Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mrs. Valdez. The one that I've seen work time and time again is universal school meals for children, providing free and healthy meals for all children in schools without some system of choosing who is worthy and who is not worthy. To really make it work, connect schools with local producers who are committed to biodiversity and human rights.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Turnbull. I had sent it earlier, but I will resend it to make sure you all have it.

Agriculture committee  The right to food, if looking at the international treaty and the guidelines, focuses everyone's attention—and we've heard stuff like this today—on the importance of sharing knowledge and technology and of international co-operation, but, most of all, it focuses on who has the power and who should have the power.

Agriculture committee  I'll talk in terms of policy and maybe leave it to you all to find Canada's role. What often happens in these supply chains is that corporations will rely on child labour, but because they're not directly hiring the children, they say, “Well, we don't know. We have no control.”

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. El‑Khoury. What can Canada do? At the UN Committee on World Food Security in Rome, it can play a leadership role and bring countries together. We're all pushing now in Rome over the next few months at the Committee on World Food Security for it to be the place for governments to come together and negotiate an international plan.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for your question. To clarify, I am an independent expert. It's a volunteer position. I'm one of the few players in these rooms, at times, who can speak freely. What I don't have in resources, I have in freedom. I have been invited to brief the Security Council. When I brief the Security Council, I'm pleased to report that both the Russian ambassador and the American ambassador said that my remarks were fair and frank.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Perron. Unfortunately, I can't speak too specifically to the debt level of Canadian producers. What I can speak to is the debt level of governments all over the world. I do agree with your point. The only way transformation is going to happen—the only way food systems are going to transition to a system that is fair, stable and sustainable—is with active, explicit government support through incentives, through direct programs and through direct support.

Agriculture committee  Okay, will do. I agree that business as usual—producing more by any means necessary—is not the way to go. Generally, on a global scale, we have produced more than enough food. The problem is, how do we produce? There are solutions to point to. I provide those specific solutions, backed up by science and backed up by policy.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Perron. I'd agree in terms of focusing on small producers, but I would add that, ideally, it's the small producers who are committed to practices that enhance biodiversity and that also respect human rights, such as workers' rights, women's rights and indigenous peoples' rights.

Agriculture committee  I would add, Monsieur Perron, that I think it's not just supply management, but stabilizing prices more broadly. There are a lot of tools. Supply management is an important one. I think the Canadian experience is something that can be shared. More importantly, what has been missing ever since the 1980s is an international system of stabilizing prices and supply management.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for your question, Mr. Turnbull. Most definitely they do. As I mentioned, and I'll expand upon on it, even if the war ended tomorrow and the pandemic ended tomorrow, we'd still be in a food crisis. The war in Ukraine, to build on what a previous witness said, exacerbated existing problems.

Agriculture committee  Indeed, I think I would wholeheartedly agree with that. Again, to give you a specific example, the problem with fertilizers and genetically modified seeds from a market perspective—there is an ecological problem, of course, and we can talk about that—is that it creates a dependency on a shrinking number of corporations.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, everybody. As the UN special rapporteur, I am the eyes, ears and good conscience of the UN system when it comes to the right to food. That means that the UN Human Rights Council has mandated me to regularly report to them and the UN General Assembly on matters regarding hunger, malnutrition and famine from a human rights perspective.