The executive director of a Nunavut food charity says there's a need to address the root causes of food insecurity after 500 people in the territorial capital went without a daily meal for a week.
The Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre provides a hot lunch on weekdays in Iqaluit, home to nearly 8,000 people. It was forced to temporarily close after the building ran out of fuel in late February, resulting in burst frozen pipes and other damage.
"We can't continue to rely on food banks and food charities like Qajuqturvik to provide something as basic as food for such a significant portion of the population." "The situation is dire," Blais said. "This goes beyond an individual issue and this is a systemic issue. This is something that we need policy action to address."
"Qajuqturvik has been around for about 15 years and, in the course of its entire existence, we have never seen demand as high as we are seeing right now," Blais said. Blais said there are several policies the territorial and federal governments could implement or improve to address poverty in Nunavut, such as basic guaranteed income.
The federal government started Nutrition North Canada in 2011 to improve food access in isolated northern communities, providing a subsidy to retailers for certain foods and goods to pass on to consumers. The program has been criticized by some northerners for failing to adequately address food insecurity, discouraging food sovereignty, and for lacking transparency and accountability.