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Results: 1 - 15 of 21
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 Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.
Tansi. Boozhoo. Greetings and hello.
I want to begin by acknowledging that I am speaking with you today from my office in Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, Treaty 1 territory, the traditional territory of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, the homeland of the Métis nation, and a city that many Inuit call home.
I am proud to join you virtually today, alongside Minister Bennett, to speak about the 2020-21 supplementary estimates (C) and the 2021-22 main estimates, and what the Government of Canada is doing to assist first nations, Inuit and Métis in Canada, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The unique needs of indigenous people and northerners present their own challenges in these COVID times. While the pandemic is certainly not over, there is hope down the way.
I thank you for this opportunity to discuss the important work we are doing to confront the COVID-19 situation and to mitigate its impacts in the north, as well as to answer your questions on supplementary estimates (C) and the main estimates.
These estimates reflect our government's commitment to creating greater economic opportunity and supporting a higher quality of life in Canada's north and Arctic. Furthermore, these estimates demonstrate our government's firm intention to continue working to renew our relationship with indigenous peoples, to tackle climate change and its impacts, to promote economic development and economic growth for northern communities, and to create quality jobs for the people of the north and the Arctic.
Growing the economy while protecting the environment and addressing climate change is a priority for our government. Despite the challenges we all faced in 2020, it was still a year of progress and successes.
In November, with the Government of Yukon, we introduced the COVID-19 recovery research program. As I reported to the committee in November, northerners should not have to worry about putting food on their table or ensuring a continued supply of essential items. Our government provided an additional investment of $25 million to nutrition north Canada. We've also introduced the new harvesters support grant, which is increasing northerners' access to country foods by providing funding to support traditional hunting, harvesting and food sharing. We also marked the formation of the task force on post-secondary education in the north.
The supplementary estimates (C) reflects a net increase of $138.6 million for CIRNAC, including $120.9 million in new funding and $17.7 million of net transfers with other government departments. The total budgetary authorities for 2020 will be $6.9 billion.
More specifically, as announced in the 2020 fall economic statement, $64.7 million is allotted to funding for northern supports to territorial governments to support steps taken to respond to the pandemic. This initiative will contribute to ensuring that territorial governments have the capacity and the resources required to enforce preventative measures and to afford medical options to limit the spread of COVID-19, address regional challenges related to the pandemic and take immediate action to protect health and safety.
CIRNAC's 2020-21 main estimates will be approximately $4.7 billion. This reflects a net decrease of $189 million, compared to last year's main estimates, which my colleague Minister Bennett spoke to.
While there was an overall decrease in these main estimates, they also reflect increases in support of key initiatives, such as the northern abandoned mine reclamation program, which is building a better future for Canada's north by addressing federal contaminated sites.
The government's main objective is to provide support to help curb the spread of COVID-19 and ensure that communities are supported throughout the pandemic. We will continue to work with our territorial and indigenous partners to ensure that all remote and northern communities are protected and are in a strong position to recover when we can safely.
I want to take a moment of course to acknowledge the hard work of territorial and indigenous partners, public health officials and frontline workers who have done an incredible job of distributing and administering vaccines across the north.
Last week, eligibility opened up for every northerner in the territories over the age of 18, which is only four months after the first shipments arrived in Canada. I think we can all acknowledge the significance of this milestone, but we know there's still much more work to do.
Again, I want to thank you for this opportunity to speak to you. I look forward to your questions.
View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
—the Auditor General, as well, is reviewing nutrition north. There are improvements. The harvesters support grant is something that came out of the co-development between the advisory committee, ITK and the people who operate nutrition north.
As you know, the harvesters support program is creative. It's a subsidy for Inuit nations and indigenous nations to get back on the land and to have access to more country food, which has long been called for. There's room for improvements—
View Sylvie Bérubé Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My question is for Mr. Vandal.
As you said earlier, in the north, we are talking about the current climate crisis, of course. You also mentioned the harvesters support grant program and the northern abandoned mine remediation program.
