October 11, 2024 — Iqaluit, Nunavut — Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
Everyone deserves access to healthy, affordable food, no matter where they live. Rising costs are a reality for citizens of Canada, and this is particularly true in isolated northern communities, where food and basic necessities 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 the government continually seeks to improve the subsidy program for those who benefit from it.
Today, at the fifth annual meeting of the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework Leadership Committee in Iqaluit, the Honorable Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs and Minister responsible for CanNor, announced measures to to review the NNC program.
A special ministerial 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 will have the mandate to meet with national and regional Indigenous organizations and stakeholders, as well as relevant federal agencies, in order to assess the effectiveness of the NNC program and make recommendations on how to improve it. A final report will be written in 2026.
In December 2024, a research symposium will be held to bring together Food Security Research Grant recipients, which includes Indigenous partners and academics, to discuss interim results from several projects addressing food security in communities isolated from the North. During the symposium, in-depth discussions will examine recommendations and improvements to NNC at the program level. The research studies are expected to be completed in 2025.
The NNC program always works with its partners and listens to Northerners to continually improve the program and make it more effective for the people who benefit from it. The two measures announced today will ensure that the NNC program will help address challenges and more effectively improve food security in the North.
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