Evidence of meeting #18 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was security.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Jaime Battiste Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
Bob, do you want me to jump in there and let her have my remaining time?
Liberal
Jaime Battiste Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
Tansi, Grand Chief Settee. I'm very interested in hearing more about the whole concept of food sovereignty and if there are any best practices you can share with this committee. We've heard much about some of the good things that are happening in terms of money being put into traditional hunting and fishing. We know food security is a growing problem because of not only climate change but also the conditions you talked about and systems of colonization.
As someone who is coming to you from the Eskasoni Mi'kmaq community, I'm wondering if you could share with the committee what some of the best practices are around food sovereignty.
Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc.
At the beginning of COVID, because of the limited supply of products for first nations, the community of Lac Brochet started to have a community fridge where it stored fish and game, so that people could come and just access that in the community.
That was a good way to start, because traditionally, that is how things were done. When you killed a moose, it was not your moose, it was the community's moose. The community returned to that practice, and it helped sustain it throughout that rough part of not having the stores stocked.
That is a good way of dealing with that. If we can have that continue, perpetuate that in a healthy way, and have it monitored, I think that is a way to go.
It provides therapy for young people, because when they do these things, it brings healing and calmness to their spirits and minds. That's why we have such a high rate of suicide, because they don't have access to the land. The land heals when we are allowed to exercise our rights. We're going to have fewer mental and emotional problems with our first nations, in a nutshell.
Liberal
Jaime Battiste Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
I'm glad you brought up youth. I was on the Assembly of First Nations Youth Council many years ago. I've talked to people from northern Manitoba, and they have mentioned the lack of connection with the environment, and the mental health impact that is having.
Can you speak about the impact that is having on the mental health of youth, and whether you're getting a lot of outmigration, namely, youth leaving the communities?
Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc.
Yes, that is the challenge in first nations. When you have the reality of 85% unemployment, there is very little opportunity, and that escalates into a lot of things. They try to alleviate their pain, and they turn to drugs and alcohol. They leave the community. When they leave the community, it sets up a cycle of homelessness, and all kinds of challenges if they don't have the education to secure a job.
COVID has really shone the light on a lot of the deficiencies and inadequate programs that we have in first nations, because the youth are the largest demographic. They're the ones who suffer the most. In a first nations community where they're isolated, they are now in quarantine. It exacerbates the problems. As a result, there are many mental health issues.
Being out on the land, and having access to the land, is the way our people heal themselves. That's all connected with food security. It's all connected, and everything is interrelated in our culture.
Liberal
Jaime Battiste Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
I'm glad you talked about education as well, and one of the biggest pushes—as someone from the Mi'kmaq community—is returning to land-based education.
Could you speak to us about any promising practices, or what's going on in your communities and the MKO communities about restoring that land-based learning and the connection with the environment?
Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc.
Providing that the schools are adequately funded, you can have a very successful land-based program. The Misipawistik Cree Nation is where I come from. I am a former teacher. Our school had programs, land-based language and first nations studies. I was a teacher in first nations studies.
We had a land-based program, and I could see first-hand how that helped the self-esteem of the students, the pride they got when they were able to access fish for families and whatnot. It is something that has been attacked. Our culture has been attacked, but the only way we can recover is by having access to the land which will provide food security for us.
Sylvie Bérubé Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I am pleased that you are participating in this committee. I find it very important, given the crisis and insecurity we are experiencing, especially in terms of food.
I represent the constituency of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou in Northern Quebec. The communities I represent are Cree and Anishnaabe.
My question is for the three witnesses here today.
How do you describe the factors that contribute to food insecurity and its consequences in each of your regions?
Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
National Chief Elmer St. Pierre
What's happening in the north with CAP.... We have what we call PTOs, which are members of CAP on our board of directors. We have three of them up in the northern area, and we try to reach out as much as we can.
A lot of it has to do with transportation. We try to get non-perishable goods because one of the big things in the northern area is your fruits and your vegetables.
As well, with regard to our grassroots people, we don't have the sources to be able hunt and fish and store away for the winter months because the federal government doesn't recognize us as people to be able to do that.
With the COVID-19 funding, we struggle, and we do our best. We have some great people who help. In areas that we can get to, we help out and make sure they get enough food that will last them for a month. Then if they need—well, I know they need—help later, we do it all over again.
Food security is a big problem, but there has to be a way of working it out. I've listened to Ms. Nikkel and the grand chief. It may be stretching it a little bit far, but maybe we should be looking at the army. They have helicopters. They have stuff sitting around not doing anything. Maybe we should look at, not employing them, but giving them a routine what-do-you-call-it, where they go out and recruit and load the helicopters up with food for all the communities.
