The People's Potato is a vegan soup kitchen run out of Concordia University. The project was initiated in 1999 in order to address student poverty. The student population at Concordia is typically in debt, and has little access to nourishing organic and local foods. Our soup kitchen emphasizes serving well cooked, wholesome foods.

At the start, a group of dedicated students started cooking in a church basement and carried the food to the university. Since then, the project has expanded, and we now serve over five hundred students and community members daily from our kitchen on the 7th floor of the Hall building at Concordia.

We are committed not only to serving food to hungry students, but to broader goals of social justice and environmental sustainability.

We are a fee levy group and receive 37 cents per undergraduate credit. Throughout the academic year we also apply for different grants such as for work-study and the sustainable action fund. We also have a donation box.

Research description:


Project description:  The Midnight Kitchen is looking for someone to work on a research project about food safety and expiration dates found on food packaging. Ideally, this project would look into the market incentives behind expiration date labeling in comparison with the actual interval within which food is safe for consumption. The research could take nutritional perspective or focus more on political aspects (policy, historical trends, etc).

We're interested in this project in two ways. First, we'd like to use
this information in a larger political project on food waste. We might
turn some of this information into political posters in our serving
space, or into a zine/pamphlet to be distributed at servings. Second,
since MK uses donated surplus food that isn't always in prime
condition, it would be good to have more research on food safety.

Project description: This project will consist of a qualitative and quantitative systemic examination of the Montreal shelter system to determine the state of access for transsexual, transgender and gender-variant people in need of shelter and housing (with a possible specific focus on women`s shelters). Furthermore, the research will look at other cities which have successfully adapted their shelter system (such as Toronto and New York City) to improve access for trans people. The final research will be used in the context of the Trans Health Network`s Shelter Access campaign (to be launched in Fall 2009).

Final product: The final product will be a15-20 evaluation report, with a 2-3 page summary report (to be used for media and public awareness), summarizing the status of the Montreal shelter system, and compiling resources and making recommendations based on the successes of trans activists in other cities in implementing policy regarding trans access.

Project description: For the last several years, Pinay has been leading a campaign in Quebec to have domestic workers (many of whom are of Filipino origin) covered under the provincial CSST program (worker's compensation). Up until now, they have not been included under the CSST program because the Quebec government does not consider domestic workers to be actual workers. In order to push forward with this campaign, Pinay is looking for research which would prove that domestic work does in fact have impacts on the worker's health.

The student doing this research project will examine the health impacts and hazards of domestic work. Research should be conducted via primary (interviews with domestic workers – to be facilitated via Pinay) and secondary sources. Particular attention should be paid to cancer rates among domestic workers, chemical cleaner use, muscle injury, and stress factors.

Project description: Already there is substantial body of literature which addresses the impact of U.S. drug laws on incarceration.  Much less has been written on the issue in Canada.  As penal institutions, parole officers, and police “toughen up” their responses to drug infractions, it is crucial that Canadians know how drug laws affect incarceration practices and re-offending.

 Research would be both quantitative (statistical) and qualitative (literature and/or interviews), addressing the following questions: