Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Dec. 8th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Having quorum, I call this meeting of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs to order.

We will start by acknowledging that we are meeting on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin people.

The committee is holding its first meeting on its study of food security in northern communities.

To ensure an orderly meeting, participants may speak and listen in the official language of their choice. This is really important, because one of the stumbling blocks we have occasionally is the selection of the translation. On the bottom centre of your screen is a globe. You click on the globe and you see three boxes. One says “off”, one says “English” and one says “French”.

I am now clicking the “English” box, because I will be speaking in English, for the most part—I have a 500-word French vocabulary, which I am ashamed of, and every now and then I let loose.

Make sure that you have the language of your choice selected, so that you'll hear the translation and so that when you speak, it will be properly translated.

When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you are not speaking, your mike should be on “mute”.

With us today by video conference for the first hour are the following federal officials: John Fox and Matt Parry, directors general from the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food; Wayne Walsh, director general from Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, northern strategic policy branch; and Mary Trifonopoulos, senior manager at Indigenous Services for healthy living, in the population health and wellness division of the first nations and Inuit health branch.

We are going to begin with six-minute statements from, first of all, directors general John Fox and Matt Parry.

Whoever would like to start, please go ahead for six minutes.

[Matt Parry, Director General, Policy Development and Analysis Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good morning, members.

I would like to acknowledge that I am joining you this morning from Ottawa, the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin people.

Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today as you resume your study on this important subject. I am pleased to be joined by John Fox, who is the director general from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's programs branch.

I will speak briefly about Canada's new food policy and then describe Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's recent programs and activities that are helping to support food security, including in northern communities.

In June 2019, following extensive consultations, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food announced the first-ever food policy for Canada, our road map for a healthier and more sustainable food system. It included a vision for all people in Canada to have access to sufficient amounts of safe, nutritious and culturally diverse food and to support a food system that is resilient and innovative, sustains our environment and supports our economy.

Food security was indeed a critical issue that was identified during the food policy consultations, and it was highlighted when the food policy was launched.

I will now outline the activities that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is undertaking to help address food security issues, including those in northern communities.

The first is the local food infrastructure fund, which was first announced in budget 2019 and formally launched the following summer. The fund is a five-year, $50-million initiative. The objective of the fund is to strengthen food systems in Canada and to facilitate access to safe and nutritious food for at-risk populations. To date, the fund has supported some 13 projects in the territories, involving more than $250,000. It has also approved 282 projects that identified indigenous peoples as one of the beneficiaries of the project.

In addition, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's science and technology branch is working with indigenous communities, stakeholders and partners in the north, including Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. For example, a partnership is under way with the Gjoa Haven community in Nunavut, along with the Arctic Research Foundation, the National Research Council and the Canadian Space Agency, on a green-energy-powered food production research unit.

In addition to these measures, the government has taken action to address the significant challenges relating to food security that have arisen during the pandemic. In April 2020, the government announced up to $100 million in funding through the emergency food security fund for Canadian food banks and other national food rescue organizations to help improve access to food for people experiencing food security in Canada due to the pandemic.

To date, the emergency food security fund has provided up to $3.2 million in funding to 90 recipients in the territories. It has also provided $17.7 million in funding to 820 recipients supporting indigenous peoples. An additional $100 million in funding for the emergency food security fund was announced by the Prime Minister in October.

In addition, there is the surplus food rescue program, a $50-million initiative to help support Canada's food system—food processors, food producers and food distributors—to help ensure food availability for all Canadians. Funding was used to help manage and redirect existing food surpluses to organizations addressing food insecurity and to ensure that these surplus products were not wasted. The surplus food rescue program has provided support to 94 recipients in the territories.

In addition, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada officials have been meeting regularly with officials from other federal departments and agencies, provinces and territories, as well as with industry, civil society and indigenous partners throughout the pandemic to better understand regional and local challenges and to collectively address food security issues.

