Dignity and Joy

This conversation between Dignity and Joy’s host Sheldomar Elliott and guest Vivien Sansour — Palestinian artist, storyteller, researcher and conservationist — will break listeners’ hearts and put them back together again. In the face of the ongoing violence and occupation in her home country, Vivien, founder of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, generously takes the time to share the lessons she has learned through her fight to retain and sustain culturally significant food relics. As Vivien and Sheldomar discuss the ways our climate, and society (for better or worse), continue to change, Vivien stresses the importance of taking action now; not waiting to create the change we wish to see. Inspiring us with an Arabic saying “البطن بستان” or “albatn bustan” meaning “the belly is a garden”, she reminds us that we are all connected and that our own existence need not negate the existence of another.

Host Sheldomar Elliott is joined by colleague Hansel Igbavboa, Right to Food Campaign Coordinator at FoodShare, to reflect on some of the wisdom shared by the constellation of brilliant folks who make up the FoodShare universe. Equipped with clips from discussions at FoodShare’s 2023 virtual Annual General Meeting and 2021 Right to Food Town Hall, they discuss the necessity of a food just future. Along with insight from activists, farmers, educators and more, guest Hansel tells it like it is, and how it ought to be. Listening to the determination of these two collaborators to advance food sovereignty will light a fire in your belly to get to work manifesting the Toronto you want, too.

In this episode of Dignity and Joy, host Sheldomar Elliott chats with Paul Taylor, who served as Executive Director of FoodShare for nearly six years. Hear all about Paul’s early career days, his time at FoodShare and beyond, as well as his journey as a Black leader having a seat at (or dancing on!) the table while serving up food justice.

In the final episode of season 1 of Dignity and Joy, host Sheldomar Elliott speaks with Laura Hammond, Co-Founder of the Birchmount Community Action Council and mom of 6. Laura discusses her life and her work, and how her community came together amid the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food insecurity.

In this episode of Dignity and Joy, host Sheldomar Elliott sits down with Sheldon Caruana, a young activist passionate about strengthening Black communities through agriculture and education. Sheldon discusses his experience with community-based research on food insecurity and his time as Coordinator at the Black Youth Farming Collective.

In this episode of Dignity and Joy, host Sheldomar Elliott speaks with Jaelyn Jarrett, an Afro-Indigenous activist who grew up in Nain, Nunatsiavut. Jaelyn discusses her experience being mixed race Guyanese and Inuk, and how food can act as a tool for bringing communities together and closer to their culture and histories.