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Wayne Roberts        

Will Work for Food Policy

Wayne Roberts is Canadas best-known speaker and writer on issues connecting food to health, the environment, job creation and community development. He speaks on a wide variety of topics to a wide range of audiences, and is frequently invited to keynote meetings of academics, city planners, health professionals, farmers and community economic developers.

Wayne is known for being funny, empowering, practical and cutting edge all in the same speech. Wayne shapes all his talks to meet the needs of particular groups, but here are the topics hes best known for.

Wayne Roberts is a Canadian food policy analyst, speaker and writer, widely respected for his role as the manager of the [Toronto Food Policy Council] (TFPC) from 2000-2010. The TFPC is a citizen body of 30 food activists and experts that enjoys an international reputation for its innovative approach to food security.[1] As a leading member of the City of Toronto's Environmental Task Force, he helped develop a number of official plans for the city, including the Environmental Plan and Food Charter, adopted by Toronto City Council in 2000 and 2001 respectively.

Since 1989, Roberts has written a weekly column for Torontos NOW Magazine, generally on themes that link social justice, public health and green economics.

In 2002, he received the Canadian Environment Award for his contributions to sustainable living. NOW Magazine named Roberts one of Torontos leading visionaries of the past 20 years. In 2008, he received the Canadian Eco-Hero Award presented by Planet in Focus. In 2011, he received the University of Toronto Arbor Award for his role in establishing food studies as a field of study at University of Toronto.

Roberts earned a Ph.D. in social and economic history from the University of Toronto in 1978, and has written seven books, including Get A Life! (1995), a manual on green economics, and Real Food For A Change (1999), which promotes a food system based on the four ingredients of health, joy, justice and nature.

Roberts chaired the influential and Toronto-based Coalition for a Green Economy for 15 years. He has also served on the Board of the U.S.-based Community Food Security Coalition and Food Secure Canada. He is on the board of Green Enterprise Toronto, an organization of local eco-businesses thats associated with the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies across North America. He has been invited to speak around the world on strategies that combine food security, community empowerment, environmental improvement, social equity and job creation.

Prior to his involvement with environmental issues, Roberts worked for two decades in the fields of community organizing, university teaching, media, labour education, industrial relations and union administration.

For more on Wayne, visit his Wikipedia Entry or visit his Linked-In page.

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