In closing, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will continue to implement the programs and activities announced last year as part of the food policy as well as the emergency measures announced during the pandemic to strengthen food systems in Canada in keeping with the food policy vision and to address urgent needs across the country, including those in northern communities.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you very much, Mr. Parry. You're even below the six-minute mark, which is always appreciated.

Next, for six minutes, we have the director general from the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, Wayne Walsh.

Mr. Walsh, please go ahead.

[Wayne Walsh, Director General, Northern Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Good morning. I'm speaking to you today from the traditional territory of the Algonquin people here in lovely downtown Gatineau.

I want to thank you very much for the invitation to speak to you about the important work being done within the northern affairs department on food security in the north and to provide you with an update since our last appearance on this study in February of this year.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the department has been closely monitoring northern supply chains and the impacts of food access in the north. During the first weeks of the pandemic, the department, in collaboration with Transport Canada, worked with northern airlines, retailers and suppliers to monitor the impacts of pandemic closures and lockdown restrictions on the supply chain. Maintaining this supply chain is critical not only for the transport of food but also of other goods and of essential services. The department engaged with partners to avoid disruptions in the supply chain and continues to monitor closely to ensure that critical access is maintained.

To ensure that families have nutritious food and to help offset the financial burden caused by COVID-19, the government announced a one-time financial injection of $25 million to the Nutrition North Canada retail subsidy in April. Subsidy rates have been increased on basic and essential goods across all 116 eligible communities effective May 1, 2020. In addition, Nutrition North Canada expanded the eligibility list to include such other items as hand sanitizers and soap.

These additional investments have had a positive impact on prices in the north, and the eligible communities are generally experiencing significant price reductions for many food items. For example, the price of a 10-kilogram bag of flour in Iqaluit dropped from $21.49 to $11.49, which represents a 47% price reduction, bringing it in line with the shelf price of flour in the south.

In April, Nutrition North Canada also launched the new harvesters support grant, an $8-million-per-year initiative to support hunting, harvesting and food sharing in isolated northern communities. Grant agreements have been signed with recipient land claim, self-government and indigenous organizations. The grant program has been designed to be indigenous-led, with a recognition that harvesting needs and practices should be driven by communities themselves.

The launch of the harvesters support grant serves as an important milestone in response to recommendations from northerners and as an important step forward in addressing food security in the north beyond subsidizing market food. It is a critical step in recognizing the role of rites, traditions and cultural practices in sustaining isolated indigenous communities.

Relationships established with recipient organizations of the harvesters support grant have been instrumental in our understanding of the unique challenges communities are experiencing during this pandemic and for providing additional support. Partners have commented that the deployment of the harvester support grant has provided additional support to communities to increase access to traditional food during this challenging time.

For example, one of the recipient groups in northern Ontario purchased 23 community freezers for 18 isolated communities to store hunted and harvested traditional country food. During the pandemic, the grant has also provided critical support to the migration of community members out of the community to the land, where they are isolated while engaging in traditional harvesting activities.

Nutrition North Canada has also partnered harvesters support grant recipients with other federal funding opportunities to improve food access during the pandemic. For example, Nutrition North Canada worked closely with colleagues at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to help distribute surplus food through the surplus food rescue program. All three territories and regions across the provincial north receive deliveries of surplus food, including frozen fish and meat products.

Collaboration with federal partners has been essential in providing support to northern and indigenous partners throughout this pandemic, and the department thanks our colleagues at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for these collaborative opportunities.

The pandemic measures have been effective for the most part; however, the outbreak has also highlighted the degree of need in northern isolated communities and the critical link between food security and poverty. The Nutrition North Canada program has recognized this and is working to address gaps highlighted by the pandemic to implement permanent improvements.

Important steps have been made during this difficult time to support isolated northern communities in accessing food and the unique, challenging circumstances of communities in the north. The department is committed to continuing to work together with northerners and indigenous partners on long-term solutions and opportunities to strengthen local food systems and improve food security in the north.

