Nutrition North's hit or miss performance
As the food subsidy program looks to make reforms, MLA says it should be expanded
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Monday, April 24, 2017
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
As the deadline passes for Nutrition North targets to be met, at least one federal department says it succeeded in its goals for the 2016-17 year.
Health Canada is one of three departments responsible for achieving program goals. The goal for Health Canada was to support the roll-out of nutrition education initiatives to 33 First Nation communities which recently became eligible for the Nutrition North subsidy.
More specifically, Health Canada's target was to have 100 per cent of funding recipients provide educational activities to targeted populations such as seniors, children or youth by March 31.
Maryse Durette, senior media relations advisor for Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, said the department was able to meet that goal, with only two communities outstanding.
"Health Canada successfully negotiated funding agreements with 31 of the 33 newly added First Nation communities, and also held information and awareness sessions with the majority of the new communities," she said.
The remaining two communities declined funding, she added.
Communities were responsible for deciding which education activities to undertake. Some of those included in-store taste tests and lessons in traditional food harvesting and preparation.
Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada all share responsibility for meeting targets.
Indigenous and Northern Affairs had four goals to meet by March 31 relating to the affordability and accessibility of food in Northern communities.
Some of those goals included having 100 per cent of audit reports show subsidies were fully passed on to consumers and having 100 per cent of major Northern retailers show subsidy savings on till receipts.
Although the department couldn't say whether all of its goals had been met, spokesperson Valerie Hache said the government will be reforming the program based on feedback from Northern families.
She pointed to the 2016 expansion of the program to an additional 37 communities and introduction of a mandatory point-of-sale system for retailers as two examples of program reforms.
The department also held public engagement sessions throughout the latter half of 2016.
Hache said the feedback from those sessions will be used "to develop options to update the program, and develop strategies to ensure the long-term sustainability of the program."
"We are currently reviewing the input that we have received and will make a full report of the findings available in the coming weeks," she added.
Nahendeh MLA Shane Thompson, who has one eligible community in his constituency, says program reforms should take into account the individual needs of each Northern community.
"There are a lot of food security issues in our region," he said.
Currently, Sambaa K'e is the only community in the Deh Cho region eligible for the food subsidy. However, 2015-16 statistics posted by Indigenous and Northern Affairs show the community did not access the subsidy at all.
Although Sambaa K'e chief Dolphus Jumbo could not be reached for comment, Thompson said that's because the community store currently uses a company out of Fort Nelson to get its food instead of one of Nutrition North's registered retailers.
"(The subsidy) is great, but if you can't access it, it doesn't do any good," he said.
"It limits their ability to access cheaper sources of food."
As far as program reforms go, Thompson said two major ones that would help communities would be expanding the subsidy to local food growers and subsidizing the cost of freight.
He would also like to see the circumstances of each community taken into account. In his riding, residents of Wrigley and Jean Marie River travel to Fort Simpson to get their food.
However, when break-up and freeze-up happens, that option is gone.
"Driving 4.5 hours one-way to Hay River is (Jean Marie River's) only option," he said. "Wrigley might be able to get food flown in from one of the local airlines, but still, that's a cost to them."
The Nutrition North subsidy is available to communities that don't have year-round surface access.
In the 2015-16 year, that included 14 communities in the Northwest Territories, with four more added when the program expanded in July 2016.
As for Health Canada, Durette said plans for the 2017-18 year include a continuation of funding and support for education initiatives, with expected results to be released in the fall of 2018.
She added funding through the 2016 federal budget, which commits $64.5 million over five years and
$13.8 million per year ongoing, will help expand the program "to all isolated Northern communities."
