[BCFSN] Fwd: New Report: First Nations along James Bay coast need to spend more than half their income on food

Thu Sep 15 15:03:55 EDT 2016

Hi All,

Please see forwarded message below for a newly released report on the cost
of food for First Nations in the north. It is not really new, but it is
nonetheless important to have the stats for wide scale release. Another
important disparity and injustice to reconcile in First Nations communities
whom experience poor qualities of life and high rates of stress and
uncertainty in some of the most poverty stricken neighbourhoods in so
called Canada.

Share far and wide!

Dawn Morrison,

BC Food Systems Network
Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty
C/O 555 East 55th Avenue
Vancouver, B.C, V5X 1N6
Mobile: 778.879.5106
Email: dmo6842 at gmail.com
Website: www.indigenousfoodsystems.org

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Diana Bronson <director at foodsecurecanada.org>
Date: Wed, Sep 14, 2016 at 4:41 PM
Subject: Fwd: New Report: First Nations along James Bay coast need to spend
more than half their income on food
To: Dawn Morrison <dmo6842 at gmail.com>

I want to make sure you are aware of this report we released on Monday.  I
will take care of the session dealing with this.  We got alot of media
coverage.

*Diana Bronson*

*Executive Director / Directrice générale *
514 271-7352
*Please note our new office address as of August 31 2016 3875
St-Urbain, Suite 502, Montreal, Qc, H2W 1V1*

Foodsecurecanada.org <http://foodsecurecanada.org/> | Resettingthetable.ca
<http://www.resettingthetable.ca/>

Begin forwarded message:

*From: *"Food Secure Canada" <communications at foodsecurecanada.org>
*Subject: **New Report: First Nations along James Bay coast need to spend
more than half their income on food*
*Date: *12 September, 2016 12:30:47 AM EDT
*To: *Diana Bronson <director at foodsecurecanada.org>
*Reply-To: *"Food Secure Canada" <communications at foodsecurecanada.org>

*For immediate release*

NEW REPORT:  FIRST NATIONS ALONG JAMES BAY COAST NEED TO SPEND MORE THAN
HALF THEIR INCOME ON FOOD

MONTREAL, September 12, 2016 – First Nations communities located in the
Mushkegowuk territories along the west coast of James Bay, including Moose
Factory, Fort Albany and Attawapiskat, need to spend over half of their
income on food in order to meet their basic nutritional requirements.
According to a report
<http://foodsecurecanada.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=11139&qid=647556>released
today by Food Secure Canada, the average cost of groceries for a month in
Attawapiskat in June 2015 was $1909 compared to, for instance, $847 in
Toronto. On-reserve households in Ontario’s northeast need to spend over
50% of their median income to buy nutritious food, whereas those in Toronto
need to spend 10%.

The report, *Paying for Nutrition: A Report on Food Costing in the North
<http://foodsecurecanada.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=11136&qid=647556>*
documents alarmingly high food prices despite the fact that Fort Albany and
Attawapiskat are serviced by the federal government’s Nutrition North
Canada
<http://foodsecurecanada.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=11137&qid=647556>program.
Nutrition North is intended to make healthy perishable food more affordable
in northern communities and has been widely criticized.

"The subsidy, as we experience it in Fort Albany, has not made it possible
for the average family to eat well, let alone afford basic things like
diapers and toilet paper. The Nutrition North subsidy goes to the retailer
and is not being passed on properly to the consumer. We are living hand to
mouth,"” says Gigi Veeraraghavan, a community health worker and one of the
authors of the report. Currently, the program is under review by the
Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett, who is
mandated to see how it can be expanded and updated.

“Food insecurity has reached crisis proportions and Nutrition North is an
inadequate response, as outlined in this report,” said Joseph Leblanc, a
Food Secure Canada’s Board Member who has worked for many years on the
issue and was an advisor on the project. “We need more support for
community projects where people living in food insecurity can be involved
in a meaningful way in developing alternatives to the current system,
including more local control and competition to the retailers, more support
for traditional foods and better access to data to monitor prices relative
to incomes.”

Many of the issues outlined in the report will be discussed at Food Secure
Canada’s upcoming Assembly, Resetting the Table
<http://foodsecurecanada.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=11138&qid=647556>,
which will take place in Toronto, October 13-16th. There are several panels
and workshop on issues of Indigenous and Northern food sovereignty planned.
The full program will be released in the coming weeks.

-30-

For more information:

Gigi Veeraraghavan
Community research team Fort Albany
705-278-1131; gigi_veera at yahoo.ca

Joseph Leblanc, Sudbury Social Planning Council and Food Secure Canada:
705-690-0136; jleblanc at spcsudbury.ca

Kristin Burnett,
Lakehead University:
807-346-7721; kburnett at lakeheadu.ca

François Zeller
Food Secure Canada communications
438 401 1733; communications at foodsecurecanada.org

Food Secure Canada is a national network of organizations and individuals
working for zero hunger, healthy and safe food and sustainable food
systems. Food Secure Canada has received funding from Innovation, Science
and Economic Development Canada’s Contributions Program for Non-profit
Consumer and Voluntary Organizations and from the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). The views expressed in this report are
not necessarily those of Innovation, Science and Economic Development
Canada or of the Government of Canada or of SSHRC.

Visit Food Secure Canada website
<http://foodsecurecanada.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=11139&qid=647556>
for infographics and the full report.
<http://foodsecurecanada.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=11140&qid=647556>
<http://foodsecurecanada.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=11141&qid=647556>
<http://foodsecurecanada.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=11142&qid=647556>
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<http://foodsecurecanada.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=11143&qid=647556>
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Montréal, QC H2W 1V1
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