Canadian Heritage committee  If you continue to systemically starve our language to death, then yes, that is a prophecy that will be fulfilled. In the Official Languages Act, in terms of the rights for minority situations where there is a francophone or an anglophone community in a dominant community of the other language, once you hit a certain threshold, the minority linguistic population then has rights in terms of their own education and the ability to access government services.

Canadian Heritage committee  Nakurmiik. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, members of the committee, for allowing Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami to be a witness here before you today. I also want to recognize Duane Smith, the chair of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, a board member for Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, who was just a witness before this committee.

Agriculture committee  Yes. Concerns in relation to access to drinkable water are also concerns that we have as Inuit in Inuit Nunangat.

Agriculture committee  As far as traditional agriculture goes and what you might think of when you think of fertile land or animal husbandry in Canada, those sorts of industries are non-existent. We do have, in the Inuvialuit region, a caribou population that is in a herd managed by particular individuals there.

Agriculture committee  The sustainability of greenhouses is something we are still looking for a solution for. Any sort of aquaculture or agriculture in Inuit Nunangat is something that hopefully is a long-term solution. Right now, there are only four greenhouses that exist across the 51 communities in Inuit Nunangat, and they do not contribute significantly to the food needs of communities.

Agriculture committee  The Government of Canada is commendable in its push to end boil-water advisories. It is a first nations on reserve very specific initiative. The Inuit communities also have boil-water advisories, but they're not considered to be in the catchment of the numbers you referenced. We still work with provinces, territories and the federal government to ensure that we have safe, adequate drinking water.

Agriculture committee  The nutrition north program must be a social program, first and foremost. It must ensure that the end-user, especially considering our food insecurity rate, is the sole recipient of the subsidy or the primary benefactor in the entire process. One of the only ways to do that is to show that in transparent and accountable ways and to ensure that not a penny on the dollar of that program is being utilized in ways that don't lead to increased food security for those intended.

Agriculture committee  I'll start with the infrastructure question. The cost of doing business in Inuit Nunangat is exorbitantly high, and we have existing concerns in relation to our infrastructure, whether it be enough water for our communities, the quality of the water, the price of electricity or the fact that all of our communities are still on diesel.

Agriculture committee  Inuit have the healthiest indigenous language in this country. We don't have the most speakers. There are more Cree speakers than there are Inuktut speakers, but a full 84% of Inuit who live in Inuit Nunangat can speak Inuktut. That is an incredible achievement. It also is something that we are still concerned about, because there is language erosion and language shift.

Agriculture committee  The ways in which any of us create good mental health, and also continue our family, are grounded in many ways by what we eat, how we cook and how we access our foods. In many cases in the south, you go to a grocery store and then your culture happens in the kitchen. In Inuit society, our culture happens in the act of harvesting, in the act of going on the land, in understanding the land and also in the interaction of living things within it.

Agriculture committee  In Greenland, there is readily available country food in supermarkets in a way that we've never seen in Canada. I think part of that is the regulatory barriers of sale of country food in this country. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency licensing is mandatory, especially when any food is crossing interjurisdictional lines.

Agriculture committee  Just as an example, about 75 million kilograms of fish and seafood are harvested in Inuit Nunangat, directly adjacent to Inuit Nunangat waters. Virtually none of that is processed within Inuit Nunangat or distributed within our 51 communities. The infrastructure deficit is the first reason why, along with the lack of subsidies for a natural distribution chain within our communities.

Agriculture committee  It's through resupply through marine transport.

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  The general food insecurity rate is unacceptable across Inuit Nunangat and the rates are between 50% to 70%, I believe, depending on the region and community. There are pilot projects. Amazing things are happening at the community level to promote food security, to carry on traditions among generations about how to harvest and share food.