You are asking for $64.7 million for all aid measures in the north. Does that include the measures I just mentioned? I'd also like to know how much of the funding will be allocated to each of the territorial governments.
View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
That's an excellent question.
We have supported the people of the north from the beginning. We work closely with the premiers of Nunavut and the other two territories.
In April, we invested $130 million to ensure people living in these three territories have affordable access to food so they can stay healthy, to provide some kind of subsidy to northern airlines and to support business people in the communities.
We also made an investment of $65 million in September, and I think that was exclusively for isolation centres or medical infrastructure. As we know, infrastructure in the north often needs help, whether it's traditional infrastructure, residential housing or medical infrastructure. We've had discussions with the elected officials in the north, and they've identified isolation centres as a priority for them, because they just don't have the space for isolation if they have to deal with a lot of infections. So we have invested $65 million in isolation centres in the three territories, in partnership with the territorial governments.
View Yvonne Jones Profile
Lib. (NL)
View Yvonne Jones Profile
2021-01-26 11:20
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Grand Chief, for joining us today. I really appreciate your taking the time to inform our committee about the challenges around food security in your area. To give you a bit of context, I represent the northern riding of Labrador. I grew up in an isolated, remote community so I understand very well the challenges you're dealing with.
I have a couple of questions. First of all, last year we introduced the harvester support grant through the Government of Canada and obviously being an indigenous person in remote Canada I've seen first-hand how the benefits of that program have helped so many families. I'm wondering if you guys were able to launch that program this year and what your thoughts are around it. Is it contributing to reducing some forms of food insecurity in your community?
My second question would be this: The Government of Canada has a number of programs and grants that are responding to food security across northern regions. I'd like to hear from you what you think we should be doing more of or doing differently that could really help with food security in your community. I know that through COVID money, your first nations would have received funding. I know that some of that funding in my area went to food security and heat security programs. What feedback did you get on that from the people you represent?
Jason Smallboy
View Jason Smallboy Profile
Jason Smallboy
2021-01-26 11:22
I do believe people have been accessing the harvesters support grant, which is good. We definitely need to have more people able to access other kinds of funding as well. I know that when I travelled to my communities and met with the workers who were working at the band office, a lot of the time they talked about trying to raise money to take more youth out onto the land. There definitely still is a need there.
I'll just let people know that about a year ago, we had submitted a proposal to Environment Canada. We wanted to basically pay people from our communities to go out on the land to track things like climate change and the differences they see out on the land. I thought I would just mention that.
The second part of your question was about what we should do. As I said, we've been working with nutrition north on trying to come up with some real solutions and some things we can do. One of the things we're finding out is that a lot of the companies get the subsidy for nutrition north before the products are sent to the communities. I guess what's happening there is that the food may not make it to the community as quickly as possible, and it may go bad while it's sitting somewhere in storage, let's say. That is maybe something we should look at and maybe change. Make the subsidy available in the community rather than to the company before it has even shipped anything.
Another thing is to make sure that these companies that receive the subsidy are more accountable. When you look at the pricing in the north—for instance, when you go to the Northern store—it shows how much you spend and how much of the subsidy is applied. You can barely even notice it. About two years ago when I was in Fort Albany, I went to the store to buy just two six-packs of English muffins. It cost me nearly $12. That was with the subsidy included. That just gives you an example of how expensive it is in the community.
I hope that answered your question.
View Jaime Battiste Profile
Lib. (NS)
Thank you, Chief Smallboy.
In my conversations with some of the people and the friends I've have had over the years at NAN, one of the things they've talked about is the importance of a harvesters support grant and traditional food and traditional hunting and fishing.
I know that the hunting and fishing aren't just about food. This is about culture. It's about the transition of knowledge.
Can you tell me what are the typical foods they are hunting and fishing up there? Also, are they within the means of conservation? If we created more funds for more hunting and fishing, do you think the stocks and conservation in that area could handle it ?
