Evidence of meeting #38 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was food.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Business Development Manager, Nunavut Sealink and Supply Inc.
I was just saying that in terms of where priorities might be, I would leave that to the Department of National Defence and what they see fit to prioritize.
If they're planning major infrastructure projects anywhere in the north, we, as the logistics service providers, should be involved in those conversations so that they can run more smoothly. The earlier we're involved, the more effectively we can provide a service.
Liberal
Brendan Hanley Liberal Yukon, YT
That's good advice. Thank you.
Inuaraq, you talked quite powerfully about the importance of being able to stay in the community. Mr. Recinos's father referred to that link as well.
Tell me what keeps youth in the community. Not just for you, but for your friends and your peers, what are the elements that we need to add to enable youth to be trained, to learn and to stay in the community as a key to addressing the economic development of the region?
Director Trainee, Arctic Fresh Group
What would keep youth in Nunavut would be workforce development, food affordability, more housing infrastructure and local independence.
When southerners are brought to Nunavut to work in construction or other things, a lot of the money goes back to Canada. That's not a bad thing, but it leaves a lot of money bleeding and going outside of Nunavut instead of generating more money in Nunavut.
Liberal
Brendan Hanley Liberal Yukon, YT
That's great. That gives me time to pass to Mr. Recinos.
You rightly weave together the themes of Arctic sovereignty, infrastructure development and nutrition. Clearly you have a lot of expertise and experience.
In addition to the infrastructure needs that you point out, as you know, nutrition north itself is under review. Within the sphere of nutrition north, what would be maybe your top three recommendations for the minister on how we can do better with nutrition north?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Terry Sheehan
You have 37 seconds, so you can probably do one and then send two in writing.
Co-Chief Executive Officer, Arctic Fresh Group
That's not a problem.
My top one would be.... When the food mail program was running, prior to being replaced by nutrition north, the Government of Canada had a contract with Canada Post for the freight and logistics of the food. I recommend that the Government of Canada go back to that model, allowing them to negotiate in bulk on the logistics side of shipments.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Terry Sheehan
Thank you very much. Send the other two in writing, please.
For the last two spots, we have a Conservative spot and a Liberal spot. There was some discussion. We're going to do a quick two minutes and two minutes.
MP Schmale, are you doing the two minutes for your side?
Conservative
Conservative
Jamie Schmale Conservative Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes, ON
I'll pick up where we left off.
In the 1980s, you were building your own homes. You figured out a way to do it. You were keeping the money local. People didn't have to leave their community. Then the government came along and said, “We need A, B, C, D, E and F”, and it went on, and they brought workers in who sent the money out, and things didn't seem to be improving. Then we had one government program after another, but as we're seeing here, especially with our young friend in the middle, people want opportunities in the north.
We talked earlier on about education and how it hasn't been so great up north, yet the government runs that too. How do we fix this if the government seems to be controlling everything but delivering not great results?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Terry Sheehan
After you answer that—I apologize—MP Gill has two and a half minutes. She'll have some time as well.
I'll let them answer this question and then go back to you.
Thank you very much. I apologize.
Co-Chief Executive Officer, Arctic Fresh Group
That's no problem.
How do we fix this? Was that your question?
Conservative
Jamie Schmale Conservative Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes, ON
Yes. It seems that more local control is better than sending it to a centralized government.
Co-Chief Executive Officer, Arctic Fresh Group
A lot of the time decisions are made without real involvement of the community or an understanding of the community or what's really going on at the community level. For those decisions, a lot of the times there are great intentions, great ideas, but the execution can be extremely hard because there has not been consultation or communication on how the deliverables will be done.
One of the biggest failures for the Arctic is delivering. You have to understand and know your space to be able to deliver, and a lot of times everything is done great, but the delivering is where we get hung up.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Terry Sheehan
Thank you very much.
MP Gill, you have two and a half minutes, please.
Bloc
Marilène Gill Bloc Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I think you are giving me more speaking time. It's very generous, no matter who gives it to me. We're all here for the same thing.
Mr. Recinos, you didn't have the opportunity earlier to answer the question about how crises highlight the vulnerabilities of the north and how we should actually strengthen or improve resilience. I'll give you the time I have left to answer.
Co-Chief Executive Officer, Arctic Fresh Group
Thank you for that.
When the COVID-19 crisis happened, one of the things we saw in the trades was that we were extremely vulnerable. When flights started to not fly to the north, we realized that food and things....
Again, it's about independence and self-sufficiency for those communities. When you garden, you have food; you have things. It's the same thing. Supporting the social and local economy is key, as is ensuring that opportunities are capitalized on by local communities.
It's totally okay to have capitalization across Canada and everything else, but let's make sure that there is some allocated to local communities as well.
Bloc
Bloc
Marilène Gill Bloc Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan, QC
I'd simply add the issue of food sovereignty. We've talked a lot about nutrition north, but this does not empower the population. Is there anything else that can be done when it comes to food sovereignty?
Bloc
Marilène Gill Bloc Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan, QC
I wanted to add the matter of sovereignty because we talked about nutrition north. You talked about disruptions when a boat doesn't arrive or is late. There's also the issue of supplies brought in by airplane.
How can food sovereignty be improved in the north and communities be empowered?
Co-Chief Executive Officer, Arctic Fresh Group
There are multiple ways now. The community has been introduced to western foods and vegetables through the nutrition north program. The food mail program wasn't part of that, but nutrition north is. There are schools teaching hydroponics—how to grow things. We're doing this with the Canadian Space Agency in a pilot project, but it's needed across.
There's also country food, harvesting and supporting harvesting supports, as well as the interchanging of country food between communities. Some communities have fish, others have walrus and others have muktuk. Nutrition north wouldn't subsidize that unless it's certified by a Health Canada processing plant. Why? We're used to eating country food. Let's allow transportation, and let's cover the costs of transportation without certification.
Again, it's about working together with communities.