Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before this committee today on behalf of the National Aboriginal Health Organization.
My name is Carole Lafontaine. I'm the acting chief executive director at NAHO. I'm also a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario. I am joined today by Mark Buell, our manager of policy and communications at NAHO.
We are pleased to join you today and share our knowledge on obesity in first nations and Inuit children. While NAHO recognizes that there are multiple contributing factors that lead to a high rate of obesity in aboriginal communities in Canada, we would like to focus our brief presentation on income and the cost of foods that shift away from a traditional diet, and the lack of opportunity for physical activities in many aboriginal communities. We would also like to recognize that obesity is a problem faced by all aboriginal people, including the urban population.
The importance of obtaining and analyzing aboriginal-specific data cannot be overstated. Appropriate data assist organizations and government to design and deliver programs that are responsive to the unique needs of target populations. Public policy formulations and fiscal allocations can be better informed by specific data that determine the scope and relevance of disease in first nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, and their needs.
The lower health and socio-economic status of aboriginal peoples in Canada is well known. The link between these factors and obesity is also well documented, so I will not be addressing this in detail today. The fact that the aboriginal population in Canada is younger and growing faster than the general Canadian population points to the urgency of addressing factors that contribute to a socio-economic and health disparity faced by first nations, Inuit, and Métis in Canada, but it also presents us with an opportunity for early intervention.
Clearly, the epidemic of obesity is more severe in aboriginal populations. Knowing that obesity is a problem brings us to the question: Why?
I would like to raise three points: income and the cost of food, the shift from traditional diet, and the transition from a physically active lifestyle to one that is more sedentary and spent indoors.
Income affects the ability to obtain nutritionally adequate and safe foods. Food costs remain higher in the north than in the south. This is of particular significance to first nations and Inuit, as many aboriginals live in the north and in remote communities.
Food-basket studies indicate that northerners pay far more than southerners for the same basket of food. For one week, for a family of four, the northern food basket in Kugaaruk, Nunavut, costs $327--double that of Edmonton. Given this fact, many families have insufficient income to cover the cost of a healthy diet and other necessary family costs. In the same study, in Kugaaruk, five out of six Inuit households were classified as being food-insecure. Over half of the households studied had experienced hunger in the previous year. According to a Thunder Bay health unit, the cost of local nutritious food baskets has risen by 19% since 1998. During the same time, minimum wage has only risen 13% and social assistance rates have seen net cuts.
Indigenous people in North America have experienced a rapid change in diet and lifestyle. Aboriginal youth and adults today have diets that are drastically different from that of their parents and grandparents. They choose higher levels of junk foods and decreased amounts of nutritious country food. When traditional food is lost but high-energy market food is substituted, the basis for developing obesity exists. This is coincident with additional circumstances of changing activity patterns and possible genetic predispositions.
Aboriginal people are adopting a diet high in saturated fat, sugar, and refined foods, and low in fibre, often termed the “western diet”. High costs associated with harvesting increasingly limit the ability of many first nations, Métis, and Inuit harvesters to continue their activities. The Nunavut harvesters support program estimates that it costs more than $200 in operating costs to conduct a weekend hunt. Unfortunately, this amount is too high for many families dependent on social assistance, and the inability to access country food forces them to continue their dependence upon store-bought and processed foods.
Next, I would like to discuss the transition from a physically active lifestyle to one that is more sedentary and spent indoors. This goes hand in hand with the transition in diet. There is less time spent hunting, trapping, and fishing, and that means less time being physically active. Also, a lack of community capacity to organize recreational programs and a lack of facilities means that for many children and youth, physical activity is very limited. This is particularly true in small and remote communities.
Much more research is needed on the factors that influence physical activity patterns of aboriginal children and youth. For example, there may be social and cultural values related to physical activity that should guide the development of policies, programs, and services. Empowerment is a social action process that promotes participation of people, organizations, and communities towards the goal of increased individual and community control, political efficacy, improved quality for community life, and social justice.
Health and social science research substantiates the role of powerlessness as a risk factor for disease and the control of empowerment as a health-enhancing strategy. In practice, this means that future initiatives must be driven by community participation.
The need for and impact of literacy skills cuts across all these determinants of health. The better a person's literacy skills, the more likely they are to have better education, housing, income, mental health, and so on--therefore, better health. The practice of educating parents and families about good nutrition needs to be augmented with programs that teach parents and caregivers the skills to prepare and plan nutritious meals. Investments here have proven effective in relation to nutritional improvement in families.
Additional upstream investment and expansions of maternal and child health programs could have a significant impact on child and youth health outcomes relating to obesity.
I thank you for your time and would like to refer you to our submission, where we highlight a number of recommendations for policies, programs, and service, as well as research.
Thank you again.