Agriculture Committee on March 20th, 2023

[Lori Nikkel]

The government funding was the COVID-19 funding, and we're not receiving any of it anymore. That funding has stopped.

Honestly, we could use another $30 million, and even then it wouldn't be enough to meet the need.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

The figures come up that only 4% of businesses that are able are donating their surplus food. I'm just wondering why there are so few. What could be done to see that number increase?

Are any of the large grocery chains partnered with you for food rescue?

We have about 30 seconds left to answer that.

[Lori Nikkel]

The grocery chains are, absolutely. They use the food rescue app. All of them are on it. They're not all partnered with us. I think Metro is partnered with Food Banks Canada, but Loblaws, Sobeys and Empire are all partnered with probably both of us, to be honest.

I'm sorry. What was your other question?

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

What could be done to see that number increase for businesses?

[Lori Nikkel]

Honestly, I'm going to go back to.... I think if we mandate measurement for businesses to measure their food loss and waste, that will drive them to the innovation of “we have to give some away”, because there has to be a target that they hit.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Ms. Rood, and thank you, Ms. Nikkel.

I'm told that Chief Louis is now going to be okay.

Colleagues, we'll adjust and try to get through as many questions in this first panel as possible.

Chief Louis, I would invite you to make your five-minute remark.

[Chief Byron Louis]

My name is Byron Louis. I'm the chief of the Okanagan Indian Band. It's an honour to be here today to share on the perspectives of the Assembly of First Nations concerning food price inflation and its devastating impacts on first nations.

Given the short time for opening remarks, I will focus my remarks on three areas: the historic context of first nations food security and insecurity in Canada, the impacts of food price inflation on first nations, and our recommendations.

I'll start with the history of first nations. We have historically experienced systemic discrimination and colonialism, which have contributed to food insecurity, lost culture and the infringement of our rights. If you look at the recent Yale decision that came out of Northeastern B.C., it's specific to cumulative effects on 97% of their traditional territories, so you can imagine what the impact of that is on such things as what are defined as our country foods.

As first nations, we have a unique and sacred reciprocal relationship with mother earth and all living things. As such, environmental stewardship is central to our cultures, traditions, health and food sovereignty. However, environmental degradation and settler colonial policies continue to damage our environment and erode our food sovereignty.

First nations in Canada are experiencing extremely high rates of food insecurity, with many first nations households finding it difficult to put enough food on the table. Recent studies found that first nations experience disproportionately high rates of food insecurity, about three to five times higher than the Canadian population overall. Families with children are even more affected.

Over the last century, first nations have experienced a profound nutritional transition, from traditional food to an increased reliance on market food systems and a resulting heightened food insecurity.

Throughout the pandemic, first nations have been returning to traditional modes of hunting, fishing and trapping, only to compete with more licensed hunters than even before and fewer populations of fish and wildlife. We are witnessing in our lifetime the disappearance of salmon in the Yukon and the unimaginable poverty that's taking over, which impacts the full scope of the ecosystem. First nations see this as a crisis of food security, as wild country foods that were once plentiful no longer exist, and store-bought foods that first nations cannot afford take their place.

In British Columbia, here, if you look at some of the statistics on chinook salmon, about 13 out of the 14 chinook stocks are in peril and requiring some type of listing, and that is a major part of our diets on the west coast.

If you look at the impacts of food price inflation on first nations' food security and sovereignty, the cost of food in Canada rose by 10.4% in January 2023, the highest rise since about 1980.

If you take into consideration any northern community, you're talking about the ability.... If you're able to haul goods and services over an ice bridge it's about 60 cents a pound, but if you have to fly them in it's $60 a pound, so you can imagine the effect that has on anyone's buying power.

According to the consumer price index from Statistics Canada, grocery prices are up 9%. However, first nations communities face even higher food prices, up to 2.5 times higher than the national average, putting food beyond the reach of many first nations families. In my own experience of being up in Old Crow, which is the highest community in the Yukon, a small piece of coho salmon about this big and that looked like about a single serving was $26 for that piece. If you have a family of five, do the math. That's well over $100 just for that one family to put that on the table for food. If you're on a fixed income, think of what that causes and the actual price of hauling it in.

