Human Resources Committee on March 7th, 2017

[Marie-Christine Vanier]

There was a project where they grew vegetables in a water tank. There were fish underneath that fed the vegetables. It was a complete nutritional element transfer. That said, I have never heard about a container as such.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

We can maybe do some more research on that, Madame Bouchard.

[Marie-Christine Vanier]

Yes, it would be interesting.

[Dr. Françoise Bouchard]

I would invite you to get in touch with Kativik Regional Government, which has these greenhouse projects in place in Nunavik, as well as chicken coops to have fresh eggs available and accessible in Kuujjuaq. Currently, Kativik Regional Government is developing the kinds of projects right now to look at exactly, I think, the perspective of growing or accessing your own fresh food.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Just to build on the comments by Mr. Zimmer, we're trying to provide the quality of life of the south, but in the north. I think the big question is whether that is possible to do.

The north is their home. They would like to be able to live a good quality of life there. Is that possible? I think that maybe the portable greenhouse, actually built in the community, may provide the benefit of affordable food. What makes it still quite expensive is the cost of the diesel to run the generators to power the lights and electricity in the communities.

Moving back to the issue of seniors, do we know what percentage of the population seniors are projected to be in the north? In the south, it is supposed to be the case that within the next 13 years, one in four people will be a senior or an elder, defined as age 65 and older. There are now more seniors than youth.

It sounds like it's quite a different mix. The projected life expectancy in the north is only 64. In 2008 it was 68. There's something happening in the north that is quite different from in the south. Do you have any projections of what's going to happen over the next 10 to 15 years in the north as far as the age of seniors is concerned?

[Dr. Françoise Bouchard]

I do not have the numbers in my head, but I can give you the information.

Mr. Chair, we can send you socio-demographic information regarding the Nunavik population.

We have what we call an inverted pyramid in Nunavik, because of the high natality rate that we have. I don't think this will change. I think the population is young, with a high natality rate right now, so we're probably going to have 50% of our population under 19 years of age for a long time.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Do I have another minute or so?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

You have about half a minute.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Could you address the challenges of mobility for seniors in the north?

[Dr. Françoise Bouchard]

That's a good question.

When you asked about housing's capacity to address the mobility issues that elders may have in terms of adaptation, I was going to say that this is an issue, clearly.

Our communities right now are small, but they're expanding, and they're expanding with a low density. Transportation is an issue for people, especially if they don't have their own vehicles.

Some communities now have community buses. There is transportation so that elders can get to the health services they need or to the grocery store when they need to. However, they are often dependant on their own family members and on the availability of their family members.

I don't know if that responds to your question on mobility issues, but I think it's an issue of urbanization that has not been fully addressed. With the growing chronic issues such as hip problems, walking is clearly not as easy, especially in the winter. They depend a lot on transportation by others, but also on public transportation when available in the community.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you.

Now, for six minutes, we'll have MP Long, please.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Thanks again, Chair.

Thank you again to our witnesses.

Ms. Vanier and Ms. Makiuk, in your presentations you mentioned the lessening of permafrost. I don't know if that's the right terminology. Can you elaborate on that and what impact it has on your northern community?

[Marie-Christine Vanier]

I am not an expert on soil, but I am familiar with that situation because we have to deal with it. The permafrost layer is supposed to be frozen permanently, but the ground moves. It seems that this melting is being caused by climate change. Because of that, the houses, which are built on pilings, are much more unstable.

We build a pad that is made up of several layers of various substances such as sand and rock, and the homes are built on those pads. Before now homes did not move very much, but we now see that some new houses have already moved. The structure of homes that are only two years old has already moved. You can see that on the inside.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Would you agree that climate change is having an impact on your community?

[Marie-Christine Vanier]

Absolutely.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Ms. Bouchard, can you also elaborate on that? What impact are you seeing?

[Dr. Françoise Bouchard]

I agree. In terms of impact from a health perspective, I cannot claim things, but one of the concerns we have, for example, is with rabies. There are animals that carry rabies in the south; with climate change, we see animals now moving more north. We are concerned about further risk of exposure. That's clearly an example from changes in the environment.

[Marie-Christine Vanier]

It affects country food, too.

People also notice changes in the behaviour of animals.

Kuujjuaq is still considered the south. There are still trees in part of Kuujjuaq. The trees are bigger and have more leaves. The situation is quite obvious in the north. It seems that the changes are more spectacular there.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

I'm repeating, but you are seeing adverse effects due to climate change, obviously.

[Marie-Christine Vanier]

Yes.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

If proceeds from a price on carbon were used to, say, deepen food subsidies, would you agree that this could be a way of lowering costs to help people living in poverty?

[Dr. Françoise Bouchard]

Are you asking should the proceeds of carbon taxation be used to reduce...?

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Yes. If carbon tax revenue were given back to people living in poverty as subsidies, could you see that as a way to help alleviate poverty?

[Dr. Françoise Bouchard]

I'm not an expert who could say what is the best way of using a carbon reduction tax. Clearly, if it's about programs to increase the social safety net of our citizens, the source of the funds is an issue for government policy to decide. However, I think we need to increase the capacity of the social safety net for our citizens.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Ms. Vanier, would you agree?