When the infant formula shortage crisis hit Canada and the United States in 2022, it revealed a vulnerability of the industrial food system – and distanced us from the United Nation's Zero Hunger goal.
For Dr. Lesley Frank (PhD'13), Acadia University's Canada Research Chair in Food, Health and Social Justice, responding to the crisis – and tackling the broader problem of food insecurity for families in Canada – was not new. Her research over more than 15 years showed that formula and breastfeeding are part of a larger unsustainable food system made worse for families who are also experiencing economic hardship.
In her book published in 2020, Out of Milk: Infant Food Insecurity in a Rich Nation, she explored "the breastfeeding paradox – that those who are least able to afford formula are also most likely to use it." Her work found that "the sustainability of any food system is determined by whether the producers of a given item can afford to feed themselves and aren't suffering economic hardship. Breastfeeding infants becomes unsustainable if the producer (the mother) has no economic protection for the labour required."
Lesley has been intimately involved in trying to alleviate poverty and food insecurity for decades, first on the front lines of community outreach programs in the Annapolis Valley, and then as an academic, producing evidence-based research to put in front of decision and policy makers. While studying for a master's degree at Acadia University and still working for a local non-profit, she coordinated one of Canada's first pre-natal nutrition programs, a community-based project to address nutritional needs of those who were pregnant and children in infancy. She also played a pivotal role in creating an annual report card on child and family poverty in Nova Scotia, something she's continued for the last 25 years.
She then moved to Fredericton to obtain a PhD in sociology at UNB, while a single mother of four. "I had been working with families in crisis for a number of years and it was becoming overwhelming," she recalls. "The unanswered questions I saw on a daily basis in the community haunted me, so I decided to get a PhD so that I would have the credentials and evidence to put in front of decision makers, and hopefully find some answers."
"I had a great package of financial support to study at UNB, and I loved it there. It's where I began my examination of food insecurity among infants, and came to the conclusion that the solutions lie in creating the economic and social conditions necessary for optimal infant feeding, such as ensuring families have access to adequate parental leave and other income supports."
Lesley moved home and continued her work at Acadia University as a professor of sociology, focusing on family poverty and food insecurity, and in 2020 was named Tier II Canada Research Chair in Food, Health and Social Justice. Her research has established family and early childhood food insecurity as an urgent nutrition, health and social equity problem in Canada requiring enhanced monitoring and national action. She and her research team at the Fed Family Lab are developing survey tools and analyzing the causes and social impacts of food insecurity and are also collaborating with other academics and community stakeholders in the hopes of supporting policies that will strengthen the well-being of all Canadians.
"We can collectively hold governments to account to demand evidence-based policy making."
She's already had some success. "Improvements are happening and I believe the research is making an impact," she says. "For instance, starting in 2025, Nova Scotia's income assistance program will be indexed to inflation, meaning that payments increase annually based on the consumer price index. That's an important step that finally happened because of our persistent reporting and policy recommendations. With evidence, we can collectively hold governments to account to demand evidence-based policy making."
In fact, she's become an international leader in disseminating food insecurity research and policy analysis, and has been called to work with countries around the globe. "It's policies and better social supports that will solve food insecurity. While food banks and community outreach programs are necessary when people are in crisis, it takes public interventions like enhancements to child benefit programs, better maternity leave programs, increased senior's pensions, and better student financial support to eliminate the problem."
She affirms that she will doggedly keep working for change. "With this type of sociology, we always link people's everyday experiences to decision-makers. We need more evidence-based policy-making. I'm very persistent. I'm doing this for my community and my neighbours, locally and globally. That's what drives me."
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