that puts public and non-profit grocery models firmly on the political agenda.

Help us build it

We’re an independent, people-powered organization raising $150,000 to fund the forum, the research, and the movement-building this project needs. Donate today and help put public and non-profit grocery models on the table.

What we’ve done so far

Video with The Breach: The Big Idea: Public Grocery Stores

Our Policy Manager partnered with The Breach on a video making the case for why we need public grocery stores in Canada.

CCPA analysis: How Public Grocery Stores Could Work in Canada · French version

Published with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Institut de recherche et d’informations socioéconomiques, this is the first analysis of the costs and potential savings of public grocery stores in Canada.

Webinar: Public Grocery Stores Webinar English version · French version

Co-hosted with Food Communities Network, our webinar on public grocery stores drew over 700 registrations.

Webinar: Alternatives to Corporate Supermarkets and Greedflation

A Food Secure Canada webinar looking at solidarity grocery stores and co-ops as community-owned alternatives to corporate supermarkets.