Canadian aid officials ‘couldn’t make it’ to the major UN meeting this week at the half way point in the 20 year campaign to halve global hunger. They left it to two mid-level Agriculture and Agri-food Canada staff to fill the chairs for the usually large Canadian delegation. Ten years ago, at the start of this campaign linked the World Food Summit, hundreds of Canadians were recruited by the government to contribute to Canada’s preparation, participation and follow up from the Summit. At that Summit the Canadian delegation included two cabinet ministers, several other politicians and a small crowd of bureaucrats. Now the Canadians attending from farm organizations and development non-organizational organizations are ashamed to see Canada’s passionate words of commitment in 1996 diminished to an often-single lonely official at this important conference. To be fair, several other rich countries have also sent small delegations. But they didn’t take Canada’s high profile role at the start.

How have we have come to this point. From the brave plans of a decade ago, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization reported this week that the number of hungry people will not be halved by the target date of 2015 – that might happen by 2050. It’s easy to see why. Canada, like others, has continued to largely ignore the economy of rural areas in developing countries. This is a vital engine for reducing hunger and its fuel tank is almost empty. Nor has our trade policy at the WTO done enough to ensure that rural economies in the poorer developing countries thrive – in fact our strong ‘right to export’ approach threatens to undermine these economies.

While the well-fed have largely chosen to avoid the inconvenient truth of their failures, the hungry are here. The direct representatives of the hungry in developing countries – small farmers, farm worker unions, indigenous peoples groups, artisanal fishers – are, for the first time, are being allowed to take the floor. They are explaining, to anyone listening, the straight forward steps that will help them feed themselves. In comment after comment they call for development assistance for the activities that they identify, help plan and implement and for international policies that don’t keep taking away the supports that are essential for their survival. Over the past decade they have formed organizations to give them a voice. They are here … but will anyone hear? Canadian decision makers won’t because they ‘can’t make it’.