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Results: 1 - 15 of 104
View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Tansi. Boozhoo. Good morning and hello.
First I want to acknowledge that I'm speaking to you from my office here in Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, in the city of Winnipeg, the homeland of the Métis nation and Treaty 1 territory.
This committee meeting comes at a time when our nation is grieving. The remains of the 215 children buried at the Kamloops Indian residential school sent shockwaves through our country. It has reignited a very important conversation and brought it back to the national consciousness.
I want to be very clear, reconciliation and the lives and well-being of indigenous peoples never stray from my mind. This is my focus and motivation as a minister and member of Parliament.
I am a proud citizen of the Métis Nation. I am honoured to live in and represent the constituency of Saint Boniface–Saint Vital. Louis Riel, who was born in Saint-Boniface and was laid to rest there, was never granted the same privilege that I am being granted. Louis Riel was democratically elected as a member of Parliament for the constituency of Provencher, not on one or two occasions but on three occasions, yet he was never allowed to rightfully take his seat in the House.
The opportunities that I have been granted are some that my ancestors would never have believed possible. I work every day with this knowledge; it drives and motivates my work.
As Minister of Northern Affairs, I strive to listen to northerners to ensure that their needs and priorities drive my department's work. A year and a half ago, when I was appointed minister, I stated that decisions for the north would no longer be made in Ottawa boardrooms. My team and I remain committed to that vision. We work for the north and with the north. That's why the Arctic and northern policy framework is so important to our combined work together.
The investments my department is seeking through supplementary estimates (A) are driven by this approach, focusing on the responses to COVID-19, as well as housing and infrastructure needs. The pandemic has highlighted what people have known for far too long, which is that indigenous peoples and northern communities have been underserved. Further, we have recently been reminded of the consequences of colonialism for indigenous peoples and communities.
We know that in Canada's north, food prices can be significantly higher than in the rest of Canada. Additional factors, such as geographic isolation, make northerners particularly at risk for food insecurity. This vulnerability has only been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, our government provided an additional $25 million to Nutrition North Canada to increase subsidy rates on nutritious food and essential hygiene items. Our government also introduced the harvesters support grant, which was co-developed with Inuit partners to help with costs related to hunting and harvesting, and to create greater access to traditional country foods. Building on this, and to address the ongoing concerns, the estimates in front of you provide $20 million in funding to maintain Nutrition North Canada measures introduced in April 2020.
These supplementary estimates also provide $50 million in 2021-22 for the Governments of Northwest Territories and Nunavut. There is $25 million each to respond to their short-term critical housing needs. I view these as down payments on the housing situation in the north. The need is clear and we are committed to closing the unacceptable gap that exists in the north. These amounts are intended to address immediate and pressing housing needs this year.
We recognize that more investment is required. From budget 2021, northerners will also benefit from the $2.5 billion in new funding through the national housing strategy, delivered by CMHC across Canada, and the $4.3 billion in new funding in distinctions-based indigenous infrastructure, which can include housing.
Mr. Chair, as I stated before, reconciliation is always at the forefront of my mind as minister. I'm working toward a renewed relationship between Canada and indigenous peoples, including through the Inuit-Crown partnership committee, that respects constitutionally guaranteed rights and is based on collaboration and co-operation.
I want to thank you again for this opportunity to meet with you virtually today.
I welcome your questions.
Thank you. Meegwetch.
Wade Thorhaug
View Wade Thorhaug Profile
Wade Thorhaug
2021-05-04 11:20
Thank you very much. Thank you to all the committee members for the invitation to speak today.
Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre is a charity based in Iqaluit that works to reduce barriers to healthy food in Nunavut, and we accomplish this through a variety of programs and advocacy work. I would also like to thank our national partners, Community Food Centres Canada, who worked with us on the brief submitted to this committee. Much of what I have to say has been mentioned by previous witnesses before this committee, but I will focus on a few important points.
