Abstract:
This article explores a new government policy in Quebec, the Plan de développement d'une communauté nourricière (plan for developing food self-reliant communities), and its possibilities as a niche for socio-territorial innovation. Beyond the issue of food, the policy creates an opportunity to bring together sectors and actors within local communities and local territories that have been distanced or completely disconnected from each other in the ascending trajectory of capitalism, which has led to the devitalisation of local communities. We examine the application of the policy by Saint-Camille, a rural municipality in Quebec where many experiments and social innovations in rural development have been carried out, and explore the new policy's potential as well as certain limitations.