Montréal Anchor Team Impact Report

Creating Health in Solidarity with Community: Building Bridges to Food Security through Proactive Investments in Population Health

Food has a powerful role in preventative care, and the team in Montréal seeks to rebuild the bridges between community and health care in their region, in order to think upstream and tackle issues such as food insecurity together.

This team brought together a large network of partners across the community, health, municipal, food policy, and other sectors, including:

1) The integrated university, health, and social services centre of the south central region of Montréal (CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal)

2) Carrefour alimentaire Centre-Sud (a Good Food Organization)

3) Share the Warmth, a food security organization

4) Accueil Bonneau, a charitable organization working with the unhoused

5) The City of Montréal

The team looked to model anchor leadership by building up their “populational responsibility,” a mandate of the Quebec health care system that has been put on the back burner as funding has focused on curative care. Their work is grounded in a participatory approach, working with a citizen consultation body focused on food security.

By recognizing that food can act as social glue and is a way to work towards healing and inclusion, this team combined resources and expertise to work towards community wellbeing, sustainability, and health equity. Sonia Bélanger, the President and Executive Director of the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, explains that food is a key pathway towards environmental health and sustainable development, priority orientations for their health care region.

Potential reach:
The area covered by this network of health and social services facilities includes 578 short-term care beds and 2,950 long-term care beds, serving a population of ~345,000 in the central and southern parts of Montréal. Starting with cross-sectoral buy-in out of the gate and working in a province where policies actively encourage local procurement, the conditions are favourable for wide-reaching impact.

The Montréal Team Worked On:
1) Conducting a feasibility study for sharing kitchens and infrastructure from health care institutions with community organizations

2) Expanding the Carte de proximité, a food voucher program, to two new neighbourhoods

3) Expanding Hôpital solidaire, a voucher program to provide free meals from the hospital cafeteria to local residents and others in need

Read the final Montréal Anchor Team Impact Report here.