First, you are no doubt all aware of the strong link between poverty and food insecurity, and it is no coincidence that the regions of Canada with the highest rates of food insecurity are also those with the highest rates of poverty. We cannot hope to address issues of food insecurity without first addressing lack of income. We feel strongly that boosting incomes for those living in poverty is the most impactful policy tool available. Research shows that increases in income lead to higher rates of reported food security, but recently we were able to see this first-hand. In the week that the Canada emergency response benefit, CERB, was first distributed in April 2020, demand for our emergency food services suddenly dropped by over two-thirds.
While lack of income is the principle driver of food insecurity, as you are also well aware the cost of living in the north is another major factor, particularly when it comes to food prices. The nutrition north Canada program was established to help rectify this problem, and while it undoubtedly benefits northern communities, it is worth taking stock of its shortcomings, particularly since 2021 marks the 10-year anniversary since its creation.
Natan Obed, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, pointed out before this committee in December that NNC is blind to income and benefits everyone living in an eligible community. As was mentioned by Mr. Wilson, in Nunavut, income disparities are larger than in the rest of Canada. One-fifth of the population earns over $80,000 a year, while over half of individuals earn less than $30,000.
It was demonstrated that food insecurity in Nunavut has actually increased since the implementation of NNC, based on one report, despite an increase in the quantity of subsidized food purchased in communities. One reason for this may be that the list of eligible items that are subsidized are more commonly consumed in higher-income households. In effect, NNC may disproportionately benefit higher-income households more than lower-income ones. It is worth asking whether NNC can be reworked to primarily benefit low-income households, or whether it should be replaced by an entirely different form of intervention.
Finally, I would like to highlight the often undervalued importance of our local food system. We are grateful for the addition of the harvesters support grant as part of the NNC program, but we hope this is just the start of sustained investments in local harvesters. There is an abundance of food in the Arctic that has sustained continuous settlement of the region for millennia, yet too often it is not considered a viable food industry. Supporting harvesters has a myriad of benefits to communities, including increased economic development, skills training and nutrition, but most importantly, food from the land has enormous cultural importance for Inuit and other indigenous groups in Canada.
Too often agricultural commodities are favoured over local foods. In addition to the nutrition north program, another example of prioritization of southern or commodity-based food systems is the emphasis placed on greenhouses as a potential solution. While there are several successful growing initiatives in the north, the output is low compared with the inputs required, and there is often a lack of community support to sustain them over the long term. In the case of Inuit Nunangat, we feel agricultural solutions are a distraction from what could ultimately be accomplished by focusing on the food system that is already established. We should be wary of perpetuating colonial methods when addressing issues in indigenous communities.
In closing, I would like to reiterate our recommendations to the committee: boost incomes for those living in food insecurity through tax credits or social assistance programs, re-evaluate nutrition north Canada to ensure that it primarily benefits lower-income households, and increase support for local hunters and harvesters.
I would also like to thank the committee for investing so much time and attention to this issue. We should not be content to live in a country where so many of our citizens are unable to meet their dietary needs, where food banks dot the landscape and where regions that were once food sovereign are dependent on subsidized imports.
We look forward to continued engagement with the government to seek sustainable, culturally appropriate and impactful solutions to food insecurity in our communities.
View Eric Melillo Profile
CPC (ON)
View Eric Melillo Profile
2021-05-04 11:30
I appreciate those comments. Thank you for going into more detail.
With the time I have left I will go back to you, Mr. Wilson. Hopefully, we can get to everyone else as well. We have heard some testimony, some suggestions about reforming nutrition north, specifically so that it goes directly to individuals living in the north rather than to retailers.
I guess I'm curious about two things: how you would see that benefiting the individuals themselves, and how potentially the retailers might be impacted by that. How might they have to adapt to that change if it were to be made?
Duane Wilson
View Duane Wilson Profile
Duane Wilson
2021-05-04 11:30
I'll attempt to answer the question, given that it's somewhat hypothetical.
At the heart of it, really, I think what we're actually talking about is boosting incomes. If we use Iqaluit as an example, where the NNC level one rate is $3.45 a kilogram and a four-litre of milk is four and a half kilograms, if the desire is to change the program entirely and, instead of subsidizing milk, to provide it in the form of income, then as long as everybody is prepared to live with the consequences that the unsubsidized milk is probably going to be priced—just doing the simple math—at between $15 and $20, that's probably an acceptable choice.
