The NFU

Now Hiring! La Via Campesina North America Region – Part-time Communication Specialist

The National Farmers Union of Canada invites you to apply for the following position: La Via Campesina North America Region – Part-time Communication Specialist A communication specialist is required to support the ten (10) organizations that make up the North American Region of La Via Campesina. La Via Campesina is an international movement bringing together Read more

NFU History in the Making

Celebrating 50 years of fighting for fairness

For more than 50 years, the National Farmers Union members have been on the front lines, defending farmers’ interests and advocating for better ways. The NFU has taken on — and very often won — the difficult but critical struggles within the Canadian agricultural and food systems. This booklet, prepared for the NFU’s 50th anniversary Read more

National Farmers Union urges action to end gender-based violence

(Perth, ON) — On Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Gender Based Violence, the National Farmers Union (NFU) remembers the 14 young women who were brutally murdered at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal in a heinous act of gender-based violence on December 6, 1989. The NFU recognizes the disproportionate levels of violence directed against Read more

Katie Ward returned as NFU President

NFU National Election Results 2019

(Saskatoon, December 3, 2019) – Katie Ward was re-elected by acclamation as President of the National Farmers Union at the 50th Annual National Convention held in Winnipeg, November 24 to 27, 2019. Results of the national officers elections are as follows: Katie Ward of Woodlawn, ON, acclaimed as President Coral Sproule of Perth, ON, acclaimed as Read more

NFU-NB to host La Via Campesina Youth Conference, Nov 11 – 15

International youth delegates will gather for a week to discuss topics including climate justice, popular peasant feminism and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants. Read more

Union Farmer Quarterly: Fall 2019

In this issue: Messages from the Editorial Advisory Committee, President Katie Ward, Youth President Stuart Oke; Regional Coordinators It’s a blast from the past! In celebration of the NFU’s 50th Anniversary, we are profiling some of the folks who have held national elected positions over the years, including Ann Slater, NFU Vice President (Policy), 2013 Read more

La Via Campesina response to USMCA

The original North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA, or TLCAN) devastated rural communities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. From displacing peasants in Mexico and forcing millions of them to migrate north, to the forced removal of trade protections for family farmers in Canada and the United States, the 1990s experiment with free trade Read more

Celebrating Evelyn Potter’s life and reflecting on the impact of her work

I first heard the name Evelyn Potter at my first National Farmers Union Convention in Ottawa in 2009. It was the 40th Anniversary of the NFU. Unfortunately Evelyn was unable to attend in person as planned, but her written address was read to the convention as the NFU’s First Women’s president to mark this significant Read more

Farmers’ right to seed is a matter of principle

by Ann Slater Last December the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. This declaration was brought forward by La Via Campesina (LVC) – a global movement which brings together organizations representing small- and medium-scale farmers, peasants, agricultural workers, rural women and indigenous communities. The Read more

The NFU and La Via Campesina demand peasant rights NOW

On April 17th each year La Via Campesina (LVC), the international movement of 200 million peasants, small and medium-size farmers, landless people, rural women and youth, Indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers from around the world, commemorates the massacre of landless peasants in Eldorado dos Carajás, Brazil in 1996. The peasants were slaughtered while struggling Read more