Racism in the Canadian food system remains deeply embedded. It expresses itself in labour markets (see also Goal 8), in food insecurity and equitable access to a nourishing diet (see Goal 1), in health related services (cf. on diabetes Ng., 2023), and in food and culture (see also Goal 9). Environmental contaminants are not equally distributed, often affecting indigenous, racialized and poor communities to a greater degree (cf. Lowitt et al., 2023). Neighbourhoods with significant multiracial populations have often been targeted with racial abuse by white Canadians. For example, "Little India" in east Toronto was not welcomed by many white residents who inflicted on south Asian entrepreneurs "verbal abuse, property damage, and even physical abuse" (Ihsan, 2023:29). Canada's treatment of indigenous peoples is also addressed under Get Started, Colonial history.
Although the alternative food movement in theory attempts to redress these inequities, there is evidence in both Canada and the US that racism persists (Allen, 2008; Alkon and Agyeman, 2011; Gibb and Wittman, 2013) and Guthman (2008) has called for more work to better understand how people of colour are still excluded from the spaces of alternative food provisioning.
Canadian Food Studies has compiled resources on racism and the food system.
