Northern & Remote Food - content

THE CANADIAN PRESS: It appears the Conservative government is open to the idea of changing the way it tries to offset the high cost of food in the North.

The department that oversees the beleaguered Nutrition North program has posted a notice of proposed procurement, asking for someone to come up with different ways of providing northerners with the federal food subsidy.

CBC NEWS: On Monday, food security group Feeding My Family proposed a one-day boycott of all North West Company stores across the North, suggesting the company isn't passing on federal food subsidies to consumers.

The suggestion caused quite a stir, on all sides of the argument.

Last week, CBC Manitoba published this opinion piece by Winnipeg writer Don Marks about The North West Company, which has stores across Canada's North. The following is a rebuttal to that piece by Derek Reimer, the company's director of business development.

ADAM CARTER: Hamilton’s urban aboriginal people face multiple barriers to health care, significant rates of chronic disease and elevated emergency room visit levels compared to the rest of the city, according to a landmark study from St. Michael’s Hospital.

The study, published Thursday in medical journal BMJ Open, marks the first time researchers have accessed detailed information about how an urban aboriginal population in Canada uses health care.

SUE BAILEY: There's no excuse for bare grocery shelves in remote Labrador communities still waiting for spring food shipments delayed by ferry issues, says provincial Transportation Minister Nick McGrath.

"They have every reason to be upset," he said Monday in an interview of coastal enclaves such as Hopedale and Makkovik that haven't had major freight deliveries by ship since the fall.

DAVID MURPHY: The exorbitant price of food in the North wasn’t the only thing Leesee Papatsie and her group of about a dozen supporters protested at an event in Iqaluit held June 14 across the street from the Northmart store.

Protestors fought turbulent winds that blew cardboard signs out of the hands of some sent hunched-over protestors chasing tumbling signs for metres down the road.

A Canadian Bar Association gathering in Iqaluit last week included some frank discussion on the state of affairs in Nunavut. The theme of the meeting was "Nation-Building Under Land Claims Agreements, Treaties and Self-Government Agreements."

Former Auditor General of Canada Sheila Fraser, one of many prominent players who attended, says she was dismayed to learn there still aren't improvements on the implementation of Canadian land claims and treaties, even after several audits she conducted.

DAVID MURPHY: The exorbitant price of food in the North wasn’t the only thing Leesee Papatsie and her group of about a dozen supporters protested at an event in Iqaluit held June 14 across the street from the Northmart store.

Protestors fought turbulent winds that blew cardboard signs out of the hands of some sent hunched-over protestors chasing tumbling signs for metres down the road.