Food Secure Canada defends northern Ontario nutrition report

Food Secure Canada is defending its70-page "Paying for Nutrition" report after a northern retailer sent a private letter detailing a lack of context and multiple omissions.

The report looked at the price of food in the far northern Ontario communities of Attawapiskat, Fort Albany, Moosonee and Timmins. Among other findings, researches revealed northern families have to pay abouttwice as much for nutritious food as families living in southern Ontario.

The report states that "Moosonee, Fort Albany, and Attawapiskat have one full-service grocery store each, run by the Northwest Company," and "Moose Factory also has an independently owned retailer with a full range of food items."

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Joseph LeBlanc was an advisor on the report and is a FSCboard member. He says the board received the letter in the fall of 2016, but are responding now because they wanted to take the time to consider the comments seriously.

"This was a report written by academics from across the country. It was a complex project with many contributors and it's the first of its kind to make this type of comparison," says LeBlanc.

"What we're saying is a reflection of the reality on the ground. Certainly, the comments made were not taken lightly, so taking the time to respond with intent is respectful."

LeBlanc says researchers didn't consult the North West Company because they had a broader focus.

"The North West Company is one player within a system. We were focused on the system," LeBlanc says.

"In the area that we were, they are the dominant retailer, but as they say in their letter, they're not the only one. This was not a report about the North West Company. This was a report about paying for nutrition in northern communities."

According to FSC's response, the only thing they've changed in their report is replacing the term "expiry date" with "best before," an inaccuracy noted in the letter. FSC says it stands by the rest of its report.

Retailer operating in a 'virtual competitive marketplace'

In the letter, Kennedy writes FSC's report inaccurately refers to the area as a "virtual monopoly." He writes the company exists in a "virtual competitive marketplace," considering many people leave the community to shop at other stores, shop online, and participate in "country food gathering activities" like traditional hunting and gathering.

"With these considerations in mind, the more accurate algorithm for assessing real food costs would weight all of these food sources, including country foods, to create a more realistic and inevitably a lower food cost scenario than portrayed in your report," Kennedy writes.

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LeBlanc says this view of traditional Indigenous activites as competition is concerning.

"There's a lot of effort to rebuild an economy, but also a healthy,good life on that food system," he says.

"So it was quite interesting to see that this was considered as competition to market foods as opposed to a viable piece of the food system."

Derek Reimer is the director of business development for the North West Company. He says the retailer's relationship with First Nations communities is a strong one.

"We are very supportive of country food initiatives and we think it's a healthy choice. It's something which our consumers value, and we certainly value that,"Reimer says.

"We partner with about 40 First Nations where we operate. There's a reason why we've developed trust over time, and it's because we've demonstrated the ability to work with communities, to give back and to be a respectful corporate citizen."

Need more local input

One of Kennedy's notes is about FSC's concern that Nutrition North Canada and other food subsidy programs need revamping.

"We are often consulted on the efficacy of [food subsidy] programs from a community retailer perspective," Kennedy writes.

"We offer constructive views on how they can be integrated as part of a total income support model."

LeBlanc says their involvement is a concern for developing food sovereignty.

"How do you be an entity of change while profiting off of the sale of these foods?," asksLeBlanc.

"As the government of Canada, Ontario and Manitoba seek to address food insecurity, enrolling for-profit entities, any one of them, in advising on what's best for the community well-being is troubling."

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The solution, LeBlanc says, is putting more stock in what Indigenous peoples have to say.

"I really do think we should be speaking to community members about what that means to them and what the experience is like in trying to buy supplies for fishing from the same entity that's trying to sell you frozen fish."

It's 'in everyone's interest' to lower food prices

Meanwhile, the North West Company says Nutrition North Canada has helped to significantly reduce the price of food since 2011. Reimer says the company uses government subsidies to pay for things like freight costs. The money they save from that is "passed onto the consumers in the form of lower pricing," Reimer says.

"The reality is we operate in an environment today where it's in our own interest and everyone's interest that we do what we can to try and lower food prices. We will continue to try and find innovative ways to do that," Reimer says.

The main issue, according to the North West Company, is a need for higher guaranteed income levels.

"Whether it's building a home or you're operating a business, you'll find that it is more expensive to do so in the north than in the south," Reimer says.

"If you look at Food Secure Canada's report, they're trying to highlight the high cost of food prices in the north. Yet, the reality is, it's expensive to operate in the north and that's the reason for the high prices. So what we're suggesting is that basic income levels need to be increased in order to support those higher costs of living."

'Different perspectives on the same thing'

LeBlanc says the retailer and FSC are working toward the same goal, but food sovereignty needs to be placed higher on the priority list.

"It's different perspectives on the same thing," LeBlanc says.

"We have for-profit corporations that are selling foods who are operating within an economic system that is mismatched with the desires of the communities they operate in."

Both LeBlanc and Reimer say they hope the two organizations can meet and work together to find solutions to food insecurity. But LeBlanc says solutions need to go beyond conflicts with research.

"They're doing what they're set up to do. Corporations are set up to make money," LeBlanc says.

"As we, Indigenous people, seek to establish our own independent economies and communities, these forces are working counter to those efforts. Food sovereignty needs to be built from the ground up from the kitchen table, out."