Ottawa eyes fall rollout for Nutrition North reforms
Northern Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand says changes will address retailer accountability, competition concerns
Northern Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand says the federal government expects to unveil reforms to Nutrition North Canada this fall, with changes aimed at addressing food costs while building a broader northern food economy. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)
The federal government expects to unveil long-awaited reforms to Nutrition North Canada this fall, but Northern Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand says the changes will go beyond lowering grocery prices and will focus on building a broader northern food economy.
“When we look at reform, we know that a food subsidy alone will not solve the food insecurity issue,” Chartrand said in an interview. “That is why we are looking at a whole government approach to address the food insecurity issues in the North.”
Established in 2011, Nutrition North provides subsidies and other support to help reduce the cost of nutritious food and essential items in 124 northern and remote communities, including in Nunavut and Nunavik.
The federal government launched an external review of the program in October 2024, following years of criticism over whether the program was effectively reducing the high cost of groceries in the North.
That review, managed by former Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Aluki Kotierk, is one of many external and internal reports the department is relying on to inform possible changes, Chartrand told Nunatsiaq News earlier this year.
The major focus of the reform will be shifting toward what Chartrand called a northern “food economy” — supporting food entrepreneurs, such as through the Harvester’s Support Grant, local supply chains, food processing and community-led solutions.
Chartrand said reforms will be tailored to regional needs, as not every community equally relies on the Nutrition North subsidy to reduce food costs.
“We don’t want to create sweeping changes that would pull the rug out from underneath people when we have heard that some communities rely on that subsidy,” she said.
The government is also reviewing whether additional northern communities should become eligible for Nutrition North support.
The minister said the government’s review also examined concerns raised following a 2024 joint APTN and CBC News investigation that alleged some retailers were not fully passing Nutrition North subsidies on to consumers.
Chartrand said retailers told the government that the subsidy has not kept pace with inflation, meaning the amount of support provided has not increased enough to match rising costs.
The federal government announced a $30-million top-up to Nutrition North in February to provide immediate support by subsidizing shipping costs for perishable foods and essential items while broader reforms are developed.
Beyond the retail subsidy, Chartrand said future reforms could include funding food infrastructure, including hydroponics, vertical gardening, greenhouses, community freezers, local distribution networks and Indigenous-led food businesses.
The successes of future reforms will be based on whether nutritious food becomes more affordable, whether access to country food improves, whether community-led food programs expand and whether northern food businesses grow, she said.
Chartrand acknowledged northerners are frustrated after years of discussion without visible changes to grocery prices.
“We’re modernizing the retail subsidy, improving transparency and retailer accountability, expanding support for the harvesters and the country food program, looking to invest in community food infrastructure and entrepreneurship,” Chartrand said.
“These steps, obviously, will take some time.”
Better late than never, although I will say never underestimate the craven calculus of the north of the Queensway crowd. They want to time this such that it falls as close to the next election as possible.
Meanwhile, we are going hungry.
Good comment.
Can we stop calling Aluki’s essay a review?
Community hunts do wonders in the NWTs Tlicho territory which Nunavut should copy but doesn’t like to do due to the HTOs lack of resources to organize such a hunt
Unfortunately we are seeing population decline around most NU communities when you look at annual counts. Some communities have been highly impacted after commercial activity was introduced. The reality is if we end up harvesting on commercial program basis, your grandkids and their kids wont be harvesting anything. There will be nothing left in hundreds of KM’s radius.
Its not a sustainable method with a rising population. If population was stagnant and minimal back in time, with most variety being harvested yes it could work out, but that isn’t the case now. We are not all eating seal, losing people to weather, famine, and disease anymore. We live long lives, have high powered rifles with machines that take us 200KM on a single tank and can pull thousands of pounds.
Sustainable is farming and NU cant do that with its current climate. Even herding reindeer / tuktu would require significantly more travel for grazing than our nordic cousins or the NWT which means we are going to be dependant on fly-in groceries and sealifts for the foreseeable future.
Hunting is not a long-term solution and we need long-term thinking not short term indulgences or trying to mirror a past when the present is an entirely different set of circumstances.
As one commentor already pointed out the so call Aluki “review” was supposed to be a full blown “Report”, with analysis, testimonials, stakeholder engagements and positions measurable details and evaluations of “best solutions” accompanied by a set of recommendations. What the FEDs received was a pile of paper that prints on 25 pages (of extremely large font, double lined) so in fact in the real world it is about 12 pages. It definitely does NOT quantify as a “review” nor even a “narrative” and is certainly NOT a “report”. It was a, “this is my opinion piece created with the least effort possible” which could in essence have simply appeared in this newspaper under its Opinion Section with some simple editing. So, can we please start calling a spade a spade and not a shovel.
A second comment deals with implementation and the fact that Nunavummiut and many northern peoples are being and will be used as props. They are very correct. It is not about addressing immediate needs. It will be about the “optics” it creates as they roll out pieces of it at press conferences filled with lots of Photo-ops and speeches by politicians and so-called leaders that are not actually the ones who did much of anything at all.
The so-called potential solutions to the food insecurity crisis facing people of the North are not new (i.e. food infrastructure, including hydroponics, vertical gardening, greenhouses, community freezers, local distribution networks and Indigenous-led food businesses). Those things mentioned by Minister Chartrand are all things that have been known for many, many years but have lacked funding, partners and the “will” to put them forward. So how about dusting off all those previous studies, reports, reviews and recommendations and get to work fixing the problem. And try doing it now! Also incorporate how any programs, plans or policies are structured to ensure the food gets to the mouths of the most vulnerable and does not take a detour into gambling, smokes, booze and junk food. Without that, anything undertaken that includes any direct monetary contribution (money given directly to the consumer) will in most cases, not hit the target objective.
Until the Fall rolls around I guess noodles will stay on the menu.