NWT - New subsidy rates have been announced for Canada's food mail program, giving the highest shipping discounts for healthy food to communities without regular road or water access.

Items like bacon and ice cream, considered to have little nutritional value, will no longer by subsidized by Canada's new food mail program. - NNSL file photo

Final changes to the program, now known as Nutrition North Canada, will take effect April 1. In the meantime, some Northerners are concerned that the program restructuring could mean they'll pay more for items including canned food and toilet paper.

The federal government is scrapping its food mail contract with Canada Post and, under the new program, is instead offering subsidies to retailers and individual consumers throughout the North, as well as northern regions of Labrador, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The most isolated NWT communities, such as Colville Lake and Sachs Harbour, will receive the highest discounts per kilogram for eligible food – including produce, breads and dairy products. The program will service 14 communities in the territory. Non-perishable goods and processed junk foods became exempt as of Oct. 3 – a deterrent for many shoppers, according to Paulatuk resident Lily-Ann Green.

On a recent shopping trip in Inuvik, Green had planned to save money by using the program to stock up on food and mail it back to her Beaufort coastal community. She was disappointed to find that more than half of the items in her cart were no longer eligible and that she'd have to pay full price.

"It just makes it harder for everybody to try and order," she said. "I said, 'forget it. I'll take it in (on the plane) with me.'

"It's almost not even worth making a food mail order anymore."

Dominique Demers, manager of Nutrition North Canada, said the changes were made to both save money and promote a healthy lifestyle among Northerners.

"Items like bacon and ice cream that don't have a nutritional value have been removed, and also items that are non-perishable like dry pasta, rice and non-food items like toilet paper and Kleenex have also been removed because these items can be shipped by either winter road or, in the case of NWT, by ferry or barge and sealift," he said.

"It's to save money but it's to actually focus the funding that is available for the program on food that actually needs to be flown in, like milk and eggs and fruits and vegetables," Demers added. "That's what you do with limited funding – you apply it to what's actually needed."

Depending on the deals retailers are able to negotiate with airlines for food shipments, residents in some communities may see a spike in the price of some items no longer covered under the program.

Demers said once the subsidy rates are in place, the program will undergo an evaluation and the rates may be adjusted. He added that Nutrition North, as a government program run through the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, is subject to ongoing review to find out what works and what doesn't. The department appointed an advisory board of Northerners and nutritionists, including NWT representative member and Inuvialuit Regional Corporation chair Nellie Cournoyea, to oversee operations of the service.

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