The day will be celebrated on the Saturday before the first Monday in August
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Canada is officially getting its own Food Day.
Senator Rob Black’s bill to establish Food Day in Canada passed in the House of Commons on May 8 and is awaiting royal assent.
Senator Black introduced the bill in the senate November 2021. The bill passed in the senate in May 2022.
Once it receives royal assent via the Governor General’s signature, the Saturday before the first Monday in August will be recognized as Food Day in Canada.
For 2023, that would be Sat. Aug. 5, as the first Monday is Aug. 7.
“I would like to thank Parliamentarians of all stripes, from both the Senate and the House, for their thoughtful reflections on the role of agriculture from coast to coast to coast,” Senator Black said in a May 8 statement. “I am delighted that Food Day (in) Canada was passed into law in time for its 20th anniversary.”
Establishing Food Day in Canada also pays tribute to the late Anita Stewart, a culinary author, food activist and the first Canadian Food Laureate at the University of Guelph.
Anita Stewart (University of Guelph photo).
The Anita Stewart Memorial Food Lab at the University of Guelph is named in her honour.
Stewart, who passed away on Oct. 20, 2020, founded Food Day Canada in 2003 in response to Canada’s battle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). At the time, it was known as the World’s Longest Barbecue.
The official food day designation will help Canadians keep Stewart’s work alive, her sons said in a statement.
“We sincerely believe that an official Food Day in Canada will offer significant cultural benefits to Canadians and their families, with economic benefits for communities and businesses, as we echo our mother’s mantra: ‘Canada is food and the world is richer for it,’” Brad, Jeff, Paul and Mark Stewart said.