By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews
This Thanksgiving, a new national campaign is asking Canadians to look beyond the dinner table and reflect on how innovation across agriculture, aquaculture, and technology can strengthen the nation’s ability to feed itself sustainably.
Launched this week, “Canada’s Food System: Our Food. Our Future.” is a cross-sector initiative developed by the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity (CCFI) and major food industry partners.
It aims to connect Canadians with the people and processes behind the nation’s food supply chain from prairie farmers to ocean-based aquaculture operators.
“Our food system is profoundly national. It deserves to be seen, and strengthened, as a strategic asset,” said Lisa Bishop-Spencer, Executive Director of CCFI. “It’s time Canada sees the food system for what it truly is: a core Canadian pillar.”
The initiative highlights a system that employs 2.3 million Canadians and supports one in every nine jobs in a network that feeds both domestic families and international markets. With food and beverage manufacturing now the country’s largest industrial sector, the campaign underscores the need for policies and investments that sustain its long-term resilience.
“This is not just about what’s on our plates,” said Justine Hendricks, President and CEO of Farm Credit Canada. “It’s about recognizing the full value of our food system, the economy it drives, the communities it supports, and the future it can secure if we act together.”
Among the voices featured in the campaign’s new podcast docuseries, launching this week, are aquaculture pioneers who represent one of the fastest growing and most sustainable segments of the Canadian food system.
These stories shed light on how ocean-based farming, from salmon in British Columbia to mussels in Atlantic Canada, is redefining food production through science and Indigenous partnership.
For coastal communities in BC., that connection carries added urgency. Ottawa’s activist-induced, science-deficit plan to phase out open-net salmon farming by 2029 has raised concerns about food security, local jobs, and Canada’s credibility as a sustainable seafood producer.
The sector in BC generates over $1.17 billion annually for the provincial economy, supports 4,560 well-paid full-time jobs, and includes more than 500 positions held by Indigenous workers, many in remote coastal communities where few other opportunities exist.
BC’s salmon farmers and their First Nation partners say that if Ottawa repeals the proposed 2029 ban and replaces it with a science-backed, Indigenous-led policy that provides regulatory certainty, the sector could generate $2.5 billion in annual output and 9,000 jobs by 2030, securing a sustainable future for coastal communities.
“The same innovation this new national campaign celebrates is what’s being put to work every day in salmon farming,” said Brian Kingzett, Executive Director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association.
“We’re using data, science, and Indigenous stewardship to ensure Canadians can trust that the salmon on their plates is raised responsibly and sustainably.”
Globally, aquaculture now provides over 50 percent of the world’s seafood, and Canada’s participation remains vital to meeting future protein demand. By integrating land-based agriculture and marine farming under one national food strategy, industry leaders say Canada can strengthen both climate resilience and food independence.
“Agri-food in Canada supports over two million Canadian jobs, contributes more than $140 billion to the national GDP,” said Keith Currie, President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, which has voiced its opposition to the proposed ban on ocean salmon farming in BC.
“This initiative shows that innovation and investment in the sector aren’t just about exports, they are absolutely essential for food security and economic resilience,” he said.
The “Canada’s Food System: Our Food. Our Future” campaign invites the public to learn and participate through:
(Main image courtesy Mowi)
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