Food For Life: How Some Organizations in Ottawa Are Addressing The Food Insecurity Gap

Food for Life:  How Some Organizations in Ottawa are Addressing the Food Insecurity GapThis panel of community leaders, experts and speakers from the Ottawa area,who are actively working to address food insecurity in our community, will be joining us to share some important and encouraging information. Learn how innovative gardening initiatives, urban agriculture and special community partnerships are helping to bridge the food gap. Discover how horticulture can play a vital role in creating a more equitable and sustainable food system and how dedication, commitment and hope can help fill the food insecurity gap.
Peter TilleyCEO, Ottawa Mission
Peter Tilley has been the CEO of The Ottawa Mission since June 2013. The Ottawa Mission is one of Canada’s largest and most innovative downtown shelters for the homeless, providing a full range of services to those in its sector.
Prior to The Mission, Peter served for 14 years as the Executive Director of the Ottawa
Food Bank, leading that organization to become recognized as one of the most visible, progressive and respected food banks in Canada.
Peter has served as a part-time professor at Algonquin College, where he taught Non-profit Management and Strategic Planning & Leadership. Peter was a 2012 and 2017 Ontario Premier’s Award nominee; in 2017, he was recognized as one of Algonquin College’s top Alumnus members at its 50-year celebration ceremony.
He currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Ottawa Inner City Health and is on the board of the Alliance To End Homelessness Ottawa.  Peter volunteers with several Ottawa-based organizations.
He is the Father to an amazing daughter, Samantha, and has recently been blessed with a beautiful granddaughter, Skylar.
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Nelson CoyleCarlington Community Health Centre (Board Director) and Founding Member of the Healthful Food Working Group 

Nelson Coyle is an agricultural economist and a retired professional agrologist. He held policy and communications roles at the Canadian Dairy Commission, Chicken Farmers of Canada, the House of Commons office of the federal NDP Agriculture and Food critic and the National Farmers Union. He grew up on a small egg and market garden farm near Roseneath in Eastern Ontario. He has had an allotment garden on Kilborn Avenue for 40 years and began volunteering as a gardener in the community after early retirement in 2011. He is a founding member of the Healthful Food Working Group which is a joint project of the Carlington Community Association and the Carlington Community Health Centre.
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Carla De CiccioDirector of Marketing, Growcer 

Carla De Ciccio leads marketing at Growcer, where she helps scale purpose-driven initiatives that make local food production more accessible and sustainable. With nearly 15 years of experience across technology, higher education, and healthcare, she has focused her career on growing organizations that drive social impact. Carla holds an MBA in Innovation and
Entrepreneurship from the University of Ottawa and believes the most meaningful work happens when communities, ideas, and people grow together.
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Cecilia Lee:  Ottawa Horticultural Society Board Member and Co-coordinator of the Community Impact Program
Cecilia Lee, is an Ottawa Horticultural Society Board member who has played a key role in the past year in co-leading the Society’s Community Impact Program, where financial assistance has been provided to various organizations in Ottawa, some of which involve community gardens where food is being shared with food banks and those in need. Her interest in gardening stems from childhood where her family had a home garden to grow produce not easily found in the Maritimes, where she grew up.
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Rachael Wilson:  CEO, Ottawa Food Bank
Rachael Wilson is the CEO of the Ottawa Food Bank.  She has  been a member of the Ottawa Food Bank’s executive team as the Director, Communications & Development for over five years. Prior to joining the Ottawa Food Bank staff team, Rachael held high-level positions within the      charitable sector for most of her 20-year career. As a Certified Fund-Raising Executive, Rachael is well-versed in what it means to be a leader in this landscape.
Since joining the Ottawa Food Bank, she has played an integral role in the strategic planning process and setting the direction for the organization, while also providing strategic counsel to Food Banks Canada as it relates to fundraising and best practices.
Prior to shifting priorities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rachael helped make great strides in lobbying the City to implement a Poverty Reduction Strategy and helped to bring the issue of food insecurity in temporary emergency shelters to the table. She has also worked in partnership to ensure food security was part of the last federal and municipal elections. Rachael was born and raised in Ottawa. Although she has left a few times she always comes back to her hometown. She lives here with her husband, two children and her golden retriever, Rosie.
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Tom Robson:  Coordinator, Community Harvest Farm (Ottawa Food Bank)
Tom Robson has played a key role in the Community Harvest Farm coordination the operations for the past 6 growing seasons. The Community Harvest Farm, one of the Ottawa Food Bank’s active programs, produces over 150,000 lbs of mixed produce per season, to increase the quality and quantity of fresh and healthy food that is being distributed to emergency food programs across Ottawa. Moreover, the farm is “people-powered”  by engaging over 1,100 volunteers per season, who collectively provide over 5,000 hours of service to support the farm’s goals. Prior to the Community Harvest, Tom spent many seasons working for vegetable farms in the charitable and education sectors.
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Discover the Full 2026 Speaker LineupWe invite you to explore inspiring season of presentations curated by our Speaker Series Program Leads. Follow the link below to view the complete lineup of speakers, learn about their areas of expertise, and dive into their profiles. It’s a remarkable collection of voices shaping the horticultural conversation in Ottawa and beyond.
View the Speaker Series 2026 Program