New northern food subsidy unveiled

Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl hopes the days of having to pay $60 for a watermelon and $200 for a turkey in Canada's North will soon be a thing of the past.

Strahl and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, who is also the minister responsible for the North, outlined a new food subsidy program called Nutrition North Canada in Iqaluit on Friday morning.

The new strategy replaces the Food Mail Program, under which Canada Post transported perishable food items to remote northern communities cut off from regular road and sea access. The Canada Post program has existed for 40 years but has long been criticized as too expensive.

Unlike the Food Mail Program, Nutrition North subsidies will go directly to retailers and wholesalers, large and small, rather than to the agency responsible for transporting the food. The retailers and wholesalers will be responsible for arranging transport for their products.

"These organizations are in the best position to negotiate the lowest transportation rates possible and to ensure that food is shipped in a timely manner, so that consumers have better quality and fresher food with a longer shelf life," said Strahl.

Audits on the menu

Strahl said he hopes regular audits and transparency will ensure the subsidies are passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices.

"People will be able to get answers to the questions about the $200 turkey. You know, that won't go unnoticed," Strahl said, referring to reports last year about a $200 frozen Thanksgiving turkey in the remote Nunavut community of Arctic Bay.

Aglukkaq added that an advisory committee will monitor the program to ensure northerners see cost savings

"We know that the subsidy was not being passed on," she said. "The accountability piece with the advisory committee is going to be so essential in making sure that this program works for us as northerners."

Strahl said northern customers will still be able to use the food subsidy if they want to make individual orders with retailers.

'Needs to be modernized'

The issue, Strahl said, came down to cost. Because the Food Mail Program was based on a transport subsidy, Canada Post functioned as a middleman.

"They've done a very good job, but the system needs to be modernized," he said.

Under the existing system, Canada Post ships food such as vegetables, meat and dairy products and other essential items from warehouses to centres such as Val-d'Or, Que., from where they're flown to remote communities.

Postal rates for food items haven't increased since 1993, but rising transportation costs have made the program increasingly expensive. Last year, Ottawa provided Canada Post with a $60-million subsidy.

Approximately 19.9 million kilograms of food and other goods were shipped under the program in 2008-09, according to Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

Traditional foods included

As part of the Nutrition North program, the most nutritious perishable foods will receive the highest subsidy, and for the first time traditional northern foods will be eligible for subsidies.

"I think it's going to be a great opportunity not only for healthier foods but for many of the hunters and trappers and traditional people who lead a more traditional life to be able to be part of a nutritious food program," said Strahl.

However, there is a catch: Strahl said the subsidies would apply only to traditional foods, also known as country foods, that are commercially produced. That means the subsidies would not apply to people sending country food to relatives, but Strahl said this could change.

"My guess is one of the first pieces of advice the advisory board is going to have is, 'How can we make the best use of country foods?'" he said.

Health Canada will partner with communities to encourage healthy eating habits. Having access to affordable and nutritious food is a crucial step to better health in the North, said Aglukkaq.

"I know what it is to pay $60 for a watermelon," she said.

The new program will be implemented in phases beginning in October, and will service communities in the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, as well as northern regions of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Full implementation is set for April 2011.