Evidence of meeting #8 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 pandemic.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Eric Melillo Conservative Kenora, ON
I have a couple of questions for Dr. Martin as well.
Doctor, I see that one of your research subjects is food justice, and I believe you also mentioned food security in your remarks.
I'm wondering if you can provide some insight for committee members as to how the current pandemic has impacted food security for indigenous peoples, for indigenous communities and of course across the north.
As an Individual
Food security, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, is the idea that people have the ability to access safe, culturally appropriate food and the right amounts that provide for their nutritional needs. In many cases, food justice also involves the idea that indigenous people specifically be able to access lands and their territories in ways that allow them to enact culturally appropriate activities.
What we've seen during the pandemic is that many indigenous communities, in some cases, are in fact getting out on the land even more frequently as a result of having more time to be able to do that. In that respect, there are also more safety concerns. When more people are going out on the land and enacting their cultural activities, there's also a lot of risk involved.
We have things like climate change in the north, for example, with late freeze-ups and early breakups of ice. It presents a lot of danger for people accessing the land in the ways they've always done. It's an interesting interpretation of what food security looks like. I think we need to think about safety, but we also have to ensure that people have access to enough food. That is also a concern. We know that many communities, in fact, have had difficulties accessing food because of transportation issues. Some of the logistics around that have been troublesome.
I also spoke to a colleague of mine who works with the Nunatsiavut government in Labrador, who indicated that many of their smaller communities don't have lights on their runways, which means that when the weather is good, flights need to get in and out for emergencies but also for supplies, for food, for health supplies and so on. If those runways don't have adequate lighting, then if the weather isn't good in the evening, they simply can't get in or out of those communities, which poses a threat not just for safety but also for accessing needed supplies. I think there are multiple layers and multiple ways in which food security is affected.
Conservative
Eric Melillo Conservative Kenora, ON
Absolutely.
That might answer part of my next question, but I'll put it out anyway. It's a little more specific to some of the government programming that has been in place to help address food security. Particularly, I'm interested in your thoughts on Nutrition North. I'm sure it's something you're fairly familiar with through your work.
When I talk to people, whether it's in my riding in Kenora or across the north, it seems that this program, frankly, hasn't done enough. We've seen increases in food insecurity and we've seen a lot of these challenges persist. I'm curious if you have any specific thoughts on that program and how it might be improved.
As an Individual
I spent a little time looking at the issue of the Nutrition North program and I think you're bang on. What you've heard is consistent with what I've heard in terms of the research that we have done in looking at that program, in that a lot of the subsidies provided to the program aren't necessarily reaching the pockets of the consumers as they purchase foods from stores in northern communities.
I'm not sure that I have the right solution or the single solution to solving that problem. I think that a lot of the indigenous communities in those regions that are relying on the Nutrition North program often have a lot of their own ideas about how to do that. I'm not sure that I have anything specific to add to that right now, but I think they would.
We also know that a lot of the grocers aren't necessarily able to offer the subsidy directly to their own customers. If there's a way to ensure or mandate that the subsidies that are directed to the owners of the grocery stores can be passed on to the customer.... I think that's the biggest gap I've noticed.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
Thanks very much.
We'll move on now to Lenore Zann for the next six-minute round of questioning.
Please go ahead.
Liberal
Lenore Zann Liberal Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Thank you very much, and o'weliaq for all of the Nova Scotian witnesses to be here tonight.
We've chatted a little bit before this meeting as well about some of the issues that have been facing Millbrook First Nation and other Mi'kmaq communities during the COVID pandemic. One thing I remember we talked about is the fact that it all happened so quickly and with such emergency that it was very difficult to have enough staff to fill out the applications in order to get the financial supports from government.
Ms. Gillis, would you mind filling us in a little bit more on that and give us some suggestions on what needs to be done to address that issue this time around?
Angeline Gillis Associate Executive Director, Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq
Absolutely. Janna did touch on it a little bit in her opening statement.
For many of the communities here in Nova Scotia, a lot of their own-source revenue is generated via gaming or fishing. At the time of the pandemic, one of the first decisions made by the provincial government, without any prior consultation with the communities, was to shut down their gaming facilities. Due to that, we also did not at that time have the programming in place, so the communities turned to their own-source revenue and had to make decisions to cut many positions in their community. A lot of the non-essential services were cut. Many who stayed on were in leadership, health and the little EMO support they did have.
Because these are individuals who support communities to access funds, when all of the information overload in programming came down, the ability to access that funding became impaired. As Janna MacKay mentioned, they turned to tribal organizations like ours, which did not have funding per se in place to deal with COVID. Nobody did, but they turned to us, and we were able to kind of turn into an EMO office where we used existing staff that are hired through other programs to help support communities to write proposals. That was on individuals who were already doing other jobs.
