Fellows look at food security
Action Canada sets sights on North with view to changing public policy
Miranda Scotland
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 2, 2013
NUNAVUT
Participants in Action Canada, an intensive leadership program, have focused their sights on issues facing Northern Canada and their work has the potential to influence public policy.
Participating in a discussion on how to improve access to country food in Nunavut are, back row from left, Nunavummiut Glenn Williams, Alika Lafontaine, Kate Muller, Jim Mitchell, Action Canada adviser Megan Campbell and Brian Kingston. In the front row from left are Harriet Kuhnlein, Lara Honrado, Leslie Lewis and Action Canada co-founder Jack Blaney. - photo courtesy of Action Canada |
Three groups of fellows have conducted research, participated in conferences and other workshops to further their understanding on three subjects of their choosing:
- improving food security in Nunavut through better access to country food
- public and private financing for transportation infrastructure development in the North
- establishing a heritage fund in the NWT, using non-renewable resource revenues
In February, the groups will each release public policy reports with recommendations.
Previous fellows' projects have inspired Canadian policy, according to the Action Canada website.
Brian Kingston and his group chose to focus on food issues after reading in the Inuit Health Survey that 70 per cent of households in Nunavut are food insecure.
"We couldn't think of anything more pressing," said Kingston, who lives in Ottawa and is an economist by day.
To learn more about food security and country food, Kingston's group went to the source, spending a week travelling in the NWT and Nunavut and touching base with Inuit organizations.
"One thing we have been very sensitive to is that we're not from the North, we're not Inuit. We know that to have credibility and to make sure we're actually being helpful on this issue, it's really important that we reach out to Inuit organizations such ITK (Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami) and NTI (Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.)."
Last month, NTI's Glenn Williams was invited to share his knowledge on country food at an Action Canada conference in Vancouver.
William spoke about how the commercialization of country food is putting traditional social structures at risk.
Before, if a hunter caught an extra seal, for example, he took it to the grandmother's house and the family would gather there to eat, he said.
"So not only is it important nutritionally because it puts food into another house, but it's also socially important because everybody gets ... to eat together as a family unit."
But nowadays, the hunter might sell the extra seal at the country food market or on Facebook and those values and experiences are lost.
Nonetheless, the practice is likely to continue.
In that case, Nunavut needs to ensure it enters into a commercial trade that's sustainable, said Williams, who is with NTI's Wildlife and Environment Policy Division.
"We need to ensure the projects we initiate are dealing with species where there's a potential for a surplus."
For example, the Canadian Wildlife Service recently considered classifying Ross's geese and lesser snow geese as overabundant.
The organization expressed concerns about the birds' impact on habitat and migratory birds.
Nunavummiut could sell the goose meat and the animal's eggs in the springtime, said Williams.
Kingston said Williams' comments will help shape his team's final project.
"From Glenn in particular, he really spoke to the cultural importance of country food," he said. "We have reflected that in our project, but I think having someone like Glenn there who hunts and sees how country food is so important in communities, it was very helpful.
"We want to be careful that we're being constructive here."