Jason Smallboy
View Jason Smallboy Profile
Jason Smallboy
2021-01-26 12:01
Yes, for sure. In our territory, we have moose and caribou. Honestly, I've had both, and I prefer caribou. I find it's delicious. Also, there's a lot of fishing that goes on.
When I was working as a staff person for NAN, we had a men's healing program. We worked the programs so that we did a lot of the work out on the land. We went ice fishing in one community with some participants, and we had a facilitator there who talked about the mental health part of it. We found that to be very effective. When we were getting our evaluations back, they were going up.
Every time we had an event in the community, we would go out on the land. We would go camping and sit by fires. We would go out on the lake or that kind of thing. At the same time, we were addressing the mental health issues and looking at maybe some of the traumas that some of the people had experienced.
We created a safe environment for our people. We had this program and we found it to be very effective. One time when we went ice fishing we caught some fish, and when we got back to the community, the participants said, “We have to give this to the elders.” So that's what we did. That's why I said that. This practice is still being done today. I saw it back when I was a staff person at NAN, which I thought was very lovely.
View Rachel Blaney Profile
NDP (BC)
Thank you for that.
You also talked about a lack of local food production initiatives and resources to start those initiatives. Could you just talk a little bit about that? I hear loud and clear that getting people connected with the resources there is something that needs to be invested in.
Natan Obed
View Natan Obed Profile
Natan Obed
2020-12-10 11:53
Yes. In the last couple of years, we've had a number of different breakthroughs. The harvesters support grant within the nutrition north Canada program will allow for regional Inuit organizations to work with communities to design food security interventions that allow for more traditional food to be accessed and to be eaten within our communities. That not only does wonders for our food security, but it also helps with the transmission of culture and the connections that individuals have within a community. It builds community.
There are also a number of different initiatives that are happening across Inuit Nunangat from, say, Arviat local gardening and community-based solutions for local food production to different programs from different community-based organizations that allow for food security and cooking classes.
There are so many things that are happening across Inuit Nunangat, but we need more investment and we need more of a focus on community-based solutions and less of a focus on ideas that other people might think are great for us but are things that don't really have a lot of bearing on what we would like to do.
Adamie Delisle Alaku
View Adamie Delisle Alaku Profile
Adamie Delisle Alaku
2020-12-10 12:19
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and committee members.
I'm pleased to speak to you today on the topic of food security in the north, especially for Nunavik region, and on behalf of president and former senator Charlie Watt Sr.
Nunavik is an Arctic region that occupies the top third of the province of Quebec. We are north of the 55th parallel. Our region is bigger than the size of France. We have 15 communities on the shores of Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay. The total population is over 12,000. Think of it as an island. The only way to get there is by air year-round and by ship in the summer months.
Our remoteness greatly affects our food security. While southern Canada benefits from vast road and rail networks paid for by taxpayers, Inuit pay all taxes, yet the infrastructure gaps that exist in our airport facilities and the total lack of deep water ports contribute to driving up food prices and food wastage.
Food security exists when all human beings at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, healthy and nutritious food enabling them to lead healthy, active lives. Food insecurity exists when an individual or a family does not have access to sufficient food. In the context of Nunavik, it is important to consider access to both traditional foods and healthy store-bought foods in improving food security.
The University of Laval has conducted studies comparing the cost of living in Nunavik and southern Quebec. These revealed that in 2011 groceries cost 81% more in Nunavik compared to Quebec City. “The Cost of Living in Nunavik” research report was the result of a 16-month intensive data collection and analysis between January 2015 and 2016, in which 450 randomly selected households in six Nunavik communities on the Hudson and Ungava coasts were selected for this project.
The survey revealed that low-income households spend a combined total of over 70% of their income on food and shelter, 43% on food and 27% on shelter. If you take a look at income, based on the 2016 census, median income for Inuit was just over $25,627, and for a non-Inuit it was $79,328. Inuit make three times less income, so if groceries cost 81% more and income is three times less than in the south, it all adds up to considerable food insecurity and additional social consequences to physical and mental health.