Yes, we have our boys and women overseas, but, you know, we still have people here. Let's use their helicopters. Let that be part of their contribution to this pandemic. Let each one of us, as organizations, put in some money. Let's say for CAP, for instance, with our PTOs in the northern area. Let's throw in a couple of hundred thousand dollars and the same with the grand chief and maybe with Ms. Nikkel as well—and not just them but MNC, the Assembly of First Nations, and ITK. If everybody throws a big pot of money in there and says, “Okay, we're going to deliver this, and it's going to be the army that does the delivery....”
Now for the infrastructure, we may have to have the government go in and build helicopter pads or clear out a spot where these big helicopters can land.
I've been thinking about this for awhile since the northern people are having so much trouble. You know, it's an idea.
As MPs, you could maybe take that up the ladder and say, “Listen. This is what we're hearing. You know, these helicopters, they can fly anywhere in just about any kind of weather. Let's put them to use.”
Chief Executive Officer, Second Harvest
I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question?
Bloc
Sylvie Bérubé Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Let me repeat my question.
What factors contribute to food insecurity and what consequences does it have in each of your regions?
Chief Executive Officer, Second Harvest
I'm just going to start by saying that I am, again, not an expert in this at all. We work with partners and just listen to what they need.
Second Harvest is just opt in. We have food. Whoever wants it can have it, and it's perishable.
The indigenous working group was led by Joseph LeBlanc and Elisa Levi, who have worked in food systems in indigenous communities for many years. What kept popping up was this lack of centralization. Where is this one place, this indigenous-led place, where we could say, “Okay, do you have it covered? Where are all the places we can send it?” I'm not even sure if that's possible, but I know that that was a huge barrier in the beginning. We've created systems to ensure that we could get food places, but we're doing the best we can without actually knowing this centralized place to help us get food.
As soon as you said to bring in the military, I thought, “That's brilliant. Oh my gosh, of course,” because we have the food; it is really just the transportation and understanding where the needs are—and understanding also the complexity of the cold chain.
Liberal
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you, everybody. I really appreciate your testimony today.
If I could start with you, Ms. Nikkel, one of the things we've already heard in this study is about food being transported to very remote northern places. There are so many challenges in terms of maintaining the food viability due to a lack of food storage infrastructure. I'm just wondering if you see this—I would assume that you do—and if you could tell us what gaps are most problematic.
Chief Executive Officer, Second Harvest
It's the cold chain. It's always the cold chain that's the biggest gap. At the end of the day, we have food safety compliance rules that you must adhere to, and that's the reality. I think we're doing all the right things, but the infrastructure is just not there. But we're still dropping off food that I know we would not probably do in any kind of urban centre just because the infrastructure is not there.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
So that's a big gap.
It seems to me you also talked about the expertise you've gathered in terms of finding creative ways to transport food. Again, we heard about bringing in the military—and I'm coming to you next, Elmer—but I'm just wondering what, in your experience, is the biggest gap. You did talk about the coordinated approach, and part of that being a challenge, as there's not that one person to contact and say who needs what, and where.
Chief Executive Officer, Second Harvest
Again, it's a coordinated, centralized approach. I would say that's our biggest challenge.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Okay. Thank you so much.
I will come to you, National Chief St. Pierre. Thank you so much for being here today. You talked about a lot of different things in your presentation, but one of things you talked about is a sense of not being included. I was not clear on what that meant for you in terms of being included in the conversation. Perhaps you could just expand, from CAP's experience, on what “not being included” looks like.
Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
National Chief Elmer St. Pierre
The whole thing is we're called in at the last minute of any consultation talks and we're not at the lead with the other NIOs. To say that we are one of the NIOs...they call us on at the last minute, and all of a sudden everything that's being talked about is going to hit the floor by the end of the evening, and we have a two-to-three-minute talk on anything and everything.
I'm glad that Bob included us in this, and I think there was one other under COVID that Bob invited us to and we were able to talk. With some of the big things that we were invited to it went like this: “Your mike shut off.” “Your video shut off.” “Sit in the corner and be quiet. You can all listen, and that's it.”
But things are slowly picking up, and, like I said, we have champions like Bob and Cathy McLeod, and yourself, Rachel, making sure that CAP has a voice. We can help out. A prime example is when Ms. Nikkel said, who would have thought of the army? Let's put them on a training base and ship food all over northern Ontario. Wherever we can't get by vehicle, and even with the ice roads, as bad as they are getting to be, the helicopters can fly. We have enough helicopters probably right across Canada so that they wouldn't have to fly.... I imagine in Manitoba, as a prime example—up in northern Ontario, the same thing—there must be helicopters close by. We just have to work together with Ms. Nikkel to be able to pick up the food—and the army can do that, too, because they have trucks—bring it to the helicopters, and say, “Okay, guys, you're heading up, you know, this way, and you're going up into northern Quebec, northern Manitoba.” They're there. We have army guys. I'm not saying they're sitting around doing nothing, but let's get them out there and train them.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
National Chief, you also talked about the fact that food security problems were in place already prior to COVID starting. Could you just tell us a little bit about the food security issues before COVID compared to the COVID times?
