Health Committee on Sept. 28th, 2006

[Nancy Karetak-Lindell, Liberal, Nunavut, NU]

Thank you very much.

I'm not a regular member of this committee, but I represent a riding that I think is very different from those I'm hearing about around the table. I represent Nunavut, and it is an area that....I think Harriet mentioned a bit about that.

I listen to all this and try to understand and place it in the context of the people I represent. It's more a matter of economics for a lot of the people in my riding. You talk about choices in the supermarket. Well, that's not a reality for us. You did talk a little bit about the cost of food and what is on the shelf. But I really think I have to add what is not on the shelf. There aren't a lot of choices for some people in the stores we have. We can't even call some of them grocery stores; they're more like general stores that supply everything, because there's only one store in some of these communities that I represent.

Trying to take in the contents of food labelling and trying to look at Canada's Food Guide is not a reality for a lot of people in my community, language being one of the difficulties. But mainly, it comes down to poverty. When you're buying a jug of milk for $13, that's a reality for people. Sometimes it's simply not economically possible for people living in poverty to provide a healthy diet for their children.

That's why--again, this is more a comment than a question--food subsidies is a reality for the people in my riding and maybe in some other northern ridings in Canada, where the cost of food is such that you have to subsidize the healthy foods that people need to have to feed their children. That is a reality, and that is trying to put into some context what you're discussing today, that there are other realities in this country that we live in, and trying to feed a family healthy foods goes beyond all the topics you are discussing.

I know what you're saying to us is very important, but sometimes it's simply the basics of trying to find the money to feed a family. That has to be taken into context, and also the reality of the changing dynamics of communities. Even going into traditional foods is expensive now because of the cost of energy, the cost of buying all the things that you need to go hunting. Those are the different dynamics that we have to deal with also.

This is simply to put in my two cents worth of reality for my riding in the context of your topics today.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Does anyone want to address that?

Ms. Kuhnlein.

[Dr. Harriet Kuhnlein]

Yes, I would simply like to add a word about some of the marketing policies of the food stores that supply these communities in Nunavut and across the north. I've seen the shelves, I've seen the lower shelves where children come in with their $2.50 for lunch and walk out with chips and pop and a candy bar for their lunch, because that's what they see in front of them.

I think some attention could reasonably be given to shelving policies, maybe in all of Canada, but especially in these communities.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

All right, thank you very much.

Mr. Batters, you have five minutes.

[Dave Batters, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I also want to thank all the witnesses for coming and appearing before this committee today. I apologize; I was tied up in the House and I didn't get to see your presentations, but I've reviewed some of your literature and listened to some of the questions with interest.

We're addressing a critical issue, one that's very deserving of the committee's time, and when the results of this study come out, I'm hoping it isn't another study that just sits on the shelf, but really will be taken to heart and result in some actions being taken by Canadians.

I have just a few comments to make, and then I'm going to leave you with three different questions. I have five minutes--right, Mr. Chair?--and they're rapidly disappearing; I can tell by that look.

Mr. Dykstra, my colleague, commented, and I couldn't believe I heard him correctly. He said he's been sitting around at home on weekends and just started to flip through the labels on the food. The number of Canadians who read the labels and the labelling system that we currently have on food would, I think, be just a very small percentage. I never read the labelling. I don't know what that stuff means. I have no clue.

After one of these meetings we had with witnesses, we talked about it afterwards. I mean this with sincerity. One of the witnesses said to me that it's almost like we need to have a nutrition for dummies book. We'll approach those people who do those books. They have “Taxation for Dummies”, etc.; we need “Nutrition for Dummies”. I'd be the first lining up to buy that book. We need greater education in terms of meal preparation.

I'm hearing that Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating may be eight pages long, and if that's the case, it would be a crying shame. It should be simple messages--maybe a page, laminated, double-sided, with simple labelling and maybe some examples. If you wanted further examples, those would be available, but the basic messages should able to be delivered in a laminated double-sided card. I think this is about education, and if I'm this ignorant about these subjects, I guarantee you there are a lot of Canadians out there who are equally uneducated. I think the labelling tool we currently have is almost useless.

We were talking about you while you were gone, Mr. Dykstra, about how you just decided to curl up on the couch and watch football and look at some labels on some food. You're definitely in the minority, sir; that probably puts you among the top students of the colleagues.

