Working towards good food as the central heartbeat of Peter-McGill.

Two Mondays per month, we host markets which provide access to beautiful, local, affordable food through a social-tiered pricing system. 

Our community kitchens exist to: reduce food waste; provide culinary and job training; make meals and baked goods to sell at markets and; for you to take a portion home of whatever we make!

More than just being a food distribution center, we aim to educate and engage members on community events, the food system as a whole, as well as inviting them to join us in fixing system injustices that affect us all.

Innovation Assistance has an ever-growing catering service! We love to cater because it’s a great way to decrease food waste, offer employment opportunities to our members and Connections students, and serve the organizations in the neighbourhood! 

Two Wednesdays per month, we bring the market to low-income seniors homes in Peter-McGill - increasing seniors' access to good food both in the physical and economic sense.

Accessible green spaces in a neighbourhood where there are not enough; education around environmental and agriculture issues; job training for youth in need and; beautiful and extremely local produce for the market!

Coins Cuisines is a neighbourhood-wide initiative to remove barriers between residents and create beautiful food! The program consists of a kitchen equipment library and a shared community kitchen space.

Everyone is welcome to come shop at our markets at the non-member price, which is about 50% of regular grocery store prices.

If you are in need of further assistance, apply to become a member!

Our Impact

It’s not all about numbers, but here’s a snapshot of what’s going on at Innovation Assistance with the support of community members, donors, and partners!

Volunteer

Are you passionate about food? Do you find value in serving and building relationships with your community? Sign up here to join us!

Support our work

If you believe in our mission, please consider becoming a donor. Your contributions have a lasting impact on our organization, providing consistent funding that allows us to stay ahead of the work that needs to be done.

Shop as a non-member

Shopping at our markets as a non-member is a great way to support our work as it helps make the markets more financially independent. This gives us the capacity to accept more shoppers at the member price.

Land Acknowledgement

Innovation Assistance exists on land that was stolen from its traditional stewards, the Kanien'kehà:ka (Mohawk). We call it “unceded,” which means that even though there were agreements made between settlers and the Kanien'kehà:ka, those agreements didn’t involve settlers taking over the land in the way that we did. Those agreements did, however, model living together in peace and mutual benefit, using the image of two canoes traveling down the same river together. We seek to follow that model, in hope and in humility, as we exchange knowledge and learn together, activities for which this land of Tiohtià:ke (Montréal) has always been a site.