Discussion Are Farmers Safe In Canada?

This is the topic for the National Citizens Inquiry for 2026. The NCI is a citizen led and citizen funded special hearings. The NCI is volunteer run and completely independent of government.
It began during covid to examine Canada's response to covid. The governments at all levels made decisions that affected the lives of almost every Canadian.
In 2023, the NCI held 24 days of hearings in eight cities from Truro to Vancouver to learn how all levels of government responded to covid. At the end of the hearings the NCI released the Commissioners' final report. The Commissioners' findings and positive recommendations have shaken the nation.
In 2024-2025 the NCI continued with a new topic..."Are Children Safe In Canada".
The 2026 NCI hearings are about to beginning. The topic is "Are Farmers Safe In Canada". These hearings may have some insights into some of the questions local residents have regarding the expropriation of our local farmland in Wilmot township.
The first hearing is being held in Kelowna, BC. March 9-11
The hearings are livestreamed and recorded.

the following link can be used to listen

The National Citizen's Inquiry (NCI)

I think citizen-led initiatives like the National Citizens Inquiry are important because they create a space for discussion that isn't directly controlled by government institutions. Whether people agree with the findings or not, having hearings where individuals can present experiences and evidence around major policy decisions (like those made during COVID-19) is valuable for transparency and accountability.

The upcoming focus on whether farmers are safe in Canada is also timely, especially with the concerns people have been raising around farmland expropriation in places like Wilmot Township. Agriculture is a critical part of Canada’s economy and food security, so hearing directly from farmers and rural communities could provide perspectives that often don’t get much national attention. I’ll probably tune in to the first hearings in Kelowna to see what information comes out of it.

Im curious to hear what your opinions are on the matter and if you have any thoughts on the subject, we're trying to encourage discussion so when you post please try to include at least an opinion to create discussion and not just repost information. If you want to just repost information go to one of the two links in which the information would pertain to: Waterloo Region Information Archive , Waterloo Region: Global issues

KameronM said:

I think citizen-led initiatives like the National Citizens Inquiry are important because they create a space for discussion that isn't directly controlled by government institutions. Whether people agree with the findings or not, having hearings where individuals can present experiences and evidence around major policy decisions (like those made during COVID-19) is valuable for transparency and accountability....

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I agree with Kameron that the idea of citizens organizing hearings is interesting, but I think it’s also important to approach something like the National Citizens Inquiry critically. Since it isn’t an official government inquiry, it doesn’t have the same legal powers, standards for evidence, or cross-examination that a formal commission would have.

That doesn’t mean the discussions aren’t useful, but I think people should treat it more like a public forum or advocacy platform rather than a definitive investigation. If they’re talking about farmers and farmland policy, it would be helpful if they also brought in agricultural economists, policy experts, and representatives from farming organizations so the conversation stays balanced.

Both of you make good points. I think the biggest value of something like the NCI is that it keeps issues in the public eye. Even if it’s not an official inquiry, it can still push conversations that governments might otherwise avoid. With the farmland issue, for example, a lot of people in rural areas feel like decisions about land use are made without enough local input. If these hearings highlight concerns from farmers in places like Wilmot, that alone could be useful. That said, I’ll be interested to see how they handle evidence and whether they invite a broad range of viewpoints. If they do that well, it could make the hearings more credible and actually help move the conversation forward.

AnneM said:

This is the topic for the National Citizens Inquiry for 2026. The NCI is a citizen led and citizen funded special hearings. The NCI is volunteer run and completely independent of government...

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Watching this from an outside perspective, the National Citizens Inquiry is interesting because citizen-led hearings like this are becoming more common in a lot of countries. In the U.S., we’ve seen similar grassroots panels or independent commissions pop up when people feel official investigations didn’t fully answer their questions, especially after major events like the response to COVID-19.

What stands out to me is the focus on whether farmers are safe in Canada. In the United States, farmers have also been dealing with concerns about land use, government regulation, and large-scale development projects. So the issues being discussed in places like Wilmot Township actually sound pretty familiar.

Even if these hearings don’t have formal government authority, public discussions like this can still matter. Sometimes they influence public opinion enough that policymakers eventually have to respond. I’ll probably watch some of the livestream from Kelowna just out of curiosity to see how Canadians are approaching the issue.