Programs such as nutrition north Canada help reduce the high cost of living, but they are not enough. Our region has created additional programs that we call the Nunavik cost-of-living reduction measures—administered by the KRG, the Kativik Regional Government, and negotiated with the help of Makivik—to go beyond the nutrition north program. There are six measures to help reduce cost of living: elders assistance; airfare reduction; country food community support program; household appliances and harvesting equipment program; food and other essentials program, which provides rebates of between 15% and 35% on the majority of food items purchased in Nunavik; and a gasoline program, with a discount of 40¢ on the litre on gas. The price of gas is set once a year in Nunavik. It comes by sealift. Right now a litre of gas costs $1.85. In Ottawa, on December 8, gas prices ranged from 90.9¢ at Costco to 94.9¢ at Canadian Tire.
Under the cost-of-living reduction program, the Government of Quebec committed to pay $115.8 million over the next six years, starting in 2019.
For us, however, food from the south is only one part of the picture when it comes to the food that we eat. The food that we hunt is just as important, if not more important, because it not only feeds us physically but feeds us culturally and spiritually as well. Inuit food security includes culture, health and wellness, and food sovereignty—our decision-making power and management over our food resources.
We are members of numerous wildlife committees. In addition, Makivik has owned and operated the Nunavik Research Centre, based in Kuujjuaq, for decades. We conduct our own research directly on country food that we eat, and control this information. That's part of what we consider our food security.
The new harvesters support grant was well received. Subsistence harvesting is vital to our food security. We need to underline, however, that at the time this program is being rolled out we are experiencing restrictions on polar bear, beluga and soon caribou harvesting. The Inuit population is growing and pressures on wildlife population are high. It's vital for us to be able to access wildlife. It's also important for communities to have the capacity to become fully involved in wildlife monitoring and management.
Let us talk about some of the projects that exist in our region. The Pirursiivik project in Inukjuak on the Hudson Bay, in collaboration with Makivik, the One Drop Foundation, the RBC Foundation and the Sirivik food centre, has created a year-round greenhouse focused on growing traditional plants and gardening.
The hydroponics container in Kuujjuaq—you may have seen The Growcer on CBC's Dragons' Den—is a shipping container, completely self-contained, designed to assist indigenous communities in remote regions, especially in the Arctic. This project provides fresh vegetables for us in Kuujjuaq. Also in Kuujjuaq, we have a soup kitchen, a food box program for elders and an on-the-land program.
Wayne Walsh
View Wayne Walsh Profile
Wayne Walsh
2020-12-08 11:13
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning. I'm speaking to you today from the traditional territory of the Algonquin people here in lovely downtown Gatineau.
I want to thank you very much for the invitation to speak to you about the important work being done within the northern affairs department on food security in the north and to provide you with an update since our last appearance on this study in February of this year.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the department has been closely monitoring northern supply chains and the impacts of food access in the north. During the first weeks of the pandemic, the department, in collaboration with Transport Canada, worked with northern airlines, retailers and suppliers to monitor the impacts of pandemic closures and lockdown restrictions on the supply chain. Maintaining this supply chain is critical not only for the transport of food but also of other goods and of essential services. The department engaged with partners to avoid disruptions in the supply chain and continues to monitor closely to ensure that critical access is maintained.
To ensure that families have nutritious food and to help offset the financial burden caused by COVID-19, the government announced a one-time financial injection of $25 million to the Nutrition North Canada retail subsidy in April. Subsidy rates have been increased on basic and essential goods across all 116 eligible communities effective May 1, 2020. In addition, Nutrition North Canada expanded the eligibility list to include such other items as hand sanitizers and soap.
