Diagnosing community food system governance: jurisdictional complexity, structural constraints, and rural food system inequities in Western Canada

Community governance has emerged as a key strategy for advancing resilient and sustainable food systems, particularly in small and rural municipalities. Yet community actors frequently govern food systems without formal authority over land, infrastructure, markets, or policy, raising questions about the limits and possibilities of community-led governance. This study examines how multi-actor community food governance operates under such conditions and the implications for resilience, sustainability, and justice. Using a qualitative, community-engaged case study of Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada, the research draws on semi-structured interviews with 18 participants representing municipal government, public health, education, housing, Indigenous-serving organizations, and community food organizations, alongside analysis of local food and planning documents. The study applies a diagnostic governance lens to examine how layered institutional, political-economic, and epistemic conditions shape community food governance practices and outcomes. Findings indicate that community governance arrangements play a critical role in sustaining food access, fostering social cohesion, and responding to disruptions such as supply chain interruptions and climate-related infrastructure vulnerability. However, governance responses remain largely reactive. Authority, resources, and legitimacy are structured primarily beyond the community scale, limiting the capacity of local actors to pursue transformative food system change. In addition, expert-driven policy frameworks tend to privilege technocratic approaches, constraining relational, place-based, and equity-oriented governance practices. The study advances a diagnostic approach to community food governance that clarifies why well-intentioned interventions may stabilize existing inequitable food systems rather than transform them. By identifying the structural conditions shaping local governance capacity, the research offers empirically grounded insights for strengthening community governance pathways toward more resilient, sustainable, and just food futures.