Oasis Food Hub

Growing a resilient food system together.

OASIS

OASIS is a model for an integrated food hub for healthy, affordable, and sustainable food.

Mimics the Food Cycle

From growing, to processing, selling, cooking, and composting. We are a “full-cycle food hub.” We also partner with farms and distributors to bring good food into the community at affordable prices.

Run By and For Community

OASIS is run through a community co-operative. We believe that for a community project to be self-reliant and resilient, it needs to be run by the people it serves.

Affordable, Accessible, and Appropriate

OASIS was designed through a human rights lens for vulnerable communities. By tapping into the assets of the community and the efficiencies of the model, OASIS is able to provide organic nutritious and culturally relevant foods at affordable prices.

Climate Resilient

OASIS’ central urban agriculture takes place in climate-controlled growing spaces, creating both year-round access to community-sourced food, as well as on-site capacity for emergency/extreme weather food and water distribution. It means that no matter the fluctuation in weather and growing seasons, OASIS is producing quality food.

Emergency Food Forum Open Letter

The pandemic has put our failing food system in even more jeopardy. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of society this spring, those of us involved in food security realized that the supply of healthy food, especially to vulnerable communities, is now at a much greater risk of failing to meet human needs.

In March of this year, the Urban Rural Emergency Food Forum Series was called to discuss these issues. The forum concluded that as this year’s harvest ends, we must transform our food system in order to mitigate the harm of the COVID pandemic, as well as climate chaos and soil depletion.

Members of the forum, Farmers, Food ngos, workers, co-ops, youth leaders and activists drafted an Open Letter to alert government and public about the need to take action to address our local farm and food crisis. (Read Letter Here)

Forum members decided to build on urban/rural connections to set up the Eco-Just Food Network to engage farmers and communities in mobilizing to respond to pandemic/climate impacts on our local food system. The network serves as a platform to combine people, resources and infrastructure to rapidly organize and activate food corps (teams/crews) to support farming and food production.

Values

Our values apply to the whole OASIS ecosystem: humans and plants; community and earth.

Respect and Dignity

Every living being has the right to respect and dignity. OASIS upholds and empowers respectful relations and dignified lives. We uphold dignity of the person through a holistic understanding of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Diversity

Resilient systems are diverse. Healthy ecosystems are diverse. We know that beauty and wisdom are held within and between diverse living beings. OASIS enables diverse peoples to come together in mutual support and care. And for delicious recipes!

Community Well-Being

OASIS activates connected and friendly communities. As a model of mutual aid and support, OASIS operates from the understanding that individual and community health are tied together, along with the health of our environment and our planet; aligned with comprehensive understandings of wellbeing such as the Canadian Index of Wellbeing.

Environmental Care

“Here’s a lesson,” Chickasaw poet and storyteller Linda Hogan tells us, “what happens to the earth and what happens to people is the same thing.” OASIS helps people walk more softly on the earth without compromising a thriving lifestyle. OASIS aims to honours The Dish With One Spoon Wampum: a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee that bound them to share the territory and protect the land. Subsequent Indigenous Nations and peoples, Europeans and all newcomers, have been invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship and respect.

Innovation and Creativity

OASIS affirms and commits to the right of all people, and especially vulnerable communities, to take part in cultural life and to enjoy the benefits of scientific improvements (Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Cultural, and Social Rights). OASIS aims to bring improvements in sustainable and urban agriculture together with innovative cultural and social organizational models.

OASIS particularly recognizes the importance of empowering children and youth to take leadership roles in their communities, climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Informed and Genuine Democratic Participation

The co-operative governance model ensures that every member of an OASIS Food Hub has a say in major decisions. Informed democracy is made possible through information distribution, and a strong commitment to education and training of Food Hub members, community, children and youth.

OASIS Food Hubs affirm the right of all people to genuine democratic participation, with particular support for the participation of women, elders, and children.