I have three questions now. I'm going to open this up to whoever wants to comment, but specifically to Ms. Gillis, what do you see as the greatest challenge in encouraging healthy eating among children? Second, to all of you, if you haven't got these thoughts on the record, what can the federal government do to help Canadians achieve and maintain a healthy weight? What's the single thing, or what are a couple of different things, we can do in the role as a federal government?

My last point is about schools that have snack programs. Are there guidelines provided to schools that have these programs, to ensure that healthy snacks are delivered to our students?

There's a question for Ms. Gillis and a question for all of you. Thanks.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

We'll ask Ms. Gillis to start, and then we'll open it up to any others.

[Linda Gillis]

I think one of the biggest challenges I face is in terms of family change. It's not just the child who has to change, but the whole family, and then the challenge comes with that child's friends. It's a bigger society problem; it's not just what the child needs to change, but everyone around that child and what they need to change.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Mr. Freedhoff is next.

[Dr. Yoni Freedhoff]

Dave, I agree with you 100%. I'm going to read you every single recommendation from the healthy eating pyramid, and I'm going to do it in less than a minute.

On a foundation of daily exercise and weight control, eat whole grain foods at most meals; plant oils at most meals; vegetables in abundance; fruit two to three times a day; nuts and legumes one to three times a day; fish, poultry, and eggs zero to two times a day; and dairy or a calcium supplement one to two times a day. Use sparingly red meat, butter, white rice, white bread, white pasta, potatoes, soda, and sweets. Multiple vitamins are appropriate for most people.

This has been validated in a very robust study as a better means of following nutrition recommendations. That's it.

Is that the kind of thing you're looking for?

[Dave Batters, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

I'd like to go even one step further, though, and perhaps have little examples of meals for people. At Health Canada we spend a tremendous amount of resources as a government--as did the former government, I'm sure--in terms of developing these guides. Let's have some examples for people, so that people can flip through the book and say that yes, this looks good today.

[Dr. Yoni Freedhoff]

Absolutely. And you asked what is the single most important thing we could do as a federal government in terms of helping with the problem of obesity in Canada. I would restrict all of the recommendations to purely evidence-based recommendations, and I would include the industry only in the consultation process as people to comment on the recommendations that have already been made through absolute scientific evidence.

I don't blame anybody from industry for trying to go to bat for their various industries; that's their job. But I don't think it's possible to have industry representatives sitting on the 12-member advisory board of the food guide and not have an influence on the recommendations of the food guide. When we sat at a table and there was a fight over what angle a certain picture should be put at because it would impact upon the sales of that item, it became very clear that their help in the consultation process may not be based on evidence-based medicine and the best interests for the health of Canadians.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Does anyone else want to comment?

Ms. Reynolds.

[Joyce Reynolds]

You asked what the federal government could do. I'll make two very quick points.

I do think education and awareness are critical, and you have touched on that. The other thing is better surveillance. There are all kinds of interventions being discussed. There's so little evidence as to what really is effective, and I think there needs to be better tracking, better surveillance. We need to look at all the different projects that are going on at the community level. Let's really figure out what works and what doesn't work.

I think that's one thing that's lacking--solid research.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Ms. Kuhnlein, very quickly.

[Dr. Harriet Kuhnlein]

I'll just reinforce that we need better research, and research that's done well. For indigenous people, we need more information about how to get them to use more of their traditional food, and how to have better food for them to buy. They have to have access to it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Thank you.

Ms. Tanaka.

[Phyllis Tanaka]

I would go back to a remark that Ms. Davidson made earlier, that from your position this is very confusing because of the conflicting information. I would say the starting point for what you can do is to make sure you have in-depth conversations with experts in the area of childhood obesity. I know you had Diane Finegood here, and she is somebody who has the expertise and the solid footing in the science, the evidence-based literature that's out there on this complex issue.

From my perspective, that's the starting point. Speak to the people who have the expertise. Get a better understanding of what the real issues are and what some of the potential solutions are.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Thank you very much to the panel, and thank you very much, Ms. Gillis, for joining us through video conferencing.

Thank you very much to the committee for the great questions.

The meeting is adjourned.