Urban Agriculture: Food security embraced by municipalities in the Peace
Along with inflation and taxes, the cost of food is continually on the rise in Canada, and largely due to transportation costs, the further north one lives in our country, the more expensive food gets. While northeastern British Columbia does not suffer the exorbitant prices of the Far North, many families are facing hard choices. Over 200 new people are using the Fort St. John Salvation Army’s Food Bank this year, a sign that food security is becoming an issue in the region.
Fortunately, throughout the North Peace, there are a number of opportunities to both obtain fresh local food and grow one’s own.
Every Saturday through the spring and summer, the Fort St. John Farmer’s Market has a wide variety of food vendors, selling everything from fresh baking, vegetables, eggs, beef, and bison, as well as homemade jams, preserves, and fudge. Now that the local farmer’s market has joined the BC Association of Farmer’s Markets, they are able to be open all year-round. Membership in the BC association has also provided an opportunity for members to hand out coupons through the BCAFM Nutrition Coupon Program. This means that over $8,000 worth of coupons go to the Women's Resource Society, where they are given to people who need them, who can then use them to buy products from vendors at the market.
In an effort to facilitate food security, the City of Fort St. John lists Urban Agriculture as one of its goals in the Official Community Plan. Earlier this year, when it appeared that one of the community’s long-standing urban agriculture facilities was going to disappear, the city held a Town Hall meeting to find a non-profit society to run the Fort St. John Community Gardens. Luckily, the North Peace Horticultural Society stepped in and saved the Community Gardens.
The Community Gardens have been around since the late 1990s, operated by different volunteer organizations over the years. During that time, demand has increased and the gardens, located behind the Catholic Church on 100th Avenue, now boasts some 50 raised beds, available for rent to local residents each year. There has been enormous support from local businesses and the city for the venture over the years, support which has continued this year.
Other local communities have started community gardens as well in recent years. This spring, the Charlie Lake Community Gardens were started, behind the Charlie Lake Hall. Volunteers from the community worked hard to transform an old roadbed and surrounding land into a productive garden. As with the FSJ Community Gardens, donations from local businesses provided a valuable boost.
The District of Taylor has had community gardens since 2011, when the community participated in the television program, Village on a Diet. Taylor also has a community greenhouse, which enables residents to rent a table and get a head start on their gardening in the spring. When Taylor opened applications to rent space in the greenhouse, space sold out within 15 minutes, according to Ryan Galay, Taylor’s director of community services. “It’s really well utilized,” he said.
In addition to the community gardens and greenhouse, Taylor allows residents to keep bees and hens. The District is currently working on upgrading the bylaw to require bees and hens to be registered annually, but the registration will be free, according to Taylor’s bylaw officer, Steve Byford.
The bylaw sets out the terms for keeping bees and hens – only 6 hens, no roosters – and Byford says this bylaw has been in place since 2012 and there have been little or no problems.
“Sometimes hens have gotten out,” Byford said.
Roosters are prohibited because “crowing is a concern.” However, if a resident raises pullets from chicks, and accidentally gets a rooster, Byford said there is a grace period for residents to get rid of the rooster before they are fined.
Hudson’s Hope too, allows hens, and goats within the municipality. But again, no roosters because crowing can become a nuisance.
Animal Control Warden, Richard Mason says if a resident has a rooster, it doesn’t necessarily have to be destroyed. “They can take the rooster to the vet and take out the part that makes them crow – they can live without crowing,” he said.
Both Taylor and Hudson’s Hope have a larger problem with cats, than they do chickens.
In the South Peace, Dawson Creek and Tumbler Ridge each allow residents to keep hens and bees. In Dawson Creek, they must be registered for a small annual fee.
But in Fort St. John, despite requests from the public in 2019 and again in February 2023, neither hens or bees are permitted under the city’s bylaws.
Former city councillor Becky Grimsrud said there was a lot of interest in keeping hens in 2019 when she brought forward an Expression of Interest to Council in May 2019. So much interest, that a local contractor had even offered to build a fully to-code chicken coop for the local SPCA, free of charge. This, even though other municipalities which use the same SPCA branch, have not had any issues with the hens that required SPCA intervention.
When asked about the reasoning for not allowing hens in the municipality, Mayor Lilia Hansen cited the city’s pound keeper agreement with the SPCA, and the burden of cost to taxpayers – an increase in fees for the SPCA’s service, plus additional bylaw staff would be needed.
“I can confirm that council and staff have brought this question forth at multiple townhall meetings, asking residents if they are in favour of allowing backyard chickens,” Hansen said in an email. “Once informed of the increased cost and the SPCA's capacity issue, it was noted that this service moved considerably down their list of priorities for the community.”
“For us to allow anything other than domestic animals within the city boundaries would require a significant addition to the pound keeper agreement with the SPCA, and an increase to bylaw enforcement staff numbers; hence increased taxation by all residents to cover those additional costs.”
With luck and perseverance, these opportunities for residents of the North Peace to grow their own food will continue. The District of Taylor is considering expanding its greenhouse facility in the future, due to the high demand. Although the North Peace Horticultural Society had only planned to operate the FSJ Community Gardens for this year, anticipating that another group would be able to run it next year, it looks as though the Horticultural Society will be continuing to manage the gardens.