Finance committee  Thank you for that question, Mr. Julian. What is the price of the loss of lives and poverty that our people are experiencing? I came here to talk about bread-and-butter issues. These things are taken for granted every day in a country as rich as ours. But in the Arctic, these i

Finance committee  Mr. Cuzner, thank you for your question, which is extremely important to us. As I said in my presentation, the investment should be targeting the mental health services infrastructure. It should be targeting the education of our children, who are not getting through school. It s

Finance committee  Just to add to what Mr. Jock was saying, we too have been involved with the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs over the past two years in coming up with a national education strategy for Inuit, which some members have copies of. There is a commitment to work with us, but as of now, t

Finance committee  Yes, I'll give an example related to health issues. Right now there's a lot of news that the suicide rate among Inuit in the Arctic is seven times higher than in the rest of Canada. There's a reason for this. Not only are they dealing with trauma and addictions, but there are a

Finance committee  [Witness speaks in Inuktitut] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I have requested an appearance here today because I am convinced the government has an opportunity to address the real needs of Inuit, as well as offer a real return t

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  My view is pretty much the same. Work in partnership with us, not just at a one-time consultative meeting that doesn't really produce very much. Work on a continuous basis with us so that the program does meet the needs of the different regions and is more transparent to the cons

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Accountability is not just related to government. The fact is that retailers have to be accountable as well, because there is so much junk food in our stores, and it really perpetuates the whole idea of being obese and the different kinds of diseases that come with obesity. The w

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think, just consulting with Ann here for a second, the funding cap isn't well understood by the people at the community level. It is increasing, but it's limited to $60 million, and people don't understand that. So communicating about that concept and helping people understand

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In the Arctic, in some parts of the north, there is competition, depending on where you're located. In Nunavik, there's really no competition. But if you go into Nunavut, there is a fair amount of competition. You have three airlines going into that new territory as well as to th

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  He said most of what I was going to say. Transparency is a very important issue for people at the community level. This program has to work with the people, not just with the retailers and the people who actually sell the products, because they are in it to make money. The consu

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I believe so, because we don't have facilities in our communities to package our caribou and other country food in a way that is acceptable to, let's say, the Agriculture Canada standards. People share food all the time, but if we're going to benefit from a food mail program, peo

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  INAC had a consultant, Mr. Dargo, work with the different organizations. He came and talked to us about our views on the program and what we'd like to see changed. But after that was done we weren't involved in it, in the writing of the recommendations and so on.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think the capacity issue has to be addressed right up front, in advance of this being implemented. Also, the advisory committee should have been set up before--the chain just started to be introduced to the communities. There's a huge gap in terms of what the government is doin

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Okay. In terms of non-perishables, you've probably heard that we have the youngest population in Canada. Diapers are a very important aspect of daily living. Just like every other society, we don't depend too much on cloth diapers any more. Also, equipment for hunters—to be able

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This is in Nunavik, in one of our retail stores.