Many consider Canada to be a country of plenty, but not many Canadians are aware of the serious food shortage problem in Canada’s north.
On Jan. 31, Northern citizens boycotted against the North West Company, one of the sole providers of goods and groceries in the North over their impossibly high food prices, which are causing many in the North to go hungry.
More than 45 per cent of the population of Nunavut does not have enough to eat, and is chronically undernourished, an unacceptable problem in a developed country such as Canada. More than 70 per cent of Inuit children are living in food-insecure homes, according to a 2010 study published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Food security is defined as every person consistently having access to enough safe, nutritious food to live a healthy, active life. The UN has two active bodies working towards making it a reality throughout the world.
Food security based on four factors: the availability of food, the accessibility of food in the region, the stability of food supply, and the utilization of the food already in the region.
Because of a decreased population and lack of need, traditional stores we see in the South aren’t found. The North West Company owns several food retail chains and provides most of the North’s limited food supply.
It’s extremely costly to fly food and other household goods to Nunavut and grocery prices are inflated. A package of bacon goes for around $19. A box of frozen chicken strips is at least $30. A 4-litre jug of milk is $10.39. A 24-pack of Nestle water bottles is priced at $104.99. It’s not unusual for a family of four to spend more than $600 a week on groceries.
If food isn’t flown up, there isn’t any to be had. Many Northern families subsist almost exclusively off cheap, frozen food, and canned or dry goods, with little to no fresh produce or protein sources. Iqaluit has one soup kitchen, capable of making 200 meals a day, and it’s always stretched to its limits.
Northern society has historically fed itself from the land, but modernity is forcing Northerners to adapt to drastically different way of life, and has been since the 1950s. Climate change has also endangered traditional sources of Northern food, with fewer animals to be found on shrinking ice floes.
Even if there wasn’t an issue with declining animal populations, hunting weapons, and ammunition are just as difficult to come by as food, and must be flown up like all other supplies.
Why should anyone from the south care about the food situation in the North? The Canadian federal government introduced a $65-million subsidy program for Northern food supplies in 2011 and was designed to supplement the high cost of shipping food to the North.
However, Northerners have said for years the subsidy is not effective enough. For example, the price of a non-subsidized 4-litre jug of milk is $10.52. With the subsidy applied, the cost is only reduced 13 cents, to $10.39.
Change is necessary if a solution is to be found for the food crisis in the Canadian North. It’s a difficult problem to work through and try to solve, but significant effort must be made on behalf of the Canadian federal government, the governments of northern territories, and related NGOs to try and reduce the cost of food, and improve the availability of food in the North.
The federal government should increase the budget for the Nutrition North Canada program in the meantime to decrease food prices and help the issue in the short-term while a long-term solution is found. In so doing, Canada can maintain its reputation as an abundant country capable of feeding all of its citizens, not just those south of the Arctic Circle.
