Nutrition North remains Bennett’s headache

An Iqaluit resident protests high food prices in the summer of 2012. The federal Liberals’ promise to reform the Nutrition North program remains the responsibility of Carolyn Bennett, minister of Indigenous and northern affairs, following a decision to hive off the delivery of other Indigenous services to a new department. But it remains unclear when promised reforms will take place. (FILE PHOTO)

The much-criticized Nutrition North program will remain under the auspices of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, following the creation of a new federal department to help manage the delivery of services to Indigenous people.

That means Nutrition North remains the problem of Carolyn Bennett, Canada’s minister of Crown-Indigenous relations and northern affairs.

As she indicated earlier this year during community consultations, improving the delivery of nutritious foods to northern Canadians will require making some tough choices.

It remains to be seen when those decisions will be made. Hunter Tootoo, Nunavut’s Independent MP, asked Bennett in Parliament on Dec. 8 when the promised reforms will get underway. He said that he had been told a new program would be launched “very soon,” back in May.

“It’s completely unacceptable that many northerners are still struggling to feed their families,” Bennett responded. But while she touted the measures her government has taken to expand the program to more communities and to seek feedback about Nutrition North’s shortcomings, she didn’t give any indication of when change would be coming.

The federal Liberals campaigned on the promise to fix Nutrition North. But, since coming to office, the party has discovered reforming the program is far from straightforward.

One big question about the program, Bennett has said in the past, is its purpose: is it trying to address a fairness issue, by reducing the cost of food for all northern residents, including well-heeled government employees? Or is it trying to improve social conditions, by getting more nutritious food to many northern families that are presently malnourished?

Another question is whether unhealthy but popular foods, like lard used to make bannock, should be subsidized under the reformed program, or whether other non-food items, such as diapers, should be included as well.

And it remains to be seen how a reformed program delivers its subsidy. Currently, Nutrition North offers subsidies to retailers shipping food by air cargo to eligible communities, but some residents have expressed skepticism that the full value of the subsidy is being passed along to consumers.