Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This is in Nunavik, in one of our retail stores.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No. One day they—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No. One day we just had these signs all over the store saying this is now $40 instead of $20, because the subsidy no longer applies to it. There were signs like that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's probably none.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, and I think that really shows how different the needs are. I don't know what they're doing in Old Crow, but in Kuujjuaq, what some of our people are doing—in fact, what my family is doing—is fly to another place where there are caribou and hunting the caribou. Then we put them in containers ourselves, and then Air Inuit has graciously given us a subsidy—I think it's 88¢ per kilo—for country food, if you pack it yourself and you bring it on the plane.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That doesn't apply in the eastern Arctic. We don't have ice roads; we only can do it by air.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  For Inuit communities, there is no other way of bringing in perishable goods, because if they're on a ship, it takes days for a ship to come into the Arctic. There is really no way of bringing in perishable goods, so it has to be done by air. This is where the high cost really comes in.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Bagnell, I just want to echo what my colleague from Yukon said about the availability of country food. It's the same in other parts of the north as well. For instance, in Nunavik, in northern Quebec, where we live, there are no caribou this year. In fact, people have to fly in to another location to hunt for the caribou, so it's costing them extra dollars to hunt for the meat that we need for the winter.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Good afternoon. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. The nutrition program is vital to the lives of Inuit, and I am pleased that this committee has made the time for this very important study. As you know, food prices throughout the Arctic are alarmingly high.

National Defence committee  I'll go back to—

National Defence committee  I would have to go back to the fact that we knowingly signed these comprehensive land claims agreements. We signed them because we felt that we needed the tools contained in these comprehensive agreements. We needed those tools to build partnerships with the federal government and other governments.

National Defence committee  Thank you very much. Could I respond, sir?

National Defence committee  We have an organization called the Inuit Circumpolar Council, and the Canada arm is involved in the negotiations for the Copenhagen meeting. I think they're going to be part of the Canadian delegation. So yes, we need to keep those channels open.

National Defence committee  First of all, I think it'll be important to make sure we cover all the Inuit regions. That's a big issue for us, that it covers all four Inuit regions. Without that, some of our regions will be absent from those discussions, so I think it's really important to resolve that issue.

National Defence committee  As Canadian citizens, it's of concern to us. We are Canadian taxpayers, just like people in the rest of Canada. We carry passports. As citizens of this country, it is of extreme importance that we safeguard our sovereignty. That's one aspect of it. The other aspect is related to economic development and building sustainable communities.