When you look at food prices, inflation poses unique and significant impacts on first nations, who are already facing challenges related to food insecurity and access to healthy food. The average wage of a first nations family is $22,000 per year, which is defined as the poverty line in Canada.

In the past, we were able to live or subsist on this because we had access to our traditional foods. That does not exist anymore.

As first nations, traditional foods remain essential to our food systems. Food price inflation makes it more expensive for first nations to practice hunting and fishing, creating additional barriers to traditional foods.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Chief Louis.

I know the time is relatively short, but now we want to get to other parliamentarians to ask questions of our witnesses, including yourself.

From one Louis to the next, we go to Mr. Tim Louis now, for up to six minutes.

[Tim Louis, Liberal, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I appreciate all the witnesses for being here.

I'm remote. I'm in Kitchener—Conestoga right now, which is the traditional territory of the Anishinabe, Haudenosaunee and Neutral people. While I have a chance to talk to you, Chief Louis, I hope I can expand on what you were saying.

You were talking about the price of healthy foods and how it's actually much higher in first nations communities than in the rest of Canada. You talked about food transportation costs, climate change compounding the issues the further north you get, and the higher rates of poverty and unemployment making it even harder to eat healthy food. You talked about the costs and the challenges that would lead to more food insecurity and then diet-related health issues.

We are hearing some stories of innovative ways.... We're trying to figure out a way to help locally, as opposed to bringing food in. There are some success stories of innovative ways to grow vegetables year round even if temperatures are below freezing.

Do you have any instances of indigenous communities partnering with organizations or companies to develop things like hydroponic container gardens, greenhouses or vertical farming?

[Chief Byron Louis]

That's being done in certain communities across Canada. It's in certain locations, but it's not the norm.

When you're talking about such things as greenhouses, technologies and others, there are certain requirements that would be affected by that. If you're dependent on diesel generation, then there are certain limitations on that or on the technology itself.

With that being said, a lot of communities are actually instituting what are now community gardens. Even myself, growing up as a young kid, our country foods actually supported us quite extensively, and so did gardens. It's slowly starting to return to that. If you look at that, it's probably about 30 years since those were the norm. Now it's slowly trying to go back there. It's going to take a while.

Keep in mind that we have global warming, which is probably going to exist for anywhere from 50 to 100 years.

[Tim Louis, Liberal, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Thank you for your time.

I'll see if I can get in some questions for the other witnesses.

Mr. Hetherington from the Daily Bread Food Bank, I appreciate all the work you're doing and your advocacy in amplifying the voices of people who are experiencing food insecurity.

In our riding of Kitchener—Conestoga, I know first-hand the work you've done with The Food Bank of Waterloo Region. I know the supports are bigger than just one organization. In every community there are programs and agency partners—in cities and in smaller towns—that provide food and connection to other vital supports.

Can you speak to the co-operation among the food banks themselves—the interplay you have—and also between food banks and local community programs? What can we do to strengthen that co-operation?

[Neil Hetherington]

Through Food Banks Canada we have a wonderful network across the country that allows us to share information and resources and collectively advocate on behalf of and alongside individuals who are experiencing food insecurity. That's the basic framework that we're in.

To your question in terms of how we can improve that and how we can magnify those voices, that is something we're consistently challenged with. We know the solutions to food insecurity. I think everybody at this committee knows the solutions to food insecurity. We can share the statistics. We can show the recommendations. Most importantly, we can provide you with the impact of individual social policy levers that you have the choice to implement, so that we can get to a place where this country has no food insecurity.

[Tim Louis, Liberal, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

To follow up, Mr. Hetherington, how can we reduce the stigma of people using food banks, especially in smaller communities? What can we do from a communications standpoint?

[Neil Hetherington]

We have to recognize that the numbers state that almost 1 in 5 Canadians is experiencing food insecurity. People are not far away from food insecurity. It's your neighbour or the person sitting beside you on the bus who is food insecure. What we do operationally is make sure we have low-barrier systems in place.

