Honourable senators, I rise today to highlight the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization, also known as the FAO. The FAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.

As we know, the pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine, in addition to climate change and supply chain instabilities, have placed unprecedented stress on global food systems. Earlier this week, the FAO and the World Food Programme released their Hunger Hotspots report, which highlighted that:

. . . an all-time high of up to 49 million people in 46 countries across the globe could be at risk of falling into famine or famine-like conditions, unless they receive immediate life and livelihoods-saving assistance.

This is a shocking statistic that deserves immediate attention. I am hopeful that this is an issue that is prioritized both domestically and internationally, by this chamber, by our colleagues in the other place and by governments around the world.

At this time, I’d like to thank the FAO, as well as Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol, who, as you know, is with us today in the Red Chamber, and her colleagues travelling with her for their continued efforts to achieve food security around the world.

As I’ve previously mentioned in this chamber and at the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, food security is also an issue right here at home. A poll recently conducted by Food Banks Canada found that one in five Canadians reported going hungry at least once between March 2020 and March 2022, and almost a quarter of Canadians reported eating less than they should due to rising prices.

And, as we have all seen during our trips to the grocery store or to the gas station, the war in Ukraine, in combination with other factors I previously mentioned, has further exacerbated what were already steadily rising food and energy prices. While we are facing increased costs at the store and the gas station, we can, unfortunately, expect to see the situation grow even more dire in places that are dependent on agri-food products coming out of Ukraine and Russia.

Honourable colleagues, I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight the connection that our grain industry shares with that of Ukraine. In fact, you could say that:

The entire development of Canada’s wheat industry, the most renowned in the world, is due mainly to this single Ukrainian grain of wheat.

This is from the late research biologist Stephan Symko’s posthumous monograph, From a single seed, which found that Red Fife — Canada’s oldest wheat — and its many hybrids, descended from a single grain of Halychanka wheat grown in western Ukraine that found its way into a shipment of winter wheat in 1842.

With this intrinsic relationship in mind, I am hopeful that Canada will continue to help Ukraine not only work out options on how to export their already-stored grain, but also to help address the global food security concerns through our own domestic grain production. Thank you, meegwetch.