Northern development ministers focus on Nutrition North, transportation

INAC minister Carolyn Bennett at Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami’s annual general meeting in Kuujjuaq Sept. 14, the day after the 2016 Northern Development Ministers Forum wrapped in Iqaluit. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Territorial, provincial and federal northern development ministers who gathered in Iqaluit Sept. 12 and Sept. 13 passed few resolutions directly dealing with northern development, but the federal minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett, insists the meeting was important anyway.

“Very good spirit and collaboration of working together at the conference. Often the North is misunderstood. People see it as problems instead of this huge opportunity for northerners and Canada,” Bennett told Nunatsiaq News by phone Sept. 14.

A news release accompanying the conclusion of the 2016 Northern Development Ministers Forum—which was not open to the public—said expert panels briefed ministers on several northern development issues ahead of next year’s forum in Quebec.

“We are hearing very clearly that Nutrition North needs to be changed,” Bennett said.

Governments will need to work with Indigenous organizations to improve the availability of country food, she said.

“It is hugely important in terms of the quality of nutrition and the adequacy of food and that they see the solution to food insecurity will be to ensure tapping into the abundance of fish and seal,” Bennett said.

The high cost of gasoline, vehicles and equipment are all contributing factors hindering the availably of country food, she added.

“We have to be serious about the cost of transportation and how it influences the quality of life [in the North],” she said.

“I’m very interested in leaning more about that and how we can work together.”

Earlier this month, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. President Cathy Towtongie called for more work by the federal and territorial governments to ensure Inuit employment plans, or IEPs, are met in the years ahead.

Bennett agrees more work must be done in Nunavut to ensure Nunavummiut can receive the education required for skilled-jobs.

“We need to do a much better job in making sure that people have the training they need to be able to have great jobs and be able to raise their families,” she said.

“Whether you call it capacity or the ability of young people in Nunavut to be able to see themselves in great government jobs as nurses, doctors, social workers, as well as public servants. This is going to be very important.”

Getting more northerners into skilled jobs will guarantee more money stays in the North and prevent “economic leakage”, Bennett said.

“I think that one of the things that’s important to all the ministers is that economic activity in the North doesn’t necessarily mean that the benefits stay in the North,” she said.

“Making sure that when economic activity takes place… that the benefit stays with Northerners, or at least a significant part.”

Nunavut’s economic development minister, Monica Ell-Kanayak, hosted the 2016 Northern Development Ministers Forum under the theme “The North: Land of Opportunities.”

Provincial, territorial and federal development ministers will meet again in northern Quebec for the 2017 forum.

Bennett said the focus for that meeting, directed by Quebec’s development minister, will be on renewable energy investments like tidal energy, solar and biomass energy conversion.