Country food store opens in Iqaluit

After years of preparation, the creators of a new country food and bulk store say its opening will increase food security and food sovereignty in Iqaluit.

The Qinnirvik Country Food and Bulk Store marked its grand opening a week ago. It's the latest project run by the Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre.

The store sells country foods like caribou, arctic char and muskox, as well as other bulk goods, including nuts, seasoning, cinnamon sticks and tea, on a sliding price scale.

Co-executive director of the food centre, Francine Doucet, said the store is meant to improve food security and sovereignty in the community.

"It's about reclaiming our culture, our traditions — harvesting our traditional foods from our land, our sea, and air."

Tackling food insecurity

According to the Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre, food costs in Nunavut are more than double the national average, and more than half of households in the territory are food insecure.

By providing a source of country food, Nunavut MP Lori Idlout said the store can make it more accessible for people new to Iqaluit who don't know the land and can't go out hunting themselves.

"It's a wonderful opportunity for Inuit to be able to buy country food that they love so much from Qinnirvik," she said. 

By selling food from hunters across the territory, Idlout said, it supports them, too. Qinnirvik — or, "a place to cache meat" — is connected to a network of 21 hunters through a social enterprise called Project Nunavut. 

Doucet said since the store's soft opening in December, responses have been positive.

The vice president of the store's board, Taqialuk Peter, said in Inuktitut that caribou is the most popular item, but fish and other dry goods are popular as well.

Choose-your-own pricing

In addition to a varied selection of goods, the store also provides options for shoppers to choose how much they want to pay.

Each item is priced at low, medium, and full price points, represented by images of char, nanuq and narwhal, respectively. At checkout, customers can point to the price point they'd like to select, and they will be charged accordingly. 

Doucet said the price scale is a way of increasing food security.

"We want to make sure that our prices are accessible, regardless of income," she said.

Janet Brewster, the MLA for Iqaluit-Sinaa, said she believes the store will do more than connect people to country food. She said it will encourage hunters to go out, contribute to the community and pay attention to the land.

"When people are harvesting, it's not just about gathering food," she said. "It really is a lot about gathering knowledge."

Paul Irngaut, vice-president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., said the store will fill a gap in the community.

"It's very hard to get country food in Iqaluit," he said. He added it's even more of a challenge for young families or people with day jobs to access country food — but the store might change that.

"It would help people a lot," he said.