However, that's now reliant on the individuals taking that extra income and directing it to those nutritious perishable goods, and that is outside of my control. Those are the individual choices that people would make day in and day out.
It's important to recognize that you need to consider both halves of that equation equally, because the removal of the NNC subsidy is going to have some pretty significant consequences on the price side of the equation.
View Sylvie Bérubé Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I am on the territory of the Cree and Anishinaabe of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou. It is a very large territory, covering almost half of Quebec.
My sincere thanks to the witnesses for joining us. Their testimony is very valuable.
The Fédération des coopératives du Nouveau-Québec, represented by Mr. Lelievre, belongs to a group of 14 member co-operatives from Inuit communities located along the coasts of Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay, all the way to Nunavik. So I would like to ask Mr. Lelievre a question.
Mr. Lelievre, earlier, you mentioned non-refrigerated transportation. Can you elaborate on that and on the potential impact in relation to what you have told us?
Can you give us some examples of infrastructure issues and what could be improved?
Daniel Lelievre
View Daniel Lelievre Profile
Daniel Lelievre
2021-05-04 11:40
Right now, the nutrition north Canada program causes a big price increase for certain categories of food, such as fresh milk.
When transporting fresh milk to Salluit, we have to consider the delays in loading the plane in Montreal. This means that the milk can be unrefrigerated for six to seven hours. Occasionally, the plane has to return to the Montreal airport because of changing weather conditions. Products very often have to be thrown in the garbage before they even reach the shelves. This causes a significant increase in cost. In small communities of 150 or 200 people, when two deliveries of milk are thrown away, the impact on the profitability of the co-operatives is significant. So they may look for extra profit to compensate, because the infrastructure is not adequate. This results in additional losses, which could be avoided if the infrastructure were better in terms of storage or of transportation by air or boat.
Right now, everything is very expensive. The nutrition north Canada program helps us a lot, it's true, but increasing the sales of certain products does not necessarily mean profitability for the co-ops. For example, repairing a refrigerator is very expensive. Each time a refrigerator breaks down in a co-op, it costs an average of $3,000 to $5,000 for the actual repair and for the return transportation of a technician from the south. For a small village of 200 people, that is a huge cost.
Everyone focuses on transportation, but it's not the only thing to consider. Local labour and labour from the south are very expensive. That contributes a lot to the increase in prices. I always talk about food, because that's what I know best, but the fact that infrastructure is not keeping up with the demographics has a tremendous impact on everything else.
View Sylvie Bérubé Profile
BQ (QC)
Do you believe that the nutrition north Canada program should be reviewed so that we can ultimately reduce food insecurity?
Daniel Lelievre
View Daniel Lelievre Profile
Daniel Lelievre
2021-05-04 11:42
Of course, every program must be reviewed regularly, but we must have reliable statistics if we want to make the right decisions. If the decisions are made too quickly, we can end up with negative consequences. I would say that the nutrition north Canada program is still good for Nunavik right now. However, it is different for Nunavut.
From my point of view, the biggest problem remains the personal purchases of products ordered from Montreal, for example. The revenue goes to outside businesses, not those in Nunavik. When consumers order from the south, they do not participate in the economic development of their community. The repercussions are not huge, but they are still quite significant. People need to be made aware of the fact that buying from outside has an impact on the development of communities, which could otherwise have more local jobs. I think that is what needs to be reviewed.
View Niki Ashton Profile
NDP (MB)
I appreciate that.
Of course, all of these first nations I just referenced are already on the hydro line, so really, the need for an east-side road is top of mind.
I referenced Pauingassi. This is a first nation that received national attention during the COVID crisis. They don't have an all-weather road, and an acute COVID patient ended up waiting 17 hours for a helicopter to land on the ice. These conditions are, I think we can agree, unacceptable, and whether it's in terms of food security or broader life-and-death issues, there needs to be a long-term solution here. I appreciate your response on that.
Again to the North West Company, I want to acknowledge, of course, that we know that high costs are a real concern, and often we see on social media people sharing the high cost of goods in northern stores to call for action. For example, in July of 2020, during the pandemic, in Arctic Bay, many people spoke out against the fact that a package of baby wipes was priced at $31.25, a shocking figure.