When you have to cut positions in already reduced-capacity positions, the ability to access that funding becomes more difficult, and as a result missed opportunities happened and there was more dependence on OSR, own-source revenue, which in turn created more debt. That's what we saw.
Liberal
Lenore Zann Liberal Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Do you have any suggestions for what we can do, what the federal government can do, what I can do to help avoid that this time around? What do you need?
Associate Executive Director, Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq
I think it's just that. It's funding to support EMO coordinator positions to write proposals and access funding for communities, which didn't exist the first time around. There was no HR support for communities or for organizations like ours to access that funding. Much of the funding we saw was under-subscribed versus oversubscribed. Instead, they went without.
Liberal
Lenore Zann Liberal Cumberland—Colchester, NS
That's a shame. I'm so sorry to hear that.
Thank you very much for that.
The other issue I want to ask about is mental health. We heard in the spring that the pandemic was having impacts on mental health across the country for indigenous communities that were already vulnerable before this crisis. They are even more so now and will probably be more so afterwards.
The Minister of Indigenous Services said that the government has invested $82.5 million to address the impacts of the pandemic on mental health in indigenous communities in addition to the $425 million in existing annual funding for community-based mental health services.
Can you please describe the impacts of the pandemic on the mental health of Mi’kmaq communities in our area? What can we do to improve it as we go forward?
Senior Director, Health and Social Services, Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq
I have one minute for mental health. That's a big one.
Senior Director, Health and Social Services, Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq
That's okay.
We did take some of the funds that were allocated for that region. Big numbers across the country of course get pared down and pared down to not quite as much for a particular region.
In our region, the Atlantic region, those funds with the CMM are going towards access to more mental health clinicians. As I said in my opening remarks, access to treatment is incredibly impaired right now. We're seeing increased drug use and relapse here, and there's no place to go. Positions are being cut in the community, or their time is being used elsewhere. Some of these are mental health workers, and so they're not able to service the community adequately.
What's the impact? The impact is that communities are struggling. It's really hard to see an end in sight when treatment isn't available.
Liberal
Bloc
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank all the witnesses and say a special hello to Chief Mark and Mr. Therrien Pinette. Kuei kuei utshimau and kuei kuei.
Chief Mark, you talked about the community's needs as far as health care and business are concerned. Did you see any differences in the needs of Innu communities during the first wave versus the second wave? If so, what were they? I realize, of course, that the situation can vary depending on the community. If so, feel free to share that with us.
Conseil des Innus d'Unamen Shipu, Innu Nation
Kuei. Good evening, Mrs. Gill.
I wish I could provide a unified answer for the entire Innu nation, but the realities of each community are so different and community-specific that it would be hard. That's precisely why I wish my colleague Jean-Claude Pinette were with me today. He could speak to those issues.
Economically, the whole Innu nation is affected by the pandemic. Things weren't great before the pandemic given our geographic location—a particularly remote and isolated area without roads. Some people have tried to start small businesses, but they were hit hard by the first wave of the pandemic. The impact is being compounded by the second wave.
Bloc
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
I gather, then, that the community's needs grew because you weren't able to properly address them. If you like, you can send the committee additional information on all nine communities to help us understand the situation.
You mentioned food security and the Atik caribou, which I see pictured on the wall behind you. Correct me if I'm wrong, but some communities did not partake in goose hunting, a traditional means of subsistence for first nations, because they were worried about contracting the virus. I imagine that had an effect on food security, which is already precarious in some cases.
What can the federal government do to help you?
Conseil des Innus d'Unamen Shipu, Innu Nation
The federal government could perhaps support the steps we have undertaken with the provinces. Those steps are meant to give us access to the resource, but in a controlled manner, so as to protect that resource. This would enable us to feed our seniors not through individual hunting, but through controlled community hunting. It is perhaps in that context that the federal government could help us because we have been trying to negotiate something to access the resource for five or six years.
The file has been dragging on for years. During this time, seniors have been unable to eat their traditional meals, and a number of them have left us.
I don't know whether I have answered your question. I also don't know whether the federal government could intervene in that respect with the provincial government.
Bloc
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
I have no doubt about that. I know how important the Nitassinan resources and territory are to you.
I would like to ask another question about the isolation of certain regions, such as the Lower North Shore, Unamen Shipu and Pakua Shipu.
You talked about risks. In what way do risks increase or what other needs could the government meet?
Conseil des Innus d'Unamen Shipu, Innu Nation
In terms of food security, there are still buffer zones. During the transition period between seasons, it is very difficult to have access to adequate and suitable food—if we consider certain foods' expiry dates. That is somewhat along the same lines as the other witness's comments, as he was saying that, despite the nutrition north Canada program, people have to acquire commodities, which are extremely expensive for an isolated community like ours.
We are seeing on social networks that our situation is not unique. For example, a litre of milk costs about $10. Even with nutrition north Canada subsidies, some questions have remained unanswered.
Liberal