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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Residents in eight NWT communities are buying healthier foods when they head to the grocery store, according to Michael McMullen, executive vice-president for Northern and NorthMart stores, and consumers have Nutrition North to thank.

Chris Hagen stands outside of NorthMart, one of three grocery stores in Inuvik. Although prices have increased at NorthMart's Inuvik location because of the seasonal closure of the Dempster Highway, prices are dropping in eight other communities thanks to Nutrition North subsidies. - Nathalie Heiberg-Harrison/NNSL photo

"We're tracking the consumption between stores that are in the Nutrition North program and stores that aren't eligible, like Inuvik, and we see this growth in the consumption of nutritious products," he said.

"It's not anecdotal. This is people buying more fruit and dairy and meat. It's what Aboriginal Affairs wanted to see happen."

The first wave of Nutrition North subsidies at Northern and NorthMart locations went into effect on April 1 in Aklavik, Deline, Fort Good Hope, Tulita, Ulukhaktok, Norman Wells, Paulatuk and Tuktoyaktuk.

That subsidy, to the tune of $6 million, was doubled on Oct. 1.

"It's just going to go through the roof. Even the month of November, the difference in consumption of produce and meat and dairy products is quite substantial in our Nutrition North stores versus our non-Nutrition North stores."

Over the last two months, customers at the company's 67 eligible locations across the North have bought 15 per cent more nutritious food, McMullen said.

Robbie Muckle, a Paulatuk resident who has been critical of the program in the past, said Nutrition North has done a complete 180 degree turn since the spring.

"The program is working great," she said." It's so much better than before."

Now, Muckle said, when she orders products from Stanton's the subsidy practically makes her freight charges disappear.

"The government is actually listening to what the people are saying. In this situation they're actually listening and trying to work with consumers and trying to get it so that affordable food can be brought in," she said.

"I do see a big difference in the Northern store here in town. The prices for nutritious food are so much more reasonable."

The federal government has classified healthy foods in two different categories, with the most nutritious foods receiving the highest subsidies.

The total cost of the most nutritious 22 products in Deline has fallen to $213 from $285, according to McMullen, with similar drops in the seven other communities.

Different communities have different subsidy rates, depending on their location and accessibility, with the goal to make costs similar between communities.

As Inuvik is serviced by road for most of the year, it doesn't receive any subsidies, like in the old food mail program.

"What you can see happen is that the subsidies have actually created situations where, I believe, in Paulatuk the milk prices may be lower than they are in Inuvik," he said.

McMullen said that in the future, his company will likely recommend changes to the subsidy levels, but added, "We're not quite at that stage yet."

While some prices have dropped at Northern and NorthMart locations, others have risen.

"The Northwest Territories is not immune to what's going on globally, so we've had increases in a lot of the commodities," McMullen explained.

"There is price inflation in certain goods, but overall for the Northwest Territories there's price deflation of 15.5 per cent on average in the eight communities."

Northern and NorthMart's competitors in eligible Nutrition North communities receive the same level of subsidies.

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