Agriculture Committee on Feb. 7th, 2019

[Natan Obed]

The sustainability of greenhouses is something we are still looking for a solution for. Any sort of aquaculture or agriculture in Inuit Nunangat is something that hopefully is a long-term solution.

Right now, there are only four greenhouses that exist across the 51 communities in Inuit Nunangat, and they do not contribute significantly to the food needs of communities. They are helpful, but they are not providing a significant replacement. We need to figure out how to do that. Because of the cost of doing business, the cheaper option is still to fly in fresh produce rather than grow it locally in greenhouses. The cost-benefit ratio is just not there yet.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Right. We still have a considerable amount of work to do on that.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Luc Berthold]

Thank you, Mr. Obed.

Mr. MacGregor, I gave you a little more time, because I think everyone wanted to hear your answer. Thank you very much.

We have gone around the table twice. However, since we have a few minutes left, if anyone wants to ask a question, please say so. We could take turns asking questions until the end of the meeting. We won't be too formal. It's just a matter of taking the opportunity to get a little more information.

So the floor goes first to Mrs. Nassif.

[Eva Nassif, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My thanks to the witnesses.

My question is for Mr. Obed. Access to safe drinking water remains a problem on many reserves in Canada, although the situation is improving. According to the Government of Canada, 78 long-term drinking water advisories have been lifted since November 2015. However, 62 long-term advisories are still in effect.

Could you tell us how the difficulty of accessing safe drinking water affects the ability of indigenous communities to engage in agriculture, livestock or food processing?

[Natan Obed]

The Government of Canada is commendable in its push to end boil-water advisories. It is a first nations on reserve very specific initiative.

The Inuit communities also have boil-water advisories, but they're not considered to be in the catchment of the numbers you referenced. We still work with provinces, territories and the federal government to ensure that we have safe, adequate drinking water.

Not having the essential infrastructure, especially in regard to our growing communities and the existential threats in relation to climate change and the existing water resources we have, make it more of a priority for the local populations for water that goes to everyday use, rather than any water that might be diverted into any commercial enterprise. This is almost entirely unrelated, but there was a new brewery that was proposed in Iqaluit, Nunavut, but the project did not proceed because of water shortages within the community.

It's not just in agriculture, but it is across the board that we are having to make essential services decisions rather than economic development and growth strategy investments or opportunities because of the considerations related to water.

[Eva Nassif, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Does the issue of access to drinking water also affect indigenous people living off reserve?

[Natan Obed]

Yes.

Concerns in relation to access to drinkable water are also concerns that we have as Inuit in Inuit Nunangat.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Luc Berthold]

Thank you, Mr. Obed.

Go ahead, Mr. Dreeshen.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

Thank you very much.

One of the things that was mentioned.... I apologize, I don't know where it came from. I have so many notes and we have a lot of witnesses here.

We're talking about school nutrition programs and the significance of how that can be expanded throughout the entire population. What I had thought about at that point in time was that a great place to start would be with first nations' schools, with the healthy food programs.

As a farmer, I look at the meat and the fish and all of the other types of things that are important parts of one's diet. My only political story will be that in a lot of ways it's contrary to our new Canada food guide. I'd like to see that young people understand how significant these foods are to their diets. I'd be very happy to see how that might progress within the communities that you represent.

I'm not sure. I think it could have been those in Miramichi, but could we have a quick comment on that, please?

[Chad Duplessie]

Yes. We've been running a school nutrition program pretty comprehensively for about 12 years and seen great success with it.

Something to note, too, is that it's understood that in mainstream communities in Canada about 20% of the schools have some access to a free school nutrition program. I'm not sure what that number is in first nation communities, at least I've not come across it. But speculating, it could be as high as 50% or 60%. The tipping point to make that a reality may not be as out of reach as we may think.

Right now there's this patchwork of funding through non-profits, bands and sometimes provincial governments. There is this patchwork of funding to make that happen, but in first nations specifically, absolutely it is a starting point.

I think again it can be expressed now. If you have commercial kitchens in communities to service a school cafeteria, what processing can you do out of those? Again, it's looking at the CANB initiative in New Brunswick and using school cafeterias as distribution networks and also processing networks. I think there are solutions there.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Luc Berthold]

Your turn, Mr. Poissant.

[Jean-Claude Poissant, Liberal, La Prairie, QC]

First of all, Mr. Obed, you said that 35% of the territory belongs to you and includes all the communities. I would like to know how much of that territory could be devoted to agriculture and become productive.

Do you have enough support with agronomy?

[Natan Obed]

As far as traditional agriculture goes and what you might think of when you think of fertile land or animal husbandry in Canada, those sorts of industries are non-existent. We do have, in the Inuvialuit region, a caribou population that is in a herd managed by particular individuals there. I can't think of many other examples where agriculture, in the way in which you might think of it, is practised.

On the other hand, we don't just randomly go out into our homeland and magically find animals that we then harvest and prepare. We have a history of ensuring that the populations we interact with, say, a caribou population, are healthy. We have a history of improving fish habitat and creating spawning grounds in areas by strategically placing rocks or changing riverbeds. We have used the entirety of our homelands in the way in which you might have used five or 10 acres. We might not have been growing wheat, but we are still interacting with all living things in our environment and ensuring the health and success of all.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Luc Berthold]

Thank you very much, Mr. Obed.

Mr. MacGregor, are you able to ask a question and get an answer in one minute?

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Chief Patrick Michell, I would like to talk to you.

The territory I represent in the House of Commons is the Coast Salish territory, of which the largest band is the Cowichan people. I'm very well aware of the troubles with our Pacific wild salmon. They have so many things going against them in just getting to the Fraser River, let alone travelling up it.

It's really a shame that your entire culture and language revolve around salmon, but you've had to adapt to forces that are beyond your control. Is there anything we can do specifically with respect to salmon that you would like to be more involved in, with conservation efforts and the discussion about salmon, generally?

[Chief Patrick Michell]

To change the negativity that comes with the potential loss of our way of life, we should change the “why”. The reason why we're embracing agriculture is not because of the dismay that has occurred. The salmon is what it is. There are certain things that you need to do. For example, with regard to this whole aquaculture, why would you intentionally put into the mix something that could endanger the wild salmon populations? If you put reservoirs up, you could release cold water in August, when the temperature exceeds their natural ability. When the Fraser River hits 21° Celsius, the fish are, in a sense, being parboiled, so you can release cold water into the Fraser River when it's needed. You can put in reservoirs. Catch the freshet and then release it.

There are many ways that we could potentially protect and start mitigating and doing hazard reduction, and then hazard reversal. The answers are there. It's just whether or not there's a political will to implement that, because it's going to come at the expense of the sport industry and the aquaculture industry.

For me, our community wants to participate in aquaculture. We want to put the farmed salmon on land, and it's proven to work. Pull them out of the ocean and put them on the land.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Those closed-containment on-land systems, I agree.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Luc Berthold]

Thank you very much, Mr. MacGregor.

My thanks to all the witnesses for their participation. I feel sure that these discussions will be very useful to us when the time comes to produce the report following our study on support for indigenous Canadians in the agriculture and agri-food industry.

We will take a break of a few minutes and then continue the session in camera to review the work of the committee. Thank you.

[Proceedings continue in camera]