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Advisory Committee

The Foundation is dedicated to promoting and sustaining the Greenbelt as a beneficial, valuable, and permanent feature, enhancing the quality of life for all residents of Ontario. The Foundation's vision is a vibrant and healthy Greenbelt with a protected and restored natural environment, a strong and successful rural countryside, a robust agricultural sector, and a pattern of urban settlement that supports the Greenbelt.

The Foundation is a grant-making organization. Grant proposals are reviewed by Foundation staff, by an external Advisory Committee and by the Board of Directors. The Foundation is committed to achieving its primary goals and thus reviews applications with an eye towards specific outcomes.

Currently the Advisory Committee is made up of the following experts:

Bob Gibson, University of Waterloo

Andrew Graham, 4-H Ontario

John MacKenzie, Ontario Realty Corporation

Ruth Richardson, George Cedric Metcalf Foundation

Nicola Ross, Woodrising Consulting Inc.

Elbert van Donkersgoed, Terra Coeur: Services for Good Food & Farming

 

The Greenbelt Foundation is

  • Building a local food economy from developing new markets to enhancing distribution channels

  • Enhancing Farmers’ Markets, increasing sales for farmers in the Greenbelt and beyond

  • Engaging with over 170 million Ontarians directly through our marketing, events and communications activities

  • Providing grants and support to significantly increase sales at farmers’ markets

  • Creating Greenbeltfresh.ca, the leading electronic marketplace to source local, Greenbelt foods from over 600 producers

  • Bridging farming and hiking interests to acknowledge environmental progress by farmers

  • Hosted the first ever Global Greenbelts Conference in Toronto in March 2011 with speakers and delegates from over nine countries

  • Engaged Hamilton schools to switch to Greenbelt food for their students

  • Funding research and analysis on greenbelts around the globe which concluded that Ontario’s Greenbelt is the most robust in the world, with a strong legal and policy framework

  • Supporting the Credit Valley Conservation Authority to protect and restore wetlands

  • Contributing to greater sales of Greenbelt wines at the LCBO

  • Hosting the successful Tour de Greenbelt to promote Ontario’s Greenbelt as a tourism destination

  • Funding visionary planning processes such as the new Cootes to Escarpment Park Management Plan, and a massive reforestation plan in Rouge Park

  • Participating strategically in growing the Greenbelt by working with Toronto, Peel, Halton, and Guelph

  • Successfully merging social welfare initiatives with environmental concerns

  • Supporting development of action plans for a variety of agricultural areas and commodities

  • Supporting the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance to foster strong Greenbelt Plan implementation at the municipal level

  • Securing local food procurement commitments for Peel schools, City of Toronto, City of Markham and others

  • Developing a successful culinary tourism platform for Niagara

  • Supporting the creation of an award-winning Greenbelt granola bar

  • Supporting the creation of new multi-cultural crops and development of ethnic local food guides in Toronto and York Region

  • Reaching over 75 million by placing 220 permanent highway and regional road signs to ensure Ontarians and visitors know about this valuable protected area

  • Convincing Peel school boards to buy Greenbelt food for students

  • Supporting interested Greenbelt Farmers to Go Organic

  • Funding the Holland Marsh Growers’ transition from an export, commodity focus to one that serves the local market with value- added products

  • Identifying barriers to opening markets for Greenbelt farmers and proposing solutions

  • Funding policy changes to encourage more local food to be sold in Durham

  • Partnering with Harbourfront Centre to tell the story of Ontario’s Greenbelt to 12 million people via a year-long, outdoor photography exhibit

  • Securing local food procurement commitments for Peel, U of T. City of Toronto Facilities and Markham

  • Assisting in designing new policies to protect Lake Simcoe through timely research

  • Bringing thousands of Ontarians out into the Greenbelt each year through grantee activities and the Annual Tour de Greenbelt cycling event

  • Supporting tourism initiatives including in the Niagara and Caledon areas

  • Creating a network of Farmer’s Markets to help improve our local food economy

  • Supporting the development of multi-cultural crops and training new Canadian Farmers

  • Supporting changing the City of Toronto policy to adopt a local food purchasing bylaw for city facilities

  • Supporting food policy council in Durham to create food charter

  • Contributing $2.65 million to Greenbelt farmers to improve their operations (leveraging millions of dollars from federal sources), and to employ the opportunities of the Green Energy Act

  • Increasing amount of Greenbelt food in food share program 140%

 
Learn more about what the Greenbelt Foundation has done for you »

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