Lakehead University

Background

Established in 1948, Lakehead University is the successor institution of the Lakehead Technical Institute (established in 1946). The first degrees in arts and sciences were conferred in 1965.

Lakehead has a strong interest in community service learning and food security as exemplified by credit courses such as food safety, biotechnology, the culture of food, community development, and women and food.

Full Description

This project received funding under Phase II of the University-Based Community Service-Learning Initiative.

Lakehead selected food security as its “entry point” to embed community service learning in its institution. The grant will support a new Food Security Research and Service Exchange Network to create opportunities for community engagement in food security through academic courses. The project is a partnership with grassroots and volunteer organizations and First Nations.

The project will develop indicators of healthy nutrition in a community setting and approaches to enhancing food localism (i.e. local purchasing and production) as a way to counter increasing food insecurity among Canadians who rely on a weakened social safety net.

The development of community gardens and the scaling up of local sustainable food production will help to solve challenges related to:

• climates with short growing season
• protection of local and native diversity (seed saving)
• climate change
• maintenance and protection of traditional food sources.

In the unique social environment of Northwestern Ontario, indigenous peoples’ knowledge of historic food security mechanisms will be a “living library” for the students.

The Network will be structured under a new Senate-approved Centre for Community-Based Learning in Food Security and supported by learning, evaluation and knowledge dissemination strategies.