Additional funding will continue to improve access to healthy food in northern Canadian communities, the federal government has announced.
Ottawa has pledged additional investments in the Nutrition North Canada (NNC) program. The funding is designed to better serve eligible communities, and support the program’s activities and ensure its long-term sustainability.
“Northerners, like all Canadians should have access to the fresh, nutritious foods they need to be able to contribute and be prosperous in a growing northern economy,” said Bernard Valcourt, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.
The funding includes an increase of $11.3 million to the Nutrition North subsidy budget in 2014-15, as well as a new five per cent annual compound escalator for the subsidy budget component in future years.
The compound escalator is meant to help the NNC keep pace with growing demand for perishable, nutritious food.
In total, during this year and next year, the federal government will invest $133.7 million in direct subsidies for nutritious foods for northerners.
In the coming months, the federal government and the NNC Advisory Board will be engaging northerners, retailers and suppliers on ideas to keep the program on a sustainable path.
NNC is designed to help retailers and food suppliers improve the quality of and access to healthy food in eligible northern communities.
The program was introduced in 2011 to address the challenges residents in isolated northern communities face in accessing nutritious food.
Since NNC was announced in 2011, the volume of healthy food being shipped to remote northern communities has increased by 25 per cent, said Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.
