Good afternoon.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
The nutrition program is vital to the lives of Inuit, and I am pleased that this committee has made the time for this very important study. As you know, food prices throughout the Arctic are alarmingly high. I think Ottawa residents would be shocked if they were forced to pay $15 for two litres of milk or $8 for a loaf of bread. Yet that is our reality in our communities.
As numerous studies have found, these conditions are producing escalating rates of hunger, especially among our children. The Nutrition North Canada program builds on the federal government's long-standing recognition of unacceptable food insecurity in Inuit communities, and we commend the government for the program's focus on nutrition.
Inuit have some concerns about the transition to this new food subsidy program. With exactly five months left before the full rollout, we believe there are still many challenges to overcome. ln the short term, there appear to be inadequate resources in place to meet the targets of the transition, with potentially serious ramifications for small retailers and Inuit consumers. For instance, in my home community of Kuujjuaq, in northern Quebec, in Nunavik the local independent store began implementing price increases of 40% on items such as disposable diapers and canned vegetables, after subsidies were removed from these items in early October.
An incomplete understanding of the social and economic impacts on independent retailers could ultimately decrease, not increase, the choices available to Inuit consumers who do not have the option of expressing their discontent with food prices by taking their dollars elsewhere. ln addition, there seems to be a great expectation placed on the program's external advisory board--a volunteer board--to track and provide advice on consumer satisfaction with the new food subsidy program. Details of the retail registration process, community-customized food subsidy rates, third-party auditing and claiming processing systems, and marketing and outreach planning for the program still remain unknown at this point. We do not yet know how the program's funding will grow to meet increased demand with burgeoning populations and increased awareness of the program.
Around the world there is evidence that uncoordinated efforts lead to adverse effects on the most insecure food, and those effects will probably be compounded more severely in the Arctic by the effects of climate change and the global food, fuel, and financial crises witnessed in recent years. We encourage the Government of Canada to create mechanisms for engagement between the public and the private sectors, so that ordinary Inuit may collaborate on concrete solutions to food security and nutrition issues.
Moreover, efforts to make the program accountable must be directly tied to the efforts to track and evaluate its impact on the food security and nutritional status of its users. We need innovative thinking and expanded capacity, especially during the transition period. Examples of innovations include the potential to expand the country food component of the program to support the sharing networks making up traditional Inuit food systems.
Finally, I would like to remind you that Inuit are the major users of these programs. Nearly two-thirds of all eligible communities are predominantly Inuit. And roughly 90% of funds spent on Nutrition North Canada's predecessor, the food mail program, were spent in Inuit communities.
It is Inuit consumers and small northern retailers who will bear the brunt of Nutrition North Canada's growing pains. So the socio-economic realities of food-insecure Inuit families must be paramount in our thinking and in our actions.
Thank you very much. I will be glad to take your questions.