Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As I explained earlier, in the summer, a small basket of strawberries costs $2.50 or $3, but right now it costs $12. The same is true for milk and many foods. Prices vary for most foods, but not for all. Recently, prices have been increasing everywhere. As a result, seniors are

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The nutrition north program provides limited in-store selection compared to what arrives by boat in the summer. Most of the time, only one store is part of the program. One store is located in Baie-Comeau, in the western part of the province. There's another store in Blanc-Sablon

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This is what I've had come from some of the store owners who sent me their problems with the nutrition north program. Nutrition north is a great program, but there are things that need to be changed. It's so far and there's so much paperwork to do that not every supplier will k

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think the thing that would be the most helpful is if they could meet with some of those store owners and the people, the leaders. I am also the warden of our RCM, regional county municipality, that regroups all the five mayors together. I think that would be a wonderful tool, a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's definite. I've devoted the last 20 years of my life to the 138. That is the only solution. The airfare.... It costs us more to travel from my community to Tête-à-la-Baleine, which is 30 kilometres away, than it does to travel from Montreal to France. I'm not kidding you; t

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's one of the major things that have hit us this year. You know, there's Harrington Harbour. It's an island, and up until three days ago, those people were stuck on that island and could not get to the mainland. They burn wood, and every other year they get the ice bridge tha

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This was on very short notice and I didn't get a chance to do all of the consultation that should have been done. We are fighting for the survival of our people right now. This is not just a whim. We are fighting for survival, and I think that nutrition north has the capacity to

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm from La Tabatière. I'm originally from Harrington Harbour, but when I was six years old—my mom used to be a telegraph operator—we moved to Tabatière. We call it Tabatière, but it's La Tabatière.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I have a status. I'm a Malécite from Cacouna. My great-grandmother was a Malécite. The rest are white, with names like Jones and Gallichon and Morency. There are a lot of French names, but 90% of the communities are anglophone. We're a majority in a minority, and the majority is

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, we do. The main industry of our coast is.... We have 16 communities, from Kegaska to Blanc Sablon. It's a territory that's larger than most countries in Europe. Fishing is the main industry. A few years back—I think 10 years ago—our fish plant folded in our community and w

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mostly, yes, it's to the U.S., China and Japan. There was one young fellow from here who started a fish store. Last summer was the first time that live lobster was shipped from the Quebec north shore to China, and that was an unbelievable feat. The price has gone so high that

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, it comes in by plane. This year, the second week of January they started transporting the food by plane. We have an airstrip—it's not an airport; it's an airstrip—and there was an accident a few years ago here. The guy from Transport Canada told me that in my community of La

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  What I've been told by most of the stores in our communities is that the problem is the bureaucracy, or the paperwork that's involved in order to get the nutrition north program. Since we just got hooked up in the last two months with high-speed Internet, this is all new for us.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you, most of all, for the invitation. It's not often that the people of our isolated communities, from Kegaska to Blanc-Sablon, get the opportunity to speak to such a distinguished panel and to get our point across that we do occupy the ter

Transport committee  I don't know if the west coast is all pristine. We are pristine, and I don't see a problem with tankers. The rules and regulations have to be such that before they get to the ports, we make sure that the captains and crew are not drunk. When you [Inaudible—Editor] and the spillag