Surprise! Nunavut food prices increase for fourth year running

At a Nutrition North Canada consultation in Iqaluit in September, residents raised a number of issues including the fact that cooking and baking staples, such as sugar, are not subsidized under the program. (FILE PHOTO)

If you live in Pond Inlet or Pangnirtung and you think you’re paying more for groceries than everyone else in Nunavut—you’re right.

New food price data released by Nunavut’s Bureau of Statistics shows Pond Inlet and Pangnirtung receipts are on average about $8 more than in the rest of Nunavut.

That’s according to the combined prices of 24 basic food items in each of Nunavut’s 25 communities, including staples such as apples, beef, pork, frozen vegetables, canned soup, dried pasta and white flour.

But it’s not just two communities that are feeling the pinch.

In fact, the overall cost of those 24 items across Nunavut has increased 4.6 per cent since 2013, growing from a total bill of $155.66 to $172.90 between March 2013 and March 2016.

“Although prices have occasionally decreased over this four-year period, they generally tend to increase,” Nunavut’s statistics bureau reported.

The report added that Gjoa Haven and Kugluktuk are the only two communities in Nunavut where prices decreased in 2016—minus 2.7 per cent and minus 1.5 per cent respectively. But they are still well above prices recorded in 2012 when the bureau first started collecting the data.

“In general, Nunavummiut can expect to pay around two times the price than in the rest of Canada for the same items,” the report concluded.

Taking the prize for the highest price ratio this year are, strangely, carrots, which the bureau says are more than three times higher than Canadian averages.

Less surprisingly, white flour—which receives a lower subsidy from Nutrition North—had the second highest price differential at 2.7 times the national average.

Elevating flour into the higher Nutrition North subsidy bracket—along with other scratch ingredients such as sugar which are not subsidized—were among several criticisms voiced during the last round of NNC consultations in Iqaluit, Sept 26.

According to Nunavut statistics, general price inflation in Iqaluit stood at three per cent between August 2015 and August 2016.

That’s the highest among Northern capitals, with Yellowknife and Whitehorse both recording 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively over the same year.

The national baseline, the Canadian Consumer Price Index, increased 1.1 per cent over the same period.

Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna rose to inform members of Nunavut’s legislature about the new data, Nov. 7.

“Our goal is to see all Nunavummiut have access to nutritious, affordable food, and to ultimately reduce hunger in our territory,” Taptuna told MLAs in a statement.