Barbara Emanuel

Barbara Emanuel is Chair of the RUAF Board and was previously a member of the RUAF Global Partnership. Barbara recently retired after working for 30 years at the City of Toronto. As Manager of the Toronto Food Strategy she led a team that incubated numerous initiatives to promote a healthy, sustainable food system for Toronto. This required collaboration and leveraging resources from multiple City Departments as well as engagement with the provincial and federal government. The food strategy applied an equity and food system lens to all policies and initiatives. The food strategy team also worked closely with community food leaders and food-related not for profit organizations, thus ensuring grounded and effective food policy and action. Barbara was also responsible for the Toronto Food Policy Council, the longest established multi-stakeholder council at the municipal level. Throughout her career, Barbara has been active at the global level through multiple organizations. Barbara was a member of the MUFPP steering committee for a number of years, helped support the Food Systems Working Group supported by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, GAIN and a number of global food organizations and is currently engaged in some market related initiatives through GAIN. Barbara was also a founding member of the C40 Food Systems Working Group.