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GN weighs in on food mail shipping points

Okalik says too much is spoiled before reaching Kivalliq

NUNATSIAQ NEWS

The Government of Nunavut has offered its opinion on Churchill as an entry point for food mail in the Kivalliq region - change it.

The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs is conducting a review of the Churchill entry point for food mail going to the Kivalliq.

In June, DIAND wrote a letter to the premier's office as well as several GN ministers asking for their opinion.

Premier Paul Okalik responded in a letter dated Sept. 6, which was tabled in the legislative assembly on Nov. 21.

"The present modal system of transportation to the Kivalliq region, consisting of food transfers from Winnipeg to Thompson to Churchill, results in excessive handling, and therefore spoilage of perishable food," Okalik said.

He suggested that perishable goods be shipped directly from Winnipeg to Rankin Inlet, which could serve as a hub for shipment to other Kivalliq communities, if proper cold storage facilities were supplied.

And he asked DIAND and Canada Post to ensure that all suppliers to the food mail program have proper refrigeration, pointing out that "this is currently not the case."

The premier also suggested that DIAND:

• Create more opportunities for people in the Kivalliq to make personal food mail shipments. Currently, there is no supplier in Churchill willing to make direct deliveries to private individuals, and the people who do take advantage of the food mail subsidy for personal orders are concentrated mainly in Iqaluit;
• Improve public outreach and education about the program;
• Run more effective monitoring of food prices in the smaller communities, a lack of which "may be leading to the failure of retailers to pass on sufficient savings (achieved through the food mail program) to customers;
• And include Ottawa and Montreal as entry points for the Baffin region, which is currently served exclusively by Val D'Or.

"This would encourage greater competition and food quality."

The Auditor General of Canada ordered a review of designated entry points in 2002. So far, Churchill is the only entry point under review.

The GN is not the only customer unhappy with the food mail subsidy.

One day after that letter was tabled, Kugluktuk MLA Joe Allen Evyagotailak tabled a letter he received from the Kugluktuk Co-op's board of directors, urging DIAND to consider extending its pilot program in Kugaaruk, Kangiqsujuaq and one other Arctic community to all of Nunavut's communities.

In communities where the pilot project occurred, food mail rates were decreased from 80 cents per kilo to 30 cents per kilo.

"This dramatic reduction in shipping costs was reflected in decreased prices for consumers and a substantial increase in consumption of healthy foods in these communities," the letter reads, although the results of the latest pilot project have not yet been published.

The letter then draws the link between the food mail subsidy, the growing rates of obesity and diabetes, and Nunavut's limited health care services.

"Health experts predict that soon an epidemic of type 2 diabetes and other lifestyle related diseases may take a devastating toil on the Arctic people.

"Because our communities lack the facilities needed to care for these diseases, some people will go untreated and others will be sent to cities in the South for care - at great expense to Canada's health care system."

The food mail subsidy has not changed since 1993. Last year, DIAND spent $36 million on the subsidy, almost 58 per cent of which was spent in Nunavut.

The food mail program has offered a discount rate for nutritious, perishable foods coming into remote northern communities since the 1970s.

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