That's good.
Evidence of meeting #7 for Public Accounts in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was program.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #7 for Public Accounts in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was program.
A video is available from Parliament.
12:05 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs
Part of that came out of extensive consultations with the people in the north. It is true that when we added the further money into the program, rather than leaving it capped where it was, we didn't do additional consultations, but that new money was going to the things that were already very heavily consulted on by two separate groups. We'll continue the program.
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
Han Dong Liberal Don Valley North, ON
Can you tell the committee, what is the annual cost of the nutrition north Canada program?
12:05 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs
It fluctuates. It's demand-based, and around $138 million is a typical figure in any given year, but again, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, the more you ship the more the demand, so the costs go higher.
There was a big change in the program. The Inuit came to us, and said they wanted harvester grants. They didn't want to have to buy food at stores. For the first time ever, we actually set up a specific grant, so that people could collect their own country foods, and that we would support that.
That had never been part of the program, and because of extensive engagement with Inuit—
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
12:05 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs
For example, if you need fuel to go hunting, which is obviously very expensive in the north; if you need equipment; if you need hunting equipment; if you need fishing nets or anything that helps you to collect country foods, like fish, game, picking berries, or whatever it is, we will support that.
12:05 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs
I'd have to check on the specifics of that.
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
Han Dong Liberal Don Valley North, ON
That's a take-away for you today.
Can you tell us if the funding is indexed to inflation?
12:05 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs
It's a per kilogram subsidy of food. That's the way it works. It's about a shipping cost, so it's not directly related to the price of the food itself, it's related to the—
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
Han Dong Liberal Don Valley North, ON
If the shipping cost goes up, which we've seen, will it be reflected in the new rounds of funding?
12:05 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs
We review the program on a regular basis, so we do make adjustments, but they're related to a number of factors.
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
Han Dong Liberal Don Valley North, ON
Okay. I'll get to you.
There are so many good questions.
Going forward, and I want to stress going forward, you mentioned some of the programs to support our indigenous people to be more self-sufficient and to give them the tools and support. Going forward, do you see any need or opportunity to expand this kind of support? I agree with my colleague, MP Desjarlais, that we should be able to support them in their own ways.
12:05 p.m.
Conservative
12:05 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs
I would say that the Inuit and northern people I have worked with are some of the most self-sufficient people I have ever met, and we are very proud to support them as they do that.
12:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
Thank you, Mr. Dong.
Ms. Sinclair-Desgagné now has the floor for two and half minutes.
12:05 p.m.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will continue with my earlier line of questions on the subject of fairness between regions.
My question is for Mr. Hayes.
Point 12.61 of the report states that the department decided to invite five organizations to apply for available funding, and point 12.62 states that a sixth organization had been invited that did not meet all of the criteria.
Could you give me the name of this organization?
12:05 p.m.
Deputy Auditor General, Office of the Auditor General
I think that Ms. Leach could give you the name of this organization.
12:05 p.m.
Principal, Office of the Auditor General
Six organizations received funding.
They are Food Banks Canada, Second Harvest, Breakfast Club of Canada, The Salvation Army, Community Food Centres Canada and La Tablée des Chefs. Those are available on the AAFC website under this program.
12:10 p.m.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
My question was on the fact that one of these organizations did not meet the required criteria to receive public funds.
Which criterion did the organization fail to meet?
12:10 p.m.
Deputy Auditor General, Office of the Auditor General
As we indicated in our report, it was the criterion regarding national or regional scope.
12:10 p.m.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
This organization could therefore not deliver its products or generate profits in all of Canada's regions.
Which Canadian regions were unfortunately not serviced by this organization?