Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Dec. 8th, 2022

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Mrs. Gill.

We have Ms. Idlout for two and a half minutes.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Thank you.

I'm going to ask my question in English. We all know that food insecurity is a major issue, and I see that Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada is requesting $87.3 million to support food security in the north.

What are your two departments going to do to make sure that these funds don't just go into the pockets of for-profit corporations that are showing record profits, and that they actually go into the mouths of people who need to be fed by this program?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

That's really an interesting question. You probably heard Minister Vandal's answer on nutrition north as well as some of the supports through COVID that have supported country food. I saw some amazing stuff going on in Inuvialuit in particular over the summer to keep people safe and get them good, nutritious food.

I don't think we should be afraid to speak publicly about the fact that we need to have a rethink and perhaps a means testing of some of the investments we're doing to keep healthy and nutritious food going into the north and, in particular, the Far North. I don't have the answers to that just yet. I think it's going to take a lot of work with rights holders to come up with a plan that's a little smarter than nutrition north.

Nutrition north works in different ways. It certainly needs more money, but the reality is that someone making a lot of money can get the same type of rebate that someone with less means can, and I don't think that's necessarily fair. I'm not launching a revamp of nutrition north from the committee, but I think we need to put some thought into that because it isn't working at the height at which it needs to work in order to keep people properly fed.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Yes. I've been asking questions about how this program is monitored and evaluated. It seems that with the way it is done, the for-profit corporations are monitoring themselves.

What will this government do to make sure that this practice of them monitoring this program is changed so that the government is monitoring the program?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

The deputy minister knows a bit more about the advisory committee related to nutrition north. It would probably be helpful to have him answer.

[Daniel Quan-Watson]

Thank you for the question.

Yes, there is an advisory committee with all relevant players. In fact, most of the major changes that we did recently were at the suggestion of ITK and NTI. We work with those external players. They are the ones who recommended the harvesters grant, for example, and they're the ones who made the recommendations on the bannock list. They're very much at the core of who is driving an awful lot of the conversation about the program.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

That still doesn't answer my question about how the monitoring of monies for those for-profit corporations is working. Nobody is monitoring the corporations and how they are using nutrition north. That's what I was asking about. How will this government monitor it so that it's not the for-profit corporations monitoring the use of this $87 million?

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Please answer very quickly if you want to comment on that. Otherwise, we'll have to stop.

[Daniel Quan-Watson]

There is a robust monitoring process in place that involves a number of parties, not just the companies themselves.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you very much.

With that, we'll bring our panel to a close.

Thank you very much, Minister Miller, for appearing with your team today to answer questions in the context of the supplementary estimates (B).

Just before I ask for adjournment, I'll say that on Monday, colleagues, we'll be starting our study of the Indigenous Languages Act.

With that, I request that we adjourn.

[The Clerk]

There's unanimous consent to adjourn, sir.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Therefore, we are adjourned.