THUNDER BAY – Earlier this month, the Kiikenomaga Kikenjigewen Employment and Training Services (KKETS), Food Banks Canada, Feed Ontario, Second Harvest, and the Regional Food Distribution Association signed a partnership agreement to provide 43 isolated, northern communities, including five isolated communities in Northern Ontario’s Matawa Tribal Council region access to food security.
Over the coming months, an estimated 3,000 people living in the First Nations communities of Eabametoong, Marten Falls, Neskantaga, Nibinamik, and Wunnumin Lake will have access to the food bank services subsidy program.
Spokesperson Cody Kowtiash said the Nutrition North Canada (NNC) subsidy program will go a long way in curbing the high cost of food and other goods in remote First Nation communities.
“The whole point of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was to gather all of the food banks and medium workers revolving around food to have better, well-subsidized items for the northern communities because, so far, a lot of the northern communities are paying a crazy amount for a lot of the staple foods that have to come through like fruit, vegetables, wheat and even non-edible stuff like feminine products, diapers, formula, stuff like that,” said Kowtiash.
The subsidy program will also help with the high cost of transporting goods to these communities and, in effect, bring the cost of goods closer to being on par with prices in urban centres like Thunder Bay.
Currently, a loaf of bread is sold for $7, and a package of Kraft Dinner is $4.49 in Neskantaga First Nation, according to Kowtiash.
The subsidizing food program for the 43 communities across Manitoba and Ontario will be 35 per cent for the first year and then 5 per cent ongoing for the subsequent years to keep up with inflation.
“With food security playing a vital role in the health and well-being of the Matawa First Nations, KKETS welcomes the contribution from the Nutrition North Canada Program. The program will go a long way to reduce the cost of healthy foods in our First Nations, making good nutrition affordable and sustainable,” Executive Director of KKETS Dave Neegan stated.
Recognizing the complex challenges of northern and isolated communities, Matawa continues to work with partners to create the conditions for food sovereignty in their region.
Kowtiash explains, “We are constantly talking with the communities on how they also want it to be done too because this is also a very community-driven effort to get all this food to the hungry elders, Children, and everybody who needs it.
“A lot of the community needs that we've talked to even in conferences or talking one on one or going through interviews with them, the main thing is fresh produce because a lot of the stuff that they get is either expired or not exactly what they want for their community. So, a lot of the time, it is just fresh produce that's gone bad,” Kowtiash added.
Recently Matawa Tribal Council received $4.5 million last February in grant funding from NNC’s Harvesters Support Grant and Community Food Programs Fund to support their food security priorities and can also be used for storage and distribution.
In a statement, Chief Executive Officer for Food Banks Canada Kirstin Beardsley acknowledged, “Food Banks Canada recognizes that food insecurity is at crisis levels in many northern communities. As part of our 2023 Emergency Food Access Grant, we were able to provide $100,000 that will be distributed between these remote communities for immediate food access.
Continuing, "We acknowledge the need goes beyond the scope of food, which is why we also continue to focus on building relationships, expanding partnerships and working on community-led solutions all over Canada’s North.”