With that, thank you, and I welcome any questions you might have.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you very much, Mr. Walsh.

As I said, Ms. Trifonopoulos is here to answer questions. She won't make an opening statement, so that will enable us to hopefully get a full round of questioning in, beginning with Mr. Vidal for six minutes.

Gary, please go ahead.

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My beginning question is going to be about Nutrition North, specifically in northern Saskatchewan. I'm going to open it up to any of the witnesses who feel that they have the data or the ability to answer the question.

There have been some serious concerns raised around the Nutrition North program, but where I want to focus is that in a riding such as mine, in northern Saskatchewan, there are specifically three communities that are actually in northern Saskatchewan, but they're not north of 60. There's a different relationship there to some of the programs and whatnot. The most recent data on your website about the contributions in both dollars and weight of food subsidized in those communities is from 2018.

My question is simply this: What has changed from 2018 in the context of northern Saskatchewan, specifically in those communities that are south of 60? What new investments and changes have been made, and are there some measurable outcomes that you could outline for me that would identify progress and improvements in those outcomes?

[Wayne Walsh]

Our 2019 data should be posted on the departmental website fairly soon.

The northern Saskatchewan communities that are eligible for Nutrition North would have benefited from the $25 million that was injected into the program, dating back effective as of May 2021, so that's the one change. Also, we have recipient organizations in northern Saskatchewan that are taking advantage of the harvesters support grant.

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Can you speak at all to any outcomes or any results of some of the investments that have been made?

[Wayne Walsh]

When it comes to the harvesters support grant, it's still fairly early days. The money just started to roll out in April, so we will be collecting data from our recipient organizations as they go along. It is a five-year project.

In terms of the retail subsidy, we track expenditures. As I mentioned, I don't have those figures in front of me right now, but we will be able to post those reports, as we frequently do, on the 2019 figures.

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

All right. We'll watch for those, and thank you.

Could you speak about the impact that the pandemic has had specifically on the Nutrition North program?

I use the Saskatchewan example of these fly-in communities that are south of 60, so to speak, across the country. What has the impact of the pandemic been on programs such as Nutrition North in its ability to serve those communities and make sure they have access to affordable food?

[Wayne Walsh]

What we've found, generally speaking, is an uptake of the program by community members. The data that we've been collecting so far seems to indicate an increase in the shipment of food throughout the Nutrition North Canada area, and that probably is a result of a number of factors, one being the increased subsidy on those essential items. I think bringing those prices down to make them even more affordable has had an impact.

There have also been other measures taken by provincial, territorial and federal governments. For example, with the introduction of the CERB, we noticed that it also had a correlation on people buying more food through the Nutrition North program.

Also, even NTI and the Government of Nunavut, for example, in their most recent response to the pandemic in Arviat and in Rankin Inlet have offered food baskets. That has also had an impact on the overall amount of food bought and therefore on the NNC program.

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Could you very specifically maybe tell me how you measure the success of a program like this?

My understanding is that there have been significant dollars spent but that food insecurity is actually still rising in many of these communities. What is it that we're using to measure success and outcomes?

[Wayne Walsh]

There are two things. One is that we have the northern food basket. We track the overall price of that food basket as is a representative sample to make sure that the prices are maintained or lowered over time. That's one of the big metrics.

The second is that we follow quite closely on the actual amount of food that is shipped to the north. That also gives us an indication of the uptake of the program.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thanks very much.

That brings us to the time for our next set of questions, coming from Marcus Powlowski.

You have six minutes. Go ahead.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Good morning.

I want to ask about greenhouses.

I am a doctor. I've spent a couple of years working in northern indigenous communities. There are certainly a lot of non-communicable diseases—diabetes, hypertension, obesity—and as a result of that a lot of heart problems, strokes, blindness, amputations. I think, to some extent, it all starts out with diet.

I know, having lived a few years in those communities, that it's fairly cheap to buy chips and pop. It's a lot more difficult to buy green vegetables. Even as a doctor, who was probably the wealthiest person in the community, I found it very expensive.

