IQALUIT
Leesee Papatsie, founder of the food activist group Feeding My Family, is unimpressed with recent efforts by The North West Company to explain its position on food costs in the territory.

Feeding My Family food activist group founder Leesee Papatsie protesting high food prices in Iqaluit, came away from a meeting with an executive from The North West Company thinking the company is not sincere in passing on food subsidies to consumers. - NNSL file photo

Derek Reimer, director for business development for North West, travelled to Iqaluit from Winnipeg to meet with Papatsie on the very weekend she called on Nunavummiut to boycott the companys' stores. The boycott took place Jan. 31.

"It's good that they're wanting to work with Feeding My Family and that they're working with the Nunavut Food Security Coalition, but did you hear him? He keeps saying he 'loves working for the company,'" Papatsie said.

"I was up front. I told him to be up front. Did I believe him? No. I don't believe they are sincere in passing on savings, that they are making a difference in food prices."

However, Reimer told Nunavut News/North, as an example, a four-litre container of milk would cost $21.11 without the Nutrition North subsidy. As it stands, that four-litre of milk costs $10.59 in Iqaluit. Another example - an 18-pack of eggs costs $2.69. Without the subsidy it would cost $5.79.

Papatsie is quick to point out that the same four-litre of milk costs $4.99 in Baker Lake.

"And the subsidy for Grise Fiord is higher than the freight cost," she said.

She also notes that many other foods sit on shelves and in coolers bearing extraordinary prices. From Reimer's perspective, prices in Nunavut are higher across the board - housing, transportation, and other living costs.

"The cost of operating is expensive. Electricity is 10 times as much as in Winnipeg. We paid one million (dollars) in Iqaluit alone last year. We pay for staff housing, maintenance. It's significant," Reimer said.

What Papatsie objects to most is that conversations with North West and Arctic Co-operatives representatives are mostly incomprehensible.

"They talk to me about profit margins and formulas - that's over my head," she said. "With the Co-op, it's the same thing. We were on a call-in show, with Monica Ell and Jack Anawak. They keep saying they believe in what they do, they love working for their companies."

Papatsie suggests transparency is key, and plain talk. As well, she says, the stores should remove outdated items from shelves, provide information in Inuktitut and hold sales of the sort that are held in the south, saying

that small steps like that

would increase credibility.

"And we need to have all of Nunavut in one picture," she added. "We need to subsidize the airlines, the actual freight."

Reimer and Papatsie agree people in the territory need education, training and employment.

"I think we're part of the solution. We're committed to the North. We have a long legacy in the North. We are the largest employer of Inuit," said Reimer.

He says North West employs more than 700 Inuit, 145 in Iqaluit. Reimer also points to contributions to food banks and meal programs.

"I think most of the public would agree food security is a complex problem. We need to work together to fix it."

About his conversation with Papatsie, Reimer says, "We had a very positive discussion which allowed us to understand each other's perspectives, and share information and facts."

At the root of the Nutrition North fiasco and food insecurity in Nunavut is the reality that Inuit are in transition from a traditional economy to a cash economy, and there are limited jobs in communities.

"I truly believe education is the way, but traditionally that is not the Inuit way. We are learning the new culture along with our culture. My parents never had that cash economy," Papatsie said, adding education and employment as goals for the future don't solve the problem of hunger in the present.

"People need affordable food now," said Papatsie.

Referring to the movement in the south called Helping Our Northern Neighbours, which is sending food to almost 1,000 Nunavut families and is itself struggling with shipping costs, Papatsie said, "That really paints the picture. People need food. Shipping is expensive. That really paints the big picture."

Reimer noted that he invited Papatsie and Feeding My Family to join the Nunavut Food Security Coalition, which is made up of government departments, Inuit organizations, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.

"In the beginning, we were part of the coalition," says Papatsie. "We were limited in what we could say. It's a lot of back-patting. They sit around and talk. We're a bunch of volunteers."

And although Reimer said The North West Company has plans to invest $150 million in the North, Papatsie shrugs, saying that doesn't address the cost of food.

Papatsie and Nunavummiut she speaks for will likely not reach an agreement with the profit-making retailers any time soon. One group buys and the other group is in the business of selling. Once again, the focus turns to alleviating the cost of shipping - to a territory without roads, where airlines say they struggle to stay afloat - which is the job Nutrition North is supposed to do.

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada is in the process of initiating consultations to improve the program. Where Papatsie and Reimer are agreed is that the subsidy will have to be increased; where they disagree is on the delivery system.

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