That means that when you walk through a food bank, we greet you. We make sure it's a shopping model whereby you can select the food that is appropriate for your family, for your culture and for your dietary restrictions. Those are some of the low-barrier ways that we can make sure people feel comfortable coming in to do what more and more Canadians, regrettably, are doing.

[Tim Louis, Liberal, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Thank you.

With the final minute I have, Ms. Nikkel from Second Harvest, I have time for only one question.

We have felt the impact in all of our communities. Can you tell us the economic benefits, the social impacts and the environmental benefits of the work you're doing?

[Lori Nikkel]

Are you referring to the impact of the rescued food?

We know that when we keep it in landfills, it creates methane gas, because there's no oxygen in landfills. Most of our food ends up in landfills. We know that when we keep it out, we are not emitting that methane gas.

Economically, it's free. It's all free. There's so much food in Canada that we don't have to purchase it. We get it for free. That allows those charities and non-profits, of which there are 61,000, to use their money for what they need, which is wraparound services. If they need a mental health worker, if they need a social worker, if they need sports.... Whatever they need, they don't have to spend their money on food. That's the economic driver.

The social driver is that they are wraparound services. We support food banks, but we're an opt-in organization. We support any charity or non-profit that supplies food to people in need. There is no stigma. I mean, it depends on where you're going. Whether they are schools, community centres, churches or mosques, the goal is to give them something that isn't just food. That's a social network for them. It's amazing what happens when people get together socially, for a number of reasons. They typically get this wonderful thing called confidence and some life skills.

I'm sorry, Kody; I will shut my mouth right now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you, Ms. Nikkel.

No, no. We gave you an extra 45 seconds. I always try to be fair at this committee, but I do need to make sure that we keep somewhat on time.

Mr. Perron, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for being with us, either in person or virtually.

Ms. Nikkel, you were on a roll, but you ran out of time. I'll give you about 20 seconds to finish what you were saying.

[Lori Nikkel]

I think it was wrapped up. It was just that there are social benefits.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Okay, perfect.

In your opening statement, you put forward some real solutions for the government. Among other things, you talked about a food rescue program. Can you elaborate on that? If you had the opportunity to make two or three specific recommendations directly to the committee, which can then pass them on to the government, what would they be?

[Lori Nikkel]

The first one would be bringing back the surplus food rescue program. There's more than enough food in this country to feed everybody. It also supports producers. It supports individuals and families. It supports the social network and the economy. That's number one.

Number two, I think we need to bring back the emergency food security funding while we work on longer-term, systemic policies. There has to be something in between. We're triaging; all these charities are triaging.

I bring up best-before dates, because a lot of this food is going to waste for no reason at all. It's because everybody thinks it's about safety, and it's not. Manufacturers put them on, and they put them on every single article of food, when it is not required.

Those would be my three recommendations.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

How are we going to manage changing that? Should there be an education policy on best-before dates? How could we bring about change while also safeguarding the public's health?

[Lori Nikkel]

A couple of countries are doing this already. In the U.K., they are eliminating best-before dates on a number of products. In Australia, they've changed best-before to use-by date. I think we need to investigate what other countries are doing and doing well. We don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Of course, CFIA has to be involved to make sure that we're not ever making any food unsafe, but when you see a best-before date on water, coffee or a can that's good for two years, people think that's garbage, and they throw it away. They could be eating it.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Mr. Hetherington, you just stated that one in five people are food insecure and that we know what the solutions are. What are the solutions, in your opinion? If you wanted the committee to make one or two specific recommendations to the government, what would they be?

[Neil Hetherington]

The first would be to have a serious conversation about a guaranteed income in this country. We flirted with that with CERB, and we saw the opportunities in terms of what that could do for many to lift them out of poverty. I would think that it's time now for a conversation, a study, to happen to understand the benefits to so many.

The second is your support when it comes to Bill C-22. I can't tell you how delighted I was that it was unanimously approved by the House. Now there's an opportunity through those regulations to ask how we can assist individuals who are on disability and provide them with a top-up to the provincial assistance they receive, which is dismal.