Discussions surrounding new Canadian and Quebec food laws and policies not only focus on the importance of healthy, nutritious and safe food for all Canadians, but also the impact of individual and collective choices in this area on health, environment and the economy. These policies, which are currently being developed, will provide a new framework for Canadians to think about food security and will necessarily underpin important legislative changes.

In this context, it is most relevant to question the roles that agrifood law can and must play. Also, the 3rd edition of the Conference on Canadian Food Law and Policy, to be held at Laval University between September 25 and 27, 2018, has the main objective of presenting and discussing Canadian law as a source of social innovation, changes in agribusiness and more broadly in food diversity and food security.

The challenges are many and important: noncommunicable diseases, food fraud the safety of food entering our territory, climate change, food security among indigenous people, etc. Addressing these challenges through policy and law requires creativity, while at the same time we have to deal with the framework of Canadian commitments on the international scene, including liberalization of agricultural and food trade and standardization.

Nevertheless, Canadian agrifood law knows how to innovate and this conference will be an opportunity to see this richness while reflecting on ways to make this law even more relevant to achieving greater diversity and food security for all Canadians in terms of new food policy guidelines.

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