Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Our department is responsible for the funding and administration of programs and services for first nations communities and its members through our various programs. As part of this responsibility we aim to ensure that the wellbeing of women, children, and families is addressed. In this respect, INAC is committed to taking concrete action in advancing the interests of aboriginal children and families and enhancing their wellbeing by providing the necessary supports to enable positive outcomes.
INAC's social policies are based on the principles of reasonable comparability and on-reserve residency-based service delivery, with the requirement to follow provincial-territorial rates and standards. INAC currently provides funding for the delivery of five programs. These include first nations child and family services, income assistance, assisted living, the family violence prevention program, and the national child benefit reinvestment program.
When it comes to the health of first nations and Inuit children, the lead is with Health Canada's First Nations and Inuit Health Branch. However, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada plays a support role through the funding of programs that impact on the social determinants of health.
The criteria and guidelines for many of our programs are set according to the relevant provincial or territorial guidelines. Where these guidelines allow, INAC's income assistance program provides financial support to the extent permitted for people requiring special diets for conditions such as diabetes or celiac disease.
We try to ensure that the health interests of first nations and Inuit children are addressed through the food mail program, also known as the northern air stage program. It pays part of the cost of shipping nutritious perishable food by air to isolated communities. Anyone, including retailers and individuals, can receive food mail if suppliers in the south have a food mail account with Canada Post. INAC funding to Canada Post helps keep the cost of shipping food down. Foods of little nutritional value, such as soft drinks and potato chips, are not funded.
About 140 communities--roughly 90,000 people--are eligible for the program. Most of these are aboriginal communities located in the three territories, Labrador, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
The examples I have provided so far address the financial aspect of healthy eating. A prime example of a program designed to improve the quality of food is INAC's northern contaminants program. It was established in 1991 in response to concerns about human exposure to elevated levels of contaminants in wildlife species that are important to the traditional diets of northern aboriginal peoples.
Early studies indicated that there was a wide spectrum of substances--persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals, and radionuclides--many of which had no Arctic or Canadian source, but were nonetheless reaching unexpectedly high levels in the Arctic ecosystem.
The program's key objective is to work towards reducing and, where possible, eliminating contaminants in traditional country foods, while providing information that assists individuals and communities in making informed decisions about their food use.
INAC tries to avoid the overregulation of its programs, and this allows for the creativity of services and service deliverers to create initiatives that benefit their specific populations.
Some first nations schools have taken the lead in helping their students develop healthy lifestyles. These include, for example, Eel Ground First Nation, which was one of the first schools in New Brunswick to adopt a healthy eating program by eliminating junk foods and by providing walking programs and similar initiatives that were intended to get students active. Eel Ground was recognized provincially in the media for its work in this area.
A St. Mary's First Nation school is part of the BOOST program, in partnership with the University of New Brunswick. The program concentrates on daily activity and a healthy diet.
The Mi'kmaq Kina'matnewey, or Mi'kmaq Education Authority, is another interesting example. A sports animator position was developed by the province of Nova Scotia and works out of the MK office. The sports animator works in band-operated schools and develops and promotes healthy living programs for students. Students have designated exercise time every day, have started walking clubs, and have initiated competitions between schools for students to log the greatest number of steps on pedometers that were given to them. The MK is also working towards entering a provincial track and field event for first nations students in the summer of 2007.
Unfortunately, there are not only positive stories to share with you. For many of our programs, the need is great, and there are insufficient resources to meet the needs. For example, we have seen instances when first nations women's shelters have had limited access to appropriate supplies of food, which has incurred additional hardship for them.
Although INAC's role is not specifically to address health issues, we do attempt to make our program guidelines flexible enough to permit first nations and Inuit to address the specific needs of their communities. There are many examples of first nations and Inuit showing initiative in finding ways to help their kids lead healthy, active lives.
INAC is committed to continuing to work with Health Canada and other partners to help first nation and northern communities find ways to develop and maintain healthy lifestyles. Very often, the real solutions come at the grassroots level, and we embrace this creativity and initiative towards building healthy communities.
With that, Mr. Chair, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to make this presentation at this time.