Youth Advocacy in Agrifood Policy: Inside the World Food Forum Quebec Youth Chapter | That’s a Food Job! #134

Cate Laskey is Co-Founder for Resource Mobilization at the World Food Forum Quebec Chapter and an Agrifood Systems Ad Hoc Delegate with the McGill Youth Advisory Delegation (MYAD). Jeanne Gonelle is Former Director of MYAD for the 2025-2026 term. Laia Charles Saigne is also a Co-Founder of the World Food Forum Quebec Chapter and a former CSocD64 and UNFCITC INC4 Delegate with MYAD.

All three got their start through MYAD, a UN-accredited advocacy organization, before building the Quebec chapter into a space where students, academics, and policymakers can work together on agrifood issues. Between them they bring backgrounds in economics and history, political science, and environmental studies to a shared goal: getting youth voices into agrifood policy conversations before decisions are already made.

What We Cover in This Episode

Cate, Jeanne, and Laia break down what the World Food Forum actually is, how a local youth chapter gets built from scratch, and why the agrifood system needs more young people at the table, not just as a formality. They dig into what food insecurity really means (it is not just about quantity, but nutritional adequacy too), how policy actually gets made behind the scenes, and what advocacy looks like day to day. This is part one of a two part series.

Watch the Episode Below

Links

• Cate Laskey LinkedIn
• Jeanne Gonelle LinkedIn
• Laia Charles LinkedIn
• Quebec Youth Chapter of the World Food Forum (FAO) LinkedIn
• McGill Youth Advisory Delegation LinkedIn
• World Food Forum Website
• McGill Youth Advisory Delegation Website

Timestamps

• 00:00 – Intro
• 01:59 – What Is the World Food Forum
• 03:08 – Founding the Quebec Youth Chapter
• 05:46 – Chapter Goals & Breaking Silos
• 09:38 – Agri-Food in Quebec Explained
• 11:54 – Defining Food Insecurity
• 16:43 – Why They Got Involved
• 23:05 – NGOs & Policy Explained
• 29:07 – What Advocacy Actually Looks Like
• 35:43 – Barriers to Youth Participation
• 37:50 – How Policies Actually Get Made
• 40:39 – Measuring Real Impact
• 44:03 – Proudest Moments
• 52:53 – Advice for Getting Involved