UN food envoy: "shocking" conditions in Canada

UN envoy Olivier De Schutter: 'It’s even more shocking to me to see that there are 900,000 households in Canada that are food insecure and up to 2.5 million people precisely because this is a wealthy country. It’s even less excusable.'



The Vancouver Sun:

Ottawa — Canada needs to drop its "self-righteous" attitude about how great a country it is and start dealing with its widespread problem of food insecurity, the United Nations right-to-food envoy says.

In a hard-hitting interview this week with Postmedia News, Olivier De Schutter also blasted Canada for its "appallingly poor" record of taking recommendations from UN human-rights bodies seriously.

De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, has been on an 11-day mission to Canada, his first to a developed country.

It's taken him to poor inner-city neighbourhoods in Central Canada, where he said he's heard from families on social assistance who can't afford to feed their children healthy foods.

He's also travelled to remote aboriginal communities in Manitoba and Alberta, where he said he has seen "very desperate conditions and people who are in extremely dire straits."

The envoy will give his preliminary assessment Wednesday as he wraps up his mission and addresses national media.

His report will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council and will form part of Canada's official international human rights record.

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