Nutrition North brings its message to CamBay

Wilfred Wilcox, member of the Nutrition North Canada’s advisory board, speaks March 15 at a public meeting about the Nutrition North program, held in Cambridge Bay’s Luke Novoligak community hall. Greg Rickford, parliamentary secretary to John Duncan, minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and other INAC officials were also on hand to fend off questions from the public. (PHOTO/ RED SUN PRODUCTIONS, DERRICK ANDERSON)

Some people in Cambridge Bay say they left a March 15 public meeting on Nutrition North unconvinced that the new program will lower their food costs.

But the new subsidies under Nutrition North will be passed on to the consumer, says Wilf Wilcox, deputy mayor of Cambridge Bay and a member of the Nutrition North advisory committee.

And there will be will be checks— and penalties to make sure that happens, Wilcox told Nunatsiaq News.

Wilcox deemed the March 15 meeting a success: 60 people showed up to ask questions and express their concerns — and federal officials, who included Greg Rickford, parliamentary secretary to the minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, were there to answer questions or took note of what was said.

Wilcox, who owns a local business, Jago Services Inc., said last week’s announcement on Nutrition North paved the way for a better discussion in Cambridge Bay.

On March 9, the federal government announced it will extend the new subsidy scheme to food and non-food items taken off the eligible list last October and give retailers until October 2012 to stock up on non-perishable items and build the extra warehouse space they need to store goods shipped on the summer sealift.

“They made all of those changes [that people wanted], which were pretty significant changes,” he said. “They’re listening.”

As for overall focus of new program, Wilcox likes it.

Ottawa has budgeted $60 million per year for Nutrition North.

Wilcox believes that once Nutrition North gets going, the program may be able to accomplish more than the former food mail program did — and at a lower cost.

Wilcox is also a fan of what he calls the “education factor” of Nutrition North.

“There’s direct correlation between healthy eating and the subsidy, so maybe on a societal basis it does more,” he said. ”And if the airlines, the suppliers and retail stores are working well together, all the other users of these services benefit too.”

Others at the meeting in Cambridge Bay were said they worried about the loss of one of their favourite suppliers of fresh food to Cambridge Bay — the co-op in Yellowknife, which doesn’t intend to participate in the new program and has already informed its clients of the decision

Under Nutrition North, food retailers like the co-op are expected to work out their own air freight deals with the airlines of their choice to ship eligible nutritious food items from the locations of their choice.

Retailers would sign contribution agreements with INAC and then submit waybills and invoices to the department to claim their subsidies.

INAC, in turn, would inspect those documents and do other accounting work to make sure that retailers are passing the subsidy on to their customers.

Federal officials also assured those in Cambridge Bay that more retailers will come on board.

Because there’s more than a year before Nutrition North fully kicks in, there’s time to work out the kinks in the program, Wilcox said.

“On the rollout, we get to make some of the mechanics of the Nutrition North program work between the suppliers, the airlines and the retailers. We get to fine tune things as we go until October 2012,” he said. “There were real high hopes which were too ambitious and now that’s water under the bridge, so we basically have this time to get things right.”