Ottawa says an external review of the Nutrition North food subsidy program will begin in 2025.
Nutrition North sends money to grocers so that food prices in northern communities can be reduced for customers, counteracting the extra cost of shipping and offering food in isolated areas.
However, questions have been raised about the extent to which the subsidy given to grocery stores is passed on to customers, and the ultimate benefit to communities as a result.
“A ministerial special representative will be appointed in early 2025 to launch an external review,” the federal government said in a news release. Their final report is expected in 2026.
The person leading the review will be independent of the federal public service, the news release added, and will be tasked with consulting “national and regional Indigenous organizations and stakeholders” as well as federal agencies.
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Their mandate will be to evaluate the “effectiveness” of Nutrition North and make recommendations to improve it.
Earlier this year, a New Democratic Party motion that pushed for reforms to the Nutrition North program failed to pass in the House of Commons.
The motion called on the federal government to stop delaying reforms to Nutrition North, force big grocery chains and suppliers to lower the prices of essential foods, and ending what it termed “Liberal and Conservative corporate handouts to big grocers.”
Twenty-six MPs backed that motion – 23 NDP, one Liberal and two Green – but 286 were opposed.
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Last year, a study concluded that for every dollar paid to retailers to reduce shipping costs, average retail prices fell by 67 cents, suggesting a significant share of the subsidy was not reaching customers.
Grocery store operators like The North West Company have contested that study’s findings, arguing they pass 100 percent of subsidies received on to local residents.
The new external review isn’t the only assessment of Nutrition North taking place.
The federal government said a routine evaluation of the program is required every five years and the latest is under way. It’s due to be published next summer.
Nutrition North was launched in 2011. The program had a budget of $131.3 million in 2022-23 and currently covers 125 communities.
According to data from Statistics Canada, 46.1 percent of households in Nunavut, 23.1 percent in the Northwest Territories and 15.3 percent in the Yukon faced food insecurity in 2019, compared to a national average of 10.6 percent.
