Atlantic Food Action Coalition

Mission: To connect people, organizations, and projects within Atlantic Canadian food systems to foster food security, sovereignty and sustainability through collaboration and connection.Vision: Connected, collaborative Atlantic Canadian food systems.

President: Josh Smee (he/him) | Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Food First NLJoshua is a connector, advocate, and community-builder working to build stronger food systems in Newfoundland and Labrador.Joshua is the CEO of Food First NL, a provincial non-profit organization that works with communities in Newfoundland and Labrador to ensure everyone has access to affordable, healthy, and culturally appropriate food.Passionate about systems change and the power of collective action, Joshua has taken a lead role in many coalitions and campaigns.
Joshua co-chairs the provincial Food Security Working group with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and sat as a member of the province's Health Accord Task Force, tasked with a fundamental redesign of Newfoundland and Labrador's health system.Outside of work, Joshua is deeply engaged in work around civic engagement, local food, and the arts. As Chair of the St. John’s Farmer’s Market Cooperative, he helped lead the work to establish the city’s thriving, permanent community market.Joshua lives in the heart of downtown St. John’s with his partner, violinist Lauren, and their young daughter Tamsin. He spends just about every spare moment he has outdoors and has hiked every inch of the East Coast Trail, most of it many times over.

Treasurer: Maria Rodriguez (she/her)Dr. Maria Rodriguez (she/her) grew up in Venezuela and emigrated to Canada 30 years ago. She has a lifetime of experience in both national and international agricultural production systems, research, and policy. Maria recently retired from the federal public service, where she held a variety of responsibilities, most recently with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as Manager, Science Policy and Partnerships. She holds an agriculture engineering degree from the Central University of Venezuela and a PhD in animal science from McGill University in Montreal. She lives in Montague, PEI.

Secretary: Gillian KerrGillian Kerr has worked within Canada's environment community for almost 30 years as an ecological economist and environmental policy expert. She is also an active researcher, teacher, supervisor, and champion of understanding the value of nature. Currently Gillian works at the Smart Prosperity Institute as a Senior Researcher and teaches at RRU.Before that, she worked for Alberta Environment for 12 years and has worked as an academic, consultant and within several areas of the environmental non-profit sector.

JILL VAN HORNE (she/her) Network Director | Food for all New BrunswickFormerly Network Coordinator with Our Food Southeast New Brunswick, Jill Van Horne also co-chaired Food For All’s steering committee from 2017-2019, contributed to initiatives as a regional partner, and had a hand in supporting and building initiatives focused on school food, food policy, and food access.Her work in the food scene has ranged from getting her hands dirty in the garden to bringing people together with elected officials to ensure that experiences and food issues are considered at decision-making tables.This work has helped Jill develop a deeper understanding of the challenges people face in New Brunswick and beyond and the opportunities to address them through a food lens; she knows she’s but scratched the surface on these topics.

JUSTIN CANTAFIO (he/him) Executive Director | Farmers Markets of Nova ScotiaJustin Cantafio is anchored by a steadfast belief in the power of small-scale, community-based businesses to build truly sustainable social and economic development. It’s what drove him to spend his master’s degree living and working on ten organic farms from Quebec to the Pacific Coast.He’s since helped with managing Atlantic Canada’s first sustainable seafood subscription program through Off the Hook Community Supported Fishery, worked with the Ecology Action Centre to spearhead a Canada-wide program to promote locally-sourced food in schools, universities, and hospitals, and connected small-scale fishers and aquaculturalists with high-value markets across Nova Scotia and beyond with Halifax’s Afishionado Fishmongers.When he’s not crafting up ideas to re-localize our economy and promote local businesses, you might find Justin running in the woods, cooking up big hearty meals with friends, or relaxing in his tiny cabin by the sea.

ROBERT CERVELLI (he/him) Senior Advisor/Consultant | Centre for Local ProsperityFor the past 35 years, Robert Cervelli has worked passionately to build community at the local, small and rural levels. His particular area of interest is in projects implementing innovative new tools for rebuilding economic resilience. With an entrepreneurial spirit and history, Robert understands the issues related to new business creation and the health of vibrant local economies.Robert is co-founder and senior advisor of the Centre for Local Prosperity, an organization working to re-localize rural economies and building climate readiness. The Centre is dedicated to promoting and inspiring practical blueprints for prosperous and healthy local economies. The Centre initiates conversations intended to encourage communities to begin a shift toward an economy that is properly scaled for the place, resulting in real action for change by creating a new climate for change. The Centre works alongside community groups, businesses and governments to identify opportunities and assess the risks in making the shift to a new economy, through the use of workshops, conferences, and targeted discussions.Robert is a co-founder and Chair of Transition Bay St. Margarets Bay, one of the first Transition Initiatives in the Maritimes. He has been a member of the E.F. Schumacher Society for over 25 years, has corresponded internationally and attended key international events on alternative economics.

Made

with

• Heart

by