I understand that the North West Company took steps to apologize, but that was only after this came to light through social media. It shouldn't have to take people taking to social media to expose such an unfair practice.
What does the northern store have in place to make sure that the prices you are charging are, in fact, fair practices, in line with the subsidies you receive so that it's not only when social media storms hit that we see action from your company?
Alex Yeo
View Alex Yeo Profile
Alex Yeo
2021-05-04 11:51
Thank you for the question.
I'll start by saying that, during COVID, we've been especially sensitive to the issue of food prices. We froze prices for 60 days after COVID hit, and we didn't take any cost increases and pass them through. We pass through all freight subsidies from NNC, and we do not take a single cent. We audited it, and that's been proven. The last piece I would say is that, as a whole in the company, we make four cents on the dollar for every dollar of revenue because of the high operating costs I've referenced.
Are we perfect? No, there will be some examples where we've made mistakes in terms of our own systems, but that is never intentional and we've always learned from it and put controls in place to ensure that those kinds of mistakes, in terms of the way the prices are communicated, don't get repeated again. Those examples, as we've said, we've apologized for, but those were unintended. We've always corrected them, even as soon as we've noticed them on the shelves. We do not take any unintended profits, and we've taken the right steps during COVID to ensure that the customers we serve are taken care of.
View Jaime Battiste Profile
Lib. (NS)
Given the unique market you operate in, are there specific areas in which government policies could be put in place that would support your work?
Merlyn Recinos
View Merlyn Recinos Profile
Merlyn Recinos
2021-05-04 12:38
There are many things. We talked about the nutrition north program. We struggled very heavily with nutrition north at the beginning. In the way it was done, nutrition north is really created for large retailers. It's not really created for the people. It's not created for the small retailers. It's created for the large retailers.
Also, there's opportunity for funding more harvesting support programs that are able to bring more economy into the communities. As for infrastructure, most of the previous people have talked about it, so I don't want to repeat, but that investment goes into the community and its people—not so much the retailers and their people, but the community itself.
View Lenore Zann Profile
Lib. (NS)
Thank you, Chair.
To the witnesses, thank you so much. It's very interesting and very exciting work that you're all doing.
In budget 2021, we announced $163.4 million, over three years, to expand nutrition north and engage with indigenous partners to address food insecurity. Obviously, this investment is going to be important.
I have a question for you regarding where the help should go.
Mr. Natan Obed, the president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, noted that there are huge socio-economic disparities in the north—as you know—especially, he said, between the Inuit and the non-Inuit, and he continued:
...yet the nutrition north program is need-blind, so the family that has a median income that is three to four times that of another family is going to the store and getting the same subsidy for the same items.
Would it be desirable for the nutrition north Canada program to provide more targeted supports to families with lower incomes? If so, how do you think this should be done?
Perhaps we could start with Chief Joseph and then go to Mr. Recinos.
Roberta Joseph
View Roberta Joseph Profile
Roberta Joseph
2021-05-04 13:01
It would be great to be able to provide funding to the first nation or the band to be able to develop the programs that they see are needed in the community, that can meet the needs of those who need it the most. With Jordan's principle, we provide a food program to our young people, ensuring that everybody has a good lunch three times a week and ensuring that our children have the nutrition that's needed. We have taken advantage of applying through the poverty coalition for foods there as well. That was provided to elders. There was meat and poultry that was provided to all of the elders.
We know who needs it and are looking after those individuals in the community who would benefit the most from this, who have little or no income.
Merlyn Recinos
View Merlyn Recinos Profile
Merlyn Recinos
2021-05-04 13:02
Yes. Thank you.
I'm in total agreement with Chief Joseph. We need to co-create, and that's key, co-create with our communities to see how and what they see is the most needed. If we look at it and say, “This is what we think you should be doing,” that would feel very unfair for the communities, because the reality is that they're the ones who need to tell us what they need and how they need that support.
As businesses or social enterprises, it's up to us to do our job to help our communities and the people we serve. What I would do is co-create with communities to see how that support can be given to the people who need it the most and need it at the community level. That would be very well done.
Thank you.
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