Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs. Thank you for inviting us to appear before you today as part of your study on affordability challenges in northern Canada.
My name is Merlyn Recinos. I'm the chief executive officer of Arctic Fresh Group, a Nunavut-based, Inuit-focused business that works across food security, logistics, housing, infrastructure and workforce development.
While I'm not an Inuk, Nunavut has been my home for many years. My wife is an Inuk. Together, we're raising Inuit children. Our family, our business and our future are deeply rooted in Nunavut communities.
I want to begin by sharing a story.
Last year and again this spring, Arctic Fresh worked with Canadian North, local hamlets, Innu organizations and community partners to deliver food hampers to households across Nunavut, including Grise Fiord, Canada's most northern community. The hampers contained fruits, vegetables and meats. There were no applications, no eligibility requirements and no complicated processes. The goal was simple: to ensure that every household received support.
This year marks our 10th year supporting communities such as Igloolik and our seventh year delivering this initiative across the region. Local businesses' profits generated through our work are reinvested into employment, training, food programs, food banks and community development initiatives. This initiative has taught us that affordability is not an abstract policy discussion. It's about whether families can put healthy food on the table, whether communities have the infrastructure they need to support themselves and whether young people can build a future in the north.
At its core, affordability in Nunavut is driven by our continual reliance on southern supply chains. Whether we are talking about food, housing materials, fuel, equipment or many other things, the cost of moving products into the communities drives up the cost for families across the territory. That is why our message today is simple: Improving affordability requires investing in northern self-reliance.
These investments are about more than reducing costs. They're also about strengthening Arctic sovereignty and security by ensuring northern communities have the infrastructure, the workforce and the economic capacity needed to support a permanent and thriving presence across the Arctic.
Projects of national interest such as ports, transportation corridors, energy infrastructure and housing are nation-building investments that create economic opportunity for Inuit while advancing Canada's strategic objectives in the north. When Inuit communities are empowered to build and operate critical infrastructure, affordability, economic development and sovereignty objectives are advanced together.
We saw just how vulnerable Nunavut's economy can be during the COVID-19 pandemic and during the early stages of the Canada-United States trade dispute, when disruptions to supply chains and rising costs were felt quickly and acutely across the territory. Those experiences reinforce an important lesson: Affordability, economic resilience and Arctic sovereignty are deeply interconnected, and greater northern self-reliance must be part of Canada's long-term strategy.
For generations, Inuit have sustained themselves through harvesting, fishing, and sharing networks. Strengthening those systems is one of the most effective long-term affordability measures available to northern communities. We need investment in harvesting infrastructure, community freezers, fisheries and food processing facilities and need to support the blue economy. We also need operational funding to ensure that the systems can function over the long term.
Second, we need transportation and holistic infrastructure that lowers costs for families. Northern communities need more runways. They also need airport storage facilities, cold storage, warehousing, improved cargo handling capacity and better harbour and sealift infrastructure.
Third, we need to recognize that food infrastructure must match social realities. Programs such as nutrition north can help, but they do not work for every household. Some families continue to struggle to access healthy food. That's why we need community food centres, food banks and necessary programs to strengthen harvesting and food-sharing networks.
Finally, affordability cannot be separated from housing and workforce development. Arctic Fresh began as a food company, and we extended into housing and infrastructure because we saw how interconnected these challenges are. Every project we undertake includes training and skills development. Our goal is not to build homes, but to train Inuit for the long term to operate and maintain their infrastructure in their homeland.
Thank you.