Agriculture committee  I would say that's outside my area. I would pass that one over to Ms. Bronson, if it's okay with you. She's kind of the expert on that one.

Agriculture committee  I think food banks have been quite involved in that aspect of things. Food banks have been acquiring safe, healthy, surplus food for many years. I think they would prefer they didn't have to, unfortunately. It's kind of a stereotypical thinking to say it, but I think it's important to say it.

Agriculture committee  We're very happy to see the federal government moving forward in a variety of areas on a food policy, on a poverty reduction strategy, on a national housing strategy. These things are all promising, but it's hard to say what's going to happen with the strategy when you're not sure what the content is going to be.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much for inviting me to speak before you today. I'd like to begin by saying that food banks across the country are very pleased to see the federal government develop a new national food policy for Canada. Food banks have changed with the times. They have changed their approach to food, including the types and diversity of food they're able to provide, and they want to see the federal government changing with the times as well.

Human Resources committee  We do a “HungerCount” report every year that looks at the level of food bank use in Canada and makes policy recommendations. Since about 2008, we called for rationalization of tax benefits for families. We called for tax benefits to be rolled up, and as I said, rationalized and more targeted to low-income families.

Human Resources committee  I don't know if I have the knowledge to characterize it as profound or not, but it's certainly in line with what we recommended.

Human Resources committee  We know that about 12% of people accessing food banks self-identify as first nations, Métis, or Inuit. They make up about 4% of the Canadian population, I believe. They're certainly overrepresented, and the numbers skyrocket in the western provinces, as you might expect with the larger populations there.

Human Resources committee  As I said, about half of the households accessing food banks are on welfare. Of course, that's mostly a provincial responsibility. In a sense—and I'm probably pushing it a bit—provincial governments are creating poverty with the amount of benefits they provide to people who have fallen on hard times.

Human Resources committee  I think the federal government needs to look at working with band councils on what works in specific communities. The first thing you have to look at is the kind of hopelessness you are creating by asking people to live on $9,000 or $12,000 a year in an isolated community, where food costs twice as much as it does here in Ottawa.

Human Resources committee  There's no doubt. I think the national poverty reduction strategy needs to be more closely linked to the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. There's a natural and necessary fit there.

Human Resources committee  More generally...?

Human Resources committee  On-reserve welfare is a big one. My colleague talked about increasing the working income tax benefit over and above what's planned under the changes to the Canada pension plan. Today no one has mentioned education and training. It's not only on reserve, where I think there's a real lack of education and training to prepare people for the well-paying jobs that exist today.

Human Resources committee  That's a very good question. I think the main problem we see in northern economies is that people are often living on extraordinarily low incomes, and the cost of living is extremely high, twice as high, or three times as high if we're just looking at food. Trying to support the northern economy by shipping stuff up from the south, given the cost of energy, given the cost of food, is not really sustainable, and this is why we always bring it back to income.

Human Resources committee  Would you be referring to nutrition north Canada?

Human Resources committee  I think nutrition north Canada is a small program. It's an $80-million program. It went from a $64-million to an $80-million or $90-million program. Yes, I think it does some good. We were very happy to see the improvements and the additions to the program. However, if you're really going to address food insecurity in the north, you have to look outside nutrition north Canada.