(Green Iglu)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

october 26-28

Non-profit Green Iglu to hold first food security forum in Red Deer

Oct 6, 2023 | 1:48 PM

With the rising cost of living, at the grocery store in particular, a relatively new national non-profit based in Red Deer is looking to take a bite or many out of food insecurity.

Green Iglu is holding its first Local Solutions Food Security Forum, from October 26-28 at Red Deer Polytechnic.

“Our mission is to ensure everyone can enjoy food that meets their needs and allows them to flourish. How can we expect people to thrive when they miss meals or fill up exclusively on health-draining empty calories? We partner with communities and organizations across Canada to build multi-season greenhouses that provide fresh fruits and vegetables to marginalized populations,” explains Raygan Solotki, executive director.

“Just as importantly, we offer all-ages workshops to teach community members how to operate the greenhouses and grow their own food at home. All greenhouse infrastructure is owned by the host community or organization, with Green Iglu assisting as needed in perpetuity. We have been fortunate in securing grant funding to minimize or eliminate the need for local investment in these critical projects.”

The organization’s short-term goal is to continue pilot projects around Red Deer, one of which has been a 26-foot wide growing dome built with the Red Deer Food Bank. They hope to replicate this project at food banks and homeless shelters across Alberta and beyond, and build 30 greenhouses across Canada by the end of 2023.

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Why Red Deer?

Solotki was living in Inuvik, NT when she became executive director. There, food prices have long been much higher than in the more southern parts of Canada. An injury led to treatment in Red Deer, and so that’s where home base for Green Iglu was set up.

(Green Iglu)

Now Solotki says Red Deer is becoming a national hub for the food security movement.

“Nationally, an estimated 5.8 million Canadians, including 1.4 million children, are food insecure. The actual number is most certainly higher due to the impact of inflation and rising grocery prices. Half of the people in Nunavut are food insecure,” she says. “In Alberta, more than one-in-five people is food insecure. We do not have figures specific to Red Deer, but we know it is a severe problem based on food bank usage and other markers. When we built the Growing Dome at the Red Deer Food Bank over the summer, the food bank was feeding over 6,000 people every month.”

At the upcoming conference, keynote speakers will include Tarek Bos, CEO of ColdAcre Food Systems, a company providing soil-free agricultural systems in northern Canada; there’ll be Robert Twinomujuni, who founded a program that feeds vulnerable children in Uganda. And Tammy King, who is a Green Iglu board member, and partner on a project in Mississauga First nations, will speak. There will also be Q&A sessions, networking opportunities and a tour of the projects already making a difference here in Red Deer.

“We used to think of food insecurity as a problem exclusive to poor, remote communities. This is no longer the case,” says Solotki.

“We also need to think about food security in economic and environmental terms. By facilitating local food production, we create jobs in our communities. We stretch people’s incomes by cutting their grocery bills. We reduce healthcare costs by letting people fuel up on food that nourishes them. We become better stewards of the environment by reducing the need for long-distance food shipments. We reconnect with nature and establish a relationship with our food.”

Green Iglu has six employees in Red Deer, and another five across Canada.

Conference tickets are available on Eventbrite.

To learn more about Green Iglu, visit greeniglu.com.