External review of Nutrition North Canada seeks to enhance food security in the North

From: Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

News release

October 11, 2024 — Iqaluit, Nunavut — Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

Everyone deserves access to healthy and affordable food, no matter where they live. Rising costs are a reality for people across Canada, and this is especially true in isolated northern communities, where food and essential items are often transported long distances. Nutrition North Canada (NNC) is an important part of the Government of Canada’s response to food security in the North and it strives for continuous improvement to make the subsidy program more meaningful to those it impacts.

Today, while at the fifth annual Arctic and Northern Policy Framework Leadership Committee meeting in Iqaluit, the Honourable Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs and Minister responsible for CanNor, announced measures to review the NNC program.

A Ministerial Special Representative will be appointed in early 2025 to launch an external review of the NNC program. Reporting directly to the Minister of Northern Affairs, the Ministerial Special Representative will be independent of the federal public service, and would have a mandate to meet with national and regional Indigenous organizations and stakeholders, as well as relevant federal government organizations to evaluate NNC’s effectiveness, and to make recommendations on how to improve it. A final report would be completed in 2026.

In December 2024, a research symposium will be conveyed to bring together the Food Security Research Grant recipients, which includes Indigenous partners and academics, to discuss interim findings of several projects that study food security in northern isolated communities. At the symposium, meaningful discussions will take place to consider program-level recommendations and improvements to NNC. The research studies are expected to be completed in 2025.

The NNC program is always working with its partners and hears from Northerners to continuously improve the program and make it work better for the people it impacts. The two measures announced today will help ensure the NNC program addresses challenges and positions itself to be more effective in enhancing food security in the North.

Quotes

“Everyone across the country should have access to healthy and affordable food. Since its creation, Nutrition North Canada has lowered the cost of food for residents of isolated, northern communities across the North. The measures announced today will bring important recommendations to enhance the program and support food security in the North.”

The Honourable Dan Vandal, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Northern Affairs and Minister responsible for CanNor

Quick facts

  • Since the launch of NNC in 2011, the Government of Canada has expanded the program in response to needs identified by Northerners. While it started as a subsidy, the program has now expanded to also include the Harvesters Support Grant, the Community Food Programs Fund, and the Food Security Research Grant.

  • Nutrition North Canada currently serves 125 remote communities across the three territories and the northern regions of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

  • The NNC is governed by the Nutrition North Canada Advisory Board which provides Northerners with a direct voice in the program. Board members provide advice to the Minister of Northern Affairs to help guide the management, direction, and activities of the program and to ensure that Northerners receive its full benefits.

  • In addition to the forthcoming external review of the NNC program, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada is currently conducting an evaluation of the NNC program as part of the federal government’s requirements for the evaluation of programming every five years. The evaluation is being conducted through collaboration and participation with Indigenous partners, communities, and other federal government organizations and it includes engagement at the community level. A final evaluation report is anticipated for Summer 2025 and will be shared with the public once available.

  • Supporting Indigenous leadership and co-developing solutions on food security in northern communities for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis is central to advancing the reconciliation journey and self-determination.

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Contacts

For more information, media may contact:

Carson Debert
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Dan Vandal
Minister of Northern Affairs and Minister responsible for CanNor
carson.debert@rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca

Media Relations
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
819-934-2302
RCAANC.media.CIRNAC@sac-isc.gc.ca

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