The Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security has awarded four scholarships totaling $60,000 to graduate students researching food insecurity in Canada. Each recipient will receive $15,000 for the 2026/27 academic year.
Scholarship Recipients and Their Research
The scholarships, named after former Maple Leaf Foods Board Chairs David Emerson, Wallace McCain, Purdy Crawford, and W. Geoffrey Beattie, support Masters or Doctoral students whose work addresses food insecurity. This year's recipients are Alexandra Doran (Simon Fraser University), Firoozeh Bairami Hekmati (Dalhousie University), Diego Bitencourt Minas (Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue), and Sian Borden (Queen's University).
Alexandra Doran will investigate how food and housing insecurity intersect for single mothers in Canada, using both data and lived experiences to identify solutions. Firoozeh Bairami Hekmati will examine the impact of Old Age Security programs on food security among low-income older adults in Atlantic Canada. Diego Bitencourt Minas will study how urban food environments affect Indigenous people in Maniwaki and Gatineau, focusing on community efforts to preserve traditional food practices. Sian Borden will collaborate with African Nova Scotian communities to understand local food systems and support community-led food sovereignty initiatives.
Impact and Context
“Food insecurity rates in Canada remain at alarming levels, which requires us to remain curious about how to approach the problem for different groups of people,” said Sarah Stern, Executive Director of the Centre. “These research projects will help to build our understanding of at-risk populations and how government policies and community programs can best support them.”
Since the scholarship program began in 2020, 25 students have received funding. The Centre aims to reduce food insecurity in Canada by 50% by 2030 through research, cross-sector partnerships, and policy solutions. Maple Leaf Foods, the parent company, is a major food processor listed on the TSX (MFI).