These additional investments have had a positive impact on prices in the north, and the eligible communities are generally experiencing significant price reductions for many food items. For example, the price of a 10-kilogram bag of flour in Iqaluit dropped from $21.49 to $11.49, which represents a 47% price reduction, bringing it in line with the shelf price of flour in the south.
In April, Nutrition North Canada also launched the new harvesters support grant, an $8-million-per-year initiative to support hunting, harvesting and food sharing in isolated northern communities. Grant agreements have been signed with recipient land claim, self-government and indigenous organizations. The grant program has been designed to be indigenous-led, with a recognition that harvesting needs and practices should be driven by communities themselves.
The launch of the harvesters support grant serves as an important milestone in response to recommendations from northerners and as an important step forward in addressing food security in the north beyond subsidizing market food. It is a critical step in recognizing the role of rites, traditions and cultural practices in sustaining isolated indigenous communities.
Relationships established with recipient organizations of the harvesters support grant have been instrumental in our understanding of the unique challenges communities are experiencing during this pandemic and for providing additional support. Partners have commented that the deployment of the harvester support grant has provided additional support to communities to increase access to traditional food during this challenging time.
For example, one of the recipient groups in northern Ontario purchased 23 community freezers for 18 isolated communities to store hunted and harvested traditional country food. During the pandemic, the grant has also provided critical support to the migration of community members out of the community to the land, where they are isolated while engaging in traditional harvesting activities.
Nutrition North Canada has also partnered harvesters support grant recipients with other federal funding opportunities to improve food access during the pandemic. For example, Nutrition North Canada worked closely with colleagues at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to help distribute surplus food through the surplus food rescue program. All three territories and regions across the provincial north receive deliveries of surplus food, including frozen fish and meat products.
Collaboration with federal partners has been essential in providing support to northern and indigenous partners throughout this pandemic, and the department thanks our colleagues at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for these collaborative opportunities.
The pandemic measures have been effective for the most part; however, the outbreak has also highlighted the degree of need in northern isolated communities and the critical link between food security and poverty. The Nutrition North Canada program has recognized this and is working to address gaps highlighted by the pandemic to implement permanent improvements.
Important steps have been made during this difficult time to support isolated northern communities in accessing food and the unique, challenging circumstances of communities in the north. The department is committed to continuing to work together with northerners and indigenous partners on long-term solutions and opportunities to strengthen local food systems and improve food security in the north.
With that, thank you, and I welcome any questions you might have.
View Rachel Blaney Profile
NDP (BC)
Mr. Walsh, if I could come back to you, I find these on-the-land initiatives very interesting. I really appreciated the information you gave us about communities coming together and buying a lot of freezers to store food.
I know that when we look at health— and I appreciate what Mr. Powlowski was talking about earlier, about people having healthy food, the affordability of more healthy food and the challenges—but especially when we talk about indigenous communities, I'm wondering if there's been any reflection on the ability of people to harvest off the land to start to meet the gap in those healthy choices in food because of their traditional knowledge.
I'm wondering if that's come together and if there's any feedback on that, and if in the long term there's any reflection on measuring health outcomes based on that.
Wayne Walsh
View Wayne Walsh Profile
Wayne Walsh
2020-12-08 11:44
Thank you for that.
The reality is that the traditions, approaches and cultural practices will vary from region to region and community to community, so we designed the harvesters support grant to be as flexible as possible so that the communities could target their funding accordingly. What we've been finding is that some communities have been looking at it as part of a cultural revitalization, mentoring or matching elders with youth to go out on the land to do that.
The program is still really young, with money having just started to flow in April. The communities are required to report back, and we anticipate that we will see different metrics and different data coming in because the different communities will take different approaches. It will be interesting to see what lessons are learned. I think what's really important is that at the end of the day, it's about what matters in the community. We didn't design it in Ottawa. It really was designed for northerners by northerners, so that's going to be a bit of a balance.
In terms of the health outcomes, I'll defer to Mary from the first nations and Inuit health branch. I will also say that one of the concerns going forward that we'll have to keep an eye on and certainly—
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