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At the beginning of COVID, because of the limited supply of products for first nations, the community of Lac Brochet started to have a community fridge where it stored fish and game, so that people could come and just access that in the community.

That was a good way to start, because traditionally, that is how things were done. When you killed a moose, it was not your moose, it was the community's moose. The community returned to that practice, and it helped sustain it throughout that rough part of not having the stores stocked.

That is a good way of dealing with that. If we can have that continue, perpetuate that in a healthy way, and have it monitored, I think that is a way to go.

It provides therapy for young people, because when they do these things, it brings healing and calmness to their spirits and minds. That's why we have such a high rate of suicide, because they don't have access to the land. The land heals when we are allowed to exercise our rights. We're going to have fewer mental and emotional problems with our first nations, in a nutshell.

I'm glad you brought up youth. I was on the Assembly of First Nations Youth Council many years ago. I've talked to people from northern Manitoba, and they have mentioned the lack of connection with the environment, and the mental health impact that is having.

Can you speak about the impact that is having on the mental health of youth, and whether you're getting a lot of outmigration, namely, youth leaving the communities?

Yes, that is the challenge in first nations. When you have the reality of 85% unemployment, there is very little opportunity, and that escalates into a lot of things. They try to alleviate their pain, and they turn to drugs and alcohol. They leave the community. When they leave the community, it sets up a cycle of homelessness, and all kinds of challenges if they don't have the education to secure a job.

COVID has really shone the light on a lot of the deficiencies and inadequate programs that we have in first nations, because the youth are the largest demographic. They're the ones who suffer the most. In a first nations community where they're isolated, they are now in quarantine. It exacerbates the problems. As a result, there are many mental health issues.

Being out on the land, and having access to the land, is the way our people heal themselves. That's all connected with food security. It's all connected, and everything is interrelated in our culture.

I'm glad you talked about education as well, and one of the biggest pushes—as someone from the Mi'kmaq community—is returning to land-based education.

Could you speak to us about any promising practices, or what's going on in your communities and the MKO communities about restoring that land-based learning and the connection with the environment?

Providing that the schools are adequately funded, you can have a very successful land-based program. The Misipawistik Cree Nation is where I come from. I am a former teacher. Our school had programs, land-based language and first nations studies. I was a teacher in first nations studies.

We had a land-based program, and I could see first-hand how that helped the self-esteem of the students, the pride they got when they were able to access fish for families and whatnot. It is something that has been attacked. Our culture has been attacked, but the only way we can recover is by having access to the land which will provide food security for us.

We now go to Ms. Bérubé, for six minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I am pleased that you are participating in this committee. I find it very important, given the crisis and insecurity we are experiencing, especially in terms of food.

I represent the constituency of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou in Northern Quebec. The communities I represent are Cree and Anishnaabe.

My question is for the three witnesses here today.

How do you describe the factors that contribute to food insecurity and its consequences in each of your regions?

What's happening in the north with CAP.... We have what we call PTOs, which are members of CAP on our board of directors. We have three of them up in the northern area, and we try to reach out as much as we can.

A lot of it has to do with transportation. We try to get non-perishable goods because one of the big things in the northern area is your fruits and your vegetables.

As well, with regard to our grassroots people, we don't have the sources to be able hunt and fish and store away for the winter months because the federal government doesn't recognize us as people to be able to do that.

With the COVID-19 funding, we struggle, and we do our best. We have some great people who help. In areas that we can get to, we help out and make sure they get enough food that will last them for a month. Then if they need—well, I know they need—help later, we do it all over again.

Food security is a big problem, but there has to be a way of working it out. I've listened to Ms. Nikkel and the grand chief. It may be stretching it a little bit far, but maybe we should be looking at the army. They have helicopters. They have stuff sitting around not doing anything. Maybe we should look at, not employing them, but giving them a routine what-do-you-call-it, where they go out and recruit and load the helicopters up with food for all the communities.

Yes, we have our boys and women overseas, but, you know, we still have people here. Let's use their helicopters. Let that be part of their contribution to this pandemic. Let each one of us, as organizations, put in some money. Let's say for CAP, for instance, with our PTOs in the northern area. Let's throw in a couple of hundred thousand dollars and the same with the grand chief and maybe with Ms. Nikkel as well—and not just them but MNC, the Assembly of First Nations, and ITK. If everybody throws a big pot of money in there and says, “Okay, we're going to deliver this, and it's going to be the army that does the delivery....”

Now for the infrastructure, we may have to have the government go in and build helicopter pads or clear out a spot where these big helicopters can land.

I've been thinking about this for awhile since the northern people are having so much trouble. You know, it's an idea.

As MPs, you could maybe take that up the ladder and say, “Listen. This is what we're hearing. You know, these helicopters, they can fly anywhere in just about any kind of weather. Let's put them to use.”

You have a minute and a half.

I'm done now.

Madame Bérubé.

I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question?

Let me repeat my question.

What factors contribute to food insecurity and what consequences does it have in each of your regions?

I'm just going to start by saying that I am, again, not an expert in this at all. We work with partners and just listen to what they need.

Second Harvest is just opt in. We have food. Whoever wants it can have it, and it's perishable.

The indigenous working group was led by Joseph LeBlanc and Elisa Levi, who have worked in food systems in indigenous communities for many years. What kept popping up was this lack of centralization. Where is this one place, this indigenous-led place, where we could say, “Okay, do you have it covered? Where are all the places we can send it?” I'm not even sure if that's possible, but I know that that was a huge barrier in the beginning. We've created systems to ensure that we could get food places, but we're doing the best we can without actually knowing this centralized place to help us get food.

As soon as you said to bring in the military, I thought, “That's brilliant. Oh my gosh, of course,” because we have the food; it is really just the transportation and understanding where the needs are—and understanding also the complexity of the cold chain.

Thank you.

Ms. Blaney, please go ahead for six minutes.