Food from the Land

Below is an article that was sent to me, you have to subscibe to the News North site to read the full article's, so I re print it here with thanks to the author Andrew Livingstone.

Food from the Land
by Andrew Livingstone
NWT News/North
May 18, 2009

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Northern community leaders are climbing on board a
recommendation made in a recent report on the federal government's food
mail program to invest $3 million in a country foods initiative.

Two reports released last month by the Department of Indian and Northern
Affairs, one completed by independent reviewer Graeme Dargo, recommended
the government look at creating a partnership with Northern community
leaders and organizations to invest in a subsidy program to reduce the
cost of hunting and help bring more traditional meats into communities.

"Country foods still constitute a major part of the diet of many people in
smaller, remote communities," Dargo said. "The cost to harvest those items
is just tremendous. To buy a snowmobile you could almost buy a small car
they're so expensive. It's the same with the cost of gasoline."

Lena Kotokak, deputy mayor for the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, said for 30
gallons (120 litres) of gas it costs more than $250.

"The cost is just outrageous," she said. "For hunters to be going in and
out all the time to get a good hunt done, it can become very costly. We'd
be all for a program like this to help us obtain more of the traditional
meats we need."

A report in the Annual Nutrition Review titled "Environment and
Contaminants in Traditional Food System of Northern Indigenous Peoples"
states traditional food has been shown to be lower in fat and contain less
saturated fats than store-bought goods. The report goes on to state that
further complementing dietary needs are nutrient-rich organ meats (e.g.
brain, stomach and intestines) not usually available on the domestic
market.

"It is the general consensus that the traditional food of indigenous
peoples is the best food available to them," the report reads.

"The nutritional values are much higher than in conventional store-bought
meats," Dargo said. "From a nutrition perspective it's a good thing to
recommend. From a social perspective, we all know how important that type
of lifestyle is to people in small communities. There is no reason it
shouldn't be a part of it."

Dargo said the disconnect between Ottawa and the North on what food is
necessary in Northern peoples' diets makes it important to have a country
foods initiative run at a local level.

"Well-meaning bureaucrats are responsible for putting together the list of
eligible items," he said, adding most of the people he met with in Ottawa
had never been to the North. "I said 'what about country food' and they
didn't really know what I was talking about.

"I felt it very important the department had to work closely with the
aboriginal groups. They know the activity better than people sitting in
Ottawa.

"They need to sit down and figure it out. If there are programs like this
already in existence, why not support them better and more rather than
coming up and creating something brand new."

Raymond Kaslak, senior administrative officer for the community of Sachs
Harbour, said the community would welcome an initiative that subsidizes
the high cost of hunting and would be willing to work in partnership with
the Canadian government to get a program like this running.

"It would expand the choices more with mainland traditional foods," Kaslak
said. "It will help the nutritional component of our eating here.

Kaslak pointed out the high cost of hunting makes it difficult for hunters
to be successful in their hunts.

"It's very expensive to go out hunting here," he said. "Gas is extremely
expensive. It would really help a lot to get some money from the
government to help us hunt more.

"Sometimes the wildlife, they are out farther and they're out and roaming
and move around. If they're way out there it makes it tough to get out
there without high costs."

Dargo said it's not an issue of finding more money to fund something like
this. He said with a more streamlined approach and a more simplistic,
cut-and-dry eligible food list, enough money could be made available to
fund a pilot project of this nature.

"Northerners have a way of keeping things simple," he said. "It's based on
what you need. If you do away with all the frilly stuff there, what a
Northerner would view as something they wouldn't typically buy, there
would be monies left over to invest in a decent country foods program."

Dargo said he believes the project would have a strong foundation to make
it successful.

"They (Northern regions) all have some shape or form of a program that
helps harvesters," he said, adding in Nunavik they have subsidy programs
in place for hunters to purchase necessary equipment and gasoline.

"It's different in every region I went to, but they try to encourage that
type of lifestyle surrounding healthy eating.

"The problem with the programs for them is they don't have enough money.

"What would be a better opportunity for Canada to get more of a bang for
their food mail dollar than to invest in already existing programs that
will benefit Northerners?"


There are no programs that I am aware of that help hunters get out on the land in Nunatsiavut.

I checked around a bit, there are only some programs that help get some country foods to elders and other less fortunate.
One program was just completed in Hopedale funded by NG DHSD. The first hunt harvested from 30 to 50 caribou, these were distributed to elders. The second hunt harvested an unknown [to me] number of animals. These were cut up and packaged and stored in the councils freezer for distribution to I know not who.
In Goose Bay the NG Corporation has a community type freezer program; county foods are given to elders but I am not sure of any or what criteria there is.

Nain has or did have a program run by a group of volunteers. It was little know and cloaked in some sort of secrecy. I do know country food was available to certain sections of the community, I hope it is still running and serving the people most in need.

Other communities may have some sort of program but I am unaware of them.

To my knowledge the hunters who harvest the animals in all cases are paid quite handsomely either by a department of NG or by monies that come from a trust fund administered by NG. So I guess in essence it is some sort of a harvesting subsidy.