I know shipping stuff up north is expensive, but how about growing it up north? I know there have been some initiatives here in northwestern Ontario to start greenhouses in indigenous communities. I recently visited a new facility that was growing medical marijuana here in Thunder Bay. It was all hydroponics. They use no natural light; it was all artificial light. I asked about the amount of energy it would take to run it. They said, “Not that much.” It seems like it was something that could be done in more northern fly-in communities.

What have we done specifically to try to encourage the development of greenhouses? This would certainly seem to me to be a good way of improving the diet in a lot of northern communities and, as a result of that improved diet, improving people's health.

Maybe I'll address Mr. Parry. I don't know if others may want to respond as well.

[Matt Parry]

Thank you for the question.

I might turn to my colleague, Mr. Fox, on this point.

I would also note, Mr. Chair, that there is another program, one that's not run by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. It's called the northern isolated communities initiative fund. CanNor operates it, and it likely provides support in this area.

John, do you have anything to add?

[John Fox, Director General, Innovation Programs Directorate, Programs Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

I'll just add to what you referred to in your opening remarks, Matt.

There is a project that our science and technology branch is working on with NRCan and others. It's on controlled growth chambers that are scalable for northern communities. It's still at the experimental stage. I actually had an opportunity to visit it in Kemptville.

The only other thing I would add is that under the local infrastructure fund, we do provide up to $250,000 for infrastructure projects that are intended to cover a range of activities that communities may want to explore. It could include greenhouses, but in a lot of cases those communities are interested in trying out community gardens with root crops that can be grown in the ground over the short growing season in the north. There is some work being done around expanding growth potential in northern isolated communities.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

It would certainly seem to me that it would be an option for us that would be worth exploring.

Is there no other source within the indigenous stream for funding these types of projects? If a community was specifically interested in pursuing this, what, if any, options would they have?

[John Fox]

Our programs don't have a particular indigenous stream, but we do partner with indigenous communities in the north, either through our mainstream innovation programming or, as I said, through the local infrastructure fund. You might want to ask either our Indigenous Services colleague or our CIRNAC colleague if there are specific indigenous programs that might address that need.

[Wayne Walsh]

If I may, I'll jump in here.

I think the program that Mr. Parry identified from CanNor is one that's probably the most front and centre.

One of the things we've had a lot discussions on with indigenous communities is the utilization of the harvesters support grant and whether that can be expanded to include things such as food production and greenhouses. I think those discussions are ongoing.

We also have some climate change and green energy programs here within the department that communities have taken advantage of to help to power...and provide that supply to greenhouses. It's very much community by community. There's nothing systematic at this point, but it's certainly something that has garnered increasing attention and interest.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

A number of months ago I was talking to Alvin Fiddler, who is the Grand Chief of NAN, the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. He was telling me that when he was a kid, his parents used to grow potatoes and turnips in the garden. They would have enough potatoes and turnips. His father dug a hole in the ground or something. I know the Ukrainian community did the same thing. They had potatoes and turnips year round.

What, if any, investments have we made in terms of supporting and educating populations in those isolated communities to grow their own food, their own vegetables that they could use in the winter?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

We're at six minutes right there, so could you provide just a quick answer? We might pick it up later.

Go ahead.

[Wayne Walsh]

I'll defer to Mary on the education side of things.

[Mary Trifonopoulos, Senior Manager, Healthy Living, Population Health and Wellness Division, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Indigenous Services]

Good morning.

Certainly Indigenous Services Canada provides funding for community-based health programs in first nations and Inuit communities, including in the north. These programs and services promote healthy eating and food skills. Often communities want to do community gardens and household gardens and learn more about those things, as well as improve access to healthy food. That does definitely come up in the programming, which, as you know, has multiple objectives.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

I'm sorry to interrupt, but we're way over the time.

We'll go for six minutes now to Madame Bérubé.

Ms. Bérubé, go ahead.