Evidence of meeting #32 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was nutrition.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Chief, Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
I guess the initial issue is my community is unique because the North West Company actually runs Canada Post, so there may be a bit of a conflict of interest, but we'll get to that later.
I guess the two non-food items that I would recommend would be gasoline and ammunition, because when the people go out onto the land, there's a cost. It costs $2 a litre for gasoline in my community, so if we're going to subsidize something, I think my community would be appreciative of those two items.
Representative, Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services
Perhaps I am going to switch from English to French.
For the nutrition education part, that's great that they will include us in the program. It's perfect that this side is worked on as well. But being the only nutritionist for 14 communities, I do wonder how I'm going to use it. I've been working on the retail-based nutrition intervention here with Health Canada. We did recipe cards that were sent to all northern stores. It has proven ineffective because you have to do it with some kind of educational component with an activity by itself, not just giving out a recipe card like that. It has been evaluated and it was not effective. So giving out pamphlets and recipes like that is not going to change anything. We do have to have, really, ongoing activities, capacity-building, and everything.
However, in Nunavik we don't have community health workers, community representatives, in the clinic yet. It's just starting as a program. We only have clinical care, so I do wonder who I can send the money to for them to do the education and appropriation.
Conservative
President, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
Okay.
In terms of non-perishables, you've probably heard that we have the youngest population in Canada. Diapers are a very important aspect of daily living. Just like every other society, we don't depend too much on cloth diapers any more. Also, equipment for hunters—to be able to hunt, you need the gasoline, as the gentleman said, and other hunting equipment.
One last point I wanted to make is in regard to the volunteer advisory committee. It is a volunteer committee, so we don't want to put an onerous job onto these people. I don't know how many are going to be on this committee. The government needs to be proactive in terms of communications and education with regard to this advisory committee. As I said, it's an advisory role that it will play.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
Thank you, Ms. Simon.
We are now starting the second round.
Mr. Russell, you have five minutes.
Liberal
Todd Russell Liberal Labrador, NL
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon to each of you. It's good to be with you.
It sounds like a conversation that should have happened a long time ago, before the program was announced, in my view. So many issues have arisen in this committee room this afternoon that obviously the program has not taken into account.
For instance, the eligibility list that just came out in October.... Most of the sealifts have come and gone by October. You have a regime coming in that doesn't take into account the nuances in certain parts of the north. In Labrador, we have a number of communities on the list; some are going to be dropped and they weren't notified and weren't involved in it. They're facing the same circumstance. People are going to the grocery store, going to the retailer, and asking why is this now so pricey compared to what it's been in the past.
The aim of the program—nutritious foods for healthier people and healthier communities—is a noble goal. It was one of the goals of the food mail program. Under the food mail program, you could have tweaked the eligibility list to put more focus on nutritious foods or perishable items. There's a question whether a wholesale reform was necessary.
To me, it would have had to do with the structure of the program and how the program was implemented. Maybe a wholesale structural change was not what was necessary. It will be nice when we get the officials in front of us to hear what they have to say, whether there was some kind of comparative study done between what was happening with the food mail program, what's going to happen now, and why this one is apparently going to be a great successor.
On country foods, I'd just like to correct the parliamentary secretary. Not all country foods that are going to be transferred from community to community are going to be subsidized. It's only if you have an abattoir—somebody that's producing and manufacturing these country foods for retail sale. That's what's going to be subsidized under the program, not in the case of Ms. Simon, whose family and relatives are moving and transporting foods because of the lack of caribou in other areas.
The whole issue of the advisory committee being the voice of northerners—there are many voices in the north, I would think. Not all the areas are going to be represented on this advisory committee. We've got to have an avenue where all the voices of the people in the north can be given some hearing and can certainly be taken into account.
Do you believe that maybe a delay in the full implementation of this program would be something we could recommend to the minister until a lot of these nuances—through more collaborative effort, more consultation—are resolved?
Would you give us another six months or something to work out some of these things? Five months, and it's gone. Would a delay in the implementation of the program work, while keeping the $60 million in stable funding there?
Member of the Legislative Assembly, Yukon Legislative Assembly
If I could address that quickly, it has been incredibly hard to engage my community members and my constituents. Since May, details and practical examples could not be given, and they still can't be given. We're five months away from this program and we don't know exactly what the rates are going to be. No suppliers have signed up in our capital city yet. We don't know who is going to be on the external advisory board. The list goes on and on.
President, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
I think the capacity issue has to be addressed right up front, in advance of this being implemented. Also, the advisory committee should have been set up before--the chain just started to be introduced to the communities. There's a huge gap in terms of what the government is doing. We're not saying the government is all wrong; we're just saying that there's this huge gap and we're not sure how to deal with it, because the people at the community level are ending up paying the extra dollars they don't have.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
Okay. I'm trying to keep within our time, so let's go to Mr. Jock and then that will be the last one.
Chief Executive Officer, Assembly of First Nations
Just a comment that one possibility is to have a transition period and some transition planning to support what is clearly a set of good goals.
In our case, we would say that first nations communities really should be involved in helping to deal with and overcome some of the issues that arise from the new program. I would say we should even be looking at how to mitigate the impact of the dry goods and other items, like diapers. I think there are ways to mitigate the impact of those things with a transition plan that includes some ways to do that and then to directly engage some of the folks with that.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
Thank you very much, Mr. Jock.
And Chief Evans, I saw your hand up. We're going to go to the next question, but then we'll come to you at the next opportunity to get you on the record.
Monsieur Lemay.
Bloc
Marc Lemay Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
A point of order, Mr. Chair.
I don't mean to take away from the time my colleague from Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou has. He is very sensitive to this issue.
Could you tell me whether any of our guests today have submitted a written brief? If so, could we have the translated version as soon as possible? If not—and I believe that's actually the case for some—could we have the notes they read? Could they leave their notes with us or send them to us as soon as possible, even if they are in English? They are important for our next meetings.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
We have three documents here.
We'll make the translations and get them out to you, but thank you for the point, Monsieur Lemay.
Monsieur Lévesque, cinq minutes, and we'll get Chief Evans on the record as well.
Monsieur.
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We have established that health care in Inuit and Aboriginal communities in the north came to roughly $2 billion a year. And this amount does not include care for diabetes, maternal health and suicide prevention, which are an additional $285 million.
The minister told us that he had consulted with people on approximately 60 different occasions, I believe. Have any of you been consulted on the Food Mail and Nutrition North Canada Programs?
Representative, Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services
I was consulted once on the list of food products. They were trying to redo the list by taking nutrients into account. They showed us the draft of a list that had been changed. That happened once. It was in October two years ago, I believe. A group gave a presentation here in Ottawa and I sat in on it. They were nutritionists who really delved into the nutritional content of food products.
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Were you also consulted on the quality of food products upon delivery?
Representative, Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services
No. We looked at the entire list and simply gave our opinion on that topic.
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
The minister told us he held 60 consultations. Unfortunately, I don't have the list here with me today. We could look at it later. Has anyone else been consulted?
Ms. Simon, I wonder if you were consulted as a resource person.
President, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
INAC had a consultant, Mr. Dargo, work with the different organizations. He came and talked to us about our views on the program and what we'd like to see changed. But after that was done we weren't involved in it, in the writing of the recommendations and so on.
