Thornhill’s former councillor Erin Shapero recently signed on as director of institutional relations at Local Food Plus, continuing her fight for sustainable food and farmland protection. “I wanted to play a more direct role in supporting farmers.… It’s important to work with farmers because, through development, we’re losing prime farmland,” Shapero said.
As part of her new role at Local Food Plus, the national frontrunners in sustainable food procurement. Shapero has worked with municipal and provincial governments, as well as the University of Toronto, to make the transition to sustainable food sourcing. According to Shapero, more than 25 percent of the town of Markham’s food comes from local sustainable farming, making it a leader among Canadian municipalities.
Her decision to leave politics came in 2010, when her two-year battle to establish a food belt in Markham lost by just one vote. “It made me see how fragile the farm system is.… It really hit home for me, and I felt my energies were needed to help redefine the food system,” Shapero recalled. As for a return to politics, she said, “Politics is in my bloodstream. I’ll go where I can make the